gluten free Archives - Page 2 of 2

Cake Got to Be Gluten-Free (Rice Flour Pound Cake)

By threejamigos | April 14, 2020 | Comments 4 comments

I am always looking for gluten free desserts and Vegan treats for my friends. This is a cataclysmic mind-shift for a person who has always been in the “All butter, Cream-filled, No holds Barred, Is there another flour besides AP wheat” camp.

Years ago we headed to a regatta in Sac. During a break in the action, my friend Judaaay, convinced me to check out a bakery nearby that specialized in gluten-free and vegan products. We made the SHORT drive (45 minutes away-auugh) to try their breads and pizza-all gluten-free. They looked pretty darn good. We both ordered slices of pizza and as we sat there eating, Judah remarked, Not bad, huh. I replied…

Girl, You have obviously not had a real pizza in a LONG time.

Fortunately, the tide has turned and due to the demand for gluten-free food, more than just palatable” pastries are being created every day. The photo of a luscious pound cake in The NY Times caught my eye and lo and behold it is made with rice flour. Gluten-free! With my friend Judaayh in mind, I got busy.

The cake starts with creaming butter, sugar, and melted coconut oil until light and fluffy. There’s no overbeating this batter…no gluten! But you don’t want to go crazy and break down the butter. I used refined coconut oil which is essentially tasteless. You could use a less processed, unrefined coconut oil which would give your cake a hint of coconut flavor or nuttiness. Never used coconut oil to bake? Here is a primer from SF Gate. Note, this recipe uses regular rice flour NOT Sweet Rice Flour which is a glutinous rice product. You will end up with a dense mess if you use sweet rice flour. I found rice flour at Whole Foods made by Bob’s Red Mill. Last note, this recipe does use BOTH coconut oil and coconut milk.

I used 2 teaspoons of vanilla because I don’t have Tequila and I still can’t find my Rum 🤔. Rum would be lovely. I’m sure this batter could handle the addition of lemon or orange zest or poppy seeds. After adding the liquids it will look like a lot of batter relative to the pan. This cake does not rise a lot so not to worry, no overspill.

This cake is delicious. It’s tender, buttery, moist with a nice crumb. I’d make it again in a heartbeat…regardless if Judaay was coming over or not! I can’t wait for shelter in place to be over so she can come over for a cup of coffee and a slice of this cake. So good!

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5 from 1 vote

Rice Flour Poundcake

Gluten free, buttery, delicious pounc cake!

Course Cake

Cuisine American

Keyword coconut, Gluten free, poundcake, Rice flour

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 55

Equipment

8-by-4-inch loaf pan

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

1 ½ cups (200 grams) white rice flour not sweet rice flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper optional

Wet Stuff and Creamed Mixture

4 tbsp (55 grams) unsalted butter at room temperature, plus more for greasing
4 tbsp (60 milliliters) coconut oil
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (225 grams) granulated sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
⅓ cup (80 milliliters) sour cream
⅔ cup (160 milliliters) unsweetened coconut milk full fat
1 teaspoon mezcal, tequila, or rum, vanilla or 2 teaspoons vanilla extract if not using alcohol
2 tbsp poppy seeds if using rum, optional
zest 1 lemon, or lime if using tequila or mezcal finely grated

Instructions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan. Melt coconut oil in small saucepan over low heat. Bring oil back to room temperature before baking. In a medium mixing bowl, combine rice flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper, if using.
Using an electric mixer, whisk together coconut oil, butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. With the motor still running, add eggs and combine until creamed and very fluffy. Reduce to low speed and whisk in a third of the flour mixture. Once combined, add sour cream. Whisk in another third of the dry ingredients, then half of the coconut milk. Add the remaining flour mixture. At a medium speed, whisk in the rest of the coconut milk, and mezcal, until smooth and completely combined.
Scrape batter into pan and smooth the top with the spatula. Bake until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45 to 55 minutes. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn on a wire rack to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Mochi, that’s my Jam

By threejamigos | April 2, 2019 | Comments 7 comments

My cookbook addiction continues unabated. One of my new favorites is A Common Table by Cynthia Chen McTernan. It’s a beautiful cookbook filled with not only mouthwatering photographs of her food but wonderful stories about her family and friends. Her recipes are approachable and her writing inviting. In contrast to the cookbooks of yesteryear, today’s cookbooks, like A Common Table, breathe life, warmth, and a personal connection into each recipe. It makes me want to call my Mom, my kids, my aunties and uncles and say, “Hey, come on over we gonna cook, eat, and talk story”.

