Without knowing what I am and why I am here, life is impossible. - Leo Tolstoy
I can feel it, spring is finally on its way! It was well over 50 degrees here today, which for the first day of March in Colorado is pretty nice. I am starting to get antsy in hopes of seeing some green grass and tulips in the next month for sure! Not to mention the sun being up later so that I have more motivation at night to do the things I love. Today I decided that some serious baking was in order for my evening, so I went to the store to pick up the ingredients necessary for creating gluten free snickerdoodles and flourless pumpkin bread.
I wanted to see if it was possible to simply substitute regular All purpose flour in snickerdoodles with some Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Gluten Free Flour Mix that I bought at the local natural food coop. I used a basic snickerdoodle recipe that I found on one of my favorite food blogs, userealbutter.com. My first sheet of snickerdoodles came out of the over looking as flat as pancakes, but tasting great. Earlier that day while I was at the store, I came across xanthan gum that is often used in gluten free baking. I almost bought it, but wasn't sure it was worth the $13 for a half a pound. Fortunately, my boyfriend bought some for the cafe he owns and was able to come to my rescue with his xanthan gum for me to add into the dough before I put another sheet in the oven. I added 3 tsp of xanthan gum and I also added another 1/8 cup of Bob's GF AP Flour and another tsp of baking soda. The next batch looked a little fluffier and definitely had a better texture overall, but I wanted those pillowy snickerdoodles that I had made in my past before gluten free baking. So the next batch I added another 1/8 cup of flour, this time Bob's Brown Rice Flour instead of the blended GF AP Flour, and 1/2 tsp of baking powder. These came much closer to what I was looking for in terms of an almost cake like texture, but I was still not 100% satisfied. My final decision was to put the remaining mixture in the fridge for the night and see if that helps them rise better when I bake them tomorrow. Hopefully that will be the final alteration to the recipe that will make them a success in my book! I will keep you updated!
Fortunately, I have made my Flourless Pumpkin Bread several times before and it worked without fail. It is such a delicious and fairly healthy baked good that I love having around for when you get those cravings for some sort of yummy treat. I found the recipe at www.sproutandpea.com/2010/10/flourless-pumpkin-bread/ and it is definitely worth trying. I love how rich and moist the bread is personally. My only additions to the recipe have been to add some cinnamon and freshly ground nutmeg, although I have substituted some pumpkin pie spice in when I was out of cinnamon and was very satisfied with that as well.
Gluten Free Snickerdoodles
Ingredients:
3 1/8 Gluten Free Flour
1/8 cup brown rice flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Combine butter and sugar in another bowl. Add eggs and mix well. Add in xanthan gum and mix well, but do not over mix. Refrigerate the mixture overnight. Combine the 2 tbsp sugar and 2 tbsp cinnamon in a bowl. Make dough into balls and roll in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for approximately 6 minutes.
*This is a good starting point in terms of flavor, but as I mentioned before I personally prefer the pillowy almost cake like snickerdoodle texture. This recipe gets you moderately close to that texture, but I am still thinking about playing around with different gluten free flour mixtures, maybe 1 and 1/2 cup brown rice flour and the rest the Bob's All Purpose mix.
Flourless Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups almond flour
(or buy raw almonds and finely grind them in a food processor)
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
¼ cup agave nectar
¼ cup grapeseed oil
3 eggs, whisked
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup mashed fresh roasted pumpkin (I have used canned and it works just fine)
In two separate bowls, mix together dry ingredients and wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well. Place the batter into a loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes.
Let cool and serve.
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