Weekend Cooking is a weekly feature hosted by Beth Fish Reads, linking up food-related posts. Click here for links to this week’s Weekend Cooking posts on Beth Fish Reads and other blogs.
Gluten-free baking is my latest kitchen adventure.
Much of our old stuff can’t be used because of gluten that lingers in scratches and hard-to-clean spots, but so far I’ve resisted ordering all new gluten-free pans and have been making do with disposable aluminum, especially since there’s no family at home to eat a lot of baked goods, now that the holidays are a distant memory.
So the only new baking things we’ve acquired so far are:
Food processor (The old one needed a screwdriver to make it go, so it was time!)
Hand-held mixer (a cheap one, which I regret choosing whenever I use it)
Cookie sheets
Bundt pan
Muffin tin
Stackable cooling racks
Rolling pin & pastry mat
A few new mixing bowls (our old stainless steel ones are OK to use)
Grater
Rubber spatulas
Of course, any kitchen adventure requires new cookbooks, and I have acquired several! So far, my favorite one for baking is Nosh on This: Gluten-Free Baking from a Jewish-American Kitchen by Lisa Stander-Horel and Tim Horel. (Lisa graciously reworked our traditional Christmas morning coffee roll recipe so we could eat a delicious, gluten-free version this year. Lisa and Tim blog about baking at Gluten-Free Canteen, where their motto is “No cookie, strudel, brownie, pie, cake, tart, or treat left behind.”)
Most gluten-free baking cookbook authors have developed their own mixes to simplify their recipes, combining different flours and other ingredients into a mix that can be stored and used in their recipes. The mix recipe in Nosh on This called for superfine brown and white rice flours, which had to be special-ordered (not from the authors) so I made up the mix with regular brown and white rice flour, and the recipes I tried turned out great, anyway, but would probably be even better with the exact ingredients.
Nosh on This has recipes for all the traditional Jewish treat recipes you can think of (rugelach, strudel, babka); others that you might not expect to be possible (gluten-free egg noodles, matzo, challah); and many, many standards that don’t require a holiday as an excuse to eat (brownies, cookies, cakes, candies, and tarts of all varieties.) The recipes are extremely clear and the recipe introductions are chatty and informative. The food photography is excellent!
View an excerpt from the Nosh on This here to see the layout, recipe style, and some great photos.
What I’ve made so far (If recipes are available online, click on the photos to get them.):
Now that I have the superfine flours, I have plenty more recipes from Nosh on This that I want to try, such as Marzipany Gooey Brownies, Braided Challah in the Round, Chocolate Nut Two-Bite Tarts, and Lemon Poppy-Seed Cookies. There is also a candy recipe that I thought of trying – Chocolate-Covered Nutella Hearts – but it looked a little too complicated for me at the time, so I made the truffles instead. Maybe next Valentine’s Day!
Disclosure: I own my own copy of Nosh on This – a gift from my daughter M., who is mentioned in the acknowledgments and works for the publisher.
Nosh on This
Stander-Horel, Lisa and
Horel, Tim
The Experiment, Sept. 2013
9781615190867
288 pp.
$19.95 US
This looks absolutely awesome! I know what to get my GF friends for presents this year.
Great work! Cheers
Cut yourself some slack! That’s a lot of new equipment to buy, especially considering that we don’t even live at home anymore (and considering that I haven’t even managed to buy a Bundt pan yet myself).
How big were the Nutella bites you made? The ones I tried that Lisa made for the office were itty-bitty (made in a mini muffin pan) but yours look a little bigger, maybe just because of the perspective. I could definitely go for a regular-muffin-sized Nutella bite…maybe not all in one bite…but yeah, that’d be awesome.
Glad you like the book! I might bake something from it this week (the black & white cookies?!), though I don’t have the right flours yet. Will have to see if any stores nearby have them in stock.
No, the Chewy Nutella Bites were mini-muffin-sized. (I wouldn’t have been able to serve them to you or A., because I used our old pan to make them.) And Dad bought the new Bundt pan; that’s the only reason we have it. I concentrated my efforts on cookie and pie paraphernalia, because those are my favorites.
Wow, everything you made looks so yummy. I like the idea of gigantic cookies and Nutella Bites :). It’s great that there are lots more alternatives and cookbooks, etc., for GF people now than there were 10-15 years ago.
Oh wow, who even knew there could be such a thing as GF Black and Whites! Must get the recipe!
Wow, these look fantastic! I have been wanting to try gluten free recipes because some suggest it will be helpful for my Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). I would so love to try those Nutella bites, we love Nutella.
Stopping by from Weekend Cooking. I have restarted my Small Victories Sunday linky which is my reading/cooking recap from the past week and my goals for the week ahead. I hope you will stop by and link up to 3 of your posts.
http://momssmallvictories.com/small-victories-sunday-7-one-make-comeback/
I’m going to tell my sister-in-law about this book, it looks good.
Oh, those black and white cookies look great! I’ve been meaning to try to make them. Maybe I’ll use this gluten-free recipe…
I really love those B&W cookies. Most days, those are my favorite of all from the book. Let me know how you like the superfine flours v. the reg – I think you might notice a difference in some of the cookies and especially the pie crusts. Thanks, Laurie.
So grateful you shared this — we have a friend just diagnosed with celiac disease, and we’re dying to dig in an make a GF feast for her (we’re always hosting dinners but none that are very GF-friendly — but we’re learning!).
I will! I’m looking forward to trying more recipes. I ran out of tapioca flour after the superfine rice flours came in!
It’s definitely a learning experience! Non-stick pans, cast iron pans, and kitchen stuff like food processors, mixers, plastic bowls, cutting boards, wooden spoons, whisks, etc. can all retain gluten in cracks and crevices, so you have to keep separate equipment or only use stainless steel pans and bowls that can go through the dishwasher.
Click on the photo for the recipe on the Gluten-Free Canteen blog! http://www.glutenfreecanteen.com/2012/11/05/the-big-fat-black-white-cookie-gluten-free/
There are so many good recipes for desserts and treats, and other things like crackers, muffins, and breads. Even doggy treats!
It all looks so yummy! I don’t think there’s a limit to how big cookies can be, actually the bigger the better sugar-high or not!
[…] pulled out my favorite gluten-free baking cookbook, Nosh on This, which I’ve posted about before. This cookbook is a definite keeper, but while I purchased the extra-fine brown and white rice […]