Spumoni Cookies

This is not your ordinary cookie. When you look at the top five most popular cookies, you get chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, oatmeal, and sugar cookies—nothing remotely similar to spumoni cookies. And you won’t find them on long lists of cookie flavors. These are very special cookies—the kind you might bake for your closest friend, for a special occasion, or to impress the recipient.

Many years ago, when we lived in New Orleans, there was favorite local ice cream place in the French Quarter called Angelo Brocato’s Italian Ice Cream Parlor on Ursulines Street. It was here that I first tasted spumoni ice cream: a brightly-colored ice cream with chocolate, pistachios, dried fruit, and lemons. To this day, spumoni ice cream is a favorite of mine.  Alas, Brocato’s has moved uptown, but back then it was the coolest place, with slowly turning ceiling fans, tile floors, and rows of apothecary jars. In these cookies, I tried to recreate that taste sensation. The recipe specifies maraschino cherries because Alex loves them, but chopped dried cherries taste just as good, even if they are not brightly colored and festive. I began my recipe development with Almond Cloud Cookies from King Arthur’s website so you’ll notice some resemblance, but these cookies contain less sugar, less almond paste, and lots of interesting flavor add-ins.

The batter looks so pretty!

(Makes 20 cookies)

Ingredients:

8 ounces almond paste

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites, room temperature

2 teaspoons Amaretto (or almond extract)

½ cup cacao nibs

½ cup chopped pistachios

12 maraschino cherries, chopped and blotted dry (or ½ cup chopped dried cherries)

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, blend the almond paste, sugar, salt, and egg whites until the mixture is a smooth paste.

3. By hand, stir in the nibs, nuts, cherries, and lemon zest.

4. Scoop the dough into 1-inch balls and press down slightly with dampened fingers to flatten the tops.

5. Bake the cookies for 35 minutes, until they're brown around the edges. Allow to set for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack.

Grapefruit Muffins

Every year the Brattleboro Music Center sells citrus fruits as a winter fundraiser. Every year, we order a case of organic grapefruit. I’m one of those people who loves grapefruit and peels and eats them by the slice. But I always seem to forget how many grapefruit really come in a case. And, as with any fresh fruit, their size and sweetness varies with the year and time of season. This year, I got a pretty puckery bunch. I’ve been slowly eating them and giving some to friends, but have been on a quest for ways to incorporate them in meals. Grapefruit is great just broiled with a little sprinkling of brown sugar, and it pairs extremely well with avocados in a salad, but I’ve found my new favorite use in these Grapefruit Muffins. These are not cakey, but very much muffins. They are moist with a sunny yellow color and texture kind of like corn muffins--perfect to brighten up a breakfast platter on a dark winter morning. Although baked, they very much retain the taste of a fresh grapefruit. If you want a more subtle grapefruit-ness, use the zest of only ½ grapefruit.

Ingredients:

¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (105g) light buckwheat

¾ cup (105g) tapioca starch

¼ cup (30g) coconut flour

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup plain full-fat Greek yogurt (such as Fage)

½ cup sugar

½ cup honey

4 large eggs

Zest of one grapefruit

1/3 cup grapefruit juice

1/2 cup canola oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 12-muffin tin plus a small loaf pan or ramekin.

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, coconut flour, ginger, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.

Using a hand mixer, blend together the yogurt, sugar, honey, eggs, grapefruit zest, and grapefruit juice. Beat in the dry ingredients. By hand stir in the oil until well-combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, filling them to about ½ inch from the top. Spoon the remainder into the loaf pan or ramekin.

Bake for 20 minutes until tops are lightly browned and the tops spring back when pressed. Allow to cool for ten minutes before removing the muffins and transferring them to a cooling rack.

Just in Time for St. Patrick's Day: Chocolate Chai Bourbon Truffles

Raw pumpkin seeds make these truffles mighty festive.