Have You Eaten Yet? (code for I ❤️ you)

This is not a cookbook that strives to teach one to cook, it’s more like a series of love letters, first and foremost to her family and friends, and then to all of us. Her soulful, homey food reflects her southern upbringing, her Chinese heritage, her hubby’s Hawaiian-Korean-Irish roots, and their lives together. These are recipes I imagine are passed down from grandmother to mother and mother to daughter. Each generation adding its own personal stamp.

Two Red Bowls is Cynthia’s blog, ground zero for her food and family tales. She has managed to juggle a toddler, a newborn, a blog, and a book, no small feat. Wow!

Onto her delicious food. Needing a gluten-free dessert to bring to a potluck, I instantly thought of the peanut butter mochi in her book. Mochi, made of glutinous rice flour, is chewy, dense, and all the craze right now. Imagine a marshmallow but dense, chewy, and only slightly sweet. Mallows on roids. To top it off, soooo easy to make. Literally, one bowl plus a wooden spoon. The addition of peanut butter brings a familiar flavor and texture to the mochi, a great intro for the uninitiated. Did I mention GLUTEN FREE?

The gold standard for rice flour and readily available is Koda Farms Blue Star Mochiko. Ground into a fine powder, it blends quickly and is easy to work with. Throw the flour, sugar, eggs, and milk in a bowl. Stir, don’t worry about overmixing (no gluten), pour, and bake. The batter will resemble a thick, elastic pancake batter.

Plop the peanut butter evenly into the batter so that everyone gets a bite of peanut butter, and then it’s oven time. Midway through baking, sprinkle crushed peanuts on top. Next time I am thinking of using honey-roasted peanuts, to really accentuate the play on sweet and salty. The batter will puff while baking, not to worry, it will flatten as the mochi is cooling.

Once it has cooled a bit, dig in, warm mochi is yummy. I cut mine into squares and then further divided half of the squares into rectangular bars. Just so delicious, the combo of chewy mochi, pockets of oozy soft peanut butter, and the crunchy peanut topping-the trifecta of yum. It’s hard to resist and eat just one. It’s dense in texture and calories but so worth it!

I think you could make this milk-free by using coconut milk in place of milk. I have yet to try it. Andrea Nguyen, Asian cookbook author extraordinaire created a riff by adding black sesame paste, Black Sesame Peanut Butter Mochi, which looks delish, I am so going to make her version soon.

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5 from 2 votes

Peanut Butter Mochi

Gluten free and delicious. Made with sweet rice flour a dense, chewy, a totally addicting treat! A quick and easy recipe!

Course Dessert, Snack

Cuisine Asian, Asian-American

Keyword Mochi, peanut butter, sweet rice flour

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1

Servings 16 Servings

Ingredients

Filling

6 Tbsp Peanut butter Natural, creamy or chunky
2 Tbsp Powdered sugar

Cake

1-1/2 Cups Sweet rice flour 225gm
3/4 Cup Granulated sugar
1/8 Tsp Salt
1 Cup Whole milk
1/2 Cup Vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Vanilla
1/2 Cup Roasted peanuts Or substitute honey roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp Brown sugar Optional, to be added to plain roasted peanuts,

