nearly carb free friendship - sugar free gluten free pudding

Friendship is weird. It is wonderfully complicated and gets better once you have gone through something really unpleasant together and come out the other side still wanting to talk to each other. So when a friend tells me I can't eat _____, I feel a special need to try to ease the transition. Us, those whom gluten cannot pass our lips, understand better than most, what it feels like when your food life is messed with.

That is how a nearly carb-free dessert was concocted. Count yourself among my pals, and a lover of sweets, well this is my best effort at a chocolate dessert for you. 

This recipe takes two days to make, which is ridiculous if you compared it to traditional pudding, but consider it like you would icebox pie, something that needs the power of the refrigerator and time to make delicious. 

There are three steps: creating the licorice syrup, soaking the chia seeds and cocoa powder, and then combining and cooking. Using both the licorice and stevia worked well together. Licorice has that sweetness that doesn't hit till your finished and your palate is nearly cleaned, and the stevia hits more up front at the start of the first bite - so together they work pretty well and don't test chemically or too weird.  (Surprisingly, the finished product does not taste like licorice at all!)

This isn't going to be a sweet dessert, it is going to end up tasting like a chocolate pudding like thing but its no pudding pop. You might be tempted to add more sweetener(s), don't. Adding more stevia or licorice results in a very off-putting mess that tastes more like you lost a dare and had to eat an entire packet of Equal. 

Licorice "syrup" 

3-4" piece of licorice root, bent into pieces if you can

1 1/2 cups of boiling water

1. In a heat safe bowl, pour the boiling water over the licorice root. 

2. Allow to steep for at least 2 hours, overnight if you can. 

The water will turn light yellow, then bright yellow.

Pudding base

1 cup coconut milk - the pour-able-when-cold kind from a tetra pack

1/4 cup chia seeds

1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

pinch of sea salt

1. Combine all ingredients - you are going to need a fork or whisk to break up the cocoa powder

2. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight

Finished product

1/4 cup of the licorice syrup

Pudding base

4 drops liquid stevia extract

1. In a saucepan, boil 1/4 cup of the licorice syrup. 

2. Once it has come to a boil, add in the pudding base, stirring constantly. The whole goal is to cook the mixture so it doesn't taste like raw cocoa powder. This will take about 10 minutes, or until the mixture darkens and no longer tastes chalky. 

3. Remove from the heat and add in the 4 drops of stevia. 

4. You can enjoy it warm, or return it to the fridge to chill. Using the pour-able coconut milk will help prevent the pudding from separating or hardening when cold. 

I couldn't pick a name - faux-pioca doesn't have quite the right ring to it. I am calling it pretty darn delicious. 

Gluten free pumpernickel

"Wait, you can eat this?!"
"I would believe you if you said they didn't have wheat in them, but NO RYE?!"

These are the sounds of success.

It is great when people kindly nod their heads and say that your gluten free offering is "not bad" or "pretty good" but when you can pull the preverbial wool over their tastebuds, well then I know I have won.

I have been messing around with recreating pumpernickel ever since I found teff flour in an Ethiopian mini-mart in Maryland. Now back in Boston, it is a bit harder to find, but the Bob's Red Mill teff flour stuff is pretty close. It is significantly less fermented, so it smells different and requires more yeast - or a longer proofing time - to get going.

This recipe was hard to post and share since a very dear friend, who has passed, helped me develop and perfect it. It was around her dinner table, where so many amazing meals were had, where we discussed what this recipe needed: cocoa, coffee, and molasses. Those three ingredients took this from good to great. I will think of her lovingly every time I make a batch.

Gluten free pumpernickel
2 1/2 cups teff flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup arrowroot starch (+ 1/2 cup in reserve)
1/2 cup rice flour
3/4 cup millet flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional)
1 tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp psyllium husk
1 tbsp flax seed meal
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp espresso powder
2 tsp instant yeast
3 cups water
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup molasses


