Gluten-Free Apple Crisp

I've been meaning to post this recipe for a couple months, but the holidays got me, and only now am I getting back to a somewhat normal routine. During that time I made gluten-free pumpkin scones twice, and they were sooo disappointing. I made them a couple times last year, when we lived in Portland, and they were fabulous — couldn't even tell they were gluten-free! But when I made them here in Minnesota, they just didn't turn out right. The dough wouldn't come together (the air is terribly dry here in the winter-time), so I added a little extra liquid to get it to work for me. The flavor was good, but they wouldn't brown and the texture was heavy and slightly doughy. Simply under-baked? I don't think so. I can't figure it out, so if you have any thoughts or advice, please share.

Also during the holiday season, I made this apple crisp a few times, and each time it turned out great. Once, however, I made it with a dairy-free substitute instead of butter, and rolled oats instead of quick oats, and it wasn't quite as good.

There's really nothing complicated about gluten-free apple crisp. You just have to make sure you use gluten-free oats and a gluten-free flour blend in place of all-purpose wheat flour. Since there's no pastry or dough of any kind, you don't need to worry about details like xanthun gum to thicken and bind. (Although the flour blend I use happens to contain some xanthun gum, I doubt it has any effect on the crumble topping.) So, if you have a favorite recipe already, just go with it.

This is the recipe I use, which I've adjusted to my liking. It's sweet, but not too sweet, and has a little lemon juice added for tartness. On different occasions, I've used Fuji, Honey Crisp, or  Granny Smith  apples. (Granny Smith are pretty tart, so you can probably leave out the lemon juice if you use those.) Once I even threw in a pear because I was short one apple.

Sometimes I make my own gluten-free flour blend, but my favorite pre-made one is Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend. It recently became available at Costco in a 5-pound bag, and it's much more affordable than the same product (in a smaller bag) at either my local natural foods store or what the people in my area call the "gluten-free store."

Gluten-Free Apple Crisp PRINTABLE RECIPE

6 apples - peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup gluten-free oats (I use Bob's Red Mill Quick-Cooking Oats)
1/2 cup gluten-free flour blend (I use Namaste Foods Perfect Flour Blend)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup cold butter - cut into small pieces

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°.

2. Toss apples with lemon juice, white sugar, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Pour into a 9-inch square baking dish.

3. In a separate bowl, mix brown sugar, oats, GF flour, and 1 tsp cinnamon. Use a pastry cutter or fork to mash the cold butter into the oat-flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Spread over the apples to the edges of the dish and pat gently until even.

4. Bake for about 45 minutes or until the topping is golden brown and the sides are bubbling.

Chicken Divan (Gluten-Free)

A friend of mine, an American living in England, was looking for a chicken divan recipe recently. Lots of variations can be found online and in cookbooks, but most Americans use a can of condensed cream soup for the base of the sauce. Since that isn't readily available in England, my friend was looking for a substitute. I don't know if she ever figured it out, but it got me to thinking about chicken divan. My mom used to make it when I was growing up, and I've made it myself from time to time too. It's pretty easy to prepare, and comforting and delicious to eat.

Since the canned cream soups all seem to contain wheat flour, I decided to do my own search for a substitute and I found it on The Gluten-Free Homemaker. With that, and the recipe for chicken divan I grew up with, which includes sour cream, lemon juice, and paprika, I created the recipe below.

You can use leftover chicken or turkey, or a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. You could also include some cauliflower, along with the broccoli, if you like. My mom used to do that sometimes. I like to top it with at least 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese, but I've also used cheddar or jack – you can use whatever you have on hand. And don't worry about being precise with the measurements. I just do it "by feel" every time and it always turns out good. I like to serve it with wild rice on the side. It's a great combination.

Chicken Divan  PRINTABLE RECIPE

8 oz sour cream (I use low-fat)
1 prepared cream soup recipe (see below)
juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp paprika
garlic salt to taste (optional)
1 Lb broccoli florets - steamed until just tender
2 cups shredded or cubed skinless, cooked chicken (or turkey)
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan (or other cheese)

1. Preheat oven to 375°
2. Stir together the cream soup, sour cream, lemon juice, and paprika until well combined. Adjust the lemon juice and seasonings to your liking. Sometimes I add a little Lawry's garlic salt.
3. Place the steamed broccoli in a 9" x 13" casserole dish and top with the chicken. Pour the sauce over and spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with the cheese.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly and light brown.

