Apple Pie, Flaky Crust

I slightly modified, and doubled, the recipe for gluten free pie crust on Cooking.com and it is the best pie crust I have ever made!!!!

Flaky Pie Crust
2/3 cup sweet rice flour
2/3 cup tapioca starch
2/3 cup potato starch
6 tbsp corn starch
4 tsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1. Mix all dry ingredients together.
2. Cut cold butter in to pieces, cut into dry ingredients until the largest pieces of butter are about the size of peas.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and vinegar.
4. Pour the wet ingredients into butter mixture. Mix together.
5. Wrap in plastic or place in zip-top bag and refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
6. Divide dough in half. Roll dough out between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Dust the dough first with tapioca starch if a bit sticky.
7. Form and shape pie.
8. Bake at 350 till golden brown, about 1 hour for apple pie below.

Filling
8-10 apples, peeled, cored and sliced
pinch salt
1/2-1 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1 tbsp potato starch
juice of half a lemon

1. Combine all in a bowl and mix well.
2. Fill bottom pie crust.
3. Add top crust, crimp edges and poke holes in top to vent steam.



This seriously was the best gluten free pie I have made. It was NOT gritty! It was flaky and even browned!
We ran out of pie plates, so I used this square, glass pyrex and it still worked!
The dough was very thick and would have easily filled a 12" round.
The filling was a little runny when warm, but firmed up a bit after cooling. I might consider bringing back the arrowroot powder + apple cider thickener from the last pie. Combined, it could create the best pie ever! Mwahahahahahaha!

Pumpkin Pie

Originally I just wanted a cookie crust, but I used more butter than I had cookies, so I added in some gf flours to help absorb the extra. It was good, but next time I would probably just half the butter and use just butter and cookies.
The filling is a modified version of my vegan pumpkin custard. I added eggs, since there were no vegans attending this year, and it really helped the middle set nicely.

Crust
1 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 bag of Gluten Free Mi-del Ginger Snaps, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp potato starch
2 tbsp tapioca starch
2/3 cup sorghum flour
pinch ground cinnamon
pinch ground cloves
1/4 cup brown sugar

1. Combine all ingredients, mix well.
2. Form into the bottom of a pie plate.
3. Bake at 350F till the crust begins to take on some color at the edges, about 20 minutes.

Filling
1 can pumpkin
1 can coconut milk
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
pinch salt
2 eggs

1. Combine all ingredients, mix well.
2. Pour into cooled crust.
3. Bake at 325F until the center has set (if you tap the side of the pie plate the center should no longer jiggle and look liquid in the middle). Approximately 40-60 minutes.



The filling was really good. The crust needs some work.

Stuffed Mushrooms

Growing up we always had stuffed mushrooms, but they were filled with marinara sauce and topped with Parmesan cheese. After making a Better Homes and Gardens recipe for breadcrumb-based stuffed mushrooms for a cooking class in high school, they too were added to the Thanksgiving roster.

This was my first attempt at making a gluten free version and I think I knocked it out of the park.

Stuffed Mushrooms
2 packages of button mushrooms, cleaned and de-stemmed
6-8 slices of gluten free bread (I used Food for Life gluten free Millet Bread)
1 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp butter
1 small onion diced
1 rib of celery diced
6 of the mushroom steams diced
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 tsp+ Italian seasonings
2 tbsp grated Romano cheese
salt & pepper to taste
water or vegetable broth

1. Toast bread and cut into small cubes.
2. In a pan, sautee onion, celery, mushroom steams in olive oil and butter.
3. Once the vegetables soften and onions become transparent, add in Italian seasonings and garlic. Cook until garlic is no longer raw.
4. Add the dried bread cubes/crumbs to the pan. Turn off the heat. Stir well.
5. Add enough water to bring the mixture together. (This is going to vary upon the type of bread you use and how toasted it is.)
6. The mixture should stick together and be soft. Add in cheese, salt and pepper.
7. Fill each mushroom, pressing the stuffing down.
8. Bake at 375F till the mushrooms are brown and cooked through (so that you can pierce the middle without resistance). Approximately 40 minutes.