1. Combine all of the wet ingredients, and yeast, into a mixing bowl.
2. Combine all of the dry ingredients.
3. On very low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet.
4. Mix to combine.
5. Allow the mixture to sit for 20-30 minutes (overnight is even better). You are looking for the batter to go from a chocolate pudding consistency to something almost as thick as warm frosting. 
6. Now comes the tricky part. If you let it rest for 20-30 minutes you are going to need to see if it has set up enough. Again, you are looking for it to be much thicker, and fall off in plops off the beater or paddle. If it is a bit runny, slowly mix up to 1/2 cup more arrowroot starch. If this scares the baking pants off you - just cover the mixture with plastic wrap and put it in your fridge over night, and skip to #7.
7. Preheat the oven to 425F.
8. Grease 2 muffin tins.
9. Scrape down the batter, and then scoop it into the muffin tins (22-24)
10. Bake at 425F for 30-45 minutes, or until you can pierce the rolls with a toothpick and the center comes out clean.
11. Cool and eat!

This is a bad photo, but you can see the awesome crumb structure and that they do not deflate. I recommend serving them with butter and salt, goat cheese - I am not in any way suggesting you should forgo the pastrami.

"real" injera

Teff is a very tiny grain - in the grass family - that is the basis of Ethiopian injera. It is a thin bread, that is sour, with a soft, spongy texture. Its sometimes described as a thin pancake or a thick crepe, but it is much more. It functions as plate and utensil in Ethiopian cuisine.

My first visit to D.C. I saw injera at a gas station, and began my hunt for some "real injera", injera that is made with just teff. The D.C. metro area has the largest population of Ethiopians in the U.S., but all the injera - at restaurants, markets and gas stations - are cut with wheat and or barley flour. Teff, outside of Ethiopia is extremely expensive, around $10 a pound.

I decided to give it one more try, at Dashen Ehtiapain Grocery in Silver Spring. There were over 7 different types of injera, but all, even the darkest in color, were cut with barley or wheat. The clerk was very helpful, going through the bags of bread and then eventually given tips to making injera from scratch - he said it was key to mix the teff flour with water and let the larger particles settle to the bottom and discard them. 

‎This is my first attempt at injera, and while the recipe couldn't be simplier, I feel like I might be missing something. Maybe the dough needs to ferment longer. Maybe there needs to be more water? Perhaps I should have added oil to make it easier to handle. I am not sure. But the results, even though a little ugly at first, were delicious!

I have secretly thought that teff might taste like pumpernickel. This injera is very sour, more sour than sourdough - which makes sense, because you are basically cooking just the sourdough starter. There are hints of pumpernickel - aka rye - flavor, which leads me to think that a teff-based fauxpernickel is in my future. 

Injera
1/2 cup teff flour
3/4 cup water

1. Combine teff flour and water in a jar. Stir well.
2. Allow to sit, uncovered, at room temperature for 2-3 days, or until bubbles form.

Time to make the injera!
3. Stir up the starter.
4. Add a pinch of salt.
5. Stir again.
6. Pour onto a lightly greased, flat-bottom pan.
7. Cook only on one side, till bubbles form and the dough darkens.

The first batch stuck, so I switched to the caste iron skillet, which worked a lot better.

With pratice, the shapes improved and they stuck less!

Overall, I think the flavor was right, but they were not as supple and soft as I think they are suppose to be. They fell apart when I used them to pick up food. But they really were delicious with left over Peruvian chicken - with hot sauce, rice and beans and sauteed asparagus with caamelized onions. Not bad for a last-minute, late-night dinner.

sesame orange ginger candy

A bus ride conversation lead to my mouth-mind wondering to sesame candies. There are the super thin, crisp version from the Asian markets, and then the tiny rectangles I could find in the supermarket penny candy section. (Not to mention the sesame pita with honey that we used to get from the Lebanese place in Lawrence, MA... if anyone knows what that is called - PLEASE SHARE!)

I like both versions, but I went for the crisp-turned-chewy kind here. With the solid suggest from my friend Joe, I added in both grated ginger and orange peel. The resulting candies are good, but I think they should be thinner, and you can see that more sesame seeds are needed to accommodate the honey.

I used this SeriousEats recipe, and tinkered with the flavor.

