I grew up cooking. We cooked everything from weekday dinners to fancy dinner parties and holiday celebrations. I loved the aromas, the tastes, and the gathering of family and friends around the table to share. Julies book brings back all those wonderful memories. Reviewing the recipes in this book was like walking back into our family kitchen, but with a fabulous gluten free twist. There are those tried and true favorites, the healthy standbys, and even those special occasion recipes for fun! Julie has carefully crafted both the familiar favorite recipes and the special dishes into delicious gluten free wonders. I hope you enjoy the recipes as much as I did!
Indeed a wheat-less Bon Apptit!
Anne Roland Lee, MSEd, RD, CDN Nutritionist, Celiac Disease Center at Columbia University
The purpose of this cookbook was to make gluten-free cooking and baking as normal as possible. I have found that many recipes, although very good, were very complicated to make. Its not always easy to find all of the different flours and ingredients, or to store them all according to their own individual requirements. When I hear about families that are making two meals: one gluten-free and one regular, it is disappointing. Besides being so much extra work, it seems like the chances of cross-contamination would be greatly increased. However, if so many people are going to the trouble to prepare two meals, it must be for a good reason. The cost and the taste of gluten-free food are usually the most common reasons for the extra effort. Both of these problems are lessened by using more common ingredients and relying less on prepackaged items. The two main specialty ingredients I have used in this cookbook are gluten-free flour and xanthan gum.
Gluten-free flour: For all recipes in this book I used either Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour or Gluten-Free Pantry- Beths All Purpose Baking Flour. Either flour can be used interchangeably (unless noted in the recipe) and are usually available at most health food stores and some supermarkets. Both flours can be purchased in bulk online to save money.
Xanthan gum: Used in gluten-free baking to bind ingredients together and to replace some of the elastic properties of gluten. It is expensive, but a little goes a long way. All of the xanthan gum amounts in this book have been calculated, but a general rule for use is:
Breads: 1 teaspoon per 1 cup GF flour
Cakes: teaspoon per 1 cup GF flour
Cookies: teaspoon per 1 cup GF flour
All other ingredients labeled gluten-free in this book are readily available at most grocery stores. (For example: GF chocolate chips, GF vanilla). They are ingredients that sometimes contain gluten and should be checked every time they are purchased.
Chocolate Hazelnut Torte
6 ounces GF semi-sweet chocolate
cup butter
4 eggs, separated at room temperature
1/8 teaspoon salt
cup sugar
cup finely ground hazelnuts
2 tablespoons brewed coffee
cup whole hazelnuts for topping
Preheat oven to 375. Grease and GF flour the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan. In a double boiler over low-medium heat or carefully in the microwave, melt the chocolate and butter. Cool slightly. Beat the egg whites and salt on high speed until stiff and set aside. Beat the egg yolks and sugar on medium speed until lemon colored. Stir the egg yolks into the chocolate mixture with the hazelnuts and coffee. Gently fold in the egg whites and pour into pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the top of the torte is dry (a toothpick poked in the top will still come out slightly moist). Cool completely before removing from pan. Top with hazelnuts and then cover with chocolate ganache (recipe on page 156).
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