Sugar-Free Peppermint Tea from Scratch

Fresh Picked Mint (plant)

Refreshing Homemade Fresh Mint Tea Recipe, No Sugar

Fresh mint sprigs are the key to brewing your own homemade fresh mint tea from scratch. I just picked a handful of tea-mint (shown in picture above) from our yard to make yet another batch of a favorite summer cool-down drink. The temperature has been approaching 90-degrees here the past few days, and I can go through about a gallon of iced mint tea every 2 or 3 days.

After picking the mint, fill a 5 or 6-quart pot with roughly a gallon of water. I first rinse off the mint leaves and sprigs a bit (lately, a requirement since there is so much tree-pollen on everything outside), and then toss them into the pot (the whole sprigs — I don't waste time plucking leaves from the plant sprigs).

I then bring the water and mint to a boil, and allow the mint to remain at a light boil for about 5 minutes, stirring the mint leaves every so often. I do this to release the mint flavor, but also to kill any tiny little bugs or microbes that may be left on the mint after I've rinsed it. Next, I turn off the heat, and allow the mint to steep another 10 minutes. After that, I then remove the sprigs from the water using a strainer-spoon and discard them (this is also why I leave the sprigs intact — removing them from the water is so easy compared to removing a whole bunch of individual leaves).

Xylitol : A sugar-free gluten-free sweetener

While it is still warm, the tea can be sweetened. I have lately been experimenting with sugar-free recipes (in addition to gluten-free recipes), and purchased some Xylitol (bag of it shown below). Xylitol is a sweetener used in things like Trident gum.



The Xylitol is gluten-free (of course, or I wouldn't use it), and the Xylitol dissolves readily in liquids just like sugar. I find it tastes quite similar to sugar also. And, it's always nice to know that when I am drinking so much of this sweetened mint tea, that I am not subject to tooth-decay: in fact, Xylitol has been shown to be a proven cavity fighter! If that wasn't good enough, it has zero net carbs, and is safe for use by diabetics and hypoglycemics (it has a Glycemic Index of only 7 - which is super low).  In a way, you can consider it an alternative to things like Splenda or perhaps even Stevia.

Finally, after my tea is sweetened to my liking, I simply let it cool down to close to room temperature and then funnel it into a gallon water-jug and refrigerate for future use.

I still have not baked any gluten-free desserts with the Xylitol, but I hope to soon. Xylitol can't be used to replace sugar in baked goods that rise using yeast (since, it will not "feed" the yeast properly), and it doesn't crystallize the same as sugar when heated, so you can't make hard candy from it. But, I think it has potential for other desserts where I can substitute part of the sugar. According to the label on the bag, it is recommended that you ramp up your Xylitol consumption gradually over a few weeks for proper (intestinal) tolerance adjustment. And, you can not feed it to your pets, since it can be toxic to them (note: this includes chewing gum sweetened with Xylitol — don't give it to your dog!)

If you have any interest in xylitol, I found mine xylitol online here: World Health Depot (just search for Xylitol, and you'll get a list of items including the granules I pictured above). I get Spry brand chewing gum from this same place (it's Xylitol sweetened too).

So, there you have it. Sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free peppermint tea just in time for summer!
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.

Glutenfree English Muffins Review

Foods by George: gluten-free English muffin, toasted

Gluten-Free English Muffins from Foods by George Product Review

Above is a picture of one of my favorite recent gluten-free food discoveries: Gluten-Free English Muffins from Foods by George. What you see here is one-half of a glutenfree muffin (in the foreground) that I sliced and toasted. And, with luck, the picture is detailed enough to give you a pretty good idea what the interior texture of the toasted English Muffin is like. Quite simply, it's wonderful!

Had I not been gluten-free, and had someone give me one of these muffins for breakfast, I am rather sure I would have still found it to be a nice morning treat. Although the picture shows a plain muffin, I later created a breakfast featuring one of these gluten-free English Muffins with Eggs and a bit of cheese (I'm sure a few of you are familiar with a McDonald's restaurant creation that is quite similar). The results were excellent and delicious, regardless of which way I served the muffin.

Toasted (as shown), the muffins get a nice crispy, crunchy surface as you'd expect, while maintaining a softer spongy/resilient inside region. This makes for a nice balance of texture as I think a good English muffin should have. And, the taste is quite mild and is easily complemented by your choice of butter, eggs, jam, or whatever else you love to eat on your breakfast creations.

I first encountered this product when I met George and his wife at the Long Island, NY Celiac event a month ago, and I was quite pleased to recently find out that both my local corner health-food and gluten-free foods provider (a mere mile up the road from me) carries these gluten-free English Muffins, as does Whole Foods and a couple other nearby stores. I have now added these to my regular-items list, and make sure I keep a bag in the freezer.

There are four of these (quite thick) gluten-free breakfast treats per bag, and even once sliced horizontally in half, they will almost certainly require one of those wider large-mouth (or bagel type) toasters. I suppose you could also brown them in a pan or in the oven if you didn't have the wide-capacity toaster.

These muffins are also dairy-free if that is of interest to you as well.

The Product Review Verdict

I definitely give these gluten-free English Muffins an unconditional "thumbs up" rating, and am glad I found them. After years of living gluten-free, it's always nice to encounter yet another wonderful product to have available for regular consumption. Tomorrow I'll be trying one of these muffins with some Black Raspberry Jam - I'm already looking forward to 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.

Buckwheat in Gluten-Free Recipes

I received an Email from someone interested in my Gluten-Free Desserts book yesterday that asked specifically about whether I used oats and/or buckwheat in any of the recipes. Although I responded to this inquiry directly, I thought this would be a good time to make sure I made such information available directly to anyone else that had the same question.

Oats
We avoided Oats completely in our Gluten-Free Gourmet Desserts recipe book due to the controversy over them. So, there are no recipes with Oats in them. Certainly, if you can tolerate (certified) gluten-free oats, there is no reason why you could not use such oat-flour in some recipes.

Buckwheat
As for buckwheat, very few recipes use it, because many people are 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. We only used it in a few recipes, where the flavor was a nice complement to the recipe.

