Award Winning Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe

Awesome Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe

The Award-Winning Cake Recipe from our Popular Cookbook is now Online!

Award-Winning Gluten-Free Carrot Cake

This excellent cake is features in our Gluten-Free Gourmet Desserts cookbook. My wife created this recipe which is truly indistinguishable from the “real” thing, and this carrot cake won first place honors at our city cake-baking competition in 2005!

I have now released the Recipe freely online on our website at this link: Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Recipe from Gourmet Dessert Book.  I hope you enjoy it! 

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Purple Sweet Potato Pie for Thanksgiving: Pumpkin Pie Alternative

Purple Sweet Potato Pie

An Alternative to the Traditional Pumpkin Pie

Slice of my Purple Sweet Potato Pie

This year, I wasn't able to quickly procure any pumpkin puree for my traditional gluten-free Thanksgiving dessert of choice, so I decided to get a bit creative and work with what I had at hand: purple sweet potatoes!  I really like these potatoes roasted, by themselves, as they are smooth textured and quite sweet and flavorful. So, I figured, why not?  I can make a gluten-free pie from these things just as easily as pumpkin!

Ingredients

I didn't take time to really measure any of the ingredients, as I just took a best-guess at what would be ideal.  But, this is approximately the quantities that I used:

• Purple Sweet Potatoes — not quite a Kilogram (perhaps 1.5 - 2 pounds). I had some thinner potatoes that were relatively long but only an inch or so in diameter. This allowed them to bake quickly, and the bake time would have to be increased if they were thicker.
• 5 Eggs
• 1 Kilo of plain yogurt or Fromage Blanc
• A few tablespoons of molasses
• A tablespoon of Date syrup that I have been wanting to try in a recipe
• A tablespoon of cane sugar
• A tablespoon of ground cinnamon — I would have also added some other pumpkin-pie spices (clove, nutmeg, etc), but for some reason I couldn't find any in the house (now on shopping list!)
• A teaspoon of vanilla
• A teaspoon of cocoa — just on a whim; surely not needed.
• A tablespoon of cornstarch

Directions

I started by roasting a batch of purple sweet potatoes in a cast-iron pan in the oven, for about an hour or so, which cooked them through nicely and caramelized the outer skins fairly well too.

Next, after they cooled down a bit, I added ½ of the yogurt/fromage-blanc into the pan I roasted them in, along with the now just warm potatoes, and used a mixing wand (aka: an immersion blender, stick blender, wand blender, hand blender, etc) to really mash and blend the potatoes until all the skins were well pulverized and incorporated into a smooth purple mixture.

I then moved this mixture over into my stand-mixer's bowl. Next I added the remainder of the yogurt, the eggs, and the rest of the ingredients and just allowed the mixer to beat it until it was all smooth and consistent. 

After cleaning out my cast-iron pan (in which I originally roasted the potatoes) and spraying it with a bit of oil, I just poured my pinkish-purple mixture into the pan (no crust used today — I was feeling lazy).  Then, I baked it for about 2 hours at a relatively low temperature of between 300 and 325 degrees F.

Results

When the pie came out of the oven, I would have thought it was a pumpkin pie from the color of the surface!  It looked so similar to a pumpkin pie!  I could hardly wait to see if the inside retained its purple hue.

And, well, it kept some of its color on the inside.  I could clearly see a few bits of the brighter reddish / purple bits of potato skin throughout the pie, but it now had a more subdued pinkish hue; a shade that was sorta pink but slightly tan also.  I cannot claim it is the most desirable color (I so wish it would have stayed purple), but I am not eating it for color, but rather the taste.

As for taste: I rather like it!  Yes, it is different from pumpkin, but, it retains much of the same texture and sweetness, and with the cinnamon and vanilla, it more directly makes me compare it to a pumpkin pie (I really wish I had the clove and other pumpkin-pie spices that I am used to using).  Either way, I consider it a relative success and I would make it again. 

Thanksgiving will at least feature a gluten-free pie this year, one way or the other.

Gluten-Free Purple Sweet Potato Pie : Pumpkin-Pie Alternative

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Loquats / Nesperas in Season and a Delicious Fruit

Loquat / Nespera Time is Here

Ripe Loquat (or Nespera), Spain / Portugal variety, about 5cm (1.75 inch)

A Lesser-Known Tasty Fruit, available nearly worldwide

I first encountered the Loquat, which grows on an evergreen shrub or tree, while in Houston, Texas.  There were plenty of the bushes growing around the neighborhoods, and it seemed like nearly everyone owned the plants just for the lovely sweet-smelling fragrant flowers — I only encountered one other person in the neighborhood that actually ate the fruit.

