Desserts

Chef James Harris Spotlights Gluten Free Cuisine at Eggshells (with Recipe for Gluten Free, Vegan, Sugar Free Chocolate Cupcakes)

August 26, 2014 by arfoodie 4 Comments

Remember the other day when I talked about doing a cooking demonstration at the local Gluten Intolerance Group meeting? Because it was a busy day, I felt a little discombobulated and spazzy. Not my best presentation ever.

But a good bit of my discombobulation was from being a bit nervous, due to a guest who showed up at said meeting. A chef. A “real” chef, one with years of experience specializing in gluten free cooking. (Although I have formal training, I shy away from the “chef” moniker because of my lack of restaurant experience.)

He was gracious, not correcting me when he probably should have, and chiming in gently when I asked for his input. Only later did we find out he was Executive Sous Chef at the Pleasant Valley Country Club and former chef of the National Foundation of Celiac Awareness.

Dang.

After the meeting, we also learned that this chef, James Harris, was holding a gluten free cooking class of his own at Eggshells Kitchen Co. the next Monday (yesterday). I had heard about this and meant to look into it further. Now I HAD to go!

I walked in the door of Eggshells, and lo and behold, a fellow culinary student was also in attendance. Ashley is now a pastry chef, working at one of the major bakeries in town. I visited with Chef Harris, joking about our earlier meeting and my less-than-stellar demo. He graciously blamed it on the low table I was using.

Somehow, during Chef Harris’ demonstration, I ended up cooking the risotto while he worked on other parts of the demonstration. Maybe it was me wildly waving my hand in the air, saying, “Ooh, ooh, ooh, let me help!” when he lamented not having an assistant. Ashley ended up helping later on — probably due to my hollering “ASHLEY WANTS TO HELP ICE THE CUPCAKES” — with the vegan, sugar free, gluten free dessert we enjoyed. (No, really; it was good!) Culinarians can be a rowdy bunch.

Chef Harris’ risotto recipe, using shallots, mushrooms and asparagus, was an excellent example of how delicious naturally gluten-free meals can be. He also demonstrated cooking scallops and (cough) gave us a recipe for gluten-free pasta. Let’s just say live demos don’t always work out. Oh, how I know.

Here’s the recipe for the cupcakes. This would be great for getting a “sweet fix” while on an elimination diet, or for those with multiple allergies or sensitivities. Heck, they were just good, just because. And I didn’t sugar crash after eating one. Okay, two. Sheesh.

Wanna see photos of the other food and fun? Keep scrollin’ on down, beneath the recipes.

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Chocolate Cupcakes (Gluten Free, Vegan, Sugar Free)
Recipe provided by Chef James Harris
Makes 10

1 1/2 c. gluten-free flour (recommended: Cup 4 Cup)
3/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. gluten-free baking powder
3/4 tsp. gluten-free baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 avocado
1 c. maple syrup (pure)
1/3 c. coconut oil
1 c. almond milk
1/3 c. coconut milk
2 tsp. gluten-free vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Puree avocado in a food processor until smooth. Add maple syrup, almond milk, coconut milk, oil and vanilla and blend until creamy.

Whisk avocado mixture into the flour mixture and combine until smooth.

Spoon batter into muffin pan and bake for 25 minutes or until toothpick that is inserted into center comes out clean.

Allow to cool before icing.

Chocolate Mousse Icing
Recipe provided by Chef James Harris
Icing for 10 cupcakes

1 c. raw cashews
1/4 c. coconut milk
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/3 c. dates, pitted and chopped
1 T. maple syrup (pure)

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend together until very smooth. If it is too thick, add more coconut milk to thin it slightly.

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Ridiculous Roasted Marshmallow Blackberries

June 23, 2014 by arfoodie Leave a Comment

Organic blackberry by North Pulaski Farms. Marshmallow by Kraft.

I went to a local farmers’ market yesterday for the first time in I-don’t-know-when, other than a couple months ago when we had the Blogger Bake Sale at the Argenta Farmers’ Market. And I didn’t get to look around that day.