If a particular Celiac sufferer was allergic to certified gluten-free buckwheat or otherwise intolerant to it, 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 "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 that Use Buckwheat
There are only a handful or recipes in our 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 Cookies
• Almond-Snowball Cookies (i.e., Russian Tea-Cakes)
  
• 2 Biscotti Recipes (easy substitution to remove this minor ingredient)
  
• Ginger Bread
• The crust for the Rhubarb pie
  

Conclusion
I hope that this clarifies our use of Buckwheat in any recipes, the lack of oats in our recipes, and how simple it should be to perform a substitution if required. Our objective with the book has been to deliver wonderful gluten-free recipes for high-quality desserts, and to also include a few recipes that make use of a couple more healthy (not just simple-starch type) gluten-free flours like buckwheat, sorghum, and even a bit of amaranth here and there (also slightly used). And, we guarantee you'll like the results!

High-Fiber Gluten-Free Bread Recipe

Laura's High-Fiber Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Bread

The last gluten-free blog posting ended with me providing a "teaser" for today's new GF recipe, and the disclosure of my (not so) "secret ingredient"...

Here's the latest gluten-free recipe that Laura has created. This is a gluten-free and dairy-free high-fiber multi-grain bread recipe.

One of the primary challenges for those with Celiac Disease or otherwise leading a gluten-free and/or wheat-free lifestyle is getting enough fiber into one's diet. In traditional (gluten-containing) diets, high fiber almost always means high in wheat (whole wheat in particular, and perhaps oats). And, when baking without gluten, so many GF recipes tend to use flours that just don't offer much in the way of fiber or nutritional benefit (e.g., cornstarch, potato starch, white rice flour, and so on). As you would expect, those are mainly just starch and lack any fiber.

So, we prefer to use quite a range of gluten-free grains and flours in our day to day recipes. Among them are some high-fiber ones, including Teff, Flax, and Amaranth. But, even those have their (baking) limitations since too much of any one will certainly contribute an overpowering (an likely undesirable) taste to the finished product. So, balance is key, as is exploring some other alternatives for obtaining gluten-free fiber content.

One of the options we have at our disposal, that seems to go rather unnoticed by many, is Inulin - in particular, the Chicory Root derived version of Inulin. This is a wonderful gluten-free ingredient that can be used in so many recipes because of it's properties: it is a fine powder with low sugar and low calorie content, has very little taste of its own, dissolves easily in fluids, and all while having a very high fiber content. To give you a feel for how high fiber Inulin is, a mere teaspoon of Inulin has 2 full grams of dietary fiber! It makes a great alternative to something like BeneFiber (tm) - which is simply Wheat Dextrin (which, amazingly is considered gluten-free).

We currently acquire our Inulin (chicory type) powder at Trader Joes, but availability varies. It comes in an 8-ounce container, and is sold in the vitamins/diet/supplements section. I haven't looked for it at very many other retail locations, but I have seen it also on various web-stores. They charge $5.99 per container, but don't worry - it goes a long way (there are 90 teaspoon-sized servings per container).

So, the latest gluten-free recipe for high-fiber bread relies on this choice ingredient, inulin, in addition to the flax and millet and teff, etc. It adds a substantial fiber-boost to the bread, and the bread remains wonderfully soft and spongy in texture, while having a nice mellow and delightful flavor. This bread is a winner! It tastes as great as it looks too! The only thing I wish it (and other homemade GF breads) would do is hold up better — since, without any preservatives to maintain freshness an moisture, it will dry out quickly and is definitely best served fresh and eaten the first day.

Fiber Content Contribution (per loaf / recipe) by Ingredient:

• Inulin: 24g
• Millet: 6g
• Teff: 4g
• Flax: 8g
• Xanthan Gum: 12g

TOTAL: 54g Fiber per loaf, or, nearly 3-grams per 1/2" slice.

This makes our gluten-free high-fiber bread as high, or higher, in fiber content than many commercial whole grain breads like Brownberry Classics Oat/Nut whole grain, and many other whole-grain wheat breads, all while being gluten-free!

As with our other breads, I'm sure you could always freeze part of the dough (prior to allowing it to fully rise) and retrieve it from the freezer at a later date for baking. This is helpful if you are just cooking for one or two and can't finish a loaf in a day. Also, you can certainly reduce the batch-size by half if desired.

You also will not have to worry about any "non gluten-free types" not appreciating this bread: it has been well received by all who have tried it, nicely passing the taste and texture test, whether they were on a gluten-free diet or not. We rather certain you will enjoy it also!

Here's another link to the Gluten-Free High-Fiber Bread Recipe. If you use margarine (in place of butter), this recipe will also serve as a high-fiber dairy-free bread too!

Maximum Chocolate!

Start at 73% Cocoa : Montezuma's Dark Chocolate-Chilli Bar

I am lucky enough to have friends that travel to the UK, and friends that are also willing to bring me back some wonderful gluten-free chocolate when I request it. I recently wrote this gluten-free blog entry about Montezuma's Chocolates, and how wonderful they were, and how most of what they sell are clearly labeled "Gluten Free". GF is great, but great chocolate that is also GF is to die for!

I first tried their chocolate-chili (pepper) dark chocolate bar a while back, and just had to have more! The subtle heat along with smooth and rich dark chocolate was excellent, and some of the best chocolate I have ever had. So, a friend doing work in London was nice enough to bring me back a bit more of this delicacy... or, actually, quite a bit more - an entire KILO of it! Awesome!

(UK brand) Montezuma's Dark Chocolate Chili Bar: awesome!

I took this picture of the back label, where you can see clearly how it is a gluten-free food (yes, I call chocolate food, because it is a food group all to its own for me), and even organic.

Now, I don't know how many other people out there are as fanatical about chocolate as I am. I rarely get overloaded on chocolate, or suffer chocolate "burn out" or anything of the sorts. In fact, it's quite the opposite - the more chocolate, the better. And, when I say chocolate, I mean dark and rich chocolate (no milk chocolate for me, and white "chocolate" isn't even chocolate).

To give you a feel for how bad this addiction is, I rarely eat chocolate with less than 70% cocoa (from the cacao tree) content, though I have had a few chocolates in the 50-70% cocoa range that are quite tolerable. This Montezuma's Dark Chocolate-Chilli is 73% for comparison, and it really does a fine job treating the addiction.

