Grain Free Baguette

This recipe has been a work in progress since the end of September. We were taking a much needed break in the Fingerlakes with our wonderful friends. We planned a 4 day escape and rented a lakeside cottage over one of the most beautiful fall weekends you could ask for.  We hiked Watkins Glen, and had some absolutely delicious meals! (in a cottage with hodge podge of kitchen implements, it was a bit of a challenge to cook!) But, we succeeded in creating some memorable meals, and enjoyed some very much needed time away.

Our view from the deck

Watkins Glen has to be one of the
most beautiful places I have been!

renamed this one "flatbread"

Anyhoo, the whole grain free baguette quest started with a trip to Wegmans (Have you been to Wegmans?? What an amazing grocery experience!! We need Wegmans in Canada!!)We picked up a frozen Against The Grain baguette to go with dinner one night. It was pretty darn tasty, and you would honestly never know it was grain free. Which, of course, made me want to make it myself. Easy peasy…or so I thought….(those of you who follow my Facebook page may remember some of these...)

Dense! But the right shape!!

This one went straight in the trash :(

Well, multiple tries and multiple fails later, I FINALLY came up with a winner! Taste, texture and look, it has it all. It has a great shelf life for grain free as well.  It keeps well for 4 days on the counter in an airtight container, and freezes like a dream. I have toasted it as crostini, used it as a bruschetta base, and have enjoyed multiple slices with a simple skim of butter. It does not disappoint!

In all my trials I have used multiple different types of cheese, and I find ones with less moisture content work best, like a grana padano (my fav) or parmesan. That being said, I have used cheddar, asiago and mozzarella as well with good results.

My favorite cooking method is on my pizza stone in the oven, and while it gives the crust a bit more crunch, it is not absolutely necessary if you do not have one. I have used a sheet pan as well, and it works just fine.

The dark interior colour comes from the chia. I have a very large bag of black chia seeds right now, and all my experimenting has been with them. Using white chia would lighten up the inside of the bread although it won’t alter the taste at all. Give the seeds a quick whiz in a blender before using!

Grain Free Baguettes

1 c whole milk

½ cup avocado oil

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finely grated Grana Padano

3 c tapioca starch

½ c ground chia seeds(whiz in a blender jar!)

1-1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

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2 eggs

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

--------------

100g  cheese, grated with small side of grater (just shy of 1 1/2 cups, NOT packed!)

Heat milk and avocado oil on medium low heat until bubbles start to form all around the edges of the pan, approx 6 min. You want it very warm but not really boiling. 

While milk is heating, in your stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix the tapioca starch, chia, baking soda and salt on low until combined.

Add the hot milk and turn up a notch on your mixer. Let mix until the mixture becomes a fairly smooth dough. Continue mixing until the dough becomes cooler to the touch.

When the dough is cooler, add the vinegar, and the eggs, one at a time, letting them combine somewhat in between. 

Mix until the eggs are well mixed in and your dough smoothes out again. It will take a bit to mix in, but trust me, it will!!

Add the grated cheese and mix well. Turn mixer off, scrape down sides of bowl with firm spatula and mix again for 1 minute to ensure all ingredients are well combined. 

Preheat oven to 425 with rack in the middle position. If you have a pizza stone, put in oven on the middle rack before preheating.

Divide dough in half evenly and with WET hands shape into two long thin baguettes on a piece of parchment paper.  Rewet hands as needed, the dough is sticky and wet hands help greatly with the shaping of your loaves!

With a wet serrated knife, slash shallow cuts diagonally across the tops of your loaves, re-wetting knife blade if it starts to stick.

Using a pizza peel (or the back of a cookie sheet) slide your loaves (still on parchment) onto hot stone in preheated oven. (alternatively, if you have no pizza stone, place the loaves (still on parchment)  on a large sheet pan and place in preheated oven)

Bake for 25 minutes or until baguettes are nicely risen and browning. Do not under bake as it changes the inner texture of your loaf.

Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks before slicing. Store in airtight container for up to 4 days at room temp. Freezes really well. 

Grain Free Dried Cherry Walnut Espresso Bars

These bars (and numerous variations thereof) have been floating around my house for what seems like eons and I am so excited to finally share them with you! I baked numerous batches on the BBQ this summer (my oven heats up my house like crazy, even if the air is on, so I avoid it like the plague during the hottest times) and I knew the flavour was bang on. But the BBQ tends to bake on the hot side, even turned to low, and they were coming out dry. Worth the effort… but drier than I wanted them to be. Now that the cooler weather is here, and my oven is back to being a productive member of my household, I was able to bake these bars at a more appropriate temperature, and I can finally share the yumminess with you all!

