Gluten Free Maple-Walnut Scone and Christmas Quiche

Good morning friends!! It's Christmas!!

As a part of my Christmas gift to the fam, I made some scones and quiche... gluten-free, of course! Gotta give dad's tummy a break every once in a while. Once again, I've never made a gluten free scone or quiche crust, but they turned out pretty good!!

Scone Ingredients

2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup unsalted cold butter
1/2 cup cold buttermilk
1/2 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
1 cold egg
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 an apple, chopped (I used Gala)
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Scone-Makings

Set the oven to 350.

Combine all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, cinnamon).

Add the pieces of butter to the dry ingredients, cutting them in until all is well combined. Place this bowl in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a skillet, combine about a tablespoon of butter with your walnuts and small chopped up pieces of apple.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, yogurt, and egg. Take the dry ingredients out of the freezer, and gradually add the wet ingredients in, stirring continually until your dough is smooth. Throw in the walnut-apple mix, and continue to mix... at this point, I just used my hands.

Dump the dough onto a parchment-covered baking sheet, and break up the dough into your scone shapes. Most people make them into triangles, bu I chose hearts. To each his own!

Bake for about 50 minutes, until they're golden brown.

Meanwhile,  make the maple glaze for the scones by whisking together the vanilla, confectioners sugar, and maple syrup. Once the scones have cooled a bit, you can drizzle this glaze on top.

And then you can eat them! Yum!




Quiche Ingredients

for the crust
1 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour
2 tsp. salt
1/2 stick cold butter
1 Tb. white sugar
ice cold water
2 Tb. cold milk

for the filling 
7 eggs
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
3/4 cups feta cheese
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
a bunch of fresh spinach
half yellow onion, chopped
handful of sliced mushrooms
bacon!

Quiche-Making

You know the drill for the crust... combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Cut in the cold butter using a whisk or food processor, until you get lots of little pea-sized balls. Then slowly add in your cold milk and then your icy-cold water, just a bit at a time, until your dough smooths out. Spray your pie pan, and then squish out your pie crust to fit. Or you could actually roll it out and put it in the pan nicely. I'm just not that fancy. I set the oven at about 350 and baked the crust for about 7 minutes, and took it out to cool in the fridge.

Now set the oven at 375.

Fry up the bacon in butter. Set it aside.

Saute the onions, mushrooms, and then the spinach in lots of butter.

Whisk up the eggs and milk. Add in salt and pepper and a few sprigs of chopped, fresh basil. Add in the cheeses.

Drop the veggies and bacon into the bottom of the pie crust. Then, pour the egg and cheese mixture overtop.

Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden.

Allow it to cool for about 15 minutes after taking it out of the oven.

Merry Christmas... and may you all have very happy bellies full of yummy foods :)

Gingerbread Biscotti

Ohhh, who doesn't love a good ol' dipping cookie for that festive cocoa or coffee? Me me! That's what biscotti's are for. I've never made them before, but these turned out wonderfully.

Ingredients

1/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses or sorghum
3 eggs
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 heaping cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
9-10 ounces semi-sweet or dark chocolate, melted

Create 

Whisk or blend the butter and brown sugar until they are properly creamed together.

Beat in the molasses/sorghum, then the eggs (one at a time!).

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients.

Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ones, and then fold in the ginger and pecans.

Divide the dough in half and place them on parchment paper covered baking sheet. Place that in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Set the oven at 350!

Then, take out the sheet, and form the dough into log-ish (3 x 10) shapes. Bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Take it out of the oven, and cut the logs up into biscotti-shaped slices. Place the slices on one side at a time, into the oven for about 5-7 minutes each side. This will crisp them up. Take them out and let them cool.

Melt that chocolate in the microwave, and dip the cooled biscotti in it! Let them dry in the open air for about an hour, and then you can store them away for the family or give them away as delicious gifts for the neighbors.

Enjoy!!

Whole Wheat Cranberry Brown Sugar Bread

I still don't feel confident in my bread-making skills whatsoever, but I'm going to continue trying until I get it right. I found this delightful recipe from pinterest (where else?!), and thought I'd give it a go! The loaves came out a bit flat, but delicious nonetheless. The bread-making process itself is so joyful!


What you need:
2 pkg yeast
2 tsp sea salt
½ cup warm water (110-120 degrees)
4 cups lukewarm water
6 tbl brown sugar (divided)
6-8 cups whole wheat flour (divided)
½ cup dried cranberries

Make & Create:

 In a large bowl, place the yeast, salt, and warm water-- blend together and let sit for 5-7 minutes.

Add in lukewarm water and 2 Tb of brown sugar.

Then add about 5-6 cups of your flour, pouring and stirring in one cup at a time, until the dough becomes like a gooey-lava texture.

