Book of Yum

I’ve been intending to participate in the Ratio Rally ever since I first heard about it at the Gluten-free Girl’s blog. I haven’t had a chance to participate until this month. Lauren McMillan the Celiac Teen is hosting the ratio rally, and our theme is gluten-free scones. Lovely!

When I heard that our theme was scones, I started daydreaming about certain royal weddings and the English Channel and Lady Grey Tea. Be skeptical if you like, but ever since I was a little girl reading Jane Eyre I’ve had a thing for that part of the world. Sign me up for Bath, Somerset in June, and regency gowns, and castles with the changing of the guard and most of all, sign me up for an afternoon low tea with cups of black tea and gluten-free scones and gobs of clotted cream and jam. Please? I know the latter afternoon tea would cost an arm, leg, and probably an ear and nose too, but I really would love to have the experience at least once in my life. Since that trip to London is not, unfortunately, in the cards at the moment, it seems to me the least I can do is leap into this ratio event and put my own version of a British spin on it. I decided to make a classic British scone, spiced with nutmeg and sweetened with darling baby currants. I made it rice-free, and used Authentic Foods White Corn Flourbecause corn flour is popular in gluten-free baked products in the UK. And further, I decided to make it dairy-free, not only because I know many of my readers are dairy-free but because, well, we were out of butter and all I had was Earth Balance Margarine and palm oil shortening. I love the flavor of the former- and I love the allergy-friendly personality of the latter. Sometimes palm oil can be bland, so I used up all the margarine I had for taste, and filled in my ratio with palm shortening.
I based the scone on the ratio found in Wayne Gissler’s Professional Baking. To my astonishment, the recipe turned out quite well the first time out (and a good thing, too, because of course I ended up making my scone at the last minute). They were tender, faintly sweet and delicious fresh out of the oven, and I could really see how they would lend themselves to gobs of creamy topping, jam and a nice traditional tea. The next day we had an all-day gardening class scheduled at Love Apple Farm in Santa Cruz, so we took several in our lunchbox and gobbled them up with an appetite sharpened by the beautiful surroundings of an organic farm and the relief of shade after standing in the heat of the sun. The class and the scones were both quite good. You may find the dough to be a bit messier than you like. With more work, I might find a recipe that is easier to handle. But, I found the finished result to be quite delightful, and something I’ll be making again. Next time I just might go all out and make a dairy-free (or dairy) clotted cream recipe and serve it on sweet antique china plates and make a pot of tea in my great-grandmother’s tea pot to accompany it. I’ll just have to watch out for the Cat Burglar Baby Yum and her sly, scone-stealing (and probably teacup-breaking) moves.

I couldn’t resist taking my scones out on our patio for a morning treat. I even got out a lovely jar of Jeanie’s Organic Plum Cherry Jam for accompaniment, recently purchased at the Love Apple Farm Retail Location. Jeanie sells homemade organic tomato jams and even Indian chutneys that are really something special, as I found out a few years ago on a heirloom tomato hunt.

It occurs to me that this (and the other gluten-free scone recipes for the Ratio Rally) would make a lovely breakfast in bed for a gluten-free mother on Mother’s Day. That would be a lovely occasion to get out the china teacups and cream. Maybe follow it up with a promenade around the neighborhood, a bouquet of classic English roses, and spend the afternoon in with some Jane Austin movies… Sounds like heaven to me!

There were too many great entries to include them all, but I thought I would share the entries that I found the most intriguing:

Lisa of With Style and Grace with Lavender Earl Grey Lemon Scones
Caneel of Mama Me Gluten-Free with Savory Jalapeno Cheese Scones
Amie of The Healthy Apple with Rice Crispy Scones
Marla of Family Fresh Cooking with Vegan Avocado Scones
Mrs. R of Honey from Flinty Rocks with Almond Fig Scones
Peter and Kelli of No Gluten No Problem with Mesquite Scones
Wendy of La Phemme Phoodie with Red Velvet Scones
Silvana of Silvana’s Kitchen with Pecan Streusel Scones

Gluten-free Dairy-free Classic British Scone Recipe with Currants Dessert  Alternative Grains  European

