Blackberry Farm Griddle Cakes (Gluten-Free Pancakes)

Posted by Sara — May 20, 2013

I fortunately don’t have to worry about gluten-free cooking, but I do often find myself looking with interest at gluten-free recipes. I have quite a collection of flours going and am always curious to find new ways to use them. But for the dabbler stocking all the ingredients necessary for a gluten-free pantry can seem a bit much. If you’re going to use it all the time, a home-made mix that requires you to stock up on ingredients ranging from arrowroot powder to sorghum makes perfect sense (and is hopefully more economical than some of the store-bought varieties though I understand that extra expense is par for the course when things must be free of gluten). But for me, it seems like a lot to buy.

May 2013′s Bon Appetit cover showcases a beautiful stack of pancakes from the famous Blackberry Farm restaurant. I was immediately curious, and only when I read through did I realize the recipe was for gluten-free pancakes. Even better, it “only” required four other varieties–buckwheat (which I have on hand for pancakes anyway); cornmeal (polenta); brown rice flour (which I use for bread proofing) and oat flour (which I bought for the occasion, but which you can make easily from regular oatmeal in the food processor).

With that, this iteration of Sunday morning pancakes. I had actually been wanting to try buckwheat pancakes for a while but was a bit nervous about what my picky eaters would say. So this mix seemed like a good test run, as I knew the oat flour–the largest component–would mellow the buckwheat flavor. A quarter cup of maple syrup didn’t hurt either. The lack of gluten ensured these pancakes were tender and light (an unprompted observation from my husband). And happily they puffed up beautifully as they cooked quickly–a virtue when I’m griddling up as fast as I can for 3 hungry boys.

A few comments. As I mentioned I used polenta which maybe was a bit too coarse a grind for the purpose–my husband liked the slight crunchy texture they provided, but next time I think a finer grind would work better. While the recipe doens’t so require, I found that the batter got thicker after the first batch as it absorbed more liquid, so I’d suggest a five minute rest after the initial mixing.

And one more. I made yet another change from the original recipe–I didn’t add the quarter cup of melted butter. For no reason other than that I misread the recipe. I liked my accidental low-fat version well enough, but as it was not a considered change to the recipe, I also thought it was only right to let you know!

Blackberry Farm Griddle Cakes

Make your own oat flour by whirring up rolled oats in your food processor. You can make this into a “mix”: Triple the dry ingredients and store them in a jar. Use 2¼ cups of “mix”; all the other measurements stay the same.

Author: Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients

1 large egg
2 cups buttermilk
¼ cup pure maple syrup
1 cup gluten-free oat flour
⅔ cup yellow cornmeal
⅓ cup brown rice flour
¼ cup buckwheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
Butter (for skillet)

Instructions

Whisk egg, buttermilk, and maple syrup in a small bowl. Whisk oat flour, cornmeal, rice flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
Whisk buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients, then allow the batter to sit for five minutes.
Heat a large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over medium heat; lightly brush with butter. Working in batches, pour batter by ¼-cupfuls into skillet. Cook until bottoms are browned and bubbles form on top of griddle cakes, about 3 minutes. Flip and cook until griddle cakes are cooked through, about 2 minutes longer.

Rhubarb Ricotta Cake

Posted by Sara — May 14, 2013

As I’ve told you, one of my very favorite recipes of all time is Rhubarb Crisp (though Karen likes it with strawberries thrown in). The tartness of the rhubarb set off against a crunchy, buttery brown sugar topping? It’s a dessert I can eat way past the point when I know I’ve definitively overindulged. Then I’ll call Karen or Marie and tell them how I ate enough to make myself ‘sick’ and they’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. (What are sisters for if not to share the mundane as well as the lofty with?)

Because it’s in essence just rhubarb, sugar, and butter, it’s delicious, but it’s not exactly something I can get away with eating for breakfast. Well, not legitimately anyway (i.e. I’m not saying I haven’t done it). But–sprinkled on top of a cake? Why, it’s just as appropriate as a muffin or a pancake. (I mean, we can question how wholesome an idea it is to be eating muffins and pancakes for breakfast with any regularity, but at least if you must overindulge, doing so at breakfast appears to be the least damaging to your waistline).

Many recipes call for sour cream or buttermilk, but since I had ricotta on hand I figured that I’d give that a shot–and I’ve loved the result of ricotta in baked goods before–remember this old post? (And if you’re still wondering, it’s Smitten Kitchen approved; need i say more?). I wanted to use up some semolina flour so I threw that in as well. Semolina is high in gluten (which is why it’s so great for making pasta) so it’s not always the ideal choice for more tender baked goods, but I thought it might add a nice rustic texture and that the acidity of the ricotta would tenderize it and work out any rough edges. I was pleased with the result, but feel free to use regular all-purpose flour.