Cover with a cloth for about 2-3 hours, allowing it to rise.

Next, throw the dough out onto a floured surface. Work the extra flour into the dough and knead well. (It gets a bit messy...)

Divide the dough into 2-3 pieces.
Flatten out the dough-balls, sprinkle brown sugar and cranberries evenly overtop, then fold in the sides of the dough and pinch the end-seams. Make a few slits in the tops of the dough.

Transfer them to your parchment-papered baking sheet, place aluminum foil over top, and allow them to sit for about 30 minutes before transferring them into the oven.

They'll remain in the oven for about 50 minutes. Take the foil off of the top for the last 10 minutes so that they can brown up a bit.

Enjoy!

Candy Cane Dark Chocolate Cake

The Christmas season is better with chocolate and peppermint, just ask any coffeeshop, with their sweetly conjured up seasonal specialties. It's also better with cake. We had a little dinner party the other night, so I set out to make a little something that everyone, including my gluten-intolerant father, could enjoy! This is one of the first times that I have successfully  actually created my own recipe of a baked good. Usually I start from a recipe and maybe add my own spices or special touches, but this time I just looked at about four different recipes, and then created my own. So fun!! And it actually tasted amazing! I feel like a proud parent.


Ingredients:
for the cake
1 3/4 c. Gluten-Free Baking Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 c. Melted Butter, cooled
1/2 c. White Sugar
3 Eggs
2 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1 c. Milk (1% and up)
1/2 c. Melted Dark Chocolate
York Peppermint Patties

for the glaze
1 c. Confectioners Sugar
1/4 tsp Peppermint Extract
3 Tb Milk
Candy Canes, smashed into bits

The Process:

Set the oven to pre-heat at 350.

In one bowl, combine the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and milk to the butter-sugar bowl. After all is mixed thoroughly, gradually add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the melted chocolate. Chop up about 5-6 York into small pieces, and fold those into the batter as well.

Oil or butter-up your baking dish-- I used a bundt cake mold, because it's more festive and seems to bake more evenly, but do as you please! Place in the oven for about 55 minutes or so.

While that's baking, mix up your Peppermint Glaze. Combine the pepermint extract and milk, then slowly sift in the confectioners sugar, stirring vigorously, so as to avoid any clumps in the creamy glaze.

After your cake has been removed for the oven and had time to cool a bit, take it out of its mold, and drizzle the peppermint glaze overtop. Delicately and boldly throw lots of candy cane pieces into the glaze. Voila!

Enjoy!!

Cranberry Spice Cake

What I'm craving more than Christmas foods is Christmas spirit. Where's the Christmas spirit?! Since moving down to Louisville, I'm suddenly much more aware of how unnaturally warm it is outside for this season. It ain't right to be 60 degrees outside on December 5th! So it doesn't feel like Christmastime. Thankfully, we have successfully put up all of our pretty Christmas decorations in our house, and I have to remind myself to play Christmas tunes when I so badly want to play Bon Iver for these dreary warmish, cloudy, rainy days. So, I'm taking it upon myself to do some sort of Christmas-y task every day. Yesterday, I made homemade ornaments to hang from twine off of our chandelier. This morning, I'm making a cranberry spice cake, which I will pair with delicious hot cocoa when it's time to eat up. 

 serves 6-8
 
For the Cake:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or whole wheat pastry flour)
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
dash of nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups (8 ounces) fresh (or frozen, thawed) cranberries
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup apple cider (or applesauce)

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest (roughly 1/2 a lemon)
3 tablespoons strained fresh lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt


Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit. Coat the bottom and sides of 8 1/2-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray (or use vegetable oil spread with paper towel). Line the bottom of the cake pan with parchment paper and coat the paper with spray too. Whisk flour and next 6 ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Pulse cranberries in a food processor until minced but not puréed; set aside.

In an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together granulated sugar, brown sugar, and oil to blend. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing on low to blend between additions. Mix in sour cream, orange zest, lemon zest, and vanilla.

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with cider in 2 additions and mixing on low to blend. Fold in chopped cranberries. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake, rotating pan halfway through, until a tester inserted into center of cake comes out almost clean, about 50-60 minutes. We recommend checking the cake after 45 minutes since ovens vary. Transfer the pan to a wire rack; let cake cool in pan for 15 minutes. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake; turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment paper, then flip cake and let cool for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make the lemon glaze. Whisk powdered sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Spread glaze over warm cake, drip down sides. Let stand until glaze becomes crackly, about 1 hour. Serve at room temperature.

(FYI: I didn't take this picture... the cake I made was gone before I took snap a photo of it!)

Enjoy! And Merry Christmas!