Ingredients 150 g sorghum flour 150 g white corn flour (fine) 150 g tapioca starch 150 g arrowroot starch 90 g sugar 7.5 g salt 45 g baking powder 220 g Earth Balance margarine 30 g palm oil shortening 114 g eggs (i used 2 large, which was slightly more. oh well) 300 g soy milk (or your favorite dairy-free milk) 6 g nutmeg 7 g liquid vanilla (GF; I use Costco’s vanilla) 160 g dried currants more corn flour for dusting 1 egg, whisked together, for an egg wash Directions Prepare a large baking sheet with a layer of parchment paper (or a silicon sheet). Preheat oven to 400f. 1. Use a scale to measure your ingredients. I generally use a light volume measuring cup with pour spout, press the tare button to deduct the weight of the measuring cup and then start weighing my ingredients. If any get stuck to the bottom of your measuring cup you will want to tare the weight of the cup again. 2. Carefully sift the dry ingredients together (including nutmeg) into a large mixing bowl. Use a standing mixer bowl if you have it. My sifter is a metal wire strainer, and really does not do a good job. But, it is better than nothing. Use what you have on hand. 3. To cut in the margarine and shortening, I start the process by cutting the fats into the flour mixture with my fingers, but you can use a pastry blender if you prefer. Once it is halfway cut in, you can use the paddle attachment on your standing mixer to complete the job. Some people like to use their food processor to mix in fats, and that would probably work too. You want the dough to become like a coarse cornmeal in the end. Fold your currants into the dry mixture after it is a good texture. 4. Whisk the liquid ingredients together. 5. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Fold the liquid ingredients into the dry mixture until the ingredients are combined and you have a soft dough. Be careful not to mix too much, as this will result in a tough scone. 6. I had dough that was a little too soft, so perhaps I should have chilled it for 30 minutes. But, it was late at night, Baby Yum needed to go to bed, and I was tired, so I threw the dough onto a large sheet of wax paper and used the paper to fold the dough in half over itself multiple times, rotating the dough 90 degrees each time. Do this at least five times until you have a nice, soft dough. The dough may stick to the wax paper. Just peel off the wax paper as needed. I added a new sheet of wax paper to the top and even turned the dough over once or twice, never touching the dough itself but just manipulating the dough with the wax paper. 7. When you are satisfied with the dough, sprinkle the top generously with white corn flour (or sorghum), cover it with a fresh sheet of wax paper, flip it over CAREFULLY (a flat cookie sheet underneath or a pizza scoop will help do this without mishap), press the dough with your hand lightly (or you can use a rolling pin) through the wax paper to get it to be an even 1/2 in. thick. Then peel off the wax paper on the top of the dough and sprinkle the dough with more of your corn or sorghum flour. 8. To make my “British” style scones I used a small 2″ biscuit cutter. Flour the inside of the biscuit cutter and then use it to cut out round biscuits. You can wipe off the cutter and sprinkle more flour on the biscuit cutter if it starts to get sticky. You can also flour the biscuit dough as needed. Place each scone on your parchment paper covered cookie sheet with at least 2″ between each scone. They spread like mad, so beware! This recipe will make several sheets of scones. 9. Whisk together one additional egg and use a pastry brush to lightly baste the top of each scone with this egg wash before baking. 10. Bake at 400f for 10-12 minutes or until scone is lightly browned on top. Notes Best the first day they are made. The second day they are still good cold, but slightly dry. By the third day you will probably want to lightly microwave them before serving to compensate for any dryness. I experimented by freezing the final batch after it was cut into biscuit shapes. This may help with the spreading problem and with any graininess in the gluten-free flours. I’ll report back on this after I bake them.

Rating:  7 Original Source:  Based on Gisslen Ratio in the GF Ratio Rally ratios, but my original creation. Do not replicate without permission. Recipe ID:  1551 Added:  May 1, 2011 Last Modified:  May 2, 2011

I had so much fun participating in Nicola’s detox January, I could not wait to participate in Brittany of Real Sustenance’s April in the Raw blog event. Lately I’ve been enjoying experimenting with raw foods, and her event offered the perfect opportunity to try some ideas I’d had for a raw cheesecake.

The entries for the first week of the event look amazing and I am greatly looking forward to see the other divine entries.

For my entry, I wanted to try to create a delicious cheesecake like the ones I’ve enjoyed at Cafe Gratitude, an amazing raw foods cafe based in the San Francisco- Berkeley area. They now have a small cafe in my local Cupertino Whole Foods, yay! I found a lot of interesting recipes online that provided the inspiration for my recipe, but I wanted to do something a little different. I was initially thinking of making a strawberry or blueberry cheesecake, but as I stepped out the door of my house, I happened to see the lavender plant that I planted next to the door. I love lavender and use it every chance I can, either in body products (I love Dr. Bronner’s)), or in my natural housecleaning supplies. I add a few drops of essential oil in the vinegar and water I use to mop the floor, and drip a few into baking soda to use as a good carpet or couch deodorizer. Not unexpectedly, I also love lavender in food, whether it is delicately flavoring sugar cookies, ice cream, or chocolate. It is yummy however you use it. And so, when I saw this lavender plant on my doorstop with its beautiful small purple flowers, I thought- how beautiful would a mini-cheesecake be, drizzled in a little raw honey and festooned with lavender blossoms. Although I was inspired, I’m a fickle girl and wanted an assortment of flavors, so I still went to the grocery store and picked up some fresh fruit.

