Cheesy Cheddar-Gruyere and Chive Biscuits (GF)

Welp, I'm back! We made the move from San Diego to Los Angeles and we finally have internet so I can post again! Stomach problems are better, after tons of doctors visits, all of which had absolutely zero answers for my symptoms. So I decided just to figure it out on my own, and so far it's working.

Needless to say, I've been eating fairly normal again and I'm back to testing out recipes.




A few weeks ago at my supper club, that I'm no longer a part of because I moved to LA (tear), someone made cheddar biscuits that were AMAZING. I seriously could not stop eating them. So I decided to make my own by adapting this recipe. I made them gluten-free, added gruyere, and added greek yogurt instead of buttermilk, because I didn't have any. These biscuits were absolutely delicious. The gruyere definitely adds an extra layer of flavor to the average cheddar biscuits. Brett ate three with his dinner, and I had one for breakfast with an egg and avocado. That recipe comes next!





Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups gf all-purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 teaspoons gf baking powder
1/2 teaspoon gf baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons extra cold butter, in 1/2 in chunks
1 bunch of finely chopped chives (roughly 2 tablespoons)
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
3/4 cup grated gruyere     (I used 1 1/2 cups of Trader Joe's Cheddar-Gruyere cheese, I'm lazy)
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
2 tablespoons water


In a bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add extra cold chunks of butter, chives, and 1 cup of the cheese (reserve remaining 1/2 cup). With your fingers, or a pastry cutter, combine the ingredients until the butter forms peanut sized chunks/balls.

In a small bowl whisk together yogurt and water until fluid and no longer chunky. Add yogurt mixture to dough until it can be formed into a large ball.

On a floured surface roll out the dough until it's roughly 1 inch thick. Cut the dough with a biscuit cutter, or into squares if you want it to be more rustic, and sprinkle the top of each with cheese.

Place biscuits in the freezer for 10 minutes and preheat oven to 450 degrees, moving an oven rack to the upper third level of the oven.

Bake biscuits on a well greased baking sheet for about 15 minutes, or until biscuits are golden.

Crispy Gluten Free Flaxseed Baguette

Ladies and gentlemen, it's been done; I made a crispy, gluten-free baguette.

I was really craving a warm, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, baguette straight out of the oven. But I didn't want to feel guilty about eating it. Also, I've been having some serious stomach pain lately, and I wasn't sure if it was due to the large amount of gluten I ate last week.




So I started researching gluten-free breads. Most of them required several different types of flours, or a gluten-free flour, mixed with xantham gum or guar gum. I don't know how I feel about pre-made gf flour mixtures yet, nor am I sure how I feel about xantham and guar gum, so I tried to find a recipe without any.

I came across this recipe from Bread & Companatico for a gluten-free baguette and altered it a bit. (By the way, she's a genius!)The problem (for me) was that the recipe is measured in grams and I do not own a kitchen scale, so my measurements might not be the same as her recipe, however it turned out great.

On my first try I converted the recipe into measurements (or so I thought) and it turned out horribly. The dough was way too wet, so I kept having to add extra flour. Then, the baguettes rose in the oven, but sunk shortly after cooling off. It was more like crispy flat bread...with the insides not baked through. Fail.

I asked my mathematically gifted husband to help me convert the recipe into something I could understand. Apparently different flours weigh different amounts...my bad.



The second try came out great. Crispy outside, soft center, and not dense at all. The bread has a pretty strong yeast flavor, more so than a regular baguette, but I didn't mind. If you're wondering why one of the baguettes in the pictures is darker than the other two, it's because I experimented with that one and covered it in a layer of olive oil before baking. I rolled the other two in brown rice flour before baking. I'm not sure which I liked more; the olive oil baguette was a bit crispier on the outside, but a bit more moist on the inside, and the lighter baguettes were the opposite.



Ingredients:

2/3 cup brown rice flour (plus extra for dusting at the end)
2/3 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons whole psyllium seed husks
3 tablespoons flaxseeds

1 package of instant yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg white
1 tablespoon honey
ice cubes and water for a water bath

In a mixer add warm water, yeast, honey, beated egg white, and olive oil. Mix slightly and let sit for 5 minutes. Mix flours, cornstarch, salt, psyllium husks, and flaxseed together in a bowl and set aside.

Gently knead the flour into the warm water mixture (I used a standard mixer, but you can use your hands. However, I would recommend kneading in a bowl because the dough is extremely liquidy at first). Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, then cover and allow to proof in a warm place for an hour.

After the dough has rested, preheat oven to 475 degrees and place baking sheet or baking stone inside oven to heat up, as well as a metal baking dish (for ice bath. You want to use metal because you will be adding ice to it, and glass/ceramic might shatter).

Turn the dough onto a flat surface and separate into 3 equal portions. Carefully shape each portion into a baguette and roll in a bit of rice flour or add a layer of olive oil. Allow the bread to rest for 30 minutes while the oven is heating.

Score the baguettes and carefully and quickly add the dough to the hot baking sheet/stone and put in oven. At the same time add several ice cubes to 1/2 cup water and add into metal pan. Immediately close oven and bake for 20-25 minutes.

The Best Brown Butter Banana Bread

Last week I decided to treat my husband to a special breakfast loaf, instead of my usual low-sguar, low-fat, gluten-free loaf. He loves banana bread, so I thought I'd kick it up a notch and use brown butter in the loaf.

 

This bread was so delicious, I honestly felt kind of guilty eating it for breakfast. My sweet-toothed husband absolutely loved it. It was moist, sweet, and had this decadent nutty flavor from the brown butter. It tasted like a cupcake almost. I just love banana bread.