These were really good. Really, really good.

Cranberry Sauce

I made a double batch because I really love cranberry sauce. Sometimes I will eat a small dish of it on its own as dessert.

Cranberry Orange Sauce
2 bags of fresh cranberries, washed
2 cups of sugar
zest and juice of 2 oranges
1/2 cup water*

1. Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed pot and bring to a boil.
2. Lower to a simmer and continue cooking, uncovered, until all cranberries have burst.
3. Remove from heat, cool and store in the fridge.

*You might need more or less water depending on the size of the oranges you use. I like a really thick sauce, so I usually go scant on the water, but you can add up to a full cup of water or more, if you like.

The Turkey

Brining all said and done, it was time to cook the bird.
Weighing in at 17.65lbs, I started off cooking it (on a rack, stuffed with aromatics) at 425 to help dry the skin. This worked, but 20 minutes in it also set off all the smoke detectors in the house. (Burning turkey fat and butter = lots of smoke)

I opened all the windows, fanned the smoke detectors with the broom and turned the oven down to 325 and continued baking the turkey for 4 hours.

I was surprised at how few juices were actually released - so too was the gravy maker, who was hoping for more. We took the bird out, tented it with aluminum foil, and let it rest for about 30 minutes while the stuffing and green bean casserole were in the oven.


Then came the carving...


I need to seriously invest in a serrated knife before this time next year.

The turkey was moist and delicious. I would say that the only part that was noticeably salty was the meat right next to the skin, but it was not overwhelming, just well seasoned.

My roommate was in charge of the gravy, thickened with cornstarch, which was awesome!
(Stock made from the giblets, neck and heart with celery, onions and some other secret ingredients + turkey drippings + the meat from the neck, giblets and heart + cornstarch slurry + salt and pepper to taste)

Thanksgiving 2008

This is only my second gluten free Thanksgiving, but I have to say that it totally demolished last year's, in terms of awesomeness!

There was way to much food, but all of it was delicious. Besides the turkey, the highlight was the apple pie. The crust was actually flaky!

Here are some stunning shots, I will break down recipes in separate posts.

Drooling may commence, consider this your warning.

Seafood stew with clams, tuna, salmon, crab, leaks, tomatoes, garlic...

Bacon, pecan brussel sprouts.

Millet bread stuffed mushrooms.

Cheesey brussel sprouts and candied squash and sweet potatoes.

Green bean cassarole (made with coconut flour as thickener and topped with crispy shallots fried in butter and chick pea flour); brown rice bread stuffing with apples and chestnuts; & the turkey.

Kale with garlic and lemon.


Pumpkin pie (pecan, butter, sugar crust); apple pie (gf muffin mix & chick pea flour crust); pumpkin pie with cookie crust.

Brining the Bird

Working off of Alton Brown's turkey brine recipe, with a few adjustments from last year, I created the following brine:

1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp brown mustard seeds
1 tbsp yellow mustard seeds
2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
10 allspice berries
boiling water
5 lbs ice
[turkey, remove the heart, neck and giblets]

1. Add spices, sugar and salt to a few cups of boiling water.
2. Stir to disolve sugar and salt. Allow to steep for 20 minutes.
3. In a large, clean container, combine water and 5 pounds of ice.
4. Submerge the bird, adding more cold water if needed.
5. Store in a cold place, like fridge, or in a cooler, pack with ice if necessary.
(It was cold enough outside that I was able to keep it out there, topped with some bricks so that animals would not get into the 5-gallon painters bucket that housed the brining bird.)

The day-of

brined turkey
2 onions, quartered
2 ribs of celery, quartered
2 carrots, quartered
6 cloves of garlic
2-4 tbsp butter, optional

1. Remove bird from brine and rinse. Make sure to dislodge any stuck spices.
2. Thoroughly dry the skin of the bird.
3. Stuff the cavities with aromatics (I used onions, garlic, celery and carrots)
4. Liberally rub with butter.
Bake at 325F for the time allotted for your size turkey.