Since then, I have become quite a fan of a good loquat (or nespera, níspero, nespolo in  Porgugal, Spain, and Italy respectively), and the varieties grown in the southwest of the European Union region are just wonderful.  The Loquat cultivars I found in Texas produced fruit that were perhaps an inch in diameter, which didn't leave much actual fruit after removing the group of large seeds in the middle.  But, as pictured above, these Spanish and Portuguese varieties get quite substantial — nearly 2 inches in diameter — and, even more importantly, they may best be described as simply succulent.

Loquat Taste, Texture, Nutrition Profile

I quite enjoy the rather distinct flavor and texture of loquats.  I consume the thin outer skin along with the slightly tangy flesh, but I first cut them in half and remove the inner seed ovules and the thin membrane around the seeds.  The flesh has a mildly acidic, semi-citrus-like flavor profile — perhaps quite similar to a ripe mango — that combines with flavors of peach or even a hint of apple, or at least that is my opinion. The flavor is complex and enjoyable for its unique mix of characteristics.

Since the plants grow in many different regions of the world, you may be lucky enough to find them at your local grocery or simply growing on a tree nearby, and this would be the time of the year (in the northern hemisphere) when you should start seeing the lovely orange fruits ripening.

Another gluten-free treat that is healthy to eat!  The fruit have a fair amount of Vitamin-A, Vitamin B6, Potassium, and Manganese, as well as some other trace minerals and vitamins. Combine that with the enjoyable taste, and the loquat is an all around winner.  As for the loquat price: this depends quite a bit on where you are and whether any commercialization of the fruit even exists.  In Houston, TX, I never saw them in the stores and instead had to go looking for friends with the trees in their yards where I could pick some. In Spain, Portugal, and the Mediterranean region, they are quite easy to find at a grocery or fruit stand, and depending on the time of the picking-season, they may range from the USD ($) equivalent of $1-1.50 per pound, which is quite reasonable.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake Recipe: Yogurt, Mascarpone, Ricotta

Chocolate + Lemon = Tasty GF Recipe!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Lemon Cheesecake

I generally like the combination of citrus flavors and chocolate / cocoa.  And, since I had some extra cheeses and yogurt to put to use, as well as some lemons, I decided to assemble this super-simple cheesecake.

The Recipe / Directions

When baking for fun, I don't usually take time to measure ingredients or anything since I have a fairly good feel for what works and does not.   But, I did keep a mental note of what ingredients I used, the approximate measurements, and how I went about creating this chocolate-lemon cheesecake.  The recipe is accommodating enough to not require much exactness in measurements, from my experience.

The ingredients I used:

• 750g (~1 quart) Yogurt
• 500g (~1 pint) Mascarpone Cheese
• 250g (~1 cup) Ricotta Cheese
• 5 large eggs
• 1 cup (or slightly more) Cocoa
• 1 TBSP cornstarch
• Lemons: the juice and zest of 3 lemons — if I had some lemon oil / lemon concentrate, I would have considered using a bit to boost the lemon flavor and impact
• ½ Cup Sugar — you may like yours sweeter, but I was aiming for semi-sweet in my final product.
• ¼ Molasses — I was using this to deepen the overall flavor profile and complexity a bit; you can certainly choose to use all white sugar, perhaps 1 cup, and omit this if you want.
• 1 TSP vanilla

• [Optional, as shown] A pre-made gluten-free tart-base, a product which I will review here later.  Fact is, I could have just made this without the base and it would be just fine and bake nearly identically.

The mixing and baking process:

I simply placed all the ingredients listed above, except for the cocoa (and obviously not the tart-base either), into the mixer and blended until nice and smooth.  The next step is to add and mix in all the cocoa at a lower speed (so as not to throw cocoa all over the kitchen), then finally raised the mixer speed and mixed thoroughly for a minute or so.  That's it. Done.  This whole process is very quick.

I then selected a 12-inch cast iron skillet, which may not be as "normal" as a springform, but, I like cast iron a lot and it worked quite well.  I covered it with a light coating of cooking-spray and placed the tart-base in the pan.  Next, I poured my cheese, yogurt, cocoa, etc mix into the pan overtop my base.

