Dumpling Perfection

Since I started making Chicken and Dumplings gluten free something has always seemed a little "off". The dumplings created with gluten free Bisquick are a little more grainy and dense. They also have a corn undertone that can't be ignored. If you want to make a quick meal with chicken and dumplings than Bisquick is probably your ticket. If not then here is your new recipe for fluffy dumplings.

(Original Chicken & Dumplins)

You'll need:
4 oz Millet Flour
4 oz Brown Rice Flour
4 oz Potato Starch
2 oz Sweet Rice Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Guar Gum
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 stick Very Cold Unsalted Butter
3/4 c (give or take) Milk

Combine all your dry ingredients and stir until they become one. If you are feeling supremely adventurous you should really sift all of this. But that is time consuming and I am lazy.

Cut in your butter until your mix is the consistency of beach sand. I like to do this with my hands, it's easier to feel when everything is mixed.

Add in your milk and mix thoroughly. Your dough should be sticky, just a little past biscuit dough. If you need more milk, add more.

Drop heaping spoon fulls into a pot of boiling chicken soup and cook for 10 minutes uncovered followed by 10 minutes covered.

Enjoy completely, trying not to burn your tongue because you are impatient like me.

Happy eating!
Tori

Gingerbread Cookies

What is December without a little gingerbread and eggnog? Before I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance my mom and I would make the 40 minute drive to Whole Foods, get some of their killer ginger snaps (with candied ginger chunks, so good!) and be content. This year if I wanted ginger I knew I would need to get creative.

I am pretty happy with how this batch of cookies turned out. I would have liked some more spice. I like to get the "you have just been punched in the face with a whole ginger root" feeling. Unfortunately someone (the Nerd) can't handle the spicy, but it's okay. I love him anyway :).

You'll need:
1c Butter
1c Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1c Molasses
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Clove
1tsp Nutmeg
1tsp Ginger
1tsp Black Pepper
1tsp Salt
1 1/4c Sorghum Flour
1/2c Tapioca Flour
1/2c Almond Meal
1c Sweet Rice Flour
1c Corn Flour
1c Potato Starch
3tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2tsp Xanthan Gum

Preheat oven to 350°

Cream together butter and sugar on medium speed. Then add eggs one at a time until they are fully incorporated. Add molasses and mix thoroughly. Set aside.

Combine all your dry ingredients and spices. Mix, and mix, and mix, until everything becomes one.

Turn your mixer back on at medium speed and add in your "flour" 1/4 cup at a time. Cover the dough and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days. (The longer you chill this dough the more infused the spice flavor becomes. I like the cookies I made 2 days later better than the cookies I made after 2 hours.)

Once your dough is sufficiently chilled roll it out, using powdered sugar to keep the dough from sticking, to 1/8in thick. Cut it out in your favorite crazy shapes, or as traditional gingerbread people.

Bake for 13-18 minutes at 350° then set out on a rack to cool. Top with Royal Icing and enjoy!

Royal Icing:
1lb Powdered Sugar
3Tbsp Meringue Powder
6Tbsp (give or take) Water

Sift your powdered sugar into your mixer bowl (this is one of those times that it is so much better to have a stand mixer) and then turn on low speed using a whisk attachment. Add your meringue powder and let mix for about a minute. Make sure you have your splatter shield on and turn the speed ALL THE WAY up.

Slowly add you water 1 Tablespoon at a time. Watch the consistency as you go. If your icing is still too think after 6 Tbsp or is still making funny little goop balls add one SMIDGE of water at a time until it looks better. If the consistency looks perfect before you hit 6 Tbsp, stop adding water. You want your mixer to be able to beat the icing without fighting it too much but it should not be overly shiny and liquid either. You should have a fluffy mix that has a bit of stiffness to it.

Once you have the right amount of water walk away and let it whisk for 10 min.

Store in an airtight container until the end of the world or pipe onto cookies. Do not refrigerate.

Happy eating!
Tori


                                                                                   

They were supposed to be crescent rolls....

If you've done any amount of cooking from scratch, (truly from scratch, no book or recipe to guide you) you know there are flops. There are those recipes that are so awful you wouldn't serve them to your mother in law (of course I have a great relationship with my mother in law so my bar is a little higher than most). They come out of the oven and you lovingly give these "creations" to your children or the neighbor kids and tell them to go build a fort. Here's a brick to get you started. It happens to all of us.

Then there's the miraculous "oops" recipes that turn into something delicious. Like my not so crescent dinner rolls here. These were a complete and total accident. I was trying to make crescent rolls and the dough was gooey not quite biscuit not quite bread consistency. Not roll out and cut crescent dough. It smelled so good though. I had that funky yeasty bread smell wafting through my kitchen. Not to mention gluten free baking supplies are expensive. I did not want to waste my precious flours! So I plopped dollops into a muffin tin. Yes, really. And put my creation into the oven that was preheated to 375º and cooked them for about 20 minutes. I should have timed it. I just watched. I'm sorry.

These. Dinner. Rolls. Are. Delicious.

What a stinkin happy accident. I would horde these if my husband wasn't so hungry and craving bread. They have the crispy outside like a good dinner roll, with the yeasty fluffy innards. Gosh I wish I had some home made preserves! It's amazing what can happen when you mess up.

What you'll need:
1/2 c Tapioca Starch
1/2 c Potato Starch
1/2 c Sweet Rice Flour
1 c Sorghum Flour
1 c Millet Flour
1 Tbsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 c Milk
2 Tbsp Sugar
1Tbsp Yeast
1/2 c (1 stick) Frozen Butter
1/2 c Vegetable Oil

Preheat your oven to 375º.

Put your milk in a sauce pan over low heat and bring to 110º F. Remove from the heat and add your sugar and yeast. Let that sit there while you prep the rest.

Mix all your dry ingredients (Tapioca Starch, Potato Starch, Sweet Rice Flour, Sorghum Flour, Millet Flour, Xanthan Gum, Baking Powder, and Salt) thoroughly until they become one.

Then finely grate your frozen butter in and cut in with a pastry cutter, or two forks, or work in with your hands. It should be the consistency of beach sand. This is where the magic happens. If you like to bake you are familiar with adding little cubes of butter and cutting them into the dough. Trust me, grate frozen butter in. This trick changed my life!

Then make a well in the middle, pour in your oil, and fold it into the dough. Once that is fully incorporated do the same with your milk mixture.

Lay a damp kitchen towel over the bowl and let the yeast do it's thing for 20 minutes or so.

Spoon good size dollops into a muffin tin. My dollops were slightly over the top of each mold.

Then put your rolls in for 20-25 minutes (This is a complete guesstimate. I did not look at the time. I'll pay attention next time and let you know for real. For now watch until they are golden brown and when you can flick the outside and it gives a nice "crack" sound.)

Top with your favorite things and enjoy thoroughly!

Happy eating!
Tori