Double Dark Chocolate Muffins

Double Dark Chocolate Gluten-Free, Egg-Free Muffins

Ok...  So as many of you gluten-free eaters out there know, it can be a difficult task to bake a delicious muffin without gluten.  It is even more challenging to bake a delicious tender gluten-free muffin without eggs!  In most gluten-free baked items, eggs (sometimes in combination with a starch such as tapioca or potato) are used to help bind and create texture due to the lack of gluten dirived texture and binding qualities. When one is not able to use the eggs, even an egg substitute falls short of this huge responsibility many times.

It took many tries, but finally I was able to acheive a muffin that is gluten-free, egg-free, free of hydrogenated fats, but yet rich, delicious and moist. 

DRY INGREDIENTS:
2/3 c. Dark Cocoa Powder, (we like Hershey's Special Dark... and it works ok with all the allergies we deal with!)
1 c. Buckwheat Flour
3/4 c. Masa Harina
1 1/4 c. Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
3/4 tsp. salt

WET INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c. Flaxseed Egg Substitute Mixture*  (or two large eggs, if you don't have to avoid them)
1 c.  Milk, or your favorite milk substitute (almond milk and coconut milk are both great in this recipe!)
2 tsp. Vinegar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1/4 c. Applesauce, unsweetened
1/4 c. Vegetable or Canola Oil

Optional Add-Ins:
1 c. Dark Chocolate Chips (or other favorite chips)
1/2 c. Coconut, shredded, unsweetened or sweetened
1/2 c. Chopped Pecans
1/2 c. Sunflower Seeds
 Or anything else you prefer....

Struesel Topping:
 1/4 c.  Buckwheat flour (or any GF AP flour mix that you like)
1/2 c.  Brown Sugar
2 Tbs. Butter, softened but not melted.

In a large bowl mix together all the Dry Ingredients.  Then measure all the Wet Ingredients right into the mixing bowl with the Dry Ingredients.  Then mix together well with a whisk until mostly smooth.  There is no real need here to mix all the wet ingredient together before adding to the dry as you would with full gluten muffins...  there is no gluten in these to make it tough!  Just stop mixing when the batter is just about all smooth and you'll be all set!  At this point fold in any of the "Optional Add-Ins" that you choose.  The muffins pictured above just had the dark chocolate chips added.  Scoop the batter into well greased muffin tins (or likewise use cupcake papers...) to about 3/4 full.

If you choose to add the Struesel Topping, simply mix the flour and brown sugar together well, and then cut in the butter with a pastry blender or use your fingers, until it resembles crumbs the size of peas or smaller.  Sprinkle this mixture over the uncooked batter and proceed to bake.  In the picture shown above, the middle muffin has the Struesel Topping and the two others do not. When I choose to add coconut into the muffin batter (which is absolutely delicious, by the way) I sprinkle the tops with the shredded coconut instead of the struesel topping.  It's up to you!

Bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  The tops of the muffins should feel firm to the touch.  I like to check a couple of the muffins by inserting a wooden skewer or cake tester into the center.  If it comes out clean (with the exception of any melted chocolate chips) then they are done!  Remove from oven and immediately remove, CAREFULLY, from the muffin tins.  Allow to cool for maybe 5 minutes or so.

These muffins are best when served warm.  At room temperature they are just a little dryer than when warm, but still quite good.  They will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days, and they freeze extremely well.  Put them in the freezer and take out just what you need the night before. Then, at breakfast, warm them in the microwave if you wish, or wrap in foil and warm in a 350 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes while your getting ready for your day!


*Please see the post called "Egg Substitutes" for more information regarding the Flaxseed Egg Substitute.  If you are not allergic to eggs, simply use real eggs instead of the substitute. 

Salmon Patties

My family loves salmon, but have you noticed the prices lately?  Fresh and even frozen salmon fillets are quite expensive to eat on a regular basis, as least for our current family budget.  In order to enjoy salmon and also it's health benefits, I make a gluten-free, egg-free version of the "old fashioned" New England favorite using canned alaskan salmon.  The "old fashioned" version I grew up eating was bound together with crushed saltine crackers, eggs, and milk.  It was delicious, but not a good option when dealing with food allergies.  So I have developed this recipe that uses no gluten or eggs.  I do use milk, but any milk substitute that you like will work well (substituted in equal amounts) with this recipe.