Honestly, I just can’t get up that early and get presentable on Saturdays. (Yeah, yeah, the Argenta one goes until NOON. Still.)

We had just rolled in from a vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Although I cooked whenever possible, we still had eaten more than our share of road food.

I recalled that the Bernice Garden Farmers’ Market runs until 2 p.m. on Sundays, offering a chance to load up on some cleansing fruits and veggies. Usually, this is my after-church crash-nap time. But, since I had just been sitting in a moving vehicle all day, I was daisy-fresh. Ish.

It was my first time to the Bernice market. I saw some newcomers to the market scene (North Little Rock Community Farm, which I’ll write more about soon), as well as some familiar faces, including Kelly Carney, owner of the all-organic North Pulaski Farms. I came away from his booth with some special breed of cucumbers and a carton of the biggest, most amazing-looking blackberries I’d ever seen. Did I mention they were organic?

Of course, the whole purpose of the trip was to make some healthy fare. That would be on the menu all week, what with all the squash and zucchini and onions and such I had picked up. I unpacked the camping goodies from our trip while I snacked on the blackberries. Marshmallows. Toward cabinet.

Full stop.

This could be something.

Progression of inspiration.

I fiddled with a marshmallow. I broke it open, kind of unrolling it from one end to the other so it would be long and thin. A muse descended and guided my hand, placing a ripe berry in the middle.

Munch. Amazing.

Then the gas cooktop caught my eye.

Soon, I had pierced another marshmallow-wrapped berry with a chopstick and was roasting it. A roasted marshmallow. With a berry inside.

Munch. Even MORE amazing.

Roasted marshmallow blackberry with balsamic. Oh, how it wanted a mint leaf!

Soon, my daughter caught on to the awesome and we roasted several. I drizzled a bit of balsamic on one, and that was over.the.top. It wanted a mint leaf, but alas, I had none.

I’ve made a couple healthier things with my market finds today. But I had to share this. It’s just so ridiculous, it’s awesome.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust (and Graham Crackers to Boot)

November 27, 2013 by arfoodie Leave a Comment

Gluten free, xantham gum free graham crackers.

Greetings from our cozy cabin at Big Cedar Lodge near Branson, MO!

We’re spending the week here for Thanksgiving. We got here at 5 p.m. Tuesday and I’ve already been cooking like they don’t sell food around here. But, I actually enjoy that, so taking the larger vehicle so we could sherpa a week’s worth of groceries was totally worth it.

Tomorrow, I’ll get started on all the traditional Thanksgiving fare, but first, I thought I’d share one thing I’ve already made here at the cabin: some gluten-free, xanthan gum-free graham crackers.

S’mores made from my very own GF graham crackers!

See? Yeah. I’m pretty proud of these, actually. The family got right to work after dinner on s’mores, and I had planned ahead just enough to bring stuff to make my own crackers. If I had planned even more, I would have made them at home and brought them…but no matter.

The family making s’mores by the fire. How could I not participate?

I used this recipe from Living Low Carb One Day at a Time, although I used real brown sugar rather than her healthier alternatives. (Hey, one step at a time, right?) Kudos to Karen over there for the great recipe.

I worried about the batter being really wet, but it worked out just fine. Just trust her when she says to roll it out between sheets of parchment. Silpats would probably be even better. But, I’m at a cabin, so we use what we brought, which remarkably included parchment.

Tomorrow I’ll be on full Thanksgiving alert, working on the turkey, dressing, pies and such. Oh, yeah, and the hubs wants to take the kids to see Santa at Bass Pro Shops in Springfield. I’ll see if we can work that in.

Speaking of pies, didn’t I promise pie crust in the title of this post? Ah, yes, I did. If you like a graham cracker crust, just use the above cracker recipe and crumble them up using your favorite crust recipe. Here are one or two crust recipes for you.