Luckily the multiple test batches allowed me to play with the dried fruit/nut combo, and this is the one that we all like the best (although the cranberry/ pecan were a close runner up!) The espresso accents the chocolate, and compliments the bitter and sweet of the dried cherries and walnuts. I have used both our espresso machine and a French press to brew the espresso.   Strong coffee would be an OK substitute, but if you choose to leave it out altogether, be sure to add in another ½ cup liquid to the batter.

Grain Free Dried Cherry Walnut Espresso Bars

6 tbsp ground espresso beans

1 cup boiling water

----------

1 cup almond flour

1/3 cup coconut flour

¼ cup arrowroot flour

½ cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla powder (or extract)

2/3 cup coconut sugar

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

½ cup softened coconut oil

½ cup kefir (sub yogurt or sour cream if desired)

Add ins:

1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

1 cup dried cherries (or cranberries)

Preheat oven to 375F

Line a 9X13 glass baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a French press, place ground espresso beans and boiling water. Set aside.

Measure all other ingredients (EXCEPT for the espresso and the add ins) into a large mixing bowl. Mix well with an immersion blender, scraping down the sides as needed.

At this point, pour your espresso from your French press into a half cup measure. Discard the rest. (or enjoy it yourself if you are so inclined!)

Mix into the batter with the immersion blender until well combined.

Stir in your add ins and mix well with a spatula. 

Scrape evenly into the parchment lined pan, smooth the top and bake in preheated oven for 27-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out moist but clean. Try not to over bake.

Using the edges of the parchment, lift the cooked bars from the glass pan and set them  on a wire rack. Cool, cut and store as desired. (We wrap them and store in the freezer for quick grab and go snacks)

Chop walnuts carefully with  knife if they are large pieces

Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

When I whipped up my Grain Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins a few weekends ago, I was left with one cup of pumpkin puree...such a dilemma! I had already accomplished a lot of baking, and was tempted to just put it in the freezer for another day. But, being in the baking mode I decided to forge ahead and make one more batch of muffins. I used the same batter ingredients from that pumpkin muffin because it had spectacular flavour(why reinvent the wheel, right??) and simply added some soaked raisins and pumpkin seeds to it. This created an entirely different muffin! (which is also dairy and nut free to boot) I was going to list it as a variation with the Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins but the end results were so completely unlike each other, I felt they each needed a post of their own to let their little spirits shine :)

These ones have a more earthy and hearty feel to them, and scream fall harvest with every morsel. They are not quite as photogenic as the cream cheese ones,  but what they lack in beauty, they make up for in taste.

A note on the soaked raisins...feel free to skip this step if you like. I am not a fan of chewy raisins, and this re-hydrates and infuses them with a lovely vanilla flavour that is more to my liking. Totally skipable, but for me a necessary step!

Go ahead, try both recipes...neither will disappoint! Submerse yourself in the flavours of autumn, and enjoy each and every bite!

Grain Free Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Muffin Batter:

½ cup coconut flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch

2 tbsp chickpea flour

½ cup coconut sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

¾ tsp freshly grated ginger (use a kitchen rasp) or ½ tsp dried ginger

3 eggs

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumkin pie filling!)

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Add-Ins: 
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup raisins (optional soaking method: place in heat proof glass bowl, cover with boiling water and a splash of vanilla. let stand for 10 minutes, drain and use as you would other raisins.

Preheat oven to 375F.  Line 12 cup muffin tins with papers or grease well and set aside.

Measure all muffin ingredients EXCEPT for the add ins, into a large mixing bowl and blend well with an immersion blender. Measure in the raisins (drained well if you are soaking)and the pumpkin seeds. Mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Divide batter evenly between the 12 sections of the muffin tray. 

Bake in preheated oven for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

Remove from tray and let cool on a wire rack. Store leftovers in fridge or freezer. 

Roasted Carrot Soup with Leeks and Thyme

With this cooler weather upon us, thick hearty steaming bowls of homemade soup can warm your insides better than a cozy blanket by the fireplace. Soup is one of my favourite fall meals, its like a warm inside out hug.
This one takes a bit of time to prep, but you can always roast the veggies when you have your oven on for something else and refrigerate them until you were ready to make soup. Saving that roasting step would have this soup on the table in 20 minutes flat.