Place this into a preheated 325-degree F oven, and give it 90 minutes bake time or so, then turn the oven off, allowing the cake to remain in the still-hot oven another 15-20 minutes, then remove and allow to cool down to near room temperature before placing in the fridge.  This will yield a reasonably firm, yet smooth-textured, cheesecake with a deep chocolate flavor.  If you prefer a softer texture, reducing the bake time 15 minutes may produce the result you desire.

I created this on a whim, and I liked the result.  This recipe demonstrates how multiple cheese varieties, and yogurt, can be combined to produce a lovely cheesecake in a hurry.  And, it would be quite simple to alter the accent-flavor to orange if you choose, or perhaps even berries of some variety.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Gluten-Free Biscotti Recipe : Apple Cinnamon variety

Gluten-Free Biscotti Recipe

Apple and Cinnamon Flavors join Almond — delicious treat!

Gluten-Free Biscotti Recipe : Apple Cinnamon flavor

I finally got around to posting this delicious Apple-Cinnamon Gluten-Free Biscotti recipe (link to full recipe) on my recipes-library site.  This is a recipe that Kate came up with a while back, and it extends upon the basic Almond biscotti formula with some additional flavorful gluten-free ingredients that include:

• Buckwheat
• Coconut
• Amaranth
• Applesauce
• Honey
• Cinnamon

Whether you want a nice hearty and crunchy gluten-free cookie / biscuit to go with your afternoon tea of coffee, or if you want to serve these twice-baked delights as a dessert, they are bound to please.  Hope you enjoy them!  These are created in much the same fashion as the other biscotti featured in my Gluten-Free Desserts cookbook: a standard Almond variety and a lovely Chocolate Orange Macadamia Biscotti too.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Buckwheat is Gluten-Free and Safe for people with Celiac Disease

Pure Buckwheat is Really Gluten-Free

I had an anonymous reply to an old Gluten-Free blog posting where I had used buckwheat in a gluten-free pumpkin and spice pancake recipe, and the anonymous poster made it clear that, even though they have Celiac Disease, they remain misinformed about buckwheat and still think it contains gluten.

I have tried repeatedly to get the word out about the fact that Buckwheat does not contain Gluten, but it seems there are still those who apparently think otherwise, most likely because of the grain's name (which sounds a lot like wheat). It almost seems that no amount of scientific evidence or proof will convince certain people that buckwheat is gluten-free.

Buckwheat, in its pure form, is gluten-free. It IS safe for Celiac Disease sufferers. It is not related to wheat in any way either.  In fact, it is not even related (genetically) to gluten-containing grains, but instead it is technically a fruit.  There is a lot of information available related to all this and the science of buckwheat. So, avoiding buckwheat as an ingredient is simply avoiding an otherwise SAFE and flavorful and healthy grain which can be included in a Celiac-safe diets.

So, if you are looking for a good supplier of buckwheat and want to purchase some CERTIFIED GLUTEN-FREE BUCKWHEAT try Birkett Mills (that has been my favorite source for where I get it). They sell their flours and related buckwheat products (groats, kasha, cream-of-buckwheat, and buckwheat pancake mixes) online.

For some gluten-free recipes using buckwheat, I have written previous gluten-free blog entries about Buckwheat in Gluten-Free Recipes, and some of the recipes on my free GF-recipes library use buckwheat also.

Buckwheat
As for buckwheat, it used to be that very few recipes use it [especially back when I wrote my cookbook; now, a decade later, it is much more widespread in its usage, both in America and Europe], because many people were rather scared by just the name "buckWHEAT" if you know what I mean. Pure buckwheat is gluten-free, and you can find it from a few sources that certify it as such.

If a particular Celiac sufferer was allergic to certified gluten-free buckwheat or otherwise intolerant to it, however unlikely that may be, I would probably recommend using Sorghum flour instead if I was to still want to make the few recipes that used buckwheat by performing a direct-substitution; or if you could tolerate Teff, perhaps use just a bit of Teff with mostly Sorghum to still get a bit of the deeper "grain" flavor that buckwheat would have otherwise added. Certainly buckwheat flour is not contributing any "binding power", since it does not contain gluten — just like other GF flours like Sorghum.

Recipes in my Gluten-Free Gourmet Desserts Cookbook that Use Buckwheat

There are only a handful or recipes in my book that use buckwheat, and where it is used, it is not a primary flour and should be quite simple to substitute out if you so desire. Here is a list of the only dessert recipes with Buckwheat in the ingredients list:

• Buckwheat Chocolate Torte (the book's cover-image recipe actually) 
• Peanut Butter Cookies2 Biscotti Recipes (easy substitution to remove this minor ingredient)
• Ginger Bread 
• The crust for the Rhubarb pie

Conclusion
I hope that this clarifies the use of Buckwheat in any recipes, and how simple it should be to perform a substitution if required. My objective with any gluten-free recipes is to deliver wonderful ways to deliver high-quality desserts and other GF menu items, and, while doing so, to also include recipes that make use of a couple more healthy (not just simple-starch type) gluten-free flours — healthier flours being things like buckwheat, sorghum, and even a bit of amaranth here and there.  