If you like a more traditional pastry-style crust, here’s the recipe I made ahead and froze into disks for the trip.

Gluten-Free Pie Crust (Traditional pastry style)

The dough actually behaves better after being frozen, or at least parking in the fridge for a few hours. If freezing, take it out of the freezer about 30 minutes before using.

2 1/2 cups gluten-free flour blend
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cubed small and frozen
1/2 cup lard or margarine, cut into small pieces and frozen
1/4 cup ice cold water

Place the flour blend, salt, butter and lard or margarine into a food processor and pulse (er, I had to run mine a while) until it’s a crumbly meal. If you don’t have a food processor, you can do this with a pastry cutter. Just cut the butter and flour together.

Drizzle in the cold water a bit at a time, pulsing the processor (or your fingers, as the case may be) until the dough comes together. You don’t have to use all the water, just enough to bring it together. When it just comes together when you press it, it’s done.

Turn the dough out onto a clean surface. It will still be a bit crumbly, and that’s okay. Divide the dough in two and form each portion into a disk, pressing slightly to help it come together. Place each disk into a freezer bag and place in the freezer until about an hour before you need it.

Thaw and roll out on a GF-floured surface. If it comes apart, don’t freak — just use a spatula to pick up pieces as flatly as possible and press them together in your pie pan. Comes out exactly like the traditional pie crust you always knew.

Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry Wrap-Up (Photos)

May 6, 2013 by arfoodie 8 Comments

Beautiful setup by Gina Knuppenburg and Amanda Potter Cole, and many other workers. I can’t thank you enough.

I’m still exhausted, two days later.

But it was totally worth it.

The Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale for No Kid Hungry, our third annual, was a huge success! I’ll report a total at the end of the week, but I do know that we have reached our goal of $2,000 this year, DOUBLING what we had made in each of our first two years doing the sale here in Arkansas. So exciting!

Many thanks to the bloggers who wrote, baked and donated, as well as the professional bakers who sent their wares and a handful of non-blogger good souls who just sent things because they cared. And a special thanks to the awesome folks who decorated and handled the crowds on Saturday at the sale itself!

Meanwhile, my competitive spirit is still fired up. I’m not sure what all the sales across the country have made, but I know we’re in the top tier. Duncan Hines is donating an extra $10,000 on behalf of the bake sale with the biggest total… It could be Arkansas!

So, if you didn’t get to participate, I encourage you to donate funds directly here. Funds donated at this link will be credited to our Arkansas bake sale. (The totals are wonky because most of it is in cash from the sale, locked away in a safe at my house until Friday.)

Oh, and one more thing: Those of us on the Twitters wondered why we didn’t see the national buzz very well. Turns out all the sales didn’t use the assigned #FBBakeSale hashtag (tsk tsk), but did their own. Check out #SDFBBakeSale, #CFLFBBakeSale, #SFBakeSale and #NYCBakeSale for what other folks did across the country.

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you! That’s from the bottom of my heart, and from all the kids and families who will benefit from your hard work. Thank you.

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Daybreak Chocolate Cake for Food Blogger Bake Sale

May 1, 2013 by arfoodie Leave a Comment

Eggless Chocolate Cake I made on Daybreak. Or maybe a gluten-free version I made the night before. Not telling.

Eggless Chocolate Cake I made on Daybreak. Or maybe one I made the night before. Not telling.

I’ll be on Daybreak (KATV Ch. 7 in Little Rock) tomorrow morning talking about the Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale. So exciting! (EDIT: It was great! Here’s the link to the segment.)

If, by chance, it’s that appearance that brought you here, then I guess I didn’t burn the place down or splatter chocolate all over the hosts. And maybe you’d like the recipe for that eggless chocolate cake from the Cooking Matters workbook. If so, please find it below, with the directions re-written a bit for my own blog voice purposes.