Sesame Orange Ginger Candy
1 cup of honey
1 cup of sesame seeds
1/4 tsp salt
zest of two oranges (no pith!)
1" of fresh ginger grated super fine
candy thermometer is KEY, well unless you want to do the "drop hot candy into water" test, which is totally valid, I support you
Oil or cooking spray
wax paper or cellophane for wrapping the candies

1. In a skillet, toast the sesame seeds over medium heat until the become fragrant and begin to pop. (could of minutes)
2. Remove the seeds and set them aside in a bowl to cool.
3. Place the honey, salt, peel and ginger in a deep saucepan with the candy thermometer attached.
*To measure the honey, spray a little cooking spray on the inside of your liquid measuring cup - it will make it a lot easier (awesome trick for molasses too). Better yet, if you have a kitchen scale, tare your saucepan and add 340 grams of honey. One less thing to wash!
4. Cook over medium-high heat till the candy thermometer reads 280F.
5. Turn off the heat and stir in the sesame seeds.
6. Pour the mixture into a parchment-lined and greased pan. (I used an 8x8, but the candy came out a little too thick, I would recommend going with a larger pan... unless you have an awesome dental plan.)
7. Allow to cool for 40-60 minutes.
8. Turn the candies out on to a cutting board and cut with a well oiled knife. carefully
9. Wrap each piece with cellophane or wax paper.
Store in an air tight container.

This made about 100 pieces, though some were bigger than others. I realized that the candies were taller than I expected... I think they should be thinner so they are easier to chew. The orange really comes through, but the ginger is pretty subtle. I would add more or use ground ginger next time.

Thanks to Paul for the inspiration! 

gluten free rugelach

My first encounter with rugelach was back in the 90s when I worked at a Barnes & Noble Cafe. Authentic, no; delicious, yes. The internet tells me that you can built them like a crescent roll, but I have always preferred the rolled-into-a-log and sliced type.

For this recipe, I modified two different gf versions and fuddled with the fillings. (Apricot is my hand's down-favorite, but I didn't have any on hand.) Cinnamon +sugar+walnuts is the classic; I did a version with almonds here. Prune is another standard; I mixed dried prunes with lingonberry jam to stretch the 10 I had into enough for these treats.

The results... far exceeded my expectations. The edges are crispy, the centers are soft, toothsome and the fillings stayed in side and did not ooze out all over the pan! The vanilla extract is not necessary, but was noticeably awesome with the cinnamon sugar version. I will be adding these to the "so good I could serve them to other humans and not have to disclose they are gluten free, but will, with joy and elation" list.

Gluten Free Rugelach

yields 20-24 cookies

Dough
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tbsp arrowroot starch (or corn starch)
2 tsp xanthan gum
4 oz. cream cheese (half a package)
1 stick unsalted butter (8 tbsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 egg or 2 tbsp milk or cream for brushing tops
1 tbsp sugar for sprinkling

Prune Filling
10 prunes, chopped
2 tbsp lingonberry jam (use what you have folks)

Almond Filling
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp chopped almonds

1. In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients and pulse.
2. Cut the butter and cream cheese into chunks and one at a time, add them to the dry mixture, pulsing a few times between each chunk.
3. The dough is going to look weird and like it will never come together. It will, just wait and keep pulsing.
4. When it starts for form clumps, add in the vanilla extract, if you so choose. Keep pulsing till it forms a ball.
5. Remove the dough from the processor. Work it with your hands until it comes together. Separate it into two balls and refrigerate for 10-30 minutes.
Here is where you can mix up your fillings.
6. Roll out the dough, one ball at a time, until the dough is about 1/6" thick. Using parchment is key here, it will help in step 8.
7. Spread out the filling, leaving 3/4" of blank dough around the edges.
8. Slowly roll the dough on itself, keeping the roll as tight as possible. The parchment paper is super key here because the dough is really soft.
9. Repeat with second ball of dough and filling.
10. Place the rolls into the freezer for 10-20 minutes. This is key so you can slice the dough without squishing everything flat and spewing the middles out everywhere.
11. Remove the dough from the freezer and slice into 1" cookies.
12. With either a beaten egg, milk or cream, brush the tops of the cookies. Sprinkle with sugar or left over cinnamon sugar mixture.
13. Bake at 375F for 25-40 minutes (this is going to depend on how big your cookies are and how even your oven is). You are looking for browned tops and browned edges. The cookies will rise slightly and appear flaky on the top.
14. Cool and enjoy [with coffee].