About 80% of Vermont’s roads are dirt and gravel. They make for a lovely way of life and a great place to bike and walk most of the year. But in mud season the roads we have bumped and slid over all winter turn to gnarly, deeply rutted mud. Some seasons it has been so bad that cars have been known to sink in so far that the driver gets stuck and is so deeply embedded that he or she can’t get their car door open. Mud season in Vermont usually comes around the time of St. Patrick’s Day. It is literally a bittersweet time since the weather that produces impossible to navigate mud also brings maple syrup season. What better way to celebrate St.Patrick’s Day than with these green studded truffles sweetened with just Vermont maple syrup and dates. They are vegan, nut-free, and a snap to whip up.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds, finely chopped

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

10 medjool dates, pitted

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut oil

¾ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/8 cup bourbon

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon cardamom

¼ teaspoon finely ground fresh black pepper

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse the pumpkin seeds until finely chopped and set aside in a separate bowl.

2. Hand chop the crystallized ginger and set aside.

3. In the food processor, combine the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes on high.

4. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the truffle mixture to thicken somewhat.
5. Using a damp teaspoon, scoop out about 1-inch diameter balls of the truffle mixture, drop them in the pumpkin seeds, and roll them around until covered. Dampen the spoon as necessary to prevent sticking. Place the truffles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour or until set.

Veggie Burgers! Red and Black Bean Burgers on a Vermont Country Roll

Sometimes you just want a veggie burger.  Sometimes, like here in Vermont where it has not been above freezing for two months, you’re desperate to make something on the grill. I found my recipe in mother and daughter, Alice Randall and Caroline Randall Williams’ new cookbook Soul Food Love. When I first received the book, I thought I would scan through the recipes and find something that I could adapt to gluten free. Imagine my surprise when I learned that just about everything in the book is gluten free. Out of all the recipes, only three, Pepper Coins, Moorish Pizza, and Crepe Stack use any ingredient that contains gluten. It is a simple matter to substitute gluten free bread products in the first two recipes. For the Crepe Stack, we’ve got you covered in my new cookbook Against The Grain for light buckwheat crepes. But you simply have to try assembling the crepes using the mother and daughter's recipe for a healthy mint custard based on Greek yogurt.

Back to the Red and Black Bean Burgers. I followed the recipe just as written, but when I realized I only had smoked paprika instead of regular paprika, I added that as well as two teaspoons of Liquid Smoke. When I went to form the patties, I was stunned by how well they held together and how delicious (and legit) they looked.

It was then that I decided to deviate from the recipe, which calls for cooking the burgers on the stovetop with two tablespoons of oil. Stepping through snow on the front porch, I fired up the grill to medium-hot (about 400 degrees Farenheit.) I lightly brushed both the grill and the sides of the burgers with olive oil, and taking a guess based upon the recipe, grilled them for 6 minutes on each side. Just look at that burger!

It is quite a testament to the recipe that the burgers held up beautifully for grilling. And compared to commercial veggie burgers, of which there are very few that are gluten free, there is no comparison. This was a moist, kind of southwestern-tasting burger (probably because of my additions of smoked paprika and liquid smoke, but I loved the flavor.) I served the burgers on one of our dairy-free Vermont Country Rolls on a bed of arugula and topped with a sauce I made from one part Green Mountain Gringo Salsa to one part sour cream.  In a word, outstanding! Soul Food Love is worth that recipe alone, and those burgers will be a staple in this household for meatless dinners and vegetarian dinner guests.

I received Soul Food Love through Blogging for Books for reviewing purposes.

Healthy Banana Chocolate Muffins

A couple of weeks ago, I was staying with my mom in South Carolina attending to another family member who was ill. I had picked up a bunch of bananas for my mom, but in the hub-bub of coming and going, they began to ripen …and ripen. I don’t know what it is with bananas, but seeing a perilously ripe banana inspires tremendous guilt in me. No one, including me, wants to throw away a perfectly good banana, even if it is kind of mushy and sickly sweet (at least in my opinion.) I searched around my 93 year-old mom’s pantry, which wasn’t particularly well-equipped for baking projects, to see what I could cob together with bananas. The result was banana muffins. Honestly, the crumb was so tender and moist that these could have easily passed for healthy cupcakes.

Back at home in Vermont, there were more overly ripe bananas waiting for me. At my mom’s, she had a box of King Arthur’s All-Purpose Gluten Free Baking mix, but at home, I decided to try my own combination of flours and see how a little cocoa changed the flavor profile. Both versions were absolutely the best banana muffins I’ve ever eaten, gluten-free or not. Feel free to try either version by simply omitting the cocoa and using either King Arthur flour or the blend shown below.  And go ahead and ice them with cream cheese frosting, if you like.