This Saturday is the Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., to be held at 7th and Main in North Little Rock, alongside the Argenta Certified Arkansas Farmers’ Market. Every dime you spend will go to the No Kid Hungry campaign of Share Our Strength, which funds a bunch of really awesome, effective programs to fight childhood hunger. One of those programs is Cooking Matters, of which I am a chef instructor. (There’s also a nutritionist at each class, and we tag-team hunger into the corner, yo.)

Bloggers all over the country are participating in the Food Blogger Bake Sale on the same day! This is kind of exciting because of the whole synergy thing, but also because we’re a bit competitive. In the two years we’ve already done this sale in Arkansas, we’ve beat several larger markets. Not that it matters. But it does. You know what I mean.

If you want to learn more about No Kid Hungry programs in Arkansas, check out the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance, which administers all NKH programs in our state. If you’d like to host a Cooking Matters six-week course, or even find one near you to attend, they’ll be able to help. Same with their breakfast, after school and summer feeding programs.

So come see us! Buy lots of goodies, and let us keep the change. It all goes to help fight childhood hunger.

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Chocolate Cake (From Cooking Matters workbook)
Serves 16, 1 2-inch square piece per serving
Prep time: 15 minutes • Cook time: 30-40 minutes

1 1/2 c. AP flour
3/4 c. dark brown sugar
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
1/4 c. canola oil
1 T. vinegar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. cold water
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Use a whisk to break up the sugar and blend thoroughly.

In a medium bowl, mix the applesauce, oil, vinegar, vanilla and water. (I used an ice cube in my tepid tap water to chill it a bit; just make sure it’s exactly a cup after the ice melts or you take it out.)

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined, and do not overmix. Don’t freak out if the batter seems thin.

Bake in the middle of your oven until the center is firm and a toothpick comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes.

If you like, garnish with powdered sugar, vanilla yogurt and/or fresh fruit.

NOTE: This recipe is useful for vegans, those watching cholesterol, or if you just simply ran out of eggs and want some cake. The oil is also reduced and replaced with the applesauce. Many of our WWII-era family members may have made something similar when eggs and oil were rationed. The vinegar acts as a catalyst for volume, making up for the lost protein of the egg.

ERR NRR TERNADERS (I mean, gluten-free sugar cookies)

April 10, 2013 by arfoodie 3 Comments

Gluten free sugar cookie I made in the midst of the oncoming storm. Bring it on.

It’s about to throw down a storm tonight, or so they say.

Sure, in the back of my mind, I’m worried about it. I’m not a fan of weather when it’s outside of 80-90, still and sunny. But I also spent a good bit of the late afternoon working on some gluten-free sugar cookies with the boy, and they are darn tasty.

I used Alton Brown’s recipe (swapping GF flour for AP, of course), but from his book, not online. The online one will work fine, but know that the book has weight measures, if you’re more into that.

My favorite GF flour is Cup 4 Cup, but it’s rather expensive, and I’m out. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette recently ran a recipe to replicate it, reportedly “slightly adapted” (meaning they swiped it) from Gluten Free on a Shoestring. I had potato flakes rather than potato starch, and knowing it wasn’t the same thing, I tried it anyway. It was DELISH.

Mix, bake, outline, flood, hide in closet.

It was the first time I did the outline-and-flood technique, and for a newbie, it wasn’t half bad. It may be my imagination, but my royal icing seems to smell a little eggy from my stovetop pasteurization process. So, don’t do that; just use pasteurized eggs or boxed egg whites.

I’m pretty sure they’ll still eat. At least, I think so, after eating three or four of them.

This went to my head just a little.

Hunker down and carry on.

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Gluten-Free Faked-Out Cup 4 Cup
(slightly adapted from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s slightly-adapted-from Gluten Free on a Shoestring recipe)
(this is rather tongue-in-cheek if you’re not catching on)
(don’t copy recipes, okay? okay, just this once…)

60 g. milk powder, buzzed in a food processor until fine
180 g. white rice flour
145 g. cornstarch
85 g. tapioca starch
80 g. brown rice flour
20 g. potato flakes, buzzed in a food processor (original recipe is potato flour, same amount)
10 g. xanthan gum

Mix all the ingredients with a wire whisk and store in an airtight container. Makes just over 4 cups or so.