99% Cocoa Option: for hard-core chocolate lovers only!

But, on occasion, I have to go all out and hit the hard-core chocolate (not for the faint of heart, or weak of addiction): 99% Scharffen Berger unsweetened fine artisan dark chocolate (marketed primarily for baking). This is the ultimate in pure chocolate - at 99% cocoa (the other 1% is vanilla beans), there is no more room for chocolate power.

I keep a bar of this around to snack on when nothing else will cure the hunger for chocolate. Because of its concentrated strength, and lack of sugar, it only takes ½ an ounce or so to do the trick. And, as hard as this may be to believe, I find it rather smooth even though it is unsweetened. With two ingredients (cocoa and vanilla beans), it is gluten-free as well (not to mention dairy-free and free of all sorts of other things). Chocolate doesn't get much simpler than this formulation.

From the Scharffen Berger web site I found this text (below) at the time of writing, and on the 99% Cocoa Bar page the product clearly says it is gluten-free:

Q: Is there gluten in chocolate?
A: No, there is no gluten in our chocolate. Gluten is a mixture of plant proteins occurring in cereal grains, chiefly wheat, rye and barley. Our chocolate ingredients: (cacao beans, sugar, vanilla bean, cocoa butter, and soy lecithin as an emulsifier) do not contain gluten. We also do not have any cereal grains present anywhere in our manufacturing facility at any time. Please note that our Cocao Powder and Sweetened Cocoa Powder are processed in a facility that handles wheat products, and thus may contain traces of gluten.

So, stick with their chocolate bars, and you should be plenty safe. And, with that 99% bar in their offering, you will always have the maximum chocolate option if you need 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.

Gluten-Free Recipe: Chocolate Coconut Brownie

Gluten-Free Chocolate Coconut Brownie

Gluten-Free Chocolate-Coconut Brownie Recipe

I always love a good brownie!  And, with chocolate and coconut, this dessert (or snack) is a welcome treat from the kitchen and is fairly simple to prepare and bake.

This is a recipe that I would have loved to put in our Gluten-Free Recipes book, but we didn't have it ready in time for inclusion. This brownie is wonderful in both taste and texture! And, it holds up quite nicely - I have allowed leftovers to sit out for a week and they were fine.

Here's a link to the recipe: Gluten-Free Recipe: Chocolate Coconut Brownie. Sadly, I would have had it posted online sooner if it were not for the nightmare of dealing with a downed internet connection for a while, that that is another story, and a frustrating one at that.

It features a semi-sweet, dark-chocolate flavor with hints of coconut. It's rather dense and torte-like too. Laura used some coconut flour in this recipe, along with the other GF ingredients like chocolate chips, cocoa, and condensed milk. Sorry, but this latest recipe is not dairy-free for all of you on the casein-free diet, but it is Celiac Disease safe! And, it is quite delicious.

I ate nearly the whole brownie over the period of a week. It made a great breakfast, dessert, and snack item for me, whether served plain or with ice cream.  For a variation, you can add a bit of coffee to the recipe for a nice mocha flavor too.   I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!

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 Montezuma's Chocolate from the UK

I am nothing short of a chocoholic - I just rarely find myself having too much of such a great thing. And, as a connoisseur of chocolate as well, I love great dark chocolate and specialty chocolates from all around the world. Sometimes I find a new and wonderful bar of chocolate at a general retailer, and other times I have encountered some excellent chocolate shops while on a trip to a different city.

Most recently, I have had the luck and luxury of getting some absolutely fantastic chocolates from the United Kingdom - from a place called Montezuma's. This place creates luxury hand made organic quality chocolates, and certifies most of their varieties as gluten-free! (certainly a huge plus for me!)

Sadly, I did not pick up my chocolates first hand (sad, because I would have welcomed a trip to the UK), but instead had them delivered to me courtesy of our daughter who spent her Spring-break in the UK fulfilling her college's international-studies requirement during a study-abroad program that was chaperoned by a few college professors. And, during her 8 days in and around London touring sites of historical significance to 19th-century literature, she happened upon the Montezuma's Chocolate store and instantly thought of bringing some back for me. And, she definitely struck gold as far as I'm concerned.

The first chocolate bar to catch my attention was this one - the Emporor Bar: Chilli Chocolate [note from the future: this product seems to have been phased out]:

I have had similar bars before, that combine the subtle heat of chili peppers with the richness of dark chocolate, but this one was definitely a cut above. It was nothing short of spectacular! As you can see (if you followed the hyperlink above), the chocolate is vegan, gluten-free, soy-free, and organic too -- so, it must be good for you! :)

Next, my daughter presented me with a small bag of these truffles.



What I instantly found rather scary about the product is how the ingredients label shows Wheat Syrup in the product! So, I go and look at the web-site again, and read about the truffles. Check out this page about the Vegan Truffles for example, and how they are listed as Gluten-Free. Moreso, look at the part that states:

"*Wheat Syrup is certified as Gluten free "

Wow! Now that is a bit counter-intuitive to me after being programmed to avoid anything with wheat in it. It surely wouldn't be considered gluten-free here in the United States, but I can also see how, if one was to just isolate the sugars from the wheat, that there would be no gluten in the resulting syrup. You'll see this wheat-syrup in quite a few of their truffles. Honestly, I just don't know what to make of it all. Gluten-Free, but yet with wheat-products in it. If you don't already know, much of Europe also considers pure wheat-starch as gluten-free too, since all the gluten (proteins) have been removed.
So, call me the guinea pig... my curiosity got the best of me, and my addiction to chocolate doesn't help matters either. Keep in mind, I am very conscientious about watching what I eat and avoiding gluten too. I just decided I would try a bite of the truffle knowing that, were I in the UK, I would only be eating what is considered gluten-free. Hopefully it truly is 100% safe for consumption. If not, I'm sure I'll know in the next few hours.

