Recipe Review: Gluten-Free Bagels

While at the library this weekend, I came across a copy of Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry cookbook of gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free recipes by Elana Amsterdam. Within it's pages I was intrigued by a gluten free bagel recipe and put it aside on a pile of take-home and try cookbooks.  

Photo credit:  Leigh Beisch from the Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry

The photography in this book is delightful and quickly got me imagining how much I can save if I made my own gluten-free bagels. Aww, what a foolish dreamer I am.  

They look nowhere as appealing and they taste awful. A total epic failure and an expensive experiment. Amsterdam credits the recipe to Jenni Hulet, author of the blog The Urban Poser but I'm unable to find this recipe on her website. Instead, Hulet's blog does contains a recipe for Paleo Sourdough mini bagels and the recipe doesn't resemble Amsterdam's in the slightest.  

Paleo Cooking from Elana's Pantry

The only liquid called for in Amsterdam's bagel recipe is from the apple cider vinegar and eggs act as a binding agent. Hulet's recipe calls for less eggs and 1/2 cup of water which makes me question if there is a missing ingredient?  

I could experiment some more and try adding water to Amsterdam's recipe but I think I'm just going to move on and try a different bagel recipe altogether. Until then, it's gluten free store bought ones to keep me going.  

Gluten Free Fig and Macadamia Nut Biscotti Cookies

The other day I found a wonderfully delicious Red Fig Jam and it got me thinking about using it in a cookie recipe. I turned to the biscotti cookie recipe in the Cooking Light Gluten-Free Baking cookbook since it worked well in the past and went to work modifying the recipe.  Instead of pistachios, I used macadamia nuts, added chopped dried figs and some red fig jam.

Let me just say, these are delicious, taste wise I couldn't ask for better flavours. Texture wise, I think I will need to do some more tweaking with the recipe. It's a little soft in the centre.  Perhaps I should have flattened the dough a little more prior to the first bake.  And maybe added more flour to the mix to compensate for the figs and jam?  I'm definitely going to work with these flavours again because there is nothing to complain about in that department. In the meantime, I'll be enjoying the biscotti with a cup of tea.

Cheese making

I do believe that I have a new hobby, cheese-making.

I've been making mascarpone cheese out of necessity. You see my favourite desert calls for mascarpone cheese, which I used to find at my local grocery store. No more, its been discontinued. And I can't find it anywhere in the city. I know, the horror!  

Well, I discovered that it's easy peasy to make and cheap too. Which kind of makes me upset at the prices they were charging for a 475 gram container of mascarpone cheese at the grocery store. It is criminal! But I digress...

I found a recipe for mascarpone cheese in Barbara Ciletti's Making Great Cheese:  30 Simple Recipes from Cheddar to Chèvre.

My biggest challenge at making mascarpone cheese was trying to locate tartaric acid. Since there are no cheese-making supply business and cooking stores in the city don't carry tartaric acid, I thought I might be out of luck. I discovered along the tour of the city's many wine making supply stores that I can substitute citric acid for tartaric acid. And it worked! And at a fraction of the cost of store bought. I still can't believe how much I'm saving.  

So, now I that I have homemake mascarpone and homemade gluten-free lady-finger cookies, there will soon be Tiramisu.  

Good Eats!  

Chicken Livers

We are lucky to have access to produce from Wildfire Farms and this year I was especially lucky to pick up chicken livers. Oh my goodness, they are delicious. It's easy to cook delicious food when you have access to good product.  

Chicken livers

Sweet onions

Brown mushrooms

Shiitake mushrooms

Dry Sherry

Montreal chicken spice

How about you?  Do you have a favourite farm that supplies you with your good eats?  

Spiked Apple Crisp

Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. The plan was to make gluten-free apple pies. I had a El Peto gluten, wheat, milk, soya, and corn free pie crust mix and apples from the parents' backyard. There was no stopping me until my wrists became sore after cutting a large bowl of apples and the thought of kneading and rolling out dough made me change my mind.  

Apple crisp for those times you're feeling too lazy to make apple pie. For the topping I mixed certified organic and gluten free rolled oats, almond flour, cinnamon, diced butter and drizzled with amaretto.  

Happy Eats!  

Raspberries

This summer has been hot with lots of rain and raspberries. A lot of work to pick these up but so worth the work. Now to decide what to make with these, Raspberry Lemonade for sure.  

Blueberry, Peach & Apple Crisp

Nothing says summer to me more than a crisp and some watermelon lemonade. Today is too cool to enjoy a glass of lemonade but it is the perfect day to enjoy some blueberry, peach, and apple crisp.  

3 apples, peeled and sliced

3 peaches, sliced

1 cup blueberries

1/2 cup unsalted butter

5 tablespoons almond flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

3/4 cup organic gluten-free oats

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 cup amaretto

Layer the fruit in a baking dish, apples, peaches and then blueberries.  Now make the topping, dice the butter, and mix with the next four ingredients. Layer on top of the fruit.  Drizzle the amaretto.  Bake in a 350º F oven until apples are the desired tenderness. I usually bake this for about 25 minutes but it depends on the type of apples you like to use.  

Happy Eats!