Makes 12 cupcakes plus a little banana cake

Ingredients:

3 ripe bananas

½ cup plain Greek yogurt

½ cup honey

¼ cup olive oil

2 large eggs

¼ cup cocoa

1 packed cup King Arthur Flour (or ½ cup (60g) light buckwheat flour, ½ cup (70g) tapioca starch and 1/8 cup (15g) coconut flour)
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°F and grease a 12-muffin tin plus a small ramekin.

Mash the bananas with a fork and using a hand mixer, blend the bananas with the yogurt, honey, olive oil, eggs, and cocoa.

Beat in the flour(s) and then beat in the baking powder and baking soda.

Spoon about ¼ of batter into each muffin cup and spoon the remainder into the ramekin.

Bake for 19 to 20 minutes or until the tops spring back and a toothpick comes out clean.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Brownie Cookies

Makes 3-1/2 dozen

Our baking day at Against The Grain runs from 5AM until 9PM, five days a week. Sometimes, due to snowstorms or holidays or just to keep up with demand, we need to run a voluntary Saturday shift. It isn’t easy for anyone to give up his or her Saturday after a 40-hour week of hard work. I try to make it a tad more pleasant by baking something special for the crew (and they are always good sports about being guinea pigs for my endless creations!) As you might expect in a bakery, especially a gluten free bakery that works with fresh ingredients, our staff is populated by health-conscious foodies as well as individuals with various dietary restrictions. To meet everyone’s needs, I developed my first vegan chocolate chip cookie. This grain-free, gum-free, and nut-free cookie is soft and tender, a tad chewy, and melts in your mouth--you’ll wonder whether you are nibbling on a brownie or a cookie. The combination of coconut, light buckwheat, and tapioca gives it an excellent crumb, and the acidity in the cocoa and molasses interacts with the baking powder to give the cookie a light rise. Made in a food processor, this is a versatile cookie dough that can be prepared in minutes, made into cookies, or frozen into logs for later use and then sliced to bake.

½ cup palm oil

½ cup packed brown sugar (100g)

¼ cup white sugar (50g)

¼ cup molasses

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup coconut flour (30g)

1 ½ cups (180g) light buckwheat flour

½ cup (70g) tapioca starch

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ cup cocoa powder

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 to 5 tablespoons water

175g soy-free chocolate chips (such as Equal Exchange Semi-Sweet)

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the oil, brown sugar, white sugar, and molasses in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add the salt, coconut flour, light buckwheat flour, tapioca starch, cinnamon, and cocoa powder and blend until full mixed. The dough will be crumbly. Blend in the vanilla and baking soda; then add the water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time. Transfer the dough to a medium bowl and mix in the chocolate chips by hand. Form the dough into 1-inch balls separated by about an inch-and-half and flatten the balls until each cookie is about ¼ to 3/8-inch thick. The unbaked cookie will be about 1-3/4 to 2 inches in diameter. Bake for 10 minutes until set. Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. The cookies will be tender and will continue to set as they cool.

A New Year, a new take on gluten free baking

A chapter-by-chapter preview of what's coming in 2015-- 400 pages of unique techniques and richly photographed recipes. No need to add binders and gums, no need to create special baking mixes, and no unusual or hard-to-find ingredients. My goal is to change the way you bake and view gluten-free baking.

the fundamentals of gluten-free baking 

Over 50 easy-to follow introductory pages lay out my baking philosophy—how to use the natural properties of real foods to create baked goods with superior taste and texture. Create the best gluten free baked goods and learn to substitute ingredients with confidence.

traditional breads and flatbreads

hot cross buns 

Old-fashioned warmly-spiced buns with hints of dried fruit. These will become a holiday favorite. Grain-free and nut-free.

pumpernickel rolls

Dark, chewy, and moist rolls perfect for deli sandwiches and substantial enough to hold a juicy burger and all its fixings. Grain-free and nut-free.

potato rosemary bread

New potatoes in this yeasted loaf create a moist, soft crumb that slices easily and cleanly for sandwiches. Pure simple ingredients with no gums or binders. Grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.

quick breads, breakfast foods, and muffins

flourless blueberry banana crepes

These moist crepes have only four main ingredients, including a touch of sour cream that pairs well with the fruit and adds a slight tang to the crepes. Grain-free and nut-free.