Many more gluten-free flour options are coming onto the market with time, and this will continue to improve the gluten-free ingredient options for all of us all, as well as the healthfulness of our foods.

Sobreiro de Pegões Portuguese Red Wine Review

Simply put: Spectacular!

I rarely review alcoholic beverages here on The Gluten Free Blog. In fact, the last such product review was for Carolyns Irish Cream liquor in 2010, and before that some various gluten-free beer reviews.  But, my wife and I came across a wine that we think is absolutely fantastic, so I figured why not post a quick review?

Sobreiro de Pegões Red Wine from Portugal

To begin with, we are not generally wine drinkers, in fact, before now, I hardly ever finished more than 4 ounces of wine in one sitting, and rarely even drank wine... I just did not get into it.  Furthermore, I have tended to quickly tire of the taste of any particular wine. But, that has all changed, thanks to this fantastic Sobreiro de Pegões Vinho Tinto from Portugal — a lovely deep-bodied red wine that is just wonderful!

We now regularly consume a bottle of this Sobreiro de Pegões red wine per week, and on occasion, as much as two bottles. For wine drinking enthusiasts, this may still not sound like much wine, but for us it is truly quite a bit. And, having now consumed this particular wine (both the 2013 and 2014 vintages) for 6 months or more now, we still both enjoy it as much now as we did during the first tasting.    

Although my wine experience is somewhat limited, I have never tasted anything like this in the USA previously, and I have tried all sorts of wines from various regions of the world in hopes of sooner or later finding something I truly enjoy. My prior wine experiences have ranged from bargain-basement "Two-buck Chuck" (i.e., Trader Joe's Charles Shaw brand), to regional wines from across America, to some foreign ones from England, France, Italy, Australia, and Brazil to name a few. I have even tried some rather fancy wines that friends have served, and yet never really got into any of them. Along the way, I have found some to be "OK", but never anything I could really enjoy repeatedly over long periods of time.  But, my search for a truly repeatedly reliably delicious and satisfying red wine is over, with Sobreiro being my all time favorite.

Taste and Profile

Smooth and balanced is an understatement. It is not overly sweet nor overly dry, it is somewhere in the middle, and at just the right point on that scale in my opinion. And, it is so complex in its tones and finish, all in a desirable way. It has a finish of caramelized sugar and vanilla or such. Fabulous. And, the initial hit is very much fresh red and dark berries, with a middle tone sequence of, heck, I dunno, tobacco or spices or something (I need a real wine snob to come up with a good description) but incredibly mild and wonderful with the deep tones of ripe berries among the grapes. It is just really good! 

Now, keep in mind, I am not a real wine critic by any means.  I just know that we are really enjoying this wine a lot.  Though, I have also noted that other reviewers have given it rather high marks. If you want to read how the producer describes their wine, click this Google-Translate of that Sobreiro de Pegões webpage in order to come pretty close in English (the original site is in Portuguese).

Note: I am assuming this is gluten-free, as most wines should be, having not found anything to indicate otherwise and having not had any reaction at all to it after repeated exposure.

Price

This is where the wine becomes even more amazing.  We have been paying approximately USD $3.00/bottle when we purchase the Sobreiro de Pegões wine on sale. Local sellers have shown list prices of up to $10-$11 USD per bottle, but there have been some truly deep-discount sales on this wine: twice in the past 6 months we have encountered these sales at the Continente Hipermercados stores.  So, when it goes on sale, we stock up.

The price alone makes the quality of the product even more incredibly hard to believe.  I have tasted $40 wines in the USA that can't match this $3.00 wine. Sadly, the one thing I do not know is whether this wine can be purchased anywhere in the United States. I have seen it sold throughout the EU, Hong Kong, and even New Zealand per my online searches, but I cannot determine if any United States dealers are carrying it. If you know of any, post a link here.  But, maybe you can get together with a few friends an import a pallet of 420 bottles at a time directly from the company (I noticed their packaging details on that same web page)... it only weighs 555Kg! (a mere 1200 pounds).

Enjoy!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.