Instructions

For the peanut butter filling, whisk together the peanut butter and confectioner’s sugar until smooth. Set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper, letting the paper go up the sides so you can easily lift the cake out later on.
In a medium bowl, combine the sweet rice flour, sugar, milk, oil, eggs, and vanilla, whisk until smooth. Don’t worry about overworking the batter when making the cake, sweet rice flour is GLUTEN FREE.
Pour half the batter into the prepared baking dish. Used 2 small spoons or small teaspoon ice cream scoop to drop spoonfuls of the filling evenly across the batter, then pour the remaining batter over the filling. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
While the mochi is baking, place the peanuts in a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped. Remove the mochi cake from the oven, sprinkle of the crushed peanuts across the top. The cake maybe puffy so spread nuts as evenly as you can. The cake will fall as it cools.
Return the cake to the oven and bake until the center bounces back when pressed, an additional 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool about 20 minutes before trying to lift the parchment paper to remove the cake from the pan.
Enjoy warm or at room temperature. The mochi slices cleanly when cool, but is delish warm.
Store in an airtight container and keep at room temp if cool, or refrigerate. Microwave pieces on high with 15-second blasts to refresh.

Muffin been the Mochi that Caught My Eye (Butter Mochi Muffins)

By threejamigos | February 21, 2019 | Comments 64 comments

Always searching for new and different treats, I came across an article that spotlighted Third Culture Bakery in Berkeley. The baker is an alum of Cal (Go Bears) who chose food over toxicology (good choice) and thus Mochi Muffins made with sweet rice flour were put on the map. Though I haven’t made it to Berkeley to try one, I found a couple of recipes online that sounded scrumptious, so it was off to the rices! Update: I just posted a new mochi muffin recipe, Mango Mochi Muffins made with mango tea and freeze-dried mangos! It’s small-batch baking, only 8 regular size delicious muffins.

My Sweet Rice, Oh My Rice

For the uninitiated, mochi (sweet rice flour) is a cornerstone of Asian treats. Sweet rice is PULVERIZED into flour to which water and flavorings are added. It ends up looking like the BLOB, really. It can be flavored, baked, steamed, fried and made into countless delicious treats both sweet and savory. During New Year’s, Japanese families gather to pound mochi in a tradition called Mochitsuki. Just for your viewing pleasure here is Mitsuo Nakatani, Japanese Mochi Master. Enjoy.

Traditional mochi starts with steamed rice and is pounded and shaped into sweet or savory rice cakes. Mochi muffins and Hawaiian Butter Mochi start with sweet rice flour, mixed with liquids, and baked. Since I don’t foresee any of us pounding mochi, let’s make muffins and Hawaiian Mochi. Infinitely easier and pretty darn tasty.

Back on the Muffin Trail

If you have ever had Manju from Shuei-Do Sweet Shop in Japantown in San Jose, or Butter Mochi from Hawaii and liked it…you’re going to love these. If you haven’t had mochi, this is a good introduction. Not quite as gooey as Manju and definitely not cakey like a muffin, it’s a delicious hybrid of the two. A touch of sweetness, crispy on the outside, dense and chewy on the inside, and crunchy from the generous sprinkle of sesame seeds on top. It’s different but delicious. If that wasn’t enough, they are GLUTEN-FREE. You’re welcome.

Rice, Rice, Baby

The most important item in the pic is the Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour by Koda Farms. This is the go-to brand. You can definitely find it in any Asian store (along with the sesame seeds), and if you’re lucky, at some of your larger local markets. Take a walk down the international/ethnic food aisle.

I found quite a few recipes for Mochi Muffins online and finally settled on one from a beautiful blog called Snixy Kitchen. Her batch made 12 muffins, which made her recipe the frontrunner as most made 24. As yummy as they are, what am I going to do with 24 muffins?!

The batter comes together in a snap: melted butter, coconut milk, egg, brown sugar, and rice flour. Stir together and pour into a muffin tin. Boom, done. My batter was thicker than some of the posts I’ve seen. This may account for the slight dome mine had. I also found a recipe from Saimin Noshrat in the NYT. I think I may try a couple of her tweaks the next time I make these. Trust me, there will be a next time. I will use light brown sugar, substitute evaporated milk for some of the coconut milk, and brown my butter. Not to worry, a full report will follow. Hmmm, can’t wait to make another batch.

The longer you leave these in the oven, the less gooey and more cake-like they will be. The first batch was baked for 60 minutes. I think I should have pulled them out sooner, I like gooey. Now I check at 40 minutes and pull them out around 45 minutes. To test them, use a knife to poke the center of a muffin. It should come out fairly clean with a bit of crumb.

