Gluten-Free Cornbread Recipe

My husband loves cornbread with his chili. I prefer crackers, Well a wheat free girl only has so many options. I'm not ready to try my hand at crackers yet so I opted for a GF cornbread...






since I usually steal a slice (with a huge pat of real butter) anyway! This time I got the first one and it is SO light & fluffy!! I think it's better than making it the "normal" way!







Gluten Free Cornbread Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 c Brown Rice Flour
• 1/2 c Sorghum Flour
• 1 c GF Corn Meal (optional : use Masa*)
• 1/4 c Sugar
• 1 Tbsp. Baking Powder
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 c Melted Butter
• 1 1/4 c Milk
• 3 large or 2 jumbo eggs
• 1 Tbsp butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If using a cast iron skillet as your baking dish, put in oven while preheating.
2. Whisk all dry ingredients in a dry bowl until well combined.
3. Add in wet ingredients and stir until just combined.
4. When oven preheats, drop the separate pat of butter into the cast iron or into your 8-9" round cake pan. Return either pan to oven for 3 minutes to melt butter.
5. When butter melts, swirl around the edges of the pan to coat, then pour in batter.
6. Bake  at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until it a toothpick in center tests clean. 

NOTE: It seemed to me that this cornbread, though DELICIOUS, did not last as long as a traditional cornbread. I can generally leave that stuff on the counter, covered in foil or in a baggie for a week and we'll still eat it LOL! But this went off about 3 days later. If you have a lot left over, I suggest refrigerator storage.


* Since I served this cornbread with chili so I went with Masa for a slightly Tex-Mex flair. I also used Masa to thicken my chili and it came out GREAT!

Gluten-Free Homemade Twin Bars

I found this recipe here @ "The Sweet Details" (CHECK OUT THIS BLOG!!!! Drooooollll!!!) and wanted to make it for father's day, so I adapted it to GF and slightly larger for the size pan I used.... I apparently also can't read because I just realized that I used sweetened condensed milk, but hey, it worked so I'm leaving it! LOL!

Please ignore his wheat laden Oreo Frosting topped

Confetti Cupcake that The Princess wanted to make him also....

FOCUS On the yummy wheat free "twix "bar!!

Gluten-Free Homemade Twin Bar Recipe

Makes ONE 12x8 disposable pan
(approx 24 "twix" size bars!)

Ingredients:

Base

• 3/4 c. rice flour (I used brown)
• 1/4 sorghum flour
• 1/4 c. potato starch
• 1/4 c finely ground flax seeds (optional)
• (If you want to make this WITH gluten, skip above and use 1.5 cups of all purpose flour)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 3/4 c. butter, cubed &softened slightly (slightly less if skipping flax seeds)

Filling

• 3/4 cup butter
• 3 tbsp Corn Syrup
• 3/4 cup fat free sweetened condensed milk
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Topping

• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Line disposable pan with parchment paper, enough to go up sides where you are able to grab it. This will come in handy when it is ready to cut then re-store.
3. Add dry ingredients to food processor or bowl and puplse or whisk until well combined.
4. Add butter and pulse or mix until it resembles crumbs.
5. Press all into parchment paper lined pan and bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
6. Combine all filling ingredients into a non stick saucepan and stir constantly till it boils. 
7. Reduce heat to simmer and stir constantly for 5 minutes. 
8. Immediately after removing base from overn, pour over hot base, and spread evenly **CAUTION: THIS CAN BURN YOU BADLY!! PLEASE BE CAREFUL!!!!!**
9. Melt chocolate in microwave (30 seconds at a time & stirring until melted) and pour over hot filling and spread evenly.
10. Allow to cool in fridge until set (1-2 hours). 

After it cools, grasp your parchment paper "handles" and pull the entire bar out of the pan. Allow it to set for 10 minutes at room temp then cut into bars. I cut mine in half longways then into long twix-like bars. Use the "handles" again to put it back into the pan (mine came with a lid and made storage a breeze!) I stored mine in the fridge, then set them out about 4-6 at a time to eat at room temperature.

Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes

I am finally getting the hang of this!!! I wanted carrot cake! I LOVE CARROT CAKE! But I wasn't crazy about some of the ingredients I found in the GF recipes online... mainly xanthan gum that I am staying away from on the principle that it's expensive and I can't pronounce it... and coconut??? Uhm.. ew? I also don;t like raisins in my carrot cake and George doesn't like nuts in his breads/brownies/cakes so this is also without those but walnuts are traditionally added (3/4-1c).