Though the truffle was good, I definitely preferred the chocolate chilli bar. That was just extraordinary! And, since my daughter only brought a couple small bars back with her, I had to do some quick thinking about how to acquire more of them. Talk about good timing... one of my employees is working on a project in London this week, and he said there is a good chance he'll be quite near the chocolate store. Good thing, since Montezuma's won't mail shipments overseas.
So, with luck, I'll have a supply of those wonderfully rich and spicy treats for a while! And, I feel much safer sticking with the chocolate bars that do not have any wheat-syrup in them (gluten free or not - the sound of that ingredient still disturbs me on some level).

Myopathies and Celiac Disease

I encountered this article a couple days ago about the Possible Relationship Between Myopathies And Celiac Disease. The University of Barcelona (UAB, Spain) has been doing some research into inflammatory myopathies (immunological diseases that lead to inflammations in muscular tissue), and in doing so they are investigating the relationship between myopathy and intolerance to gluten.

In general, little is known about the cause of these inflammatory myopathies, but it is believed to be an abnormal immune response by our bodies. And, since celiac disease has occasionally been reported in patients with inflammatory myopathies, they decided to further investigate whether or not there is any type of connection.

This quote pretty much summarizes what the research team has gained from this study:

"The scientists are considering the possibility that, at least in part, some inflammatory myopathies are a clinical expression of intolerance to gluten, though they point out the need for more studies to be carried out to confirm or support these findings."

I am personally not at all surprised by this conclusion. It seems that something is definitely out of kilter in our bodies already, since we can not tolerate gluten, and thus any associated findings like this do not seem too hard to believe.

The article left me to wonder if this is the type of general "inflammation" that is helped by Omega-3 fatty acids, like you would get from Wild Alaskan Salmon. The article talked about testing immunosuppressants, but made no mention (aside from how a gluten-free diet probably helps) about other dietary alternatives or additions that may be helpful. I would think that the fish oils and Flax Seed, Walnuts, etc (all high in helpful Omegas) would be useful, since they are supposed to be good for inflammation in general. Maybe they will address that in a future study. In the mean time, it surely can't hurt to eat these healthy foods just in case they would help stave off the conditions discussed.

Check out the full article for more information.

Gluten-Free Inca Red Quinoa (Ancient Harvest) Review

Ancient Harvest Inca Red Quinoa : Cooked

Gluten-Free Inca Red Quinoa Product Review

I have been a fan of Quinoa (the grain - pronounced "keen-wa") for quite some time - a couple years now in fact. Quinoa is a gluten-free grain that, prior to going on a Celiac-safe gluten-free diet, I had never even heard of. It is nothing short of amazing for its nutritional value as well as its versatility and flavor. Although I am discussing the whole-grain here, I also use quinoa flour in breads and other recipes.

For those of you who are new to Quinoa, it is gluten-free (of course, or I would not eat it), and it is considered an ancient grain that dates back to the Inca civilizations in South America. It originates from Bolivia these days. It is one of the best sources of vegetable protein around, and it has a fair amount of dietary fiber. The grain has a delicious, somewhat nutty, light flavor that goes well with many other dishes.

Some other selling points that are noted on the packages of Quinoa include:

• Quinoa contains more high-quality protein than any other grain


• Quinoa provides all the essential amino acids in a balanced pattern


• Quinoa contains no gluten (of top concern to Celiacs of course)


• Quinoa is light, tasty, and easy to digest


• Quinoa is quick and easy to prepare (a personal favorite-feature)

We buy the Ancient Harvest brand of Quinoa, which also happens to be certified organic for anyone that prefers that designation. And, we typically use the "traditional" Quinoa (tan in color), but have recently discovered a variety called Inca Red Quinoa. This variety is similar to the traditional type, but is a red/burgundy color, and has a slightly different texture and taste.

Whereas traditional quinoa is very mild in flavor, this Inca Red variety has a slightly more pronounced flavor. It is in no way overpowering though, and still makes for some very good gluten-free quinoa dishes. Its texture is similar to the traditional type, though I think it is maybe just ever so slightly more dense. This fact is reflected in the nutritional breakdown I believe, since it has a bit more fiber and protein than the traditional type.

Nutritional Breakdown: Regular Quinoa versus Red Quinoa

Specifically, for a 1/4 cup of the uncooked dry Quinoa (considered to be one serving), here is how the two varieties compare (below, T = Traditional, R = Inca Red):

• Calories: nearly identical at around 165 calories


• Protein: T has 5 grams, R has 6 grams


• Dietary Fiber: T has 3 grams, R has 4 grams


• Carbohydrates: T has 30 grams, R has 29 grams


• Iron: T has 10% of RDA, R has 13% RDA


• Phosphorous: T has 15% RDA, R has 25% RDA


• Calcium: zero for T, 2% for R


• Riboflavin: 8% for T, 10% for R


• Sugars: T has 1 gram, R has 5 grams (this surprised me, since I noticed no sweetness in the Red per se).

Regardless of the variety you choose, they are both very nutritious. The Inca Red variety (as you see in the list above) tends to have a bit more nutritional density across the board, with slightly more dietary fiber, protein, and minerals than the traditional version.

Serving Suggestion:
In a previous blog about Quinoa, I discussed a gluten-free garlic, pepper, and herb Quinoa recipe that we favor in our household. To make the recipe pictured above, we actually used about half each of the traditional variety of quinoa and the Inca Red quinoa. The rest of the recipe stayed the same.

The results were fantastic! This dish tasted absolutely wonderful, and was fulfilling on many levels. Full of flavor, plenty of texture, and simply satisfying. It went wonderfully with some oven-roasted chicken my wife baked up the same evening. The chicken was an adaptation of our gluten-free pulled-chicken recipe - same recipe, just minus the "pulled" part, and using some skinless chicken thighs this time.

If you encounter this Ancient Harvest Inca Red Quinoa at a grocery store, I'd certainly recommend giving it a try. Yet another item you can add to your gluten-free baking repertoire. It's bound to satisfy everyone, gluten-free, celiac, and non-GF persons all the same.

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.

Inflation hitting my gluten-free baking budget

We were just out shopping at BJ's Wholesale Club today, which is where we purchase a substantial portion of the ingredients we do all of our gluten-free baking with. We frequent this store because, to date, we have found them to be the most reasonably priced nearby option for large quantities of ingredients we use most often. Large quantities are especially important when we are "experimenting" and creating or perfecting new recipes, since it may take a few iterations to get something just the way we want it.