Standby for super-cute overshare kid photos.

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Loblolly Creamery: Spooning at the Green Corner Store

January 19, 2013 by arfoodie 1 Comment

Visitors got to chime in on Loblolly’s new flavors in a tasting party today.

I went to a spooning party this afternoon, and my husband wasn’t even there.

To clarify: Loblolly Creamery, which operates out of the Green Corner Store on Main Street in Little Rock, had a Spooning Party today, where visitors got to try several new flavors they’re testing and rate them on qualities such as taste, texture and body.

The fun and funky Loblolly folks just graduated from the Penn State University Ice Cream Short Course, which is apparently a lot more fun than it even sounds, despite this rather dry web page. One of the ideas they learned is how to do a tasting party, so they did just that today.

I took my daughter and her friend, and we came packing with our very own spoons, as encouraged in Loblolly’s ads for the event. We tried dainty little cups of Better than Ever Milk Chocolate, New & Improved Buttermilk, Banoffee (banana with toffee bites), Cherry & Gin Sorbet, Black Sesame Coconut (vegan) and Frappe (a light coffee flavor).

Everything, of course, was fabulous, as I knew it would be. I’d heard quite a bit about Loblolly recently from fellow blogger Michael Roberts (Arkansas Foodies and Eat Arkansas), and I’d had a small bit of their wares over at Argenta Market and at the Green Corner Store during the recent Cornbread Festival. But it was especially nice to be a part of the process, helping them tweak and choose flavors to be sold in the future.

Before we left, the girls got full scoops of the Frappe flavor, and I helped myself to a (gluten free!) pumpkin spice sandwich with some of the New & Improved Buttermilk inside. I described the smooth tanginess of the ice cream to my daughter’s friend as a “slap in yo face!”

The spooning event will continue today until 4 p.m., so if you get a chance, run by. If not, you’re sure to see some of these flavors in the near future churning out of the Loblolly Creamery. (I know, I couldn’t resist…)

Homemade Raspberry Marshmallows

December 9, 2012 by arfoodie 3 Comments

I can’t remember exactly what got us on the subject, but the Big Kid got awfully focused on our making homemade marshmallows a couple weeks ago.

I’m sure I mentioned it, in passing, not realizing I would be morally bound and obligated to make said marshmallows within a 2 hour period.

I was pretty much okay with that.

After a bit of online researching, I decided on Alton Brown’s recipe, with a few tweaks of my own to fancy it up. Because, you know, Fancy Pants Foodie. Big Kid and I decided on raspberry extract instead of the traditional vanilla as a start.

The resulting ‘mallows were lighter than expected, having opted against recipes calling for egg whites to lighten them up. We also swirled some food coloring on the top before they set, making them awfully festive. I think this needs to be a teacher gift or some such for Christmas. Anyone have a great homemade cocoa recipe?

I think this basic recipe has a lot of room for fun flavorings and garnish. You wouldn’t want anything too chunky on top, but I’m thinking mint extract and/or finely crushed candy canes would be great. For these raspberry ones, I think I’ll look for some freeze-dried raspberry powder for the tops, or to mix into the dusting powder if it’s really fine. Just a thought.

Oh, and a tip I picked up from reading other blogs: Don’t go crazy scraping all the “batter” out of your mixing bowl. And DO. Not. TOUCH. IT. You will be bound in a sticky maze of marshmallow goo. Being duly warned, I did okay with an oiled spatula and drawn-back fingers.

Pro tip I figured out for myself: When you’re cutting the finished marshmallows (dusted food-safe scissors worked well), make sure the bowl you’re throwing the finished marshmallows into doesn’t have a puddle of water in it from its last washing. Just saying. That handful did make a lovely small batch of rice crispy treats, though.