glazed yeast doughnuts

Melt-in-your mouth and squishy doughnuts. They puff up when fried and are the lightest gluten-free doughnut I’ve ever encountered. Grain-free and nut-free.

sunrise warming muffins

These unique muffins contain all kinds of anti-inflammatory ingredients like turmeric, ginger, rosemary, and green tea. They are sweet and hot and oh so comforting. Grain-free and nut-free.

savories

ravioli with creamy roasted garlic filling

Gluten free fresh ravioli is a rarity, but dairy-free ravioli is unheard of. This dough mixes easily and rolls out without a fuss—a combination of potato starch and mashed potatoes adds elasticity and a wonderful creamy flavor. Grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.

cheesy breadsticks

These addictive cheesy and crisp bread sticks can be prepared in minutes. The dough rolls out cleanly and easily. The recipe makes 30 12-inch bread sticks or make the dough ahead of time and bake fresh breadsticks whenever you want. Grain-free and nut-free.

shortcrust pastry (pâte brisée)

Just four ingredients plus salt, this is a piecrust that you can whip up in your food processor in minutes. It is durable enough to hold any fillings and shines as a stand-alone tart shell. Grain-free and nut-free.

cookies and bars

benne wafers

Sesame seeds are the stars in these thin, crispy, melt-in-your mouth wafers. Practically flourless, they are a South Carolina Low Country tradition. One batch makes 80 thin cookies. The wafers stay fresh in a tin for several weeks. Grain-free and nut-free.

fortune cookies

Remember when you used to be able to eat fortune cookies? The batter for these light and airy cookies is surprisingly simple to prepare, and the cookies can be the hit of your next dinner party. Grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.

yankee ginger snaps

“Snaps” is a bit of a misnomer with these soft and chewy ginger snaps bursting with flavor and molasses goodness. They also make your kitchen smell divine. Grain-free, dairy-free, and nut-free.

cakes

applesauce cake with brown sugar caramel glaze

This uncomplicated cake is just flour, sugar, oil, eggs, and apple sauce with spices and a little leavening. The creamy caramel glaze takes an ordinary applesauce cake and makes it a truly special dessert. Nut-free.

sponge shortcakes

This fool-proof sponge shortcake is both easy to make—just four main ingredients-- and extremely versatile  for use in many other types of desserts like tiramisu or trifles Grain-free and nut-free.

italian cream cake

This rich cake is studded with toasted pecans and topped with cream cheese icing. Definitely a show-stopper, but don’t be fooled by its looks. It is a easy to make as any traditional cake. Grain-free.

pies and desserts

chocolate lava bonbons

The inspiration for these bonbons was 1994 Pillsbury Bakeoff winning recipe: a Hershey’s Kiss wrapped in a brownie. They are fun to make and so satisfying to eat. Grain-free and nut-free.

fresh pear tart

This Anjou pear recipe with hints of orange and clove works just as well as an open-faced tart or with the crust as shown here. The pastry dough is  sweetcrust pastry (pâte sucrée,) another recipe found in this cookbook. Grain-free and nut-free.

fresh fruit cheesecake tartlets

These coconut-based tart shells are reminiscent of a macaroon with the flavor burst and crunch of cacao nibs. Topped with a light cheesecake filling and fresh seasonal berries, this is the perfect dessert for a summertime picnic or a no-fuss dessert to serve at an elegant dinner party. Grain-free and nut-free.

recipes featuring pre-made breads

blue potato pizza with red pepper confetti

Top an Against The Grain Pizza Shell with tomato sauce, cheese, blue potatoes and diced sweet red pepper or prepare the yeasted rising crust pizza dough (recipe in cookbook) for a colorful and delicious pizza. Grain-free and nut-free.

south-of-the-border grilled flatbread, vermont style

The rising crust pizza dough (recipe in cookbook) or an Against The Grain Pizza shell makes a very satisfying flatbread Panini on the grill. This one is made with Cabot Chipotle Cheddar cheese and local bacon. Grain-free and nut-free.

onion rings

These fried onion rings are battered and breaded with crumbs from Against The Grain Original Baguettes. Or make sourdough baguettes (recipe in cookbook) and save the leftovers for breadcrumbs. These are a plump and juicy treat. Grain-free and nut-free. 

Photography by Jennifer May.

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