Chocolate Cookies

A couple weeks ago I suddenly remembered my first days in my new apartment. The fridge was completely empty except for an oreo cream pie that my room mate's mother had made for us. We feasted on it whenever we were hungry until we managed to go grocery shopping. The memory inspired me to work towards a gluten free oreo cream pie. Unfortunately, my first experiment with oreos did not give me the hard crispy cookie I was hoping for, but it still turned out quite yummy, chewy, very chocolatey, and absolutely delicious when topped with whipped cream.

The following recipe is only slightly adjusted from the original. My thought was to increase the cocoa powder to make them a bit more chocolaty, and cut out a lot of the baking soda and baking powder, so they would rise and bubble less. However, it seems that even a little leavening agent in what I wanted to be a flat cookie was too much. I will try again! But for the mean time, here's a very yummy chocolate cookie recipe:

What you will need:

• 1/4 lb butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 2/3 cup rice flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 tsp xanthan gum

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a cookie sheet.

-Cream the butter and sugar in a medium-size bowl. Add the egg. Mix until light and thick. Add the other ingredients. Beat until thick and creamy. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared pan. Press to a 1/4 inch thickness with moistened finger tips (or thinner if you want a thinner cookie as pictured). Bake for approximately 8 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack and let cool completely.

They are just like normal cookies!

Note: When it comes close to taking these out of the oven, watch them closely. It is more difficult to tell when a chocolate cookie is done because they are supposed to be really brown, but it means that if they burn, it's harder to tell. Take them out erring on the early side. Straight out of the oven, they may seem a little moist, but they settle to a normal cookie texture after cooling.

Also, the recipe says that it makes 36 cookies, but this is only if you follow the directions of 1 teaspoon of dough per cookie. That may seem really small, but the cookies do expand a little upon baking, and I have grown fond of eating multiple small cookies at a time, rather than one large one. You can make them a little bigger, but your cookie count will go down, so be prepared.

As far as my oreo development plotting, here are some of my plans: 1. I may remove the baking soda and powder entirely so that the cookies don't poof up. 2. I have heard that adding eggs makes dough stiffer and better for hard cookies. 3. Adding extra flour is also a method for stiffening the dough.

(This recipe was of my own invention, adjusted from the rice-based Chocolate Cookie recipe from Roben Ryberg's "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free." Corn starch, oat flour, and potato starch based versions of this recipe also exist.)

Country Pear Pie with Streusel

I thought that gluten free pies would be one of the most difficult things to come across or make, and even more difficult to make ones that really tasted like pie. The truth is, pies are one of the more involved desserts to make, but they are extremely worth the effort. This recipe (which was inspired when my voice student gave me a huge bag of fresh pears) is one of the more advanced ones, in that there are three parts to this recipe and pie crusts are a little challenging. However, the result is extremely rewarding and delicious and had all but disappeared between just me and my roommate in a few days. The pears are slightly sour, the streusal has a nice sweet and nutty taste, while the fresh ginger adds a nice bite and surprise to the filling. The crust is slightly sweet and a wonderful substitute for real pie crust. It is also a great recipe to make with a friend, so that one can be responsible for the pie crust, one for the filling. The streusel, which is optional, produces a very pretty finished product and a little extra sweetness to this mild pie, and is very easy to make.

What you will need:

Pie Crust:

• 4 oz cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2/3 cup rice flour
• pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Filling:

• 4 cups sliced and peeled pears (takes about 1 pear per cup)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 4 teaspoon rice flour
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoonfresh minced ginger (or 1/4 tsp ground ginger or 1 tbsp crystalized ginger)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon sliced or chopped almonds (to sprinkle on top)
  

Streusel topping: (optional and delicious)

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup rice flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon milk
  

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

-Combine all the ingredients for the pie crust in a medium sized bowl. Make sure butter and cream cheese are cold, not softened. The mixture will first become a fine crumb, then finally a ball (clump) of dough. Using your hands helps.

-Place the dough on a sheet of baking parchment (or two sheets of wax paper). Cover with another sheet of paper and carefully roll out into a large circle, 12 to 13 inches in diameter.

-Pull off the top sheet and carefully flip the dough upside down into a 9-inch pie plate. It's okay if it ends up off center. Peel off the remaining sheet of paper. Gently adjust the dough so that it is touching the pan as much as possible. Trim, tuck, and pinch the dough at the edge of the pie plate. Pinching the dough between your fingers will help adhere it to the pie plate and reduce the chance of the crust's slipping into the plate during baking. If you have some gaps in some places in extra dough on some edges, trim the extra dough off, roll it into a ball, place it between the parchment papers again, and roll it out a second time, using the new piece to patch the gaps. Simply pressing the dough together with your fingers will smooth out the edges enough.