More Mochi Madness

After making these muffins if you like the chewiness, definitely try the Hawaiian Butter Mochi Muffins, inspired by Aloha Kitchen by Alana Kysar. A little less flour and a bit more liquid kick up the gooey, buttery, lusciousness of these bites. Bake them in a muffin tin for crispy edges. I ADORE both of these muffins.

These are soooo good, a little more squishy, very buttery, topped with shredded coconut.

Also check out Peanut Butter Mochi from A Common Table by Cynthia Chen McTernan. Delish! LOVE, love, LOVE

If you would like to try traditional Japanese Mochi, here are my recommendations: Fugetsu-Do in Little Tokyo in LA, the oldest family-owned Japanese Shop in the US, Shuei Do Manju Shop in San Jose, and in my hometown of SF, Benkyodo Company in Japantown (now closed😢😢😢 ). All family-owned artisan shops.

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4.53 from 19 votes

Butter Mochi Muffins

Course Dessert

Cuisine Asian-American

Keyword coconut milk, Gluten free, mochi muffin

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 45

Ingredients

1/4 cup (2 ounces )unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus more for greasing pans sub brown-butter
2 cups (320 grams) mochiko sweet rice flour Koda Farms
1 cup (200 grams) organic dark brown sugar* light or dark brown sugar will work
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 tsp sea salt
1 13 ounce can full-fat coconut milk Sub evaporated milk, half to all
2 large eggs room temperature
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon molasses optional, added for flavor or use Golden Syrup or honey
1½ tablespoons each black and toasted sesame seeds, for garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F and place the oven rack in the middle of the oven.
Grease the sides and top of a 12-cup muffin tin well with soft butter.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sweet rice flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, coconut milk, eggs, vanilla, and molasses.
With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until completely combined.
Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tin, filling each cup all the way to the top.
Sprinkle the tops with black and white sesame seeds.
Bake 45-50 minutes until the top is brown and crispy and the muffin springs back when poked with a finger. Bake for less time. for muffins that are chewier and less cakey. Muffins are done when a skewer comes out relatively clean and the tops are brown.
Let cool 10 minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Can be frozen and thawed at room temp.

Notes

Organic dark brown sugar is richer and more caramel-y than conventional, but you can use regular brown sugar.

Any muffin tin will do, but for ultimate crispy exterior, use a dark non-stick muffin tin.

If using a light muffin tin, you may have to bake the muffins a little bit longer.

If keeping them for longer, they'll lose their crispiness after a day or two in storage, put them in the oven for a few minutes to crisp again before eating.

Donuts by Jamie!

By threejamigos | May 22, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

Hey guys! It’s Jamie, again! I am finally back home for the summer, and I am loving it. Not only did I escape the disgustingly humid heat of Houston but I also escaped the disgustingly awful classes I took last semester. I am petitioning to rename Sophomore Spring to Sophomore Suck. Those classes were horrible. I digress. I promise this post was not supposed to be me venting about my last semester. Now that I am back, I have wasted no time in hitting up all of my favorite restaurants. I have gorged myself on countless pieces of sushi, stuffed myself full on Los Gatos Cafe’s famous cinnamon buns, and snacked on more of my mom’s granola than I thought humanly possible. It’s been great. In addition to eating my way through Los Gatos, I have also been partaking in one of my ultimate favorite pastimes: cooking. Surprise, I caught the bug from my mom. I actually missed cooking a lot this past semester; not only does anything homemade taste light years better than cafeteria food but cooking also is a way for me to unwind. No matter how many things I have going on or how stressed I am, I can always turn to baking or cooking. It’s just me, a recipe, probably a couple episodes of Gilmore Girls, and awesome smelling (and hopefully tasting) food. It gives me a time to think for myself and get away from the stress that can sometimes be very overwhelming. This last semester, I’ve turned to watching cooking shows as a way to unwind. I know, I’m turning into my mom, pretty scary stuff.