Well, I have been noticing some serious price inflation hitting these ingredients over the past few months. And, the pace of inflation has been nothing short of speedy. In fact, prices moved upwards so fast and so often on eggs, that I had to look at my receipts from prior purchases to make sure I was not dreaming about my "ideal" price vs. actual. Here's what I have found, on the identical product recently.

Eggs: 2.5 dozen grade-A Large eggs per flat/carton. Just a few months ago, these were running $1.99. I found that to be a bargain. Then, just a month or two ago, I see they have gone up to $2.99 (that's fifty percent increase in case you were opening Windows calculator program). But, it does not end there. Only a week later, it was $3.15. Then, today, nothing short of a shocking $3.59! (yes, now we are at eighty percent increase over a few months for my eggs!).

I can probably find them cheaper elsewhere on sale, but for an apples-to-apples comparison, and for the same product at the same store, this pace of inflation just shocked me. I wrote a prior blog entry back in September of 2006 about how I was concerned that Ethanol production was going to hit my gluten-free baking. Well, that time has come!

If you see similar increases in the prices of eggs you bake with, or in other ingredients or foods, here's some of what is driving the cost:

1. The price of corn has doubled in the past year! (this is due, primarily to demands for Ethanol production)
2. Corn (feed) is one of the largest price-components in raising chickens - which tend to be required for creating the eggs :)
3. Corn is used to feed other livestock as well - so don't be surprised if meat goes skyward in general too - this just furthers demand for the commodity.
   
4. Energy costs are high - you need to keep greenhouses and livestock (in this case chickens) warm in the winter, and this gets expensive.
   

These price pressures are filtering their way down through all sorts of products. I sure hope it is a temporary "egg bubble" or something, but I honestly think it is something that may only get worse as the push to use corn for ethanol increases. And, other grains are not off limit either - in the past year, most commodities (be it soy, wheat, etc) have had huge price increases too because of energy prices and demand for anything to make ethanol with.

Sugar will soon follow, since sugar beets and cane are also used for ethanol production. Then my molasses will go up (and Sorghum flour too). The worst thing is, there will be no avoiding the cost - it's not like purchasing pre-packages gluten-free foods will avoid the increases, since all the manufacturers are facing the same raw material cost increases that I'm seeing too. My favorite Bi-Aglut pasta is made primarily from Corn, and it is already expensive - wonder what it'll cost by year's end?

I apologize if I went on a bit of a rant here in my blogging. I'm just a bit concerned about this trend on a few levels. Anything that threatens my gluten-free food prices is always troubling to me. Now, I guess I could convert my front-yard into a corn-field in the springtime, and put some chicken coops out back for egg production... but, even that would likely fail since my favorite neighborhood roaming raccoons would probably eat all the corn before I could harvest it. Arghh... there's no escaping it.

Gluten-Free Breadsticks Recipe

Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free Breadsticks Recipe, Baked

Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free Breadsticks! 

Here they are - the gluten-free breadsticks recipe (dairy-free too) you have been waiting for. And, they were worth the wait, trust me! Wonderful taste and texture, especially soon after emerging from the oven. And, now we have also tested freezing the dough, thawing, and baking at a later time.

If you have been reading my blog lately, you probably read the blog entry about our gluten-free baguettes, French-bread, and breadsticks recipe. The breadsticks shown above are a variation on that theme, with the variation being in technique and process instead of altering the recipe itself. The recipe is super-versatile, and is proving even moreso over time.

The focus of this particular gluten-free breadstick experiment was perfecting the technique for mass-production, consistent size/shape, and freezing for extended storage. Everything has worked out well.

The recipe can be found here: Gluten-Free Breadsticks Recipe. And, you will see a discussion all the way at the bottom of the page about the techniques used to form the breadsticks and freeze them for later, and then defrost and bake them. This ability to create a large batch of GF Breadsticks at once, freeze them, and then bake them at any future time is critical to anyone wishing to serve gluten-free foods at a gluten-free restaurant, or to anyone that wants to sell frozen gluten-free breadsticks to others.

We will be mixing the GF breadstick dough up in one or two batches at a time, and then freezing them for later. Since, it is much easier to just take a few out of the freezer and bake them any time I want (versus mixing dough from scratch each time), not to mention the fact that I can not possibly eat an entire batch of these myself before the would otherwise dry out or go to waste. This is perfect for me! And, I am already getting requests from others for the bread sticks, and now I have a way to deliver them easily in a way others can bake them fresh any time they want.

I hope everyone likes them. And, if anyone is getting their gluten-free catering business or gluten-free foods business ramped up, this should make a fine addition to what you can offer your clients. The only thing I ask of anyone that wants to use this gluten-free recipe commercially is that you give credit to Laura for developing it. Laura has put a lot of effort into perfecting this recipe, and I am so proud of her baking skills!

I hope everyone likes these glutenfree breadsticks as much as we do. Now, what recipes to work on next?

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 Baguettes, Breadsticks, Bread Recipe

Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Herb French Bread / Baguettes / Breadsticks

New Gluten-Free Bread Recipe : Highly Adaptable

This is a picture of Laura's newest recipe, one that yields lightly-herbed Gluten-Free Baguettes, Mini-Baguettes, Breadsticks, and/or French-Bread with a fantastic texture and taste. The recipe is highly adaptable, and can form any of a few varieties of bread just by altering the size and shape of each loaf or stick (even down to tiny little crispy breadsticks the size of straws; we also plan to try making both soft and crispy pretzels with a variation of this GF recipe).

I promised to get this new gluten-free baguette recipe published this week, and I definitely dragged my feet a bit, waiting until today - Friday! If anyone was waiting anxiously for it, I apologize for being distracted. I actually had the recipe online yesterday over at my cookbook site, but only today wrote this corresponding blog entry.