-Prick the crust all over with a fork to deter air bubbles and slippage.

-Bake for 10-15 minutes until slightly solidified and golden in color.

Here's a pie crust before it has been baked:

For the filling:

-Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

-Combine sugar, rice flour, nutmeg, and ginger in a medium-sized bowl. Add pear slices and lemon juice and toss until coated well.

-Once pie crust is baked (it does not necessarily need to be cooled), place filling inside crust, spreading the pears as evenly as possible.

For the streusel:

-Combine all the ingredients except the milk, and mix until crumbly. Add the milk and mix. Streusel will be slightly creamy.

-With your fingers, take small clumps of the streusel and cover the surface of the pie generously with them. (The clumps will look a little strange at this stage, but they will solidify into more normal looking clumps after baking).

-Sprinkle the top of the pie with the chopped almonds.

-Before baking, cover the exposed edges of the pie crust with strips of tin foil. This will prevent the crust from over-browning.

-Bake pie for 40-45 minutes until the filling is bubbly and the crust golden brown.


Notes: In most of my pie recipes, the pie crust and filling are fully cooked separately and then combined. If you are inventing a pie recipe based on one of your old gluten-filled favorite, it is necessary to pre-bake the pie crust at least most of the way, to prevent the filling from leaking through.

Making gluten free pie crusts takes a little practice and a lot of patience. Only once have I managed to flip my crust onto the pan and not use any dough patches and I often collect all the dough into a ball and roll it out a second time if I want better results.

Some tips: If the dough feels a little warm after being mixed, put it in the fridge for a bit until it is cold again. Using baking parchment is advantageous in that it is wide enough to only need one sheet for either side of the dough, however, while you need two sheets per side with wax paper, it does not wrinkle like parchment paper does, which lessens the likelihood of cracks breaking out in your circle of dough. When you secure the dough to the edge of the pie pan, you can simply pinch it between your fingers wherever you want, or if you want a more regular look, after you have initially secured the dough to the pan, carefully pinch it between your thumb and your fore finger at regular intervals to make peaks, careful not to disturb your previous peak and depression as you go around.

Also, the recipe for stresel that was in my book clearly had a few problems. It's first direction was "Combine all the ingredients except the milk..." and no milk was listed in the ingredients and even with a little milk, what I made did not come out the way the book described. I have adjusted the recipe here to say what happened when I made it. I am on the look out for a more traditionaly functional version of a gluten free streusel recipe.

And for the dairy intolerant, I am interested in trying this pie crust recipe using margarine and a dairy free product called "Better than cream cheese" which I enjoyed as a kid.

(The pie crust was the rice-based pie crust recipe from "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free" by Roben Ryberg. The filling was a gluten free converted and slightly adjusted version of the Country Pear Pie filling recipe from "Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 14th Edition." The streusel recipe was a halfed and corrected version of the rice based streusel recipe, also from "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free.")

Allergen Free Chocolate "Icecream" Cake Experiment

A friend of mine came to me, having newly started trying to improve her diet and remove all the many things she was allergic to, and told me she wanted to have a chocolate cake for her birthday party. But not just any old gluten free chocolate cake, which I already have a dozen recipes for. She wanted a gluten free, dairy free, egg free, sugar free, corn free chocolate cake. My thought was of course that those are essentially the things that go into cakes and I wasn't quite sure what would go in it, but I accepted the challenge.

The trickiest bit seemed to be making something without eggs, so I studied a biscuit recipe which was egg free. Margarine could easily be substituted for the butter in the recipe, and, I hoped, soy or rice milk could replace the cow's milk without too much trouble. Furthermore, I was told that my friend had a supply of sugar substitute which worked well. So, I figured: Take the biscuit recipe, make the substitutes, increase the amount of sweetener, add cocoa powder to make it chocolate and voila! An allergen free chocolate cake.

I decided to take this project one step further. I remembered that as a tradition, my friend had always had an icecream cake on her birthday. I did a little research and discovered it would be entirely possible to find a type of sorbet that was corn free, sugar free, and gluten free, and would function similarly, and, with the use of a spring form cakes, ice cream cakes are a cinch to make.