When purchasing canned salmon I always make sure that it specifies on the can that it is a product of the US, specifically wild Alaskan salmon, for best quality for the price.  Red Sockeye or Pink will both work well.  About the only difference is the Red Sockeye salmon will be a brighter pink color, but when used in this capacity, it renders the same result as the Pink, except the end result with be more pink in color.  Pictured above is Salmon Patties made with the Pink salmon.  I usually get pink for this on an everyday basis because the price is cheaper. If I was going to make these for a special occasion, like an appetizer for a holiday gathering for example, I might pay a little more for the brighter color.

(2) 14.75 oz. cans of Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon
1/4 c. Coconut Flour
1 Lime, juiced and zested
1 Tbs.  milled Flaxseed
2 Tbs. Buckwheat Flour
1/2  Medium sized Sweet Onion, finely diced, caramelized
1/3 c. milk (or favorite milk substitute)
Salt & Pepper to Taste

After opening the cans of salmon, hold lid in place and pour out the liquid that the salmon is packed in.  Then, gently turn salmon out of cans onto a plate and scrape away and discard any skin that is present and also remove and discard the back bones.  Any other small bones found in it will easily break up into the mixture when stirring and is good to leave in for extra calcium (no, they don't crunch when you eat them, you will never know they are there..).  Place salmon into a mixing bowl and add to it the coconut flour, lime juice and 1/2 the zest (save the rest for another use, flaxseed, buckwheat flour, caramelized onions, milk, salt and pepper.  Mix together well with fork or fingers.  You will know that you have the right amount of moisture and dry ingredients (the binders) when you can squeeze some of the salmon mixture lightly in your hand and it holds together, without liquid squeezing through your fingers (which means you need a little more buckwheat flour...) or having to pack it like a snowball (which would mean you need a little more milk or milk substitute).  Form mixture into patties, cook on a medium low greased skillet until golden brown, then turn over and cook until golden brown on the second side.  Serve immediately with ketchup, tartar sauce, remoulade sauce, or other favorite condiment (tartar sauce and remoulade sauce are not usually egg-free, so please be careful if allergic to eggs!).  If you have any leftovers, they are great the following day as a sandwich, either hot or cold. Wow... there's a fond childhood memory coming back of salmon sandwiches in my school lunch!  With ketchup of course!

Serving suggestion:  We like to eat them with rice and fresh pineapple or mango.  A nice fruit salsa would be great with these too.  Below, is a salmon patty pictured with rice, pineapple and a chili lime remoulade sauce made out of a combination of things I had in the fridge:  mayo, thousand island dressing, hot sauce, chili powder, lime juice/zest, salt, pepper... I didn't measure just mixed until it tasted good.  ;o)  Have fun eating your weekly dietary seafood allowance!

Salmon patty with rice, fresh pineapple, and chili lime remoulade sauce

Going Nutty with Coconut Flour

It's amazing how life can sometimes just get busy out of nowhere... and then I find myself going almost a week without posting anything!    When I posted the buckwheat coconut pancake recipe, I had planned to post some information about coconut flour on the next day, since I don't have any information on this flour listed in my "gluten-free flours post"...  so much for my plan!

So, finally, here it is, my first experience working with coconut flour:

Coconut Flour

Coconut flour is more coarse than buckwheat or masa harina, closer to that of rice flours.  It has a creamy light yellow color with a sweet fragrance, and a delicious rich coconut flavor..  but not sweet tasting like the flaked coconut we are used to buying at the supermarkets. It also seems to lend a slightly creamy richer texture to the items made with it.

I decided to make pancakes and initially started out using 100% coconut flour.  The package of coconut flour had a couple of recipes on the back, and one used just coconut flour and one used a ratio of 1 part coconut flour to three parts brown rice flour.  I decided to initially try the coconut flour at 100% instead of combining another flour with it, to see how it works on its own.  When I added the liquid to the recipe the coconut flour totally soaked it up and I had to continue adding liquid...  I started out with about 2 1/2 cups coconut flour and about 2-2 1/2 cups of liquid...  I ended up adding about 10 cups liquid!  The coconut flour just kept soaking it up and expanding!  I ended up with almost 3 1/2 qts of batter!!!  Then when I tried to cook the batter in the skillet, the batter just started breaking apart, I couldn't even attempt to get a spatula under any part of it.  I might as well been stirring it, instead of trying to flip anything... It was crazy!