Of Practical Intelligence and Dealing with Gluten

Last week I finished reading the January 2007 special issue of American Psychologist dealing with Leadership. I found it rather interesting, and also pulled this following quote from page 37 inside a segment called "A Systems Model of Leadership" by Robert J. Sternberg of Tufts University - discussing the concept of "Practical Intelligence":

Practical intelligence is the set of skills and dispositions used to solve everyday problems by applying knowledge gained from experience to purposefully adapt to, shape, and select environments. It thus involves changing oneself to suit the environment (adaptation), changing the environment to suite oneself (shaping), or finding a new environment within which to work (selection).

This got me thinking about how the average gluten-free person is so directly implicated in this paragraph. We all go through at least one of these changes - adaptation - when we first learn that we can no longer consume gluten after being diagnosed as Celiac or discovering we are otherwise wheat or gluten intolerant. We have no choice (aside from causing our bodies harm) - we must adapt to our new glutenfree environment.

Next, quite a few of us have moved through the subsequent phase - shaping - as we shape our environment to better accommodate our condition. My personal approach to shaping was to tackle one of the first perceived obstacles to remaining gluten-free; that was, the lack of great tasting gluten-free foods from which to choose, and on which I could rely, to satisfy me and help me remain gluten-free for life. In particular, I needed some great desserts to lean on through my period of adaptation, and with the help of my wife and daughter, I achieved that goal and ultimately published a gluten-free cookbook to help others facing the same situation. I have shaped the gluten-free environment for the better, as have many others within the gluten-free community.

Finally, this leads to enabling selection and finding new environments within which to work. By definition, the only environments all of us gluten-free and coeliac types can live within are ones without gluten. But, this does not imply we must select environments that are lacking in fulfillment, flavor, and overall enjoyment. Sure, we have complications to consider, but who doesn't sooner or later in life? Many of our issues can be addressed through dietary concerns and related lifestyle changes. There are ups and downs along the way, but we generally have the ability to choose to lead rather normal lives.

We have all been forced to work on our practical intelligence skills in order to solve the everyday problems of Celiac Disease and gluten-intolerance. We apply apply our knowledge and experience to purposefully adapt to, shape, and select our environment. Given that "practical intelligence" is one of the criteria posited as essential for leadership, perhaps our gluten-free experience has given us all a dose of valuable leadership skills exercise.

I'm not sure if that this argument will hold any weight if used to argue for a promotion at work, but one way or the other, you have faced, and worked through, the steps required to develop this quality of practical intelligence that is considered a valuable trait when it comes to leadership assessment.
Well, that's enough for the gluten-free blog today, and it should give you something to think about while you're baking our newest gluten-free bread recipe this blog posting started out with. 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.

Gluten-Free in Amish Country

This weekend, we had a chance to take a short drive to what's known as "Amish country" here in Ohio. It's a region of Ohio centered around Holmes and Tuscarawas Counties that has a very high percentage of Amish residents, and plenty of Amish businesses, buggies, farms, and the like to go with it. There are plenty of German and Swiss-themed buildings and establishments throughout the region, including some of my favorite reasons for visiting Amish country like the Guggisberg Cheese Factory and various bulk foods stores catering to both the local community and tourists.

On this particular trip, we made it into Sugarcreek, Ohio and stopped by a place called Swiss Village Bulk Foods (at 309 S. Broadway, Sugarcreek, OH). Much to my surprise - especially for a store in a town of less than 2200 people, this business had an incredible amount of gluten free baking products and ingredients. They had the most diverse display of Bob's Red Mill products I had ever seen in one place, with flours like teff, rice, brown rice, sorghum, and so on (the ONLY noticeably absent one was Sweet Rice Flour, aka glutinous rice flour - which I use regularly). I picked up some of the Mary's Gone Crackers that I like (and, there are a perfect complement to the various cheeses I had earlier acquired at Heini's Cheese Chalet in Bunker Hill, OH - a favorite being the Bermuda Onion cheese, or the Smoked Hot Pepper cheese (wonderful on homemade nachos, tortillas, or even crackers of course).

The thing that struck me as most surprising with this glutenfree encounter, was of course the setting. Who would have thought that in such a small town, a little bulk foods store would have a rather substantial selection of gluten free baking ingredients and such? Certainly not me. I'm always excited and glad to see gluten free diets get more attention, and it seems that awareness is spreading throughout the population. Our next stop after the bulk foods store was another Amish-themed shop in the area, and even there I ran into some pre-packaged gluten-free pancake mixes and more of the Bob's Red Mill products. So, it was more than just a freak encounter at the first place.

On the way back, I stopped at a Super-Walmart in Wooster, OH, since I heard they may have the new Anheuser Busch gluten-free Sorghum Beer called Redbridge (reviewed at that link). Sure enough, they did! So, I picked up a 6-pack for a taste test. ($7.99 / six-pack of 12-ounce bottles: nearly 1/3 less than Bard's Tale) See the aforementioned link for a more detailed product review, but the quick bottom-line is this: excellent! I really enjoyed the beer, and although it is a bit sweeter than some beers I used to like, I really think it is quite like a "real" beer!

It rained for the entire trip on Saturday, and has been raining ever since. In fact, this weather is nothing short of strange for Cleveland in January. We have daffodils emerging from the ground (some are nearing 6" tall already), as well as grape hyacyinth and crocuses. Our lawns are green, and it is anything but a typical mid-winter month here.

The ice storm that pounded the Midwest just missed us to the North and West it seems, so instead we are getting our precipitation as rain (and many a yard look like shallow ponds now). I'm thankful the ice missed us, since it can be utterly devastating to the trees — we went through that a couple Springtimes ago here. According to the forecasts, our bizarre warm January is to finally switch gears and enter a deep freeze this week, which is probably a good thing overall even though I don't care much for the cold. I've been waiting for some cold weather to do a bit more baking and working on some other gluten free recipes I keep promising to get to.

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 Traditional Thick Pizza Crust Recipe

Gluten-Free Pizza Crust Recipes

Gluten-Free Traditional / Thick-Crust Pizza Dough

Traditional Thick-Crust Pizza, now Celiac-safe

One of the all time most-missed foods for Celiacs and persons that must adhere to a gluten-free diet is pizza. I know that I personally suffered withdrawal symptoms and anxiety when I was told I would not be able to eat my favorite Chicago deep-dish pizza, or my favorite Denver thick-crust pizza from Beau Jo's, or even my local favorite Donte's Pizza here in Cleveland, Ohio. Pizza was a large part of my life back in the pre-Celiac and pre-gluten-free days, and I have longed for a wonderful replacement pizza that fits into the GF diet.