Now despite my paean to rhubarb here, I think this cake is a perfect base for any fruit you’d like–rhubarb for spring, peaches or nectarines for fall? The cake itself is mild in flavor and well-structured and thus will happily pair with whatever seasonal bounty you have on hand. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the rhubarb while it lasts.

If you’re looking for more ideas for rhubarb, check out one of my favorite blogs, Relishing It. Laurie has got tons of great ideas (and taught me that you can freeze rhubarb to enjoy it year round). There’s also our rhubarb-rose ice cream here and our pinterest page with rhubarb ideas here.

Rhubarb Ricotta Cake

Ingredients

Cake

1 pound rhubarb, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces along the diagonal
1⅓ cup sugar, divided
1 tablespoon lemon juice and zest of one lemon
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour (substitute an additional cup of flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon table salt
1 cup ricotta

Crumb

1 cup all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
¼ cup brown sugar (I used muscovado with a bit of white)
⅛ teaspoon table salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Instructions

Make the cake: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter or a nonstick cooking spray, then line the bottom with parchment paper, extending the lengths up two sides. (It will look like a sling). Stir together rhubarb, lemon juice and ⅔ cup sugar and set aside. Beat butter, remaining sugar and lemon zest with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at at time, scraping down the sides after each addition. Whisk together flour, baking powder, ¾ teaspoon table salt and ground ginger together in a small bowl. Add one-third of this mixture to the batter, mixing until just combined. Continue, adding half the ricotta, the second third of the flour mixture, the remaining ricotta, and then the remaining flour mixture, mixing between each addition until just combined.
Dollop batter over prepared pan, then use a spatula — offset, if you have one, makes this easiest — to spread the cake into an even, thin layer. Pour the rhubarb mixture over the cake, spreading it into an even layer (most pieces should fit in a tight, single layer).
Stir together the crumb mixture, first whisking the flour, brown sugar, table salt and cinnamon together, then stirring in the melted butter with a spoon or fork. Scatter evenly over rhubarb layer. Bake cake in preheated oven for 50 to 60 minutes. The cake is done when a tester comes out free of the wet cake batter below. It will be golden on top. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.
Cut the two exposed sides of the cake free of the pan, if needed, then use the parchment “sling” to remove the cake from the pan. Cut into 2-inch squares and go ahead and eat the first one standing up. (If it’s written into the recipe, it’s not “sneaking” a piece but, in fact, following orders, right?) Share the rest with friends. Cake keeps at room temperature for a few days, but I didn’t mind it at all from the fridge, where I kept it covered tightly.

Salt & Pepper Creme Fraiche Biscuits

Posted by Sara — February 23, 2013

As you know I make creme fraiche from time to time–basically, when I realize my cream is nearing its use-by date and I want to eke out a few more days from it. And since I love to bake, it’s also so much more useful that way–it makes baked goods rise wonderfully and, since it can be substituted measure for measure for sour cream, there’s plenty of recipes I can use it in. (Joanne Chang is a particular fan).

With my newly acquired biscuit cutter set (thanks mom!) and with a half of cup of creme fraiche in the fridge, this recipe from one of the latest Food & Wine issues called to me. I’m always meaning to bake more savory goods–what better way to start?

These biscuits were so much fun to make: from rubbing the butter into the flour, to patting down the fluffy, pillow soft dough, to cutting out perfect little squares of dough and painting them with an egg-milk wash.

And (it goes without saying) they are fun to eat. Thanks to the acid in the creme fraiche, the rolling and folding, and the rubbed in butter, these biscuits are delicately light and tender. (These are definitively not those bready, heavy biscuits you’d pour thick gravy over). The freshly ground pepper stands out against the slightly sweet background–an addictive and richly savory taste.

Now some notes: I deviated from the original recipe by necessity–not having enough creme fraiche I added a bit of yogurt to top it up. (The original recipe, which I’ve linked to, uses a mix of creme fraiche and milk). I rubbed in the butter rather than cut it in, but you can do whatever you like (you could even use the food processor as long as you take care not to over-process).

You’ll see that it’s key to chill the dough–it’s so soft it would be too hard to work with without that step.

This recipe makes a LOT, and unfortunately these don’t taste quite as great on subsequent days. But since biscuits and scones generally freeze well, I’ll certainly be setting aside a portion to bake another day the next time I make this.

Salt & Pepper Creme Fraiche Biscuits

Author: Sara, adapted from Food & Wine

Ingredients

1 large egg
1 large egg yolk and egg white (separated)
½ cup crème fraîche
½ cup greek yogurt
2½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon plus ¼ teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons table salt
1½ teaspoons freshly ground pepper
1½ sