Gluten-free Donut Muffin

This recipe is adapted from a recipe for Donut Muffins created by Pam Comstock at Mountain Sky Guest Ranch. As I’ve said before, Pam knows her way around a kitchen and is a truly gifted baker. She’s also an excellent hike leader and a super human being. Isn’t it annoying when people are really good at LOTS of things?

I may have mentioned this in a prior post – but I find myself surrounded by gluten-free friends on a regular basis. What’s a girl to do but knuckle down and learn how to bake without gluten? I’m all about meeting my friend’s every need (knead). So here I go – off into the wild wonder of gluten-free cooking. If you have a child who needs to eat a gluten-free diet this would make a terrific birthday treat.

Gluten-free Donut Muffins (makes 3 dozen muffins)

Adapted from Mountain Sky Guest Ranch

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• 3 eggs
• 4 ½ cups Gluten-Free All-Purpose flour (we have used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour, but we like King Arthur Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour quite a bit better)
• 6 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 1 ½ teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 ½ cups sugar

• 3/4 cup butter
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease muffin tins (I use vegetable spray for this task).

In a medium-mixing bowl beat the eggs. Add the milk and the oil. Blend well. Add the sugar, whisk until totally integrated. Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine lightly.  Spoon the batter into greased muffin tins. Bake for twenty minutes.

Melt the butter. Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. When the muffins come out of the oven allow them to sit for ONE FULL MINUTE – this keeps them from falling apart when you try to remove them from the muffin tins. Dip the tops of the muffins quickly into the butter and then into the cinnamon sugar.  Serve warm.

Some other options for gluten-free muffins include Gluten-free Blueberry Muffins at glutenfreegirl, and my Gluten-free Pumpkin Spice Muffins. Send me your link and I’ll add it here!

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Meyer Lemon Curd

My fab friend Helen showed up last summer with the most incredible lemon curd that she’d tossed together that morning. It must be said that this is the same friend who when we went off to college could do nothing in a kitchen but burn salad. I always thought she was a lost cause – NOT IN LIFE mind you, but in the area of cooking. Thirty years later and the woman is maestro. Not only that – but she’s experimental, game for trying anything, no matter how unusual. Whenever she comes to visit I learn how to do something new. I had to wait until this month for her lemon curd demonstration. Not that lemon curd is hard to make, it’s not. If you’ve never tried it, give this a shot.

Meyer Lemon Curd (makes just shy of two cups)

• juice and zest of 4-5 Meyer lemons (you want a total of 1 cup of juice and zest combined)*
• 1 cup sugar
• 6 egg yolks
• ½ cup unsalted butter, chopped into approximately tablespoon-sized pieces.

*It is best if you use a large zester so that the zest is in medium-sized strips rather than teeny tiny pieces of zest.

In a medium saucepan whisk together the lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and eggs yolks NOT ON THE HEAT. Once you have this thoroughly mixed, turn heat on to medium. Whisk constantly and cook for 8-10 minutes until the custard is starting to thicken. Gradually add the butter until it is blended. Take off the heat and allow to cool. Great served on toast in lieu of jam, or on ice cream, or with a side of fresh fruit, or just plain off of the spoon.

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Chocolate Almond Buttermilk Cake

I made this cake recently without chocolate, but really – isn’t everything better with chocolate in it? Perhaps not Lamb Sausage Patties, but most everything else. This is a light, not terribly sweet cake. You could serve it for dessert at dinnertime, but somehow it seems more like a lunch or brunch cake to me. You can make it a day ahead, but it will lose a little of the crunch on the topping.

Chocolate Almond Buttermilk Cake (makes one 9-inch cake)

Cake:

• ¼ cup almond meal
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup buttermilk (shake well before measuring)

Topping:

• 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
• ¼ cup salted Marcona Almonds, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter and flour a 9-inch cake pan.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together almond meal, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, nutmeg and salt. Set aside.

Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the almond extract and the egg and beat until just blended (don’t overbeat or you’ll make the cake stiff). Gradually add the flour and buttermilk, alternating in two additions each.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. Using a large rubber spatula gently smooth the top of the cake. In a small bowl toss together the 1½ tablespoons of sugar and the almonds. Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the cake. Bake for 20-25 minutes in the center of your oven until the cake is pulling away from the sides of the pan and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. I wanted to have the sugar/nut side up – so I double inverted the cake, first onto a non-serving plate and then one more time onto my cake plate so that the pretty/interesting side was face up. Serve immediately or allow to cool, and then store in a plastic storage container.

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Bran Muffin

My husband would be happy if these high protein, high fiber (that’s the real key) muffins were in our house EVERY DAY. Much as I live to meet his every need, I cannot quite keep up the required Bran Muffin pace. I go in fits and spurts of having these around. The batter freezes well so I double the recipe, divide the batter into thirds, and freeze two containers – baking the remaining third of the batter. The only pain about this recipe is that you do have to put the batter together the day before you plan to bake it. This recipe is adapted from a recipe included in a Junior League Cookbook called Gourmet LA published here in Los Angeles in 1988. The book has been out of print for 2o years, but appears to be available online at a few used book sites (not Amazon). It is one of my favorite cookbooks. I still find it fresh and interesting 25 years later. Special thanks to my longtime friend Nanette who gave me the book more than 20 years ago!

Bran Muffins (12-18 muffins)

• 1 cup brown sugar
• ¾ tsp salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2½ cups bran
• 1½ cups oats (not instant)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1⅓ cup whole wheat flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ⅔ cup canola oil
• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 16 oz of plain nonfat yogurt
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup apple cider (or apple juice, or even cranberry juice)
• 1 cup yellow raisins

You’ll need to start this recipe the day before you plan to bake the muffins. If you don’t the bran and the oats will be dry and tough. The muffins will be far more moist if you start the day before.

Combine brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, bran, oats, flour, whole-wheat flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Combine the remaining ingredients. (Just a quick note on measuring honey – it sticks in the measuring cup and is a royal pain in the neck – try spraying your measuring cup with a little vegetable spray first – the honey will slip right out) Fold the yogurt mixture gently into flour mixture until all of the dry ingredients are moistened.

Cover your mixing bowl and refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to bake the ovens preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spray vegetable spray into the muffin cups. I’ve tried oil or butter in the muffin tins instead of vegetable spray, but the muffins always stick. They only thing that seems to work is vegetable spray.

Pour batter into prepared muffin cups. Do not overfill the cups. The muffins rise quite a lot while baking. Bake for 25 minutes or until edges start to brown and when a cake tester comes out clean. Don’t overbake these muffins. They are super moist and delicious if you bake them properly. Overbaking will make them dry and tough.

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Spicy Vegan Tomato Sauce

This tomato sauce is adapted from a recipe for Pasta Sauce Raphael in the original Silver Palate Cookbook published in 1979. I loved that cookbook so much that my well-worn copy gives new meaning to the word tattered. I rarely, if ever, felt that there were errors in that book. This particular recipe is the only exception. Their version has three tablespoons of ground pepper in it with less than half the amount of tomatoes listed here (I believe I once saw a later volume and the quantity of pepper had been adjusted – my copy is dated 1982). I made the recipe as written in the cookbook once and found it completely inedible. Being a poor university student I didn’t want to throw out what I’d made so I kept adding tomatoes and artichokes until I finally balanced out the pepper. Over time I have adjusted a number of other things, and finally hit on a version of spicy tomato sauce that has become a family favorite.

Spicy Tomato Pasta Sauce adapted from “Pasta Sauce Rafael” in the original Silver Palate Cookbook (10-12 servings, freezes well)

• 4 pounds plum tomatoes
• 30-ounces marinated artichoke hearts
• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups white or yellow onions, diced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow or orange bell pepper, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried Mexican Oregano
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
• Two 28-oz cans plum tomatoes (prefer Marzano)
• Two 15.5-oz cans tomato sauce
• One 6-oz can tomato paste
• ¼ dry red wine
• ½ cup capers, drained
• ½ cup flat leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
• ½ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (optional, eliminate for vegan version)

Prepare a large bowl of ice water. You’ll use this for tomato plunging – more on that in a sec.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Drop the tomatoes into the water a few at a time. You want to leave them in long enough that the skins loosen. Really ripe, fresh tomatoes will do this in a matter of ten seconds. Standard grocery store tomatoes are not nearly as ripe and will take between 30 seconds and a minute. Using a slotted spoon remove the tomatoes and plunge them in the ice water. Next, remove them from the ice water, peel off the tomato skins and coarsely chop the tomatoes. You can seed them at this point, but I never do.

Drain the marinated artichokes, reserving the marinade. You’ll only need half of it for this recipe. Use the rest of it as a facial scrub (or not).

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a large Dutch Oven or soup pot. Sauté the onions, garlic, basil, oregano, and red pepper flakes for five minutes. Add the ground black pepper, the peeled fresh tomatoes, the canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, wine and the capers, simmer uncovered, for 60 minutes. Add half of the reserved artichoke marinade to the sauce and simmer 30 more minutes. Finally, add the marinated artichokes and parsley and simmer for a final 20 minutes. Just before serving add the Romano cheese, taste and add salt if needed. Serve.