We ended up making a few adjustments. Firstly, semi sweet baking chocolate (which contains sugar) was purchased instead of cocoa powder. Secondly, the mixing process was a tad convoluted and we ended up adding more margerine than the original recipe asks for. And thirdly, the sorbet purchased did have some sugar and corn in it and one was manufactured in a facility with wheat (which, if you are like me, makes a difference).

Here's what we did:

• 10 tablespoons margarine, softened
• 1 cup rice flour
• 1 1/4 cup xanthan gum
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup xylatol (or sugar substitute of your choice)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup soy chocolate milk (just to be extra chocolaty)
• 1 teaspoon vinegar
• 4 oz semi sweet chocolate
• 1 pint raspberry and chocolate sorbet, each
• extra chocolate for drizzling

-Starting with 8 tablespoons margarine, we blended it with all the ingredients except for the soy milk, vinegar, and chocolate. This formed a fine crumb.

-We mixed in the soy milk and vinegar until the mixture formed a batter.

-We melted the chocolate in a bowl with the remaining two tablespoons of margarine in the microwave (though this can be done slowly over stove top as well), and added it to the batter. We found that melting margarine with the chocolate helped it from solidifying once it hit the batter and forming tiny chunks, rather than the smooth and chocolaty texture we wanted.

-We lightly greased an 8 inch spring form pan, poured the batter into the pan, preheated the oven to 375 degrees F and baked it for approximately an hour, until it tested cleanly with a tooth pick.

-In order to make it an "icecream" cake, we allowed the cake to cool completely. Then we cut the cake in half so we had two slightly thinner cakes. Placing one of the thin cakes on the bottom of the same spring form pan it was baked in, we spooned already softened raspberry sorbet onto the cake. Once the sorbet layer was relatively even, we placed the second thin cake on top and put it back into the fridge to freeze.

-After a few hours, we placed softened chocolate sorbet on top of the entire cake and smoothed it. And, on my friend's suggestion, we drizzled the extra chocolate (melted again in the microwave) over the top of the cake, and froze the entire thing over night.

Wow!

Results: The cake was a hit! The guests loved every bite of it. It was chocolaty and delicious and the sour raspberry taste really made a nice contrast. The melted chocolate on top added an extra texture and was really decadent. And it tasted like cake!

While baking, this cake rose much more than I expected it to. It was very light and fluffy looking, though for a while, the only way to tell it was not yet done was that it jiggled alarmingly when disturbed.

After cooling and freezing, the texture of the cake was a little bit dense. This could be because it fell slightly during baking, or perhaps, because of the soy milk replacing the cow's milk, there was not enough chemical reactions producing bubbles. I was also informed that if you pour your cake batter into the pan to be baked while there are still lumps in it, it makes for a much more fluffy cake than if you pour it when it is smooth, as ours was.

Ideas and options for the future: This cake does not necessarily need to be made with ice cream, although it was quite tasty and a nice alternative to frosting. It could easily be baked in a normal 9 inch pan with, I think, good results.

Substituting cocoa powder in place of the semi sweet chocolate would be a very interesting experiment (not to mention making it truly sugar free). It might even help some of the density issues of the cake, as chocolate has a tendency to throw off liquid fat ratios. Or, you could simply substitute regular baking chocolate (without sweetener) for the semi sweet chocolate and add sugar-substitute until the batter was to your taste. If you do stick to melted chocolate, I recommend melting it with the margarine in the beginning of the recipe, rather than at the end as we did.

Lastly, increasing the vinegar slightly might help produce more bubbles while baking. And plain soy milk could easily be used in the place of chocolate soy milk.

Note: The process for making an ice cream cake is the same in most cakes as it is here. If you have a cake recipe that is to be baked in a 9 by 13 inch pan, use a 10 inch spring form pan to produce a large ice cream cake, and make sure you have around 6 cups of softened ice cream to go in the middle. It helps cool the cake faster if you take the top of the spring form pan off once the cake is out of the oven.

(This recipe was of my own invention, adjusted and inspired from the rice based Biscuit recipe from Roben Ryberg's "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free!")

Chocolate muffins

I have several muffin recipes, all of which are easy and delicious, but this is one of my favorites. These chocolate muffins are cakey and fluffy and have a wonderful chocolate flavor, and they taste just like regular muffins. It let's "you won't believe it's gluten free" live up to its name.

What you will need:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup rice flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional but quite tasty)

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line or grease nine sections of a muffin tin.