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Raspberry Marshmallows
Slightly adapted from Alton Brown’s recipe

3 packets unflavored gelatin
1 cup ice cold water, divided
12 ounces sugar (about 1 1/2 cups, but get a scale!)
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. raspberry extract
Americolor or similar paste food coloring, red or pink
Toothpick
1/4 c. cornstarch
1/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T. freeze-dried raspberry powder, optional

In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment ready, pour the gelatin into the bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the cold water and stir a bit, then leave it to bloom, or dissolve.

Meanwhile, in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, place the remaining 1/2 cup water and the sugar, corn syrup and salt together (no need to mix, really) over medium-high heat. (I really can’t tell you what that means, just not all the way up.) Cover and cook for 3 minutes. (Again, can’t tell you why, but Alton says so.) Uncover and reduce the heat a bit, and affix your favorite candy thermometer to the side. Or, use a Thermapen. I did both, and they were pretty close. When it reads 240 degrees, pucker up.

Note: Here’s where you tell the kids to back up, stop wrestling the dog, etc. You seriously don’t want this stuff to touch you. I’ve seen burns that chefs have from melted sugar, and they’re not pretty. Moving on.

Turn the stand mixer to low (as to not splash said liquid lava sugar) and drizzle in the syrup against the side of the bowl. Once all the syrup is in the bowl and it has thickened up a bit, you can turn up the speed to high. Still, watch yourself.

Let the mixer do it’s thing for a while. Meanwhile, mix the cornstarch and powdered sugar together in a small bowl. Grease a 9 x 9 metal pan with cooking spray (Alton said 9 x 13, but that’s all I had, and I liked the size marshmallow I got) and dust it with the sugar mixture. Tap out the excess, keeping some for later dusting, and set aside. (Note: You could use your raspberry powder along with the sugar and cornstarch here, if it’s very fine. You could give it a spin in the food processor if it isn’t dusty enough.)

After about 10 minutes, just give the stuff in the mixer a look and see if it looks marshmallowy. Put your hand against the outside of the bowl and see if it is just warm to the touch, significantly cooler than the lava it once was. These are signs that it’s done. (Alton’s recipe says 12 to 15 minutes, but mine was done at just about 10. I’m afraid much longer than that and I would have lost some volume and fluffiness.)

Turn off the mixer. (Duh.) Using some cooking spray, grease down a rubber spatula. Without touching the stuff with your fingers (!), remove the whisk attachment and pour the mixture into your prepared pan and flatten it as best you can with the spatula.

Make no more than two or three small drips of your food coloring (this stuff is strong!). Using the toothpick, swirl the color all over the top of the pan of marshmallows. Be sure not to leave any large drops of color intact.

If you like, dust the top with some of the raspberry powder.

Let the marshmallows sit uncovered overnight. The fridge is not a good idea; leave them on the counter.

The next day, use some food-safe scissors (preferably ones that come apart for washing) dusted with some of your powdered sugar mixture to cut the marshmallows into 8 strips, then 8 pieces each. As you cut, place the strips and then the finished pieces into your bowl of powdered sugar and cornstarch to dust the sticky sides. Then shake them off a bit and store them in an airtight bag or other container.

Consume without shame for the next few days, or give away. Or both.

Martha Stewart is a Heifer.

October 29, 2012 by arfoodie 9 Comments

At left, the cupcake baked at Martha’s recommended temp of 325. At right, the same amount of the same batter baked at 375.

I’m just saying.

I used to be quite addicted to Ms. Perfection in the 90s, before she went to jail and all. I would pick up the latest edition of Martha Stewart Living and tromp around town looking for all the arcane ingredients she called for.

The folks at Kroger and then-Beans and Grains and Things got such a hoot out of it. “Do you have any aged snail lard (or whatever)?” I would dutifully ask.

“Martha Stewart, right?” they would grin. I wasn’t the only one that had been by.

You know she was laughing just thinking about it.