Gluten-Free Cream Soup Substitute  The Gluten-Free Homemaker
Use this soup in recipes in place of one can of condensed cream soup (like cream of chicken soup).

1 cup milk (I use non-fat)
3 Tbsp sweet rice flour or 2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 Tbsp butter
1 cube chicken bouillon (Knorr bouillon is gluten-free)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
black or white pepper or to taste (I like to use white)

1. Whisk the sweet rice flour into the cold milk in a saucepan.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and heat to a boil while whisking frequently. Reduce heat to low and simmer, while whisking constantly, for about a minute until nice and thick.

 

Chocolate Chip Blondies (Gluten-Free!)

One of the last, delicious baked treats I remember eating before going gluten-free was chocolate-chip blondies (AKA butterscotch brownies) made by my neighbor. They were so darn good! And I knew I was about to phase out gluten, so I suppose I enjoyed them even more because of that.

Occasionally, I get a craving for these blondies, and I've looked for gluten-free recipes online, but they all seem kind of odd to me. For example, one recipe calls for almond flour, which is out at my house because of my son's nut allergy. Another – a no-bake recipe – calls for pre-made vanilla wafer cookies. Other recipes claim to be wonderfully cake-like, but I don't want cake-like. I want moist, a bit chewy, brownie-like. I finally found a fairly standard recipe (standard for gluten-free, that is), but my results were just OK, not great, and worst of all, they were dry and crumbly.

I decided to take the traditional blondies recipe from one of my cookbooks, a recipe I know to be excellent when made with regular wheat flour, and make the substitutions myself. I used a gluten-free brownies recipe as kind of a guide... Three eggs? No, too much – that would make them cakey. I decided on two.

They real key, I think, is the bake time. Over-baking makes the bars too dry. Under-baking leaves you with gooey cookie dough. Check them often, as ovens vary; the changing weather seems to affect things; and other mystery factors do too. Mine were just right, this time, after 25 minutes.

Blondies with Chocolate Chips  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter - melted
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
3/4 tsp xanthun gum
1 cup chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet - your choice)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°. Prepare an 8" square baking pan (mine is glass) with non-stick spray.

2. With an electric mixer, beat together the melted butter and sugar until smooth; then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add the salt, flour, and xanthun gum and mix until well combined.

3. Stir in the chocolate chips; then pour the batter in to the prepared pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until just set in the middle - do not over-bake!

4. Cool completely (be patient) before cutting.

Banana Bread (Gluten-Free!)

I got this recipe off a bag of Namaste Foods gluten-free Perfect Flour Blend. They call it "Best Banana Bread" and it really is the best! No one would even guess it's gluten-free.

I recommend Namaste Foods flour blend as well as the recipe, but in the interest of saving space in my pantry and not having a bunch of different flours and mixes in there, I adapted the recipe ever so slightly to use a homemade brown rice flour blend that I like to keep on hand.

If you like, you can add half a cup or so of chopped nuts or seeds to the batter.

Banana Bread (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
3 very ripe bananas - mashed
1/2 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 325° and lightly spray 9" x 5" loaf pan with non-stick spray.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour blend, baking soda, salt, and xanthan gum. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, mix together sugars and oil. Add eggs, bananas, and vanilla, and stir until well blended. Fold in dry ingredients.

4. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove bread from pan and cool on wire rack.

Dangerous Doughnut Muffins (Gluten-Free!)

I love food TV. Admittedly, some of the shows are pretty goofy and others are just plain bad. But over the years, I've learned a lot about cooking from these shows, mostly long before the Food Network or the Cooking Channel were even around. Nothing against the current food and cooking programming – I certainly watch a few of the shows. If it's about food, after all, it's pretty easy to draw me in.

