I made these little tea-time-treats to celebrate the last day of Passover this year... now full confession I am not even a little bit Jewish, I do not normally celebrate passover. But I simply love celebrating and any excuse to bake and try a new recipe. And so, voila, thanks to owning a Nigella Lawson cookbook that has an entire chapter dedicated to Passover, I present these tiny flourless pretties. They are soft and sweet and spongey and happen to be gluten free... not that I even intended to make them for that reason either, more for the fact that I have some ground almonds kicking around that need to be loved. I JUST LIKE BAKING OKAY. So... here is a Passover-friendly-gluten-free dessert coming from a gal who is decidedly not Jewish and unassailably loves flour. Whoopsies! They are here because they are dainty and tasty and certainly pretty little things. Flourless Apple-Almond Tea CakesRecipe slightly adapted from Nigella Lawson
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Ah it's Pancake Tuesday! What a wonderful holiday, I simply cannot let it go by without celebrating it. This year, I wanted to try something different so I scoured my recipe books and found so so many pancake recipes. One stuck out to me, not only because it sounded incredibly different from regular pancakes, but also because it required a few weirdo ingredients that somehow I had on hand?? Including 1/2 cup of canned pumpkin of which I had almost that EXACT amount just chilling (heh heh) in my freezer waiting to be made into something... So I like to think the universe chose these pancakes for me to make. I got up early, went for a swim, picked up some milk on my way home from the pool. Made some coffee, and got to work making these pancakes. The best part is that one of my roommates was working from home today, so I had a brunch buddy to help me eat up! My other roomie will be home later, and there are plenty of leftovers for her... which I think she will enjoy because A) she loves pancakes and B) she is trying to eat more gluten-free things. I am not bothered one bit by gluten but I sure love experimenting with different flours... This recipe calls for "whole-grain medium grind cornmeal". This is important to note that not all cornmeal is created equal! Just like whole grain flour, you can buy whole grain cornmeal. This means that it includes the entire grain: bran, germ and endosperm. (Regular white flour and cornmeal only contain the endosperm.) I'm sure you could make these with regular cornmeal, but the whole grain stuff is sure nice and adds more flavour. It requires a bit more searching in the grocery store, but I found it with all the "Bob's Red Mill" brand flours and grains, often in the health-food section if your grocery store has one. Good old bob, he's done it again. This is also where you will find brown rice flour and quinoa flour, if you don't already have those in your house like this weirdo... **If you buy strange flours like these and don't use them super often, I recommend storing them in the freezer! This way they will last a long time and not go rancid, which is indeed something you must be concerned about especially with these high-protein flours. Right now in my freezer I have: brown rice flour, white rice flour, quinoa flour, buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour, pastry flour, rye flour, almond flour... Yup, I told you I like to experiment! Gluten Free Pumpkin Cornmeal PancakesRecipe barely adapted from The Vegetarians Complete Quinoa Cookbook
LIFE IS SO GRAND RIGHT NOW! I have finally put on my big girl socks and MOVED OUT. It sounds more final and official than it really is. I've lived away from home on my own before and done lots of travelling, so it doesn't feel like too much of a stretch... but everything does feel new and exciting and darn weird when I realize my old room back "home" no longer exists. Yikes. To cope with any potential feelings of overwhelming unfamiliarity, we make the things that are familiar. The things we can't go for a week without, or even a day. The things like, homemade granola. I've been making homemade granola for yeeeeeeeears and with some fresh fruit and yogurt, it's my favourite everyday breakfast. I have been thinking about MY FIRST BAKE IN THE NEW KITCHEN and getting stoked and making a big deal about it. Then I realized that without thinking about it, I started making granola because I just can't live without that stuff. So I guess that's my "first bake", and I feel like that is completely appropriate. Also I haven't set up my NEW MIXER yet... I smell a future blog post. Of course I'm not used to this new oven entirely and I put a little too much faith in it (and, true confession, started doing yoga while it was baking) and I kinda burnt it. Definitely still edible... but a little extra toasty let's just say... whoopsie daisies! A reminder that not all ovens are created equal! Making this easy recipe (even though I almost burnt it, haha!) brings me much comfort.And much tasty snacking for the week :) It also helps me and the new kitchen get acquainted with one another, like "Hello, I am Larissa and we are going to make some weird and wonderful stuff together, okay? Let's do this." So here is to figuring out new ovens and new routines and new bus routes and making the very first batch of good ol' granola in my new home! <3 Happy Days. Good Ol' Granolathis recipe is extensively adaptable, and you can/are encouraged to use whatever you have on hand or like! here are the basic ratios: (This recipe is good for one sheet pan, I normally double it and spread it out over two pans. However, this is a good starter amount)
THE DRY:
ADD INS:
Happy Baking :) Let's just take a moment to appreciate the beauty of sweet potatoes. They are one of my favourite edible things in this whole wonderful world. They can be sweet OR savoury AND they are even good for you!! So if we make cookies with them... the cookies have gotta be good for you too right!? You're welcome. These cookies are a very recent discovery for me. They are naturally gluten free, made with sweet potato, egg whites, coconut and ground almonds... resembling the familiar coconut macaroon cookie. Dry on the outside, but soft and chewy in the centres. The most important part though, is that they are very delicious. Apparently they originate from Spain... specifically speaking, they are a Catalonian cookie which is all the more thrilling as I have just returned from a trip to BARCELONA. However, I had never heard of "Pannelet" cookies until just a few days ago. The truth is, I had half a cooked sweet potato sitting in my fridge that I was just about to eat, but suddenly I had that burning desire (that I get quite often) which is "MUST BAKE COOKIES". Feeling adventurous I hit up my good friend google and found a recipe for these little mounds of orange chewiness. The recipe is from Alice Medrich, a name to which I trust all my baking qualms, so I knew it was gonna be good. I was right. Make these! Share them with the gluten intolerant people in your life! Or save them for yourself because they are just yummy regardless. Pannelet CookiesRecipe slightly adapted from Alice Medrich see original here: ingredients:
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