The carrots in my garden this year are lovely and this soup is a wonderful showcase for their delicious flavour. It is creamy and smooth without the need for dairy (although a swirl of sour cream would be lovely on top…!) I don't peel my

carrots for this recipe, but you may want to for store bought carrots.

As with most of my soups I prefer to use my homemade bone broth as the base. Nutrient dense and made from what would typically be waste; bone broth is both frugal and delicious! If you choose to use a store bought stock, be sure to read the ingredients first and avoid any with ingredients you cannot pronounce (and therefore should not eat!!)

this handy tool strips
the tender thyme leaves
 from the woody stem,
easy as pie!

Roasted Carrot Soup with Leeks and Thyme

Approx. 2 lbs of carrots, peeled if necessary and chopped

5 cups chopped leeks, (rinsed, white part only-see ***below)

2 Tbsp avocado oil (or coconut)

2 Tbsp fresh thyme, woody stems removed

1 tsp herbamare or sea salt of choice

5 stalks celery, chopped

2 Tbsp butter

8 cups bone broth or broth of choice.

Preheat oven to 400F.

On a large parchment lined baking sheet, toss chopped carrots and leeks with the avocado oil, thyme and herbamare.

Pictured without the thyme, I forgot to add it
before I took the picture :(

Roast in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Stir on the pan and roast for another 20 minutes.

When veggies are done, remove from oven and set aside.

In a large pot, melt the butter over medium-high heat until it starts to bubble. Add celery, and stir frequently until it starts to soften, approx 8-10 minutes. Add the roasted veggies and your broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat, and puree til smooth with an immersion blender (or whiz in a blender, in batches if necessary, being careful as hot soup in a  blender can be dangerous!!)

Check for seasoning and serve hot!

***Prepping your Leeks!

Cut leeks where they just start to turn colour. Using a bit of the green is ok! Trim off the root ends.

Cut the trimmed leek pieces in half lengthwise. 

Rinse well under running water, leeks are often sandy in between their layers. 

Chop and use as directed :) 

Grain Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins

It seems everything is coming up pumpkin right now. Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin spice cheesecakes, pumpkin spice smoothies, pumpkin spice cookies and muffins…I could go on….and on…and on…!!! But, I guess it is the season, and... so as not to be left out, I came up with these beautiful muffins on the weekend. They are the perfect melding of warming spices, mixed with the smooth cream cheese and the delicious pumpkin, you will be tempted to eat more than one!

Don’t let the long list of ingredients deter you from giving these muffins a try!   I believe, of all the muffins I have made over the last few decades, these might now be my personal favourites!

For the pumpkin puree, you can either cook a pie pumpkin (see my easy Crockpot cooking method at the bottom of my Pumpkin Bar Recipe) and use one cup of that,(freeze the rest!) or purchase a good quality organic puree (not a pie filling!)

Grain Free Pumpkin Cream Cheese Streusel Muffins

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 cup cream cheese, room temp

1 tbsp honey

1 egg

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Muffin Batter:

½ cup coconut flour

1/3 cup arrowroot flour/starch

2 tbsp chickpea flour

½ cup coconut sugar

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cloves

1/8 tsp allspice

½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg

¾ tsp freshly grated ginger (use a kitchen rasp) or ½ tsp dried ginger

3 eggs

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumkin pie filling!)

1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

------------

Streusel Topping:

½ cup chopped pecans

3 Tbsp coconut sugar

2 tsp arrowroot flour/starch

1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375F

Line a 12 section muffin tin with muffin papers or grease well.

Combine Cream Cheese filling ingredients together in your stand mixer or electric beaters until nice and smooth. Set aside.

Measure all muffin ingredients into a large mixing bowl and blend well with an immersion blender. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, measure the streusel topping ingredients and mix well. Set aside.

Divide batter evenly between the 12 sections of the muffin tray.  Using a Tbsp, nestle a scoop of the cream cheese mixture down into the center of each muffin, and continue, using up all of the cream cheese.

Sprinkle the streusel topping evenly over the tops of all of the muffins.

Bake in preheated oven for 23-25 minutes or until the cream cheese filing looks to be set.

Remove from oven, and let stand in the muffin tin for 5 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Refrigerate any  leftover muffins for up to 3 days.

Roasted Pears

Fall is pear season (and apple season, and squash season, and anything pumpkin season…!!) but I think the lovely pear too often takes a back seat in the whole fall harvest line up. Pears are delicious! They are high in fibre (more so than apples!) chock full of flavenoids, they are easily digested and low on the allergen scale. What’s not to love?!