-In a medium-size bowl, mix the oil with the sugar. Add the eggs. Mix until light yellow and a little thicker. This will take a minute or two with your mixer, or, if you've only got a fork, it's a chance to build up a little arm strength. Add the other ingredients except the chips if you are using them. Batter will be quite thick. Divide among the nine sections of the muffin tin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle tests cleanly.



Note: If you are using the chocolate chip option, I would recommend against using semi-sweet chocolate chips, and opting for more classic chocolate chips. The semi-sweet flavor just doesn't quite meld with the chocolate taste of the muffin.

Also, the only reason all of my recipes to date have been rice-flour based is because I have more rice flour than corn starch and I'm trying to be resourceful :-)

(Thanks to Roben Ryber, author of "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free". This recipe was the rice-flour based version of Chocolate Chip Muffins. Corn starch, oat flour, and potato starch based versions also exist.)

Peach Cobbler

Normally when I hear the word "cobbler" it speaks to me of dedication and of serious baking. However that doesn't have to be true! This easy dessert is pretty, quite sweet, and homey. It will leave you wanting more.

When I inevitably end up with several cans of peaches "in light syrup", I like to make this recipe, because it gives me an excuse to bake while feeling resourceful. You can make it with fresh OR frozen peaces too, but canned turns out delicious, and they are extremely cheap. I added lemon juice to the original recipe, as canned peaches are already quite sweet, and I like to have a little bit of tartness in my baked fruit. Because the batter is rice flour based, simply substitute frozen peaches for canned, and you've got yourself a corn free, gluten free cobbler! (Rice milk could also probably be substituted for cow's milk, in the case of a dairy allergy, though I haven't tried it.)

What you will need:

Fruit layer:

• 16-20 ounces canned peaches (about two 15 oz. cans)
  
• 2-4 tablespoons sugar, to taste
• 1 1/2 tablespoons rice flour
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice (optional)

Batter:

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg white
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1/3 cup rice flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Scant 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a pie plate or casserole dish.

- Drain the corn syrup from the peaches and place in a bowl or in the baking dish. Add remaining ingredients for the fruit layer and mix well. Adjust the lemon and sugar measurements to your taste, keeping in mind that the lemon flavor will fade during baking more than the sweetness. If your peach pieces seem large, cut them into smaller pieces with your spoon or fork. Place in the bottom of the baking dish if you have not already done so.

-In a bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and egg white. Beat until light and smooth. Stir in the remaining ingredients. If you're like me and you're equipped with only a fork for mixing, beating works very well in eliminating those pesky rice flour lumps.

-Pour over the fruit. It does not matter if all the pieces of fruit are not fully covered, but in my experience, there's enough to go around.

-Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the crust tests cleanly and the top is a dark golden color and is slightly firm to the touch. Any visible juices will be opaque and bubbly.

**If using frozen peaches, adjust baking time to about 55-65 minutes, to account for the peaches being rather cold :-P

The result?



My favorite way to eat this sweet, homey dessert is to heat it (either in the oven or microwaved for about 40 seconds), and then add a tiny handful of semisweet chocolate chips and allow them to melt for about 30 seconds, and then top it with a heaping scoop of french vanilla ice cream. Delicious!


**A note for those new to gluten free baking: There are two ingredients in this recipe you may not have worked with before.

• Rice flour is a fantastic gluten free baking flour and pretty easy to find. Bob's Red Mill sells it by the bag, for $2-$4, and stores such as Winco that sport a large bulk section usually have rice flour for about $0.76 a pound. I like to buy a huge bag of the stuff and it lasts me for weeks.
  
• Xanthan gum is a binder, which is what gluten would normally do in wheat flour, etc. and is extremely crucial for gluten free baking. It is also sold by the bag by Bob's Red Mill, but it's a little trickier to find. Here in the Eugene/ Springfield area, I buy it at Capella market, where they have a very large selection of gluten free foods. It is about $12 per bag, but do not despair! At the most, two table spoons of xanthan gum is used at a time, and usually much much less. Since I began baking about 10 months ago, I have only had to buy xanthan gum twice, once initially, and one refill, and I'm still working on my second bag. If you plan to do gluten free baking, it is worth the investment.
  

(This recipe was an adjusted version of the fruit layer from the corn based peach cobbler and the batter from the rice based blueberry cobbler from Roben Ryber's "You Won't Believe It's Gluten Free." Recipes for a cornstarch based batter, a potato starch based batter, and a blueberry fruit layer exist as well. )