It was then I decided that it needed another flour in it to help with binding in the cooking stage.  I had buckwheat or masa harina to chose from and opted for the buckwheat flour thinking the flavors would meld better.  All in all, I ended up adding about 2 1/2 cups of buckwheat flour to the batter and then, of course, had to add just a little more liquid to the batter.  So, yes, in return ended up with even MORE batter!!  My "stock pot mixing bowl" was full!!  But, at that point, the batter would cook on the skillet and hold together to flip it over without falling apart.

When cooking in a skillet with coconut flour, I found that the batter was very apt to stick even when greasing the pan well...  so this is something to watch out for.  I have not baked with it yet, as I don't have an oven yet to try it out with...  I am assuming that for some baked items you would still have to either grease your pan extremely well, or use silicone mats or parchment paper.  Also in baking with it you might be able to use a higher ratio of coconut flour to other gluten-free flour, but that is for another experiment.

For now, my advice with working with coconut flour at this point would be:

1. Always use 50% or more of another gluten-free flour with the coconut flour.
2. Always plan on increasing your liquids in the recipe by the same amount of coconut flour that you use.  If you are using 1/2 c. of coconut flour, plan on increasing the liquid in that recipe by 1/2 c.
3. Try using an egg substitute powder with any recipe using the coconut flour...(I am going to try this next time) if you have to avoid using eggs.  I have not tried this idea yet, but I think it might help in the area of the heaviness.  I tend to use the flaxseed substitute in everything, but the egg substitute powder might be worth trying in this capacity.  (If you try it, please let me know how it works!!)  If you are able to use eggs, you might have no problem at all with the heaviness.  See my Egg Substitutes post for information on how to sub real eggs for the substitute.

My opinion of coconut flour:

1. I like the flavor and texture that it adds to recipes, but I am a coconut lover to begin with.
2. I like the nutrition quality of this flour.
3. I would highly recommend using this to anyone who likes (and is not allergic to) coconut, espcially keeping in mind the three things above that I learned from using it...

Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts on using coconut flour and the experienced you have had with this, as I plan to use it more in other recipes, and would love to learn anything new about this product.

Until Next Time:   Have Fun Experimenting..  Go a little nutty with your coconutty flour!

Coconut Buckweat Pancakes

Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 1/4 c. Coconut Flour
1 1/2 c. Buckwheat Flour (light or dark)
1/4 c. Sugar
2/3. tsp Bakewell Cream*
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 Tbs. Veg. Oil (or melted butter)
2 c. Milk (or favorite milk substitute)
1 c. water
1/4 c. flaxseed egg substitute

Procedure:
Combine all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Add all of the wet ingredients and stir together.  In working with coconut flour, you may find that it absorbs quite a bit of moisture (please see tomorrow's post when I discuss my experience trying out coconut flour).  This batter will be thicker than a "normal" pancake batter, but it should still be able to spread on it's own a little bit when poured onto the griddle, you may have to spread it out with a stroke or two of a spoon, but it should not sit idle in a clump on the pan, or be so runny that is spreads really thin.  Cook on a medium hot skillet, well buttered (or oiled).  Until the bottom is golden brown and the top should be starting to set.  These will not get bubbles in the raw batter on the top while they cook like "full gluten" pancakes (please see bottom left picture).  Carefully loosen them from the pan, as they will be prone to stick because of the high protein content of the coconut flour.  Flip them over and finish cooking the other side.  They will be firm to the touch and seem somewhat heavier than "full gluten" pancakes.

Pancake ready to flip

Pancake, after being flipped

       *************************************************************************************

The flavor of these is very good.  The sweet coconut flavor blends well with the buckwheat flour (which can sometimes overpower an item) making the buckwheat taste more like a whole wheat blend.  The texture is heavier than that of the other buckwheat pancakes that I have posted, and much heavier than "normal full gluten pancakes".  When warm the pancakes have almost a creamy inside texture, when cool they become sturdy enough to make a delicious almond butter (or SunButter) sandwich out of.  My son really likes them for a snack as well as breakfast!  In the picture above, they are shown with the Citrus Prickly Pear Sauce, which was a great combination.  My son tends to eat them warm with butter and a sprinkle of sugar or cinnamon sugar.  Because of their heavy nature, and high protein content these are very filling and a healthy start to the day!  These would be great with mini chocolate chips added or maybe some mashed banana...  or Both!  Sounds like a good experiment to try next!