I started the recipe last night by soaking almonds and cashews overnight. Even though it is difficult for me to plan ahead enough to do this, I always enjoy the process of setting ingredients out to soak. It makes me feel half like Laura Ingalls Wilder and half like a witch preparing ingredients for some magical potion. This morning I made the almond nut milk and set it in a carton in the refrigerator, after sipping a little as a treat. The box stuff has nothing on the homemade almond milk! I cracked open my bottle of Organic Virgin Coconut Oil that Tropical Traditions had sent me free as a promotion. Woo hoo! Yay for free coconut oil! Next I made my molds for the cheesecake. I didn’t have springform pans that would have made it easy, so what I did was tape removable tart bottoms to my english muffin rings. Then I ground up pecans and date and pressed them into the tart pans as the crust. I put the crust in the refrigerator, made my filling, and then started playing with my fresh fruit and local, raw honey and lavender blossoms.

Ultimately I ended up making a very fun strawberry-kiwi raw cheesecake, mango cheesecake, and a blueberry topped cheesecake with a surprise. I enjoyed each flavor, but the honey lavender cheesecake was my hands down favorite. Sometimes honey has a little too much personality, but since the same is true of lavender, when they are put together somehow they harmonize to make something much more mellow. I could eat this cheesecake every day, if it weren’t for the fact that it requires me to think ahead to soak the nuts. Eating fresh flower blossoms always makes me feel like I’m dining on fairy food. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Gluten-free Raw Cashew Cheesecake with Pecan Date Crust Dessert  American

Ingredients 1 cup raw pecans 1/2 cup soaked medjool dates shredded raw coconut Filling: 3 cups cashews (soaked for at least 4 hours) 1/4 cup pine nuts (soaked for at least 30 minutes) 1/2 cup freshly made almond milk* 1/2 cup raw honey or agave (for almost-raw) 2/3 cup raw coconut oil 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 1-2 sun-dried vanilla bean, cut open and scraped out OR 2 or 3 tsp. vanilla (for almost-raw) sea salt to taste 6 mini springform pans OR english muffin rings taped to cardboard or metal circles OR silicon muffin liners work too but give a less cheesecake-like shape Directions Sprinkle shredded coconut in the bottom of each small springform pan. Then put your pecans and dates in the food processor and process until you have a sticky, crumbly dough. Pat it into the bottom of your pans but not up the sides. Put your pans in the refrigerate while you prepare the filling. Drain and rinse your cashews and pine nuts. Put in blender with the rest of your ingredients and process until smooth. If you have too much in your blender for one batch, you can separate it and process it in two batches until smooth and then combine them. Pour the filling into your individual cheesecake molds and put the molds in the freezer to firm up- about 3 or 4 hours. Variations: Honey Lavender Un-cheesecake: Use raw honey as your sweetener for the filling. Sprinkle top with fresh lavender flowers or sprigs and dabs of honey as desired. Strawberry Kiwi Un-cheesecake: top with chopped fresh strawberry and kiwi Blueberry Sauce Un-cheesecake: after the cheesecake has been in the freezer an hour or two and is firm, use a knife so that it is no longer attached to the sides of the mold. Top with blueberry sauce and put back in freezer to harden. Reserve some sauce for drizzling later if you like. Mango Un-cheesecake: Top with slices of fresh mango. *To serve, remove cheesecake from the freezer and carefully slide a knife around the edges of the mold so it is no longer attached to the side. gently remove from mold and then leave out at room temperature for 20 minutes or so (or put in refrigerator) until texture approximates cheesecake and is no longer frozen solid. Notes *I made a batch of almond milk by soaking 1 1/3 cup of raw almonds overnight, rinsing them and blending with 2 cups of filtered water until you have a smooth creamy liquid. Then I strained the liquid in tea straining bags (or nut bags, if you have them) and added some (optional) vanilla scrapings. Delicious, and you’ll have more than you need for this recipe!

Rating:  8 Original Source:  Contents of my brain, please do not replicate without permission Recipe ID:  1547 Added:  April 13, 2011 Last Modified:  April 15, 2011

Blueberry Sauce with a secret ingredient Sauces & Condiments  American

Ingredients 1 1/3 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, defrosted and rinsed) 1/2 avocado 1 tbsp. agave nectar 1 tsp. vanilla Directions Combine in food processor, blend and chill. Serve on vegan nut cream or raw cheesecake.

Rating:  7 Original Source:  The contents of my brain, please do not replicate without my permission. Recipe ID:  1548 Added:  April 13, 2011 Last Modified:  April 13, 2011