One evening recently, my son was watching with me. It was one of those shows where they feature the best restaurants and bakeries around the county. They were spotlighting Chocolate Doughnut Muffins. They didn't sound particularly amazing to me, but my son was enthralled and could hardly go to sleep that night because he wanted to travel to this bakery in Durham, North Carolina that very night to get one of their delicious confections. I told him there was no way we were traveling to North Carolina anytime soon, but we'd look for a recipe and try to make our own. I actually thought he'd forget all about it by the next day, but he did not.

So, I found a recipe online. Of course, I had to convert it to gluten-free if I was going to be able to partake. So, I took the recipe I'd found, and a doughnut recipe from a gluten-free baking book I have, plus what I learned about the doughnut muffins from the food show, and came up with a recipe I thought might work. The kids helped me to mix it all together. After baking, we rolled them in melted butter – I guess you have to do something to make up for the fact that the "doughnuts" are not fried – and then in cinnamon and sugar.

Guess what? They were good, really good! Softer and springier than a cake doughnut – definitely more like a muffin,  but that touch of nutmeg in the batter and the cinnamon-sugar on the outside gave them that doughnut quality. They're dangerous because after eating one, you really want another, if only to ponder the question: Is it a muffin or is it a doughnut?

Chocolate Doughnut Muffins (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

1-1/2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

COATING:
6 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350° and spray a standard muffin tin with cooking spray.

2. Combine flour,  cocoa powder, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and nutmeg in a small bowl and whisk together.

3. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the sugar and eggs until light and fluffy. Gradually add the flour mixture, and then the oil, milk, cream, and vanilla. Mix for about a minute on low speed. The batter will be a little lumpy.

4. Divide the batter evenly into 12 muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a muffin center comes out clean.

5. Let the muffins set in the tin for about a minute or so, then remove to a wire rack. While they cool a bit, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. In separate bowl, melt the butter in the microwave; or melt on the stove top in a small saucepan.

6. Roll the warm muffins in melted butter to coat all over; then roll in the cinnamon-sugar, again coating all sides.

Delicious warm or cool.

Sunday Morning Scones (Gluten-Free!)

I'm a coffee person. I make my own most days, but I like to stop by a local coffee place once in awhile too, and get a nice latté. As you know, those little coffee shops almost always have a tempting offering of pastries: donuts, croissants, cinnamon rolls, coffee cake, muffins, cookies, and – my favorite – scones. Since going gluten-free, I suppose I've saved a few dollars and a few calories by passing on the morning pastry, but I do miss it and sometimes I feel so bummed and left out that I can't get a baked treat along with my kids or my friends on those occasions when we stop for coffee. There was a little place in town that carried gluten-free scones and other pastries that were pretty decent, but sadly, they went out of business. There's another place that has gluten-free donuts, but BLAH! They're no good!

I prefer not to make my own scones because you can't make just one (can you?). And when I have half a dozen or more in the house, I tend to eat them up far too quickly. Getting a single one at the coffee shop, not more than once a week, works out far better for me and my belly. But, I finally gave in recently and baked some for myself. This morning, I made another batch, with a few modifications, and the recipe is good enough to share.

If lemon poppy seed is not your thing, omit the last three ingredients below and leave them plain or add nuts, blueberries, chocolate chips... whatever you like.

Lemon Poppy Seed Scones (Gluten-Free)  PRINTABLE RECIPE

2 cups brown rice flour blend  PRINTABLE RECIPE
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
5 Tbsp cold, unsalted butter - cut into tiny pieces
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk (or, for richer scones, use cream)
2 tsp (approx) finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp poppy seeds

1. Preheat oven to 425 -->° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until very light and foamy.

4. Add flour mixture, milk, lemon zest, juice, and poppy seeds to the eggs and mix on low for about a minute.

5. On a lightly floured surface, pat out the dough (a little flour on your hands will help as the dough can be sticky) into a one-inch thick round. Cut into eight triangles and place on the baking sheet.

6. Place the scones in the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 375°. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden/lightly browned.

Serve warm. These scones are best if served right away. You can store them in an airtight container, but you'll notice that by the next day the texture just isn't the same. So plan a tea (or coffee) party with your scone-loving friends and eat them up before it's too late.

Now, if only there was a gluten-free recipe for my other favorite – the buttery, flaky, chocolate croissant. I have a feeling there's no gluten-free version of the croissant that would come close to the original, but if you think you can prove me wrong... please do!