Getting back on the Gluten Free track!

Have you ever wanted to just give up on baking GF. Throw in the towel and just say, NO MORE? I have. Actually, I did for several years. A gluten free lifestyle can be time consuming trying recipes, trying new flours, only to fail more oft than not. You end up throwing the end results in the garbage, ready to hang up the apron more than once, believe me I know, because I have been there more than once or twice.    Like today.... I made a loaf of bread which I thought would finally be perfection. Believe me it was not. It looked beautiful on the outside, beautifully browned, had the most delicious aroma. I had my butter n knife ready folks!

Well needless to say it will be going in the trash. Am I going to give up a second time???? That would be one big "NEGATORY"," as my youngest daughter would say. Remembering back to all the negative symptoms I had several years ago when I suddenly decided to toss aside my GF lifestyle, and the time it has taken me to get back on track, I am determined to stay in the race this time.

I do not post anything on my blog that I have not personally tried or created. Yes, there will be disappointment’s, an occasional catastrophe along the way, but believe me your health is worth staying strong and staying in the race. 

Some of the recipes on my blog when I first started it might be simple, maybe not chef worthy, but they work. They were a starting point and have helped me get toward where I want to be. 

I will be adjusting the measurements to this new bread recipe n giving it another try tomorrow. I wish I had taken a picture of it because although it didn’t meet up to my expectations it did look beautiful. 

I am also still getting use to a new gas oven when I have used electric for the past 18 years or so, so it is a challenge. I keep hitting the convection oven button instead of the oven button. Oh yeah, adjusting the flames on the burners is something I now need to master as well.... 

Yesterday I tried a new GF flour blend and made a pumpkin bread. Although the taste was definitely out of this world, I need to work a little more on the texture with my flour blend over the next few days before I post both the flour mixture and recipe for it also.  

It is the season for allergies! The goldenrod is in full bloom here in Pa and so I have been not only a little sneezy but I find trying to measure flour at this time has been somewhat of an obstacle to say the least. :<) I appreciate your patience and hope you will check back soon for the new revised recipes. So, until next post, have a great Gluten free day! 

Sharon

  

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Finally! Wow these past four weeks have been a whirlwind of disappointments. As you well know my stove went on the blink and kept throwing the electric breaker. After a few hundred dollars to have the breaker switched out only a few hours later the new breaker blew again.

Being the spend thrift that I try to be, we opted to have the electric line to the stove removed and a gas line put in. Since we have a gas furnace this wasn’t a hard process, but once again it cost $$$$$$$  Once completed, we were off to the nearest big chain hardware store to pick out a new gas range. We found one we really liked, made the purchase, only then to find it was a full three weeks for the delivery.

Biting my tongue, I accepted the time frame and pouted the whole way home. Delivery day finally arrived and we had everything in place, our cat Carmella placed in a room where she wouldn't bother the delivery people, and was all set!

As I stood on our porch watching the delivery person unloading and unwrapping the box in which it came, I had visions of brownies, coffee cakes, cookies all tossing about in my head. I felt like a child on Christmas morning.

My husband and the second delivery person were inside hooking up the gas hose connection to the main line and I was so excited I could barely contain my excitement...then it happened...as the box fell away, I noticed the whole back frame of the stove was damaged. My heart sank!

My husband called the company to tell them the damaged stove needed replaced only to find out we wouldn't be getting a replacement shipped for another three weeks. Enough is enough...Well after sleeping on it for a night I decided to go looking for a stove at some different appliance stores locally and found an even better stove, and it was actually delivered the next day. Hence, I am sharing my delicious chocolate cookie recipe and my mock gluten free flour mix it was made with.

It was a glorious feeling to be able to cook and bake on a stove after four full weeks of being without. So, I hope you give this recipe a try and enjoy it as much as my husband and I did after our never-ending journey of being without a stove. Drop me a line and tell me know how you liked the recipe. 

Till then,

Sharon

 

"MOCK" Jules all- purpose flour blend (all ingredients can be purchased from Amazon to the right of this post)

116 grams MODIFIED tapioca starch (not the same as regular tapioca starch)

192 grams potato STARCH

64 grams cornstarch

160 grams Very Fine white rice flour

62 grams corn FLOUR

4 teas xanthan gum

1 cup weighs 135 grams

 

GF Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 teas baking soda

1/2 teas salt

96 grams brown sugar (1/2 cup)

100 grams white granulated sugar (1/2 cup)

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup mini vanilla chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 teas vanilla extract

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room tempt

210 grams MOCK Jules flour (recipe above)

 

Set oven to 350 degrees Combine the gluten free flour mix, baking soda and salt all in a small bowl and set aside.

Next cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together on low speed of an electric mixer. Mixing on low, add the eggs, one at a time, and vanilla to the mix until all is smooth. Mix on low and slowly add the flour mixture until a soft dough forms. Then add the chips and chopped walnuts until just combined. Chill dough for about 30 minutes, placing bowl back in refrigerator between filling the cookie sheets to keep chilled. Chilling helps to keep the cookies from spreading too much when baking.

I used a cookie scoop to make about golf size balls of dough placing them on a parchment lined cookie sheet, about 6 per sheet depending on the size of your cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for about 10 to 14 minutes depending on the size of your cookies. I like a darker cookie so I baked mine for 14 minutes. However, your oven, and size of cookie dough balls might differ from mine, so check at 10 minutes and every minute after till you reach your desired darkness. Then bake your next batches with that set time.

Once they are done baking let them set on the trays on a rack for a few minutes to firm up before transferring them to a cookie rack to finish cooling, otherwise they might crack or fall apart.  They are softer in the center with a slightly crisper edge, which make them great dunking cookies.

I hope you enjoy the recipe. I will be posting again soon, so until then, ENJOY your Wheat Free Living!