*Bakewell Cream is a leavening again manufactured in Maine, and usually only found in stores in Maine and other parts of New England.  I highly recommend using this in most quick breads and especially biscuits.  If you are not able to procure the Bakewell Cream, you can simply use 1 tsp Baking Powder and 1/2 tsp of Baking Soda, it will still work good for these pancakes with the coconut flour.

Citrus Prickly Pear Sauce

Citrus Prickly Pear Sauce with Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes

 PRICKLY PEARS!
I can honestly say I have never made anything out of them before, let alone even hold one in my hand!  A friend gave me some prickly pear syrup before (thank you MW!!) from Arizona, that was good, very vibrant red and sweet with a slightly fruity flavor, but mostly really sweet.  I was impressed at the time with the color, almost neon, naturally, with no added colors... amazing!  Well, I happened to find some prickly pears at a local farmers market, so I decided to get some to experiment!  Fun, Fun! 

I was so excited about experimenting that I got home, put them in my refrigerator and forgot about them until about a week later!!  Isn't that always the way??  When I took them out I wondered if they were still good.  They didn't look bad, about the same as when I got them, a combination of green and dark reddish.  Luckily when I bought them the pricklies were already removed, so I didn't have to worry about that, but I had no idea the best way to get into them or what to do with them besides syrup...

After researching for a while online (I highly recommend reading Root Simple, a blog that has a plethora of prickly pear info, including the fact that 2 1/2 lbs of prickly pears will yeild about 2 1/2 c. of juice...)  I did figure out the best way to get into them, see steps below:

 1.  Cut the ends off the prickly pear...                                                  2.  Make a slice in the skin from one end of the pear to the other...

3.  Peel the skin off...                                                                       4.  Then just cut up the fruit into chunks, leaving the seeds in there...

I learned that the prickly pears are mostly used for jams, jellies and syrups, because of the texture of the fruit and the fact that they have quite a lot of little "jaw-breaker" like seeds.  Research also taught me that one of the easiest ways to get the seeds out is to cook it down and then strain it..  Step 4, shows the chunks ready to cook in a 1 qt sauce pan.  I had only purchased three of these little gems because I wasn't sure what I was doing with them yet...   at this point I am realizing that I am not going to get a very big yeild out of this, whatever it ends up to be.  (Yes, I was still undecided at this point...)

I added just about 1/4 c. water into the pot with the fruit, figuring that it would most likely evaporate out during the cooking process, but wanted to make sure there was enough moisture to 1. prevent scorching, 2. to help cook down the pulp a little quicker.  As the pulp began to break down I added some sugar, and continued to simmer on low until the sugar was dissolved and most of the pulp was cooked down enough to go through a strainer, and leave mostly the seeds.  The picture below is how it looked at this point.
  

During this cooking time is when I decided to make a sauce out of this.  In a couple of days I was planning on making some pancakes, and I had no syrup to go with them.  Because real maple syrup is so expensive right now, and because we don't buy regular pancake syrup due to the corn syrup/high fructose corn syrup that is in it, among other artificial things we stay away from, I figured this would be a good replacement.  Before I strained it I tasted it, and it was sweet with just a slight fruitiness to it, and I had maybe 1/2 c. of juice.  Hhhhmmm, was hoping for more...  What did I have to put into it that would taste good with it, but also extend it a little more.  I found three Florida oranges in my fridge and decided those would work!  So I juiced all three of them into the pot, seeds, and pulp going in along with the juice, after all, it was going to be strained anyway.  See picture below:

Again, I put it back on the heat to simmer for about 2 more minutes, just to extract flavor out of any of the pulp from the oranges, then strained it. Unfortunately I didn't have a fine mesh strainer (which I would highly recommend) so the end sauce still had a few small pieces of pulp, and I did have a couple of stray seeds that had to be picked out with a spoon, no big deal.  At the very end, I added about 1/2 Tbs of salted sweet cream butter, and swirled it in (I have no whisk...) until it was completely melted.  It ended up being delicious and could easily be a coulis by adding a touch of cornstarch slurry (cornstarch dissolved into cold water, adding to boiling sauce while whisking) and then straining it in a fine mesh strainer.  Since I didn't have the cornstarch at the time, or the whisk for that matter, I kept it at a thinner sauce.  I could have thickened it by simmering longer and reducing, but I wouldn't have much left at that point!  I ended up with about 1 cup, maybe slightly less.