All the bird to rest at least 30 minutes before carving.

Pumpkin bread

I modified the pumpkin bread recipe in Rebecca Reilly's Gluten-Free Baking to work with a whole can of pumpkin.
(This was also the "lets see if mixing lots of different flours means really awesome bread.")

2/3 cup unsalted butter
1 2/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp molasses
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup almond meal
3/4 cup potato flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup chick pea flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground ginger
pinch kosher salt
1, 15oz. can pumpkin
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup almond milk
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350F
2 greased loaf pans

1. Whip butter.
2. Add sugar and whip until fluffy.
3. In a separate bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix.
4. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, pumpkin and milks.
5. Alternating dry and wet mixtures, slowly add to butter.
6. Once combined, stir in fruit and nuts.
7. Spoon out into greased loaf pans.
8. Bake at 350 till a toothpick comes out cleanly from the center (about 1 hour)

Out of the oven it looked so good.
10 minutes of cooling later, it sunk.
The flavor was off, not sweet enough and noticeably gritty.
(I think this is because of the chick pea flour)

But... the next day the texture was markedly improved! I think the rice flour must have hydrolyzed enough to no longer be gritty.

Vegan Pumpkin Custard

Last year I was having a really tough time with dairy, but was missing pumpkin pie in the worst way. Working off of an idea of a friend's vegan coconut rice pudding recipe, I started testing pumpkin pie filling recipes and here is my favorite result. (It also works well in a cookie crust as a whole pie, the consistency is bit looser than traditional pumpkin pie, but the flavor is really good.)

Pumpkin Custard
1 can pumpkin
1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup + 2tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt

1. Add all to a sauce pot, simmer 45 minutes, stirring regularly so the bottom doesn't burn.
The mixture should darken in color.
2. Pour into serving dishes, cool & serve.*

*It will set up and be thicker once cooled.

You can also use brown or cane sugar instead of maple syrup. Start with a 1/4 cup and add more to taste.

Cornbread Recipes

Last January and February I was testing cornbread recipes, and I ran across my notes yesterday. Tis the season for gluten free stuffing/dressing bases, so I thought I would post them up and share.

The original recipe I was modifying was posted on the "gluten free forum" of celiac.com


Cornbread test 1

1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup chick pea flour
1/4 cup sugar (ONLY USED 2 tbsp)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk (used RICE MILK)
1/4 cup drippings, vegetable oil or melted butter
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spritz a 9-by-9- or 8-by-8-inch square pan with nonstick baking spray. Combine the cornmeal, chick pea flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Combine the milk, oil and egg in a glass measure and whisk to combine.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix just to combine. Dump the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes until the cornbread begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and is golden in color.

RATINGS
*good texture
*chick pea flour a little nutty
*Re-test with corn flour... see how that goes

***
Cornbread try #2

1 cup corn meal
3/4 cup corn flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1tbsp sugar
1/2 cup creamed corn
3/4 cup rice milk
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 egg
2tbsp canola oil
(plus 1tbsp to grease pre-heated skillet)

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in another, and combine with dry
Bake in a cast iron skillet @ 400 degrees for 20 minutes

***
Overall, good texture, a little drier/crumblier than first recipe
Batter much thicker than first recipe
Could use more creamed corn (but worried about throwing off the baking powder)
Could use more sugar if a sweater bread desired
***

Cornbread (3rd try - VEGAN & GF)

1 cup corn meal
1/2 cup corn flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup creamed corn (replaced egg)
1 cup rice milk
1/4 cup canola oil

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl.
Mix wet ingredients in another, and combine with dry
Bake in a cast iron skillet @ 400 degrees for 20 minutes - until toothpick comes out clean from center

***
Lighter & fluffier
Took longer than 20 minutes to cook... at 30, center still not perfect, fell a little
Taste much better
***