My suite mate and I have gotten really into watching this one show called Raw. Vegan. Not. Gross. The girl who hosts it, Laura Miller, is kind of raw vegan, and is really cool. She’s a huge advocate for eating food that will make you feel good and is kind of crazy/quirky in a cool way. She blogs, wears the cutest clothes, and has a dog named Buzz. Basically, I want to be her. She recently came out with a cookbook, and, as I am my mothers daughter, I preordered it. I read it front to back when I got it, and I got so excited to try all of the recipes. I made vegan tacos the other day (kind of, I may or may not have added salmon to them) and today I tried making vegan, gluten free donuts. You bake them in the oven, and they come out light and fluffy, with a slight almond taste, which I love. I dipped them in a chocolate glaze made out of coconut oil, cocoa powder, maple syrup, and salt. Give them a try! They’re really good.

P.S. If you are a vegan food skeptic like my mother, I promise they are good. Jordan and his friend even tried them and said they were good before they knew they were vegan.

P.P.S. Here is a link to Laura Miller’s blog! Check her out! https://imlauramiller.com

P.P.P.S. Hi Claire

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Vegan Donuts Adapted from Laura MIller

Ingredients

Donuts

1 cup almond flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup potato starch
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon xanthin gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup hot water
1/3 cup coconut oil
Juice of 1 lemon

Chocolate Glaze

1/2 cup coconut oil
3/8 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbs maple syrup
Small pinch of salt

Instructions

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2) Mix dry ingredients in a bowl
3) Mix wet ingredients in a bowl
4) Add wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a spatula until thoroughly combined. The batter will be a lot like pancake batter
5) Add 1/4 cup of batter into each donut mold. Spread around evenly
6) Optional: Add about a teaspoon of your favorite jam, nut butter, or sprinkle on coconut flakes to each donut. Spread around evenly with a spoon.
7) Bake for 10 minutes, rotate, then bake for another 5-7 minutes, until browned on the top and cooked through.
8) Optional: Dip the top half into chocolate glaze after donuts have cooled.

Directions Chocolate Glaze

Blend all ingredients until smooth, then place in a shallow bowl for donut dipping.

A Ridiculously Easy Peanut Butter Cookie

By threejamigos | December 5, 2015 | Comments 2 comments

Are you ready to start baking for the holidays? I tried two new cookie recipes yesterday to take to our annual holiday cookie swap and both are winners. We started our swap way back when the kids were in pre-school and through the years we have managed to keep the tradition alive. Our early gatherings were during the day with kids and babies in tow but have now morphed into a mom’s happy hour. We eat, drink, catch up on what we are doing as well as the kids and of course trade cookies. Amazing how quickly 17 years have flown by.

The first thing you should know is that both recipes are STUPID EASY. My favorite cooking category. If you are looking for cookies that are delicious and will illicit oohs and aahs, look no further. Oh, did I mention they are both GLUTEN FREE? BAM! The trifecta. I did not choose them because of that, they just happen to be gluten free. Here is the first one, Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies.

To go along with these crazy good cookies here is a Peanuts favorite The Charlie Brown Christmas Song sung by Mariah Carey.

As the song is playing, pullout the peanut butter (smooth or chunky), brown sugar, white sugar, baking soda, vanilla and 1 egg. That’s all you need for this recipe! I found multiple versions of this recipe online and adapted the one from Our Best Bites. These cookies are soft, chewy and scream peanut butter flavor. You can add chocolate to take it to another level, its entirely up to you. Enjoy!

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Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter smooth or chunky
3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I use 1/2 cup white sugar & 1/4 cup golden brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
Sugar for rolling
Chocolate chunks I use the chunks from TJs, you can use chips if you like
optional: heaping 1/2 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips I recommend dark or semi-sweet

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine peanut butter and sugars and until smooth (1-2 minutes on medium speed).
Add egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Mix for about a minute.
If adding chocolate, fold into dough now. Chocolate is optional, really.
Using a tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop and shape dough into balls, roll in sugar.
Place balls on parchment lined cookie sheet, approximately 11/2 inches apart.
Using a fork, flatten with a criss cross pattern, or simply flatten with the bottom of a glass.
Press one chocolate chunk or chip into the center of cookie after flattening the dough.
Bake for 8-9 minutes, don’t overbake!
Let them sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies. Recipe can be doubled easily.