Hopefully you remember (and have tried!) the last post about gluten-free waffles that I raved over. I made them again and they came out just as yummy! I really liked the texture so I based the flours for this recipe on that one.



Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Sour Cream Frosting

Cupcake Ingredients:

• 1/4 c finely ground flax seeds
• 1/4 c grapeseed oil (or any light oil)
• 3/4 c. rice flour (I used brown.)
• 1/4 sorghum flour
• 1/4 c. potato starch
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon (or 3/4 cinnamon & 1/4 nutmeg)
• 3/4 c firmly packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots

Frosting Ingredients:

• 8 oz sour cream
• 1 stick salted butter, softened to room temp
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4-2c powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Frosting first: Beat sour cream, butter, & vanilla until well combined then mix in powdered sugar until just shy of a spreadable consistency then put it in the fridge while cupcakes bake & cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a small cup whisk together flax seeds and oil. SET ASIDE for 5 minutes.
4. In a dry bowl, combine rice flour, sorghum flour, potato starch, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
5. In another bowl, beat together: brown sugar, eggs, and flax/oil mixture until well combined.
6. Add applesauce, vanilla, and carrots to sugar mixture. Stir until combined.
7. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until thoroughly combined.
8. Divide evenly into cupcake tins sprayed with non-stick cooking spray or lined with liners.
9. Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool in tins for 10 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.
10. Remove frosting from refrigerator and stir. Frost as you prefer.

This makes 9 large or 12 regular cupcakes. I will admit that I only had one large carrot because my kids inhaled the bag so mine aren't as carroty (is that a word?) as I'd have liked since I only had about 1/2 cup of shredded carrot.

Of course I wasn't complaining!

  

Three YUMMY ways to enjoy these:

  Fresh out the oven..... split and double the frosting... or topped with sprinkles (but ONLY if you're a princess!)

And in the mornin.. I'm making (gluten-free) WAFFLES!!!

Yes, I know.. Donkey..Shrek. Everytime waffles are mentioned in this house... EVERY TIME.. someone yells out that quote, and now I am tagging them gluten-free because I found the PERFECT recipe in the Complete Gluten-Free Diet and Nutrition Guide that I borrowed from the library.

Gluten-Free Waffles!
What a break from the gluten free cereals I've been having!!

Here is the recipe found on page 147 of the book. It is a little labor intensive, and Halie threatened to make me wash the dishes since it uses seperate bowls toprepare, but they are TOTALLY worth it!


Breakfast, Brunch, or Dessert Waffles
Makes 6 waffles - 1 serving each (or 5 if you have my huge waffle iron)

TIP: Make a double batch, layer between sheets of parchment paper, wrap and freeze for up to one month!

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c white rice flour (I used brown because I had it and it worked fine)
• 1/4 c sorghum flour
• 1/4 cup potato starch
• 1/4 c ground flax seeds (or flaxseed meal)
• 1TBSP baking powder (check your label! this isn't always GF!)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2 cups milk of choice ( I used vanilla almond)
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil (worth the investment!!!

Directions:

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. In a large bowl, using a whisk, combine all dry ingredients until streak free.
3. In another bowl whisk together egg YOLKS (only), milk, and oil until mixed.
4. Stir into flour mixture until well blended.
5. In a small DRY bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff.
6. Fold egg whites into batter until just blended then LET SIT for 5 minutes.
7. Brush waffle iron with grapeseed oil then pour about 3/4 cup batter into wells, close, and cook until golden brown. 
8. Lightly stir batter between batches as needed.

The book says 3 minutes but mine took closer to 6 to get the browning done. Unbrowned was still a soft "normal textured" waffle, but the browning gave it a slightly crisp top.

I tell you we are in love! The kids each ate a whole waffle and my maker makes HUGE waffles. I had already given George the first two, and if I had been willing to give mine away they'd have ate it too! Tomorrow will be a first repeat of any GF "breads" type recipe I've made.

Note: NO XANTHAN GUM in the recipe!! I found online (and can't find the link) that though xanthan is used to give GF breads their chewy and not dry texture, flax can do the same. I like the nutty flavor it gives these, and it is much more budget friendly than xanthan gum!