There are a myriad of ways to enjoy this virtuous fruit.  Raw pears are lovely chopped or sliced into a salad with slivers of a nice sharp cheese and some toasted nuts (dip slices in a weak lemon water solution to mitigate the browning).  And, of course, who could forget this Honeyed Pear Upside Down Skillet Cake? These brilliant roasted beauties are also lovely chopped onto a salad too, adding a nice balance to a feta and greens combo. They also go well in chia puddings, (another post I am working on!) Pears really are the unsung hero's of autumn!

You will notice this recipe is rather large, and is perfect for a crowd. But with how tasty they are,  I am sure you will agree that more is better and leftovers are always used up in our house! If you do want to cut it down, reduce your ingredients accordingly except the liquid, only take it down to ¾ of the amount. The juices that accumulate in the bottom of the pan make a lovely drizzle, you won't want them to roast dry. 

Roasted Pears

9 Pears (Bosc, Bartlett or Red Bartlett all work well)

3 Tbsp butter, cold if possible, cut into 18 small pieces

1 tsp vanilla or vanilla powder

2 Tbsp coconut sugar (or other sweetener of choice, maple syrup and honey both work well, just drizzle instead of sprinkling)

1 cup liquid (you can get creative here! I usually use water, but have recently also used a nice hard apple ginger cider, but regular cider or apple juice would be lovely too)

Preheat oven to 400F

Cut pears in half lengthwise, and remove core and stem. A melon baller works wonderfully for the core, but I have used a teaspoon in a pinch.

Place pears cut side up in a 10x15 glass pan (or two smaller pans if necessary).  Sprinkle with the vanilla and the coconut sugar. 

Place a small piece of butter into each cavity. Add the liquid to the pan (if using two smaller pans, increase the liquid by ¼ cup for each pan)

Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and carefully flip the pears so the cut side is now down. Bake for another 20 minutes (at this point check to make sure the pears are soft thru…if your pears are on the firmer side you may need to add 5-10 minutes to the cooking time to cook them thru, you want them to be fork tender.)

Remove from oven and let cool slightly before serving with topping of choice. (we have topped them with whipped coconut cream, vanilla ice cream, this maple custard, or just on their own. )

 

Pears pictured here topped with
a lovely vanilla ice cream and
a drizzle of pan juices 

These pears were roasted with a hard cider,
in a cottage on Lake Seneca for
 a friends birthday. We topped them with
whipped coconut cream and served with a
really fast ginger espresso  meringue-like
 cookie that I winged!

Grain Free Apple Nutmeg Custard Cake

With autumn upon us here in our corner of Ontario, it is only fitting that my first post of the season would showcase the delightful fall apple.

As much as I love the alluring pairing of apples and cinnamon, I was going for something different here, using freshly grated nutmeg as the showcased spice. It lends a warming flavor that marries beautifully with the custardy texture of this cake. I always keep a few nutmegs in a jar with my spices, and use my kitchen rasp to grate them. Fresh nutmeg has a stronger flavor and aroma than its pre-ground counterpart, and with the help of the rasp, just as convenient. Kept in an airtight container, it will store indefinitely, giving you aromatic fresh nutmeg in a few quick slides on a rasp.  

This cake bakes up moist and lovely, and is the perfect dessert for your thanksgiving feast or any cool fall evening where a slice of comfort is in order. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a warm cup of chai J

Grain Free Apple Nutmeg Custard Cake

7 cups peeled and sliced apples (mine were not large, I used 9 altogether, a combo of Sunrise and Galas…but any cooking apple would do)

Softened Butter for greasing pan

4 eggs

¼ cup coconut flour

½ cup almond flour

¼ cup arrowroot

1/3 cup coconut sugar

½ cup milk or alternative of choice

¼ cup softened coconut oil

1 ½ tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp Apple cider vinegar

½ tsp vanilla powder (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

¾ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Grease a 9” spring-form pan and fill with peeled and sliced apples. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400F.

Measure all other ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and mix well with an immersion blender. Scrape sides as necessary to incorporate all ingredients. Batter should be just a tiny bit thinner than a pancake batter.

Pour batter evenly over prepared apples in pan. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until cake feels firm to the touch in the center and it is nice and evenly browned.

Remove from oven, run a knife around the edge and release the spring-form outer pan. Let cool on wire rack until room temperature. Serve as is or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.