You can easily swap out the whole wheat flour for an all-purpose gluten free flour if you want it to be gluten free. I just felt like spoiling my husband with a deliciously fluffy gluten-filled loaf of banana bread.



Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 ripe, mashed bananas (about 1 cup)
3 eggs (room temp)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour (or gf all-purpose flour)
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a heat-proof glass add brown sugar and maple syrup, and set aside. In a small pot, heat the butter on medium-low heat, swirling every once in a while, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the butter starts to brown and turn an amber color. Carefully transfer butter into heat-proof glass with sugar, mix, and allow to cool.

Once butter and sugar has cooled, add eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas. In a seperate bowl add flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Incorporate wet ingredients into dry until just mixed. Pour into a 9 x 5 loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes (watch closely, as mine went from not quite done to almost overcooked in a matter of minutes).

Coconut Sweet Potato Bread (GF)

A couple of weeks ago my boss made this delicious coconut loaf and offered me a slice. I'm not a very big fan of coconut, but I decided, why NOT?!

This loaf was surprisingly hardly coconut-y at all, besides the shredded coconut that was hidden in each bite.




It was so good that the next week I decided that I needed to make it for myself, only healthier. I decided to use gluten free flour and coconut milk, and that I would sneak in some sweet potato. However, when I looked into the calories and fat in coconut milk, I opted for coconut milk lite.



Since I am not a huge fan of the texture of shredded coconut, I decided to chop up the coconut shreds so they would be less noticeable.




If you're not a fan of coconut, this bread is definitely for you. It has a mild coconut flavor, but tastes like vanilla and cinnamon as well. I opted for an optional honey coconut glaze for those who REALLY want the coconut flavor. This bread was like a delicious light dessert. In fact, I'm sure you could heat it up and toss a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and you wouldn't even know it was meant for breakfast.

I made a second loaf with organic whole wheat flour and it turned out just as tasty, so you could use either flour.



Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose gluten free flour (I used Trader Joes')
1 cup shredded coconut, chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 eggs
1/2 cup organic cane sugar
1/2 cup pureed baked sweet potato
1 cup canned coconut milk (I used a light version)
1/8 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup greek yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Coconut Glaze: (OPTIONAL)
1/8 cup melted coconut oil
1/8 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, mix together flour, coconut, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and set aside. In another bowl beat together sugar, eggs, sweet potato puree, coconut milk, coconut oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just mixed.

Pour into a well-greased 9 x 5 loaf pan and bake for 60-70 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Top with coconut glaze or enjoy as is.

Coconut Flour Zucchini Bread (GF)

I bought a bunch of zucchini this week and I was determined to use it all, so I apologize for the flood of zucchini-filled recipes that's about to take place this week.

Who doesn't love zucchini bread? My husband WASN'T a fan, until I converted him.



I came up with this recipe while trying to experiment with coconut flour.

Coconut flour is gluten free and great for you. It's high in fiber and protein, and relatively low in calories. It's also paleo diet friendly since it's not a grain. However, I'm not on the paleo diet, nor do I plan on ever being on it, so this recipe is not paleo friendly. Sorry.

The problem with coconut flour is that it's highly absorbent, so you can't sub it in a recipe instead of wheat flour. You also need a good amount of eggs when baking with coconut flour in order to keep it from crumbling.

I personally don't like it when breads taste eggy, so I used only three full eggs in this recipe, and three egg whites. I also like zucchini bread to be pretty sweet, so I used brown sugar instead of honey or maple syrup, and added a hint of cinnamon and vanilla.

Believe it or not, this bread is also oil-free and high in protein, perfect for breakfast! I made some vanilla honey cinnamon butter to slather on top...that's not oil free or good for you, but I don't care. I also sprinkled some extra brown sugar on top before throwing it in the oven.

This bread is fluffy, and moist, and cinnamon-y, and delicious...and that was horrible grammar I just used.



Ingredients:

3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups finely grated zucchini (measured after water is squeezed out)
3 eggs
3 egg whites
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup 0% fat greek yogurt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

In a bowl sift together first four dry ingredients listed above and set aside.

In another bowl whisk together vanilla, zucchini, eggs, egg whites, brown sugar, and yogurt. Mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated.

Pour into a standard sized bread loaf pan that's been lined with parchment paper (I do this with gluten-free breads to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan). Bake for about 60-65 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Best when served warm.

Cheesy Jalapeño Beer Bread

Oh boy, this bread was something else. Straight out of the oven, steaming hot but crusty and crunchy on top. It was the perfect side to a bowl of chili. To be honest, it's the perfect side to anything comfort food-like. It was spicy, and you could taste a slight hint of the beer. And the cheese...well, it wouldn't be what it is without the cheese. I used spelt flour, but you can probably use any flour you like. If you're being really naughty, white all purpose flour would work great. This bread is so, so easy to make, it's ridiculous. I adapted this Honey Beer Bread from Give Me Some Oven, and I can honestly say, I will be making this again and again. If you are gluten-free, you could attempt this recipe using gluten free beer and all purpose gluten free flour, thought I'm not sure of the results--worth trying!





Ingredients:

3 cups of spelt flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
1 bottle of good beer (good, people, no coors or bud light)
4 tbsp melted butter
1 jalapeño, diced
1 cup shredded cheese

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix in room temp beer and honey and mix until just combined, you don't want to over mix.  Fold in jalapenos and cheese. Pour half of the melted butter into the bottom of a loaf pan and pour batter on top. Top with remaining melted butter and another (hefty if you're like me) sprinkle of cheese on top. Bake for 50-60 minutes.