I have tried a few different purchased glutenfree pizza crusts and pizza dough mixes over the years, and none really made me think I was eating real pizza. My wife has worked on various pizza-crust replacements, and came up with some decent ones that used a batter approach for quick and easy iron-skillet pizza crusts, and more of a dough-type thin-crust sheet-pizza type recipe. These were fine, but admittedly not nearly the same as the "real" thing.

The new Yeast-Raised Gluten-Free Pizza-Crust Dough Recipe

Enter the latest pizza crust from Laura: a traditional yeast-raised gluten-free and dairy-free pizza dough recipe that produces a wonderfully convincing pizza crust that has excellent taste and texture, including a nice crusty crust with a soft bread-like interior. It holds together wonderfully, just as a pizza crust should. Some of its wonderful flavor comes from Teff and Millet flours, along with rice flour.

I can not do this recipe justice with just words, so check out the pictures here and on the dairyfree and glutenfree traditional thick-crust pizza recipe page, and then make it for yourself. Being a yeast-based GF pizza crust, you will need to be patient and allow the crust to rise, and ideally you will have a candy-thermometer or similar device handy to get the warm-water temperature right for best yeast-development results.

And a Homemade Gluten-Free Pizza Sauce Recipe

Laura also included her homemade gluten-free pizza sauce recipe on our website in case you need or want one. It's really simple to make, and has a good flavor on pizzas, as you would expect of a pizza sauce.

Normally, my wife and daughter give in and order their pizzas from a nearby pizza shop instead of sticking to a gluten-free diet with me (thankfully, they do not need to adhere to a Celiac or GF diet as I do), but this pizza crust recipe is close enough to the real thing that my daughter will actually accept it as "pizza". And, that is saying a lot! I too can accept it as pizza. It is not as good as my old favorites from Chicago and other places, but it has reached a level of desirable taste and texture where I can actually be satisfied that my pizza dinner satisfies my craving for a pizza.

Comparing this Gluten-Free Pizza-Crust to "Normal" Pizza

I give it a 7 out of 10 rating, compared to the 10/10 rating my all-time real pizza crusts would get - so, this "7" is a very strong rating considering it is a gluten free pizza crust. This is by far the best gluten-free pizza crust I have ever had, and if Laura ever creates a 9/10+ rated crust, she will have accomplished the "impossible" in my opinion. In fact, I already tell her she's more or less done it with this one. Who knows, maybe she will find a way to tweak this thing up to an 8/10 yet (I want to try making a Chicago deep-dish with it yet and see if that does the trick, though I need a deep-dish pizza pan to try it in).

Slice of Gluten-Free Thick-Crust Pizza

That is a picture of the interior of the crust, showing how it raised nicely and how the bottom and outside exposed dough browned and crusted beautifully, while the inside rose well to deliver a thick-crust / traditional style pizza. I am rather sure you enjoy the Recipe as this has been quite popular with everyone who has tried 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, including some other pizza-crust variations.

Blueberry Buckwheat Teff Gluten-Free Waffles

Blueberry Buckwheat Teff Gluten-Free Waffles

Incredible Gluten-Free Waffle Recipe

These waffles are definitely a favorite breakfast recipe of mine. There will be no more boxed waffles for me now that I have a far superior glutenfreee buckwheat variety available fresh from scratch. And, my wife created these wonderful treats for part of my Christmas gift!

These waffles make use of buckwheat and teff, but yet remain a wonderfully light and fluffy waffle with the perfect flavor combination from Blueberries, grains, and a hint of Cinnamon. With your own waffle iron, you will soon find you are not missing out on anything when it comes to your waffles. Here's a link to the Blueberry Buckwheat Teff Gluten-Free Waffles Recipe.

I have not been making the daily gluten free blog posts recently, as I have been rather busy lining up book sales avenues for us. This week we added a large online GF-products retailer that should have our books in stock within the next couple weeks (I just shipped them a batch this morning, and was told it will take 7-14 days for them to make the journey). We are certainly happy to have them offering our book soon, since they have national coverage and a good presence on the web.

This same firm can supply the Sweet Rice and some other flours/ingredients for the gluten free baking at the same time, by mail order. I actually considered selling ingredients with my books at one time, but I am not quite ready to go into the GF baking supplies business - I don't want to stock all that stuff per se, and the only reason I would do it is to make glutenfree baking as simple as possible for someone to get started with. 

I considered working out some sort of "gift basket" package for the Gluten Free Desserts Cookbook, where I make a "Starter package" (or a few variations) that include all the ingredients needed to start baking a Gluten Free Carrot Cake, or a Gluten Free Boston Cream Pie, or some other popular desserts. That way, when someone purchased and receives the book, they would be all set and ready to go. But, I really don't have any easy way to stock all those supplies, not to mention the shipping is complicated compared to simply mailing books.

Next, I still have a new, and absolutely wonderful, gluten-free pizza-crust recipe [there it is now!] to post in the next few days.

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 Buttermilk Millet Flax Waffles

Gluten-Free Buttermilk Millet Flax Waffles : Laura's Awesome Recipe!

Buttermilk Waffles: Gluten-Free Recipe

Here is a recipe to start off any day in a great way — Glutenfree Buttermilk waffles recipe, for waffles that are light and fluffy, with a mild flavor, and simply delicious! I just top mine with a bit of pure Maple Syrup end enjoy eating waffles as good as any "regular" ones.

You will need a waffle maker for these, which thankfully I received for Christmas this year (a dedicated gluten-free one, only to be used with Celiac-safe recipes!). It's probably no coincidence that my awesome wife created this new recipe about the same time she presented me with the waffle maker as a Christmas gift : perfect! This new waffle maker is the only one we own, and it will not be a problem keeping the wheat-eaters happy, since these new GF waffles are just as good as any alternative (the only thing better may be this gluten-free blueberry buckwheat waffles recipe my wife also create for Christmas)!