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Roasted Game Hens

This is about as simple as it gets. I roast four game hens at a time. I can only eat half a game hen myself, but some people can get through a whole one (especially teenage boys). I rub the birds with Sel Epicé, a spice blend I make once or twice a year. It keeps a good 12 months in a sealed container on a cool pantry shelf. It works well on chicken, or turkey, or cute little game hens.

Roasted Game Hens (4-8 servings)

• 3 tablespoons Sel Epicé (posted on my blog ages ago)
• 6 tablespoons olive oil (no need for extra virgin – inexpensive olive oil will do)
• 4 defrosted game hens
• vegetable spray

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Rinse the game hens in cool water and discard any pieces from the central cavity (necks, whatever).

Mix the Sel Epicé and the olive oil in a small bowl.

Using your hands rub about half of the Sel Epicé mixture all over the birds – including inside the central cavity.

Place a rack in the middle of a large roasting pan. Spray the rack with vegetable spray so that the birds don’t stick. Place the birds side by side, breast side down on the rack.

Place the rack in the middle of the preheated oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 350 degrees. Check the birds after one hour. If they have turned a lovely golden brown they are ready to be turned. If not, wait until they turn color, then remove the birds from the oven and using a pair of tongs turn the birds breast side up for the remainder of the cooking period. Baste the birds with the reserved Sel Epicé/olive oil mix. Check the birds again in 45 minutes. Depending on their size and how cold they were when you first placed them in the oven they should finish cooking in just under 2 hours. They are done when the juices run clear. I usually test one bird and slice right where the thigh attaches to the bird. If the bird starts to get too brown but is not quite cooked place a piece of foil loosely over the top of the bird so that the skin is protected from further browning.

Once the birds are done, remove it from the oven and allow it to sit 10 minutes before serving. Cut the birds in half down the center and serve, or serve whole. We love serving these hens with Tomato Coulis, posted here a few months back.

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Cheddar Cheese Buttermilk Biscuits

There are a number of makers of gluten-free all-purpose flour blends. We are very partial to King Arthur’s blend. It has the most neutral flavor of the brands we’ve tried. Some of the other blends work well if you’re making something with a very strong flavor (such as a chocolate cake) but work far less well for something like this. My kids devoured these with no idea that we’d swapped in gluten-free flour for regular all-purpose.

Gluten-Free Cheddar Cheese Buttermilk Biscuits (12 biscuits)

• 3 cups all-purpose gluten-free flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick (½ cup) butter, cold
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk
• ½ cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup green onions, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  It is best if the rack is in the middle of the oven.

Sift together the all-purpose gluten-free flour, baking powder and salt.  Using a pastry blender cut the butter into the sifted flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal.  Add the buttermilk and blend with a fork until it forms wet dough.  Add the cheddar cheese and green onions and gently combine with a spoon (don’t use the fork – you’ll destroy the onions).

Using a large metal spoon cut the dough into equal-sized portions and drop by a rounded spoonful onto two ungreased cookie sheets (6 per sheet).  They won’t be terribly pretty at this point, but don’t fret, they’ll look great once they are baked.  You can gently adjust the dough with your fingers so that each biscuit is slightly rounded.  Bake until lightly golden, approximately 15-18 minutes.  Serve immediately or cool on a rack until room temperature and store.

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Tuscan Tiramisu

We had the good fortune to take a terrific cooking class at the New School in Culver City, CA a few weeks ago. The class we took was focused on Tuscan cooking. One of the things we learned was how much the Tuscans focus on local, seasonal ingredients and how frugal they are with leftovers. They have seventeen different ways of turning day-old bread into something new and fabulous. I love that resourcefulness and commitment to not letting good food go to waste. My maternal grandmother, daughter of Swedish immigrants, raised in the early part of the 20^th Century in the American West, had that same razor focus on never, ever letting food go to waste. Many Americans toss away perfectly good food at every meal, turn up their noses at leftovers and have little concept about how to work creatively with yesterday’s food. We need to return to the frugal practices of our grandparents – quit throwing out perfectly good food, and develop the kitchen skills necessary to create new and novel meals out of what was left behind the prior day. Now, after you’ve eaten a frugal meal of leftovers, what could be better than some authentic Tuscan Tiramisu. This is a slight adaptation of the recipe we were given in class. It’s quite a lot of work, but worth the effort.

Tuscan Tiramisu (9 servings)

Sponge Cake:

• 1 ¼ cups flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 5 eggs, separated
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 5 tablespoons boiling water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line the bottom of a jelly roll pan with parchment paper (these are also called half sheet pans – they look like a cookie sheet with sides).

Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Put the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whip on high speed until thick and pale yellow. Reduce your mixer to medium speed and gradually add the water and the vanilla. Turn your mixer back to high speed and beat for five minutes, until the mixture is thick and ribbony.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Wash your mixer. Beat the egg whites using a clean bowl and clean beaters until soft peaks form. Fold half of the egg whites into the batter and then add the remaining whites. Spread the batter in the jelly roll pan. Use a large, flat spatula to gently even out the batter in the pan. Bake the cake for 10-15 minutes until it is a golden brown color. Set aside.

• 2-3 cups espresso (you don’t want to brew espresso too long before you plan to use it or it will become bitter – you can use instant espresso powder if you don’t own an espresso machine)
• 18 ounces fresh mascarpone
• 3 cups cold heavy cream
• ¾ cup plus two tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Place the powdered sugar in a mixing bowl. Pour the heavy cream on top. Using a hand mixer or the bowl of your stand mixer beat the heavy cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Gently fold in the mascarpone and the vanilla.

Invert the cake onto a large cutting board or your kitchen counter. Slowly pull back and then discard the parchment paper. Cut the cake in half crosswise. Place half of the cake in the bottom of a 9×12 pan. Using a basting brush, gently brush half of the espresso onto the cake. Scoop half of the mascarpone mixture on top of the cake. You’ll want to put it in a big pile in the center. Then, using a flat spatula gently smooth out the cream until it covers the whole cake. If you spread the cream from a large pile in the center of the cake you are less likely to pull the cake apart as you even out the cream. Place the second half of the cake on top. Baste with the remaining coffee. Spread the remaining cream mixture on top. Dust with the cocoa. This is best done by placing the cocoa in a sifter and sifting it over the top. Refrigerate a minimum of four hours before serving. Can be done overnight. If you aren’t serving it until the next day, wait until just before serving to sift the cocoa over the top.

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Bay Shrimp Ceviche

My latter born son created this recipe. He adores ceviche and sent me off to the fishmonger to buy halibut. Unfortunately the halibut looked horrid. I mean really horrid. Who buys frightful looking fish? I hope you don’t. One of the keys to being a good cook is being a good shopper. One has to have a little flexibility. If the vegetables you set out to buy look near death (“I’m not dead yet, I’m just resting”), switch to something else. Never hold onto a recipe in spite of the fact that the required ingredients are screaming – “leave me on the shelf, I’m rotten!” Swap to what looks fresh and fabulous. The teeny tiny bay shrimp looked terrific tonight, a far cry from the dingy halibut. And G-d bless my sweet latter born, he made a quick u-turn and we were off to the races making Bay Shrimp Ceviche instead. This is what we created. It’s light, and fresh and lovely to look at. He made sure that we held one serving back to give to his beloved nanny for her lunch tomorrow. He’s like that, my little one – always one to share a good thing. I hope she gets here early. My Bay Shrimp Ceviche willpower is pretty dismal – kind of like the halibut.

Bay Shrimp Ceviche 4-6 small servings

• 1 lb. cooked bay shrimp
• 3 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1 large avocado, diced
• 2 Persian cucumbers, diced
• 1/3 cup red onion, finely diced
• 1/3 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 6 large leaves of Romaine lettuce

Combine shrimp, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and cilantro. Sprinkle the lime juice and salt over the top and toss gently. Add the avocado and toss one more time.

Serve over large Romaine leaves.

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Green, the right color for Brussels Sprouts

I suffered Brussels sprout trauma as a young child. In those days (the early 1970s, if you must know) Brussels sprouts were steamed, or boiled, or baked until they turned a lovely grey color and one could eat them with a spoon. I’m pretty sure they were twice as large as the ones we eat now, and a hundred times mealier. They were about as good as an overdone lima bean, and just as attractive. For whatever reason I’ve had a hard time letting go of this particular childhood trauma. A recent visit from my college friend Jennifer finally brought me into the Brussels sprout fold. Jennifer and husband Jeff are adept in the kitchen and like many of you, moved past their childhood Brussels sprout memories more quickly than I did, and were quick to suggest that we roast Brussels sprouts and serve them alongside our Rotisserie Chicken (also their recipe, see upcoming post).

Oven Roasted Brussels Sprouts (serves 6) 

• 1 ½ lbs Brussels sprouts
• 2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
• ½ – 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• aged balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the Brussels sprouts in half and remove any icky looking outer bits. Place on a large sided baking sheet (also known as a half sheet pan). Drizzle the sprouts with extra virgin olive oil. Toss to coat. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Roast until golden (15-20 minutes). You’ll want to open the oven a few times and move the sprouts around with a spatula so that they cook evenly. You want them to get crispy on the outside and just cooked through on the inside. They should still have their lovely bright green color (NOT GREY) when they are done.

Sprinkle the sprouts with aged balsamic vinegar and serve immediately.

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