Chocolate Tasting

Chocolates are not created equal. I think I have always known that... but every now and I then, I suppose I think the money saved on inferior stuff is worth it. It never is.

Today we had a chocolate tasting, to celebrate Valentine's Day a little early. We had bought a selection of fun, fancy, gluten-and-dairy-free chocolates and wanted to see which ones were best. I threw the candy hearts on the plate just for fun. My favorite was definitely the Blanxart Chocolate Negro con Almendras. Very good, crisp to the teeth, a touch too-sweet, but not as too-sweet as the others.

While I'm talking about chocolate... I recently posted a recipe for Coconut Milk Ice Cream, and I need to amend it. That first batch was so much better than the two that have followed!! The only differences have been, the first time around I used what was left of some very fancy cocoa powder. I don't remember the brand, but it was in a tall cardboard cylinder. Very different packaging than most... shouldn't be hard to find. And, after I re-liquified the coconut cream (skimmed off the tops of the fridge-cold cans) in a saucepan, I put all the ingredients in the blender instead of just whisking. I think it was the cocoa powder that made the difference... but... thought I'd be specific. I'd hate any of you to make it, have it be as gritty and weird as my last two batches have been, and then decide that I'm crazy to say it's a good recipe.
Don't blame me, blame Hershey's. They suck.

Coconut Milk Haagen Dazs

I just made the best ice cream in the entire world. Yeah. It tastes like Haagen Dazs, and it is entirely gluten/casein-free. It's healthy. Full of good fats, low in sugar. Delicious.

I'm going to need to buy my own coconut grove.

Oh, and... I'm real sorry 'bout not getting a photo for you. But... well... it was melting fast and was really, really yummy.

The recipe:

3 cups coconut milk*
3 egg yolks
6 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. raw honey (I used agave)

Mix (I used a blender), put in ice cream maker... follow your machine's directions.

* Put three cans of coconut milk in the fridge overnight, to separate. Some milks won't, if they have a lot of emulsifiers added. Then, scoop out the solid coconut cream, and save the liquidy stuff for another use (like making coconut rice).

Oh, and I felt the need to melt my coconut cream in a pan, over low heat, before blending up. The particular brand I was using had clumps... and I didn't think the ice cream maker could overcome them. So, I melted it all a bit first.

Homemade ice cream is always "best" right when it's made. It can get incredibly hard in the freezer. So, if you actually have leftovers, you need to invite more kids over. Ok, ok, whatever... you have leftovers... stick them in the fridge for about 20 minutes prior to scooping, or on the counter for 10 minutes.
If you've ever bothered to read it, you'll see that even a carton of Haagen Dazs has similar instructions on it.

Rice Pudding

I think every gluten-free person ends up making rice pudding. We eat so much darn rice, we can't escape it. I made a big batch of coconut rice last night, thinking we'd need more to eat than the sushi I had ordered. I had no idea how big everything would be... we were plenty full. So, we had a lot of leftover rice. What to do? Rice pudding, of course. It's almost as if the Universe forced my hand to pour in the extra cup last night, steering me on the inevitable path to rice pudding.

So, I looked around online for a recipe I could adapt to being dairy-free, and one that used leftover rice. In the end I naturally changed almost everything and had my own brand-new recipe. Although I'm certain I'm not the first person to make it exactly this way... after all... how many ways can there be to make rice pudding?

Stovetop Rice Pudding

2 cups leftover cooked white rice
3 cups milk, divided (any kind)*
1/4 cup sugar (was still a bit too sweet for me)
small pinch salt
1/2 cup raisins, cranberries, whatever

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
freshly-grated nutmeg
1 egg, plus additional yolk

Combine cooked rice, 2 ½ cups milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the vanilla and seasonings. Cook until just about all of the milk is absorbed, about 20 minutes, stirring often. Whisk egg and yolk into remaining milk, then add to pan, stirring to combine well. Stir in raisins or other dried fruit.
Divide rice pudding into individual serving dishes serve warm or chilled. Top with sliced nuts or shredded coconut, if desired.

Makes 4-6 servings (yeah, right...)

*Note: Feel free to add a bit extra if the pudding is not as creamy as you like it. Any kind of milk works well, I used 2 cups coconut and 1 cup hazelnut.

I got the recipe that I loosely based this on from Slashfood.

Baking Day

It has been chilly here, finally, but warm enough in the afternoons that I can't justify turning the heater on. We wake up to a co-o-o-old house. I figured the best way to warm things up would be to bake. Yeah, that was my only motivation.

First, I made gluten-free, casein-free (GFCF) pumpkin pie. Well, I suppose "pie" should be in quotes, because it had no crust. Perhaps it was a pumpkin custard? It's really yummy, anyway, and if I make it for a special occasion, I'll probably work out some sort of crust. I don't miss crust all that much, though.

This is the recipe that I used:

GFCF Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

1 can pumpkin

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp. ground cloves (didn't bother hunting around for this, I know I have some, though)

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1 cup coconut milk

1/2 cup maple syrup

3 eggs

Mix the pumpkin and spices together. Add the remaining ingredients and stir slowly until just mixed. Pour the mixture into the pie pan. Bake at 425 for 15 min, then reduce to 350 and bake for another 30-40 min. Allow pie to cool before serving.

Then I made the muffins in the photo.

GFCF Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup pecans or walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
2 cups grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)
1 large apple, peeled and grated (I used 1/2 cup applesauce)
2 cups GFCF flour (mine was a Bob's Red Mill bean-based one... need to use it up)
1/2 cup Rapadura, ground fine if it's pretty clumpy
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 cup shredded coconut
4 large eggs
3/4 cup coconut oil, melted

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place rack in center of oven. Place fluted paper liners in 18 muffin cups.
Toast the pecans or walnuts for about 8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.
Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple. Set aside.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Stir in the nuts and coconut. Set aside.
In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Fold the wet ingredients, along with the grated carrot and apple, into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 10 minutes remove the muffins from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 18 standard-sized muffins.

To all the food I've loved before

Now that I can't have gluten (or so many other things) I'm not sure when I might once again have my cake and eat it, too. So, here I have a memorial to the delectable goodies of the past.

The Strawberry-Covered Chocolate Cake

This was my inside-out idea for my 29th birthday. It tasted great, but the frosting was so soft it rather oozed off the cake over time. Not that it needed to last all that long. Cakes are not baked to be looked at!

The lovely confection followed a birthday feast:

Crostini with Roasted Artichoke Pesto
Served with Trinity Oaks Johannesburg Riesling

Tomatoes with Fried Goat Cheese & Herb Salad
Grilled Grass-fed Rib Eye
Served with Napa Valley Vineyards Reserve Merlot

It was nummy.

And then there was last Thanksgiving.

My first (and last for a long time, not by my choice) time preparing the feast. We invited some single (or otherwise alone for the holiday) soldiers to join us. I was too busy to get pictures of the spread, but one of the guys did. If he makes it back from Baghdad, I'll get copies from him to post here.

The menu:

Butter-Roasted Turkey with Pan Gravy
Cornbread and Sausage Dressing
Fresh Cranberry-Orange Relish
Maple Bourbon Sweet Potatoes
Green Bean Salad
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Southern Collard Greens
Sweet Potato Bacon Biscuits

Pumpkin Pie with Fresh Whipped Cream
Cranberry-Apple Crumb Pie
Chocolate Cake with Apricots and Almonds
Coffee, Tea & Cocktails

The chocolate cake with leaf cut-out apricots and almonds. It was fun to decorate. But not much was eaten that night... everyone was too full.