Hope you enjoy these latest GF recipes, the waffles, and the blog. Happy baking!

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 Dairy-Free Brown Honey Bread

Laura's Gluten-Free / Dairy-Free Brown Bread (with Honey Accents)

Another Holiday Gluten-Free Recipe : Brown Bread

The holiday break afforded my wife the opportunity to do quite a bit of baking and developing new recipes. The above pictured Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Brown Bread with Honey Accent is one of the winners that emerged from the kitchen during the past couple weeks. It has been through the taste-testing and confirmation phase now, both here at home and having been served in a rosemary/garlic variation for a Christmas dinner among other things.

This bread has a wonderful "honey wheat bread" flavor and texture, and is great for sandwiches, toast, French-toast, and so forth. We sprinkle the top with whole buckwheat kernels prior to baking, just for a little something extra. If you have an event coming up where you want to serve a great tasting gluten free bread, bake this bread recipe a few hours before the event and you will be sure to have a fresh-out-of-the-oven hit with your guests (and, chances are, most people will not even have a clue it is gluten-free). As I mentioned earlier, the bread lends itself to some rather easy variations — one being the rosemary/garlic version we served for Christmas (If anyone wants the exact formula, let me know and I will see if my wife kept the formulation written down somewhere). So, have fun with changing it up a little if you want a slightly different accent flavor.

The GF bread uses a variety of healthier and nutritious gluten-free grains, including: teff, buckwheat, and flax. So, if you have these grains/seeds nearby and wanted a recipe to use them in, here you go.

More recipes are on the way in upcoming blog entries for 2007!  And, be sure to check out the recipes at my cookbook website (link below).

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.

No Gluten or Dairy Pumpernickel Bread Recipe

Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Pumpernickel Bread

Pumpernickel Bread: Full of Flavor and Gluten-Free with this Recipe

The Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Pumpernickel Bread Recipe is now available at our Glutenfree recipe library! I had promised this recipe a few days ago, and it seemed I had a few people getting a bit anxious for it, so there is the link to it. I described this recipe in my previous post where I showed it in use as a gluten-free pumpernickel sandwich bread. It works great for this, since it has a nice hearty crust and a soft spongy center, all infused with plenty of pumpernickel bread flavor.

Complementary Dill / Spinach Dip Recipe

In addition, I posted a recipe for a simple and versatile dill and/or spinach dip recipe. I don't know about you, but spinach-dip served with cubed pumpernickel has been rather popular at parties - both around the holidays and any other time of the year. Many people carve the center out of the loaf of pumpernickel bread, and fill the bread with the dip... using the carved out portion to form the cubes of bread for dipping. This glutenfree pumpernickel will work fine for that, since it is made in a round pyrex 2-liter dish, and achieves a height of about 4 inches when baked. So, plenty of volume for holding dip. Personally, I prefer keeping the dip in a separate bowl so as not to cause the remaining pumpernickle loaf (the part of the loaf you are using for a "bowl") to become soggy. This goes for bread with or without gluten. Why waste any great GF bread to sogginess?

Here's a picture of the dip with some cubed-pumpernickel bread - all glutenfree of course.

GF Pumpernickel Bread with Dill Dip

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 Perfect Pumpernickel Bread

Laura's Gluten-Free & Dairy-Free Pumpernickel Bread Recipe : Perfection!

Incredible Gluten-Free Pumpernickel Break Recipe

My wife has worked tirelessly on perfecting a GF pumpernickel bread (dairy-free too!) over the past few weeks, and she has finally achieved her goal! I just had to take a picture of my lunch today, which is a tuna salad sandwich on this new glutenfree pumpernickel bread she just finished baking earlier today. Here's a direct link to this wonderful Dairy-Free and Gluten-Free Pumpernickel Bread Recipe.

The bread is wonderful. A nice hearty crust, and a soft spongy center! What more could anyone ask for in a pumpernickel? Oh, yeah... taste... it tastes great too! I think it is very much like a real pumpernickel. In addition to the sandwich, we tried it with a gluten-free dill-dip / spinach-dip (recipe here) that was being made as I type this. Once again it is time to start planning how to burn off these extra calories! But, I much prefer having this "problem" of calorie expenditure over the problem of not being able to find good food to eat as a Celiac person.

With a fair number of breads in our repertoire now, there really isn't too awful much I find "missing" from my daily eating habits when compared to the pre-gluten-free days. I am so glad to have a wife that is quite gifted with baking gluten free recipes, and most food in general. And, if something gives her a rough time, she takes it as a challenge to figure it out and perfect it. This recipe and a couple others now join our online GF recipes collection (see links below).

I noticed Lynn Barry just finished a version of pumpernickel recently too! I guess it is the perfect season for pumpernickel! Can't wait to serve it at a Christmas party or dinner.

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.

GlutenFree Sesame Cookie Recipe

Gluten-Free Sesame Cookies : Yum!

Sesame is the star of these Gluten-Free Cookies

This one is definitely a winner - a delicious gluten-free sesame cookie recipe! I think I put on a pound today as I ate about a dozen of them! That's not likely to be a pound of muscle either, though I did make sure to go outside afterwards and walk a mile and jog another mile. Still, I doubt that will offset the calories in these gluten-free temptations of the day, but better than nothing.

I have to give credit to my daughter for this recipe. She just wrapped up another semester at college and is done with her GRE's, so she finally has had a bit of extra time between grad-school applications to get back into the gluten free baking spirit! This recipe took her a couple tries, but she definitely prevailed with a tasty cookie that has a wonderful texture.

This GF cookie has sesame and coconut inside and out, with sesame tahini in there too! So, plenty of flavor, and plenty of calories to boot I'd guess. But, it is a cookie and as such calories just have to take back seat to wonderful taste! Now if this recipe would have come along a few months back, I'd surely have considered putting into our new gluten-free desserts cookbook, but this recipe was just a bit late arriving on the scene.

I have another recipe to post soon, also from my daughter: a gluten free tea-leaf and honey cookie.  That one reminds me of a sugar cookie, but not. It worked well for holiday cut-out cookies for Christmas, and was delightfully crisp and crunchy with accents of honey and tea. Different, and good. It'll be coming soon.

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.