Today, I used one of Ms. Perfect’s cupcake recipes for a dumb reason: loathing of math. My delicious butter cake recipe would need to be cut by 3.5 to make the right amount of cupcakes, and after a long day, that just made my head hurt. Her recipe was for just the amount I needed.

The recipe, which I had used before, was fine. The temp, however, was the problem. I had adjusted it before, but forgot today. She claims the cupcakes should be baked at 325. They oozed slowly upward and spread across the pan, making a sad little hat on each one.

Dangit.

I had enough extra for three more. I turned the temp up to 375, loaded the second pan and put them in. Perfection.

Martha, admit it. You do this crap on purpose.

Heifer.

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (Or Pie, Your Call)

June 1, 2012 by arfoodie Leave a Comment

A few days back, I had the opportunity to go to the Ben E. Keith food show in Hot Springs. It was my first time to attend, and I came ready — with a cooler in my car. I had heard that, if you hang out long enough, they start giving away food at the end of the show, because they can’t sell it after it’s been on display. I did not go home disappointed.

Long story short, my haul included some rhubarb, one of those things I’ve always wanted to try but never got around to it. Its timeliness in early summer corresponds just right with strawberry season, which probably explains why they go together so often.

Having been gluten-free for several months now, I contemplated a pie, but the crust issue made me tired. It’s possible, even fairly foolproof with the new Cup4Cup flour I’ve discovered, but…it was a long week.

I needed something to demonstrate at my daughter’s 4th grade classroom. It has become tradition in recent years for me to do this, in full chef coat regalia, during the last week of school to allow the teacher an hour or two to finish up paperwork. The night before, it hit me: a strawberry rhubarb crisp, with granola on top. What a great idea to carry over for summer breakfasts!

So, around midnight before the demo, here I am, cooking up this stuff. It’s traditionally done with tapioca pearls, which honestly kinda gross me out, but my gluten-free pantry offered the solution of tapioca flour. I ended up slightly overdoing it for something to be eaten out of a bowl, but it would stay together quite nicely in a pie crust this way. I think, next time, I’ll just use one tablespoon of the flour unless it’s going in a pie proper.

I was honestly kind of surprised that most of the kids loved it. Rhubarb was kind of a stretch, and I was using it mostly for educational purposes, holding up the odd, red-celery-looking thing and talking about produce. You’d be amazed how sophisticated their palates can be. (I brought sushi to have lunch with my daughter one day this year, which she loves, and several of the other kids tried it or said they’ve had it before.)

So, don’t be afraid to try this with the kids this summer. Make a big batch, buy a box of granola cereal (read the labels to make sure it’s not full of junk; Cascadian Farms Organic is good and inexpensive), and eat it for breakfast all week!

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (Or Pie)

Two pounds washed strawberries, stemmed and sliced or quartered
One pound washed rhubarb, cut into 1/4″ dice
1 1/4 c. white sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. balsamic vinegar
Pinch salt
1-4 T. tapioca flour (also called tapioca starch)
Granola cereal or a two-layer pie crust

Without turning on the heat, put the washed and cut fruits into a medium saucepan with the sugars and gently stir. If you have time, cover the pan and let it macerate for 30 minutes.

Place the saucepan over medium heat to bring the mixture to a simmer (honestly, just fat-sounding bubbles if there’s not much liquid yet), then reduce to low heat. Stir with a folding motion fairly frequently until the fruit is soft and the strawberries are almost completely broken down, or just to the level of chunkiness you desire.

Add the vanilla, balsamic vinegar and salt, and gently stir.

Add the tapioca flour and mix thoroughly, using less if the mixture is to be used as a crisp and more if as a pie. Heat through for another 5 minutes, to cook the starch well, then remove from the heat. Taste and adjust sweetness or tartness (you may add more balsamic or some lemon juice if you like).

If using as a crisp, place some of the filling in a bowl and sprinkle the cereal on top. If using as a pie, place in a bottom crust, cover with the top, cut vents (or use a super-cool pie bird) and bake as directed in the crust recipe.

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