Good Morning Scones

Scones were a big breakfast hit with my family when we were on the wheat train. Now that we're a gluten free family, I'm happy to have perfected a warm and flaky basic scone recipe that is just perhaps more tasty than the ones we loved before.

From the pantry:
1 cup buckwheat flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

From the fridge:
5 tbsp cold butter
1 cup dairy (milk, cream, half & half)


Add ins:
white chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips and zest of a lemon
or
white chocolate chips, dried cranberries and orange zest
or
dried blueberries, 1 tsp cinnamon, white chocolate chips

In a large bowl add in the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until it is the size of large peas. Stir in the dairy and add-ins of your choice.

Use your hands to shape the dough into palm sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet or shape entire dough into a round, flat circle on your baking sheet.

Bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. If you made one large round, slice into servings. Serve warm and buttery or with a homemade jam.

Saturday Morning Waffles

On the rare occasion that I am not pummelled with requests for pancakes on Saturday mornings, these are another crowd favorite in our home. This recipe makes enough for our family of eight, so feel free to halve the recipe if you have less people to serve.

From the pantry:
2 cups brown rice flour
1 3/4 cups buckwheat flour
1 1/2 cups potato starch
6 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup coconut or olive oil
5 eggs
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups milk
3 teaspoons sugar

Whisk together wet ingredients and sugar. Add in dry ingredients slowly, whisking as you go to avoid clumping. Cook in your waffle making according to the manufacturer's directions. Serve with butter and real maple syrup and enjoy!

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just like your old wheat ones, but better:

From the pantry:
1 1/2 cups butter
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 cup tapioca starch
2 cups buckwheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp guar gum
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs or 1/2 cup egg replacer
1 package (2 cups) chocolate chips


Cream butter, sugar and vanilla in mixer. Add eggs and mix. Add remaining ingredients. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place spoonfuls of dough on ungreased cookie sheets two inches apart and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for two minutes before removing to cooling rack.


Enjoy!

Chocolate dipped Peanut Butter Balls

We adapted this recipe for bullseyes here, and stuck to dipping the peanut butter balls in chocolate instead of submerging them. We also happily found that shaping the peanut butter balls more oval-ish makes perfectly amazing little acorns with their chocolate dipped tops. We'll definitely make these again when a "fall" theme is called for.


From the pantry:

1 1/4 cup peanut butter. I've used crunchy and creamy and both taste great.
1/2 cup neuchatel cheese
1/4 cup softened butter

1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup cane sugar
pinch of salt

Mix everything together in your mixer and shape into walnut sized balls. Set them on a tray or in a baking dish in your freezer for five minutes. Meanwhile, in a double boiler, or small saucepan set in a frying pan of water, melt 3/4 cup chocolate chips over low heat. Prepare a sheet of wax paper on your workspace. Remove the tray of peanut balls from the freezer and dip into the melted chocolate, placing them on the waxed paper. These store best in the fridge but as many as this recipe makes and as big as our family is - they never last long! Our five year old made a batch for her papa's birthday and they were soon gone.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Congo bars)

If you don't need the GF version, Bakerella has a fabulous one here. But, if you need a fabulous, you'd never-know-they-were-gluten-free recipe, you've come to the right place.

(I cut them whilst they were warm because it is so very, very impossible to wait... Hence the gooey goodness.)

Without further introduction, from the pantry you'll need to fetch:

1 cup brown rice flour
1 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch or potato starch
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp guar gum or xanthan gum
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup coconut oil or butter, softened
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup nuts of choice. I've used peanuts, walnuts and cashews alternately.

Mix brown sugar, oil/butter and eggs with mixer. Add in remaining ingredients and mix or stir by hand. Spread into a 9x13 greased pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minute until the batter is set and nicely golden brown. If you resist the urge to dig right in, then do. If not, then a nice cold glass of farm milk is a fine accompaniment.

Pretty Amazing gluten free English Muffins

One thing we've been missing the most in our culinary experiences as of late is a chewy textured bread with crustiness and a crunchy bite to it. And then I made these. They can be made vegan with an easy milk substitution.

Pretty Amazing English Muffins

From your pantry you'll need to fetch:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup potato starch
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp sea salt

In a separate bowl mix together:
1 cup warm (not hot) water
1/2 cup milk (dairy or non-dairy)
2 1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sugar or honey

Stir these and let the mixture sit until it begins to bubble slightly, about 5-10 minutes. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients thoroughly, cover bowl with a cloth and let sit in a warm place for an hour.

Lightly grease your muffin rings and a cookie sheet. After the dough has risen for an hour, set the rings on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle the pan inside the rings with a bit of corn meal if you like. Fill each ring halfway with dough. When the dough in the rings has risen (maybe ten minutes more), put them in a hot (450 degree) oven for about twenty minutes or until they are slightly toasty looking on top. Slice while warm with a fork or bread knife and spread with your favorite English muffin accompaniment. Mine is thick and creamy yellow butter from happy grass eating cows.