Ingredient List:
3 Prickly Pears
1/4 c. water
3 T. sugar (or to taste)
3 Oranges -juiced
1/2 Tbs Salted Butter  *if you can't have dairy, you could leave this out, or add another flavoring or liquor that you can have

End yeild:  about 1 cup.

The sauce was great!  We ate it with gluten-free, egg-free Coconut Buckwheat Pancakes (pictured at top of post), which will most likely be my blog for tomorrow, so don't forget to check in then!  In the meantime, I'm going to go figure out when I can work another trip to the farmers market into my schedule!

The *NEW* Living Free Kitchen Essentials Store!

I am taking the opportunity today to announce the "Grand Opening" of my new Kitchen Essentials Store! 

(Please see page link at the top of my blog home page called "Shop at my Kitchen Essentials Store") 

This is a store which I have set up so that I can easily refer you to items that I have used before and like.  It will contain everything from grocery items (especially those related to food allergies) to favorite kitchen gadgets, and possibly other items as time goes.  I will be "shopping" often to add more favorite items into my store, so please check frequently.  Also, when I discuss a certain brand item that I have tried, and have a recommendation for that product, I will be sure to have it available in my store anytime it is possible. 

Yes!  You can actually purchase items here in my store!  It is powered through Amazon.com, but linking to my blog and stocked by me.
It will make it easy for you to find some very good gluten-free, egg-free, peanut-free, casein-free products and handy kitchen tools.

And remember....

CHRISTMAS IS COMING!!!

A New Discovery

Most of his life, my son has seemed oblivious to whether he was in control or not.  I think getting in trouble, or being in his own world was just normal for him.  Even while on medication, because of the side effects he was still being disciplined constantly for his violent behavior, instead of his crazy behavior.  Now that he has experienced what it is like to be what he calls "normal",  since eliminating the foods that trigger the symptoms (for almost a year now), and being off the medication, he has just experienced another new feeling:

Just recently he recognized the feeling of going out of control as it was coming on, before totally "losing it".  It was just a few weeks ago when we had decided to eat at a pizza place that has a gluten-free crust.  It was the first time we had eaten there and I double checked about the gluten, it was safe, and we all thoroughly enjoyed the service and the pizza.  It was delicious.  My son loved the gluten-free pizza, he was starving so he ate a lot...  this kid is only about 80 lbs at 11yrs old but he can put away some food!  About 15 minutes after finishing pizza, we were walking in a store, and he looked at me and said, "I think there was something in that pizza that was bad.  I feel it..  it's starting to come up to my head."  I tried to have him explain exactly what he meant and he said it was like he was starting to get shaky, but in his head, not really his body. Sure enough!  Just a few minutes after that, he was totally out of control!  Just absolutely crazy, and it lasted until into the next day sometime.  So I doubled checked the ingredients again in the crust...  it had eggs in it!  That was most likely the culprit!  (Although, you never know, there could have been some cross-contamination occurring with the wheat flour. I did read the reviews on their gluten-free pizza ahead of time and everyone that reviewed it said they had to problems...)

So far, this has only happened once.  Most of the time, my husband and I notice that he is very "wound up", hyper, and just can't seem to control himself.  In these cases, he doesn't realize it until we say something to him about it.  Then together we try and pinpoint what it is that is making this happen.  I am not sure yet, if it needs to be a big quantity of the allergen for him to notice the onset of the symptoms, or if he will simply gain awareness of the feelings over time. 

Either way,  I took this as a new step in his life..  hoping that as he grows and matures, he will become a responsible, healthy eater, being very aware of the consequences of eating the wrong foods, and thus, not having to rely on his parents as being the "food police".  Don't get me wrong, he still gets in trouble (like "normal" kids do, for "normal" kids stuff), he is still a high-energy kid, and constantly talks unless he is sleeping (this runs in the family... just ask my husband *laughing*) but he is becoming more aware of the world around him and the effects he has on it.  It still seems like a slow process at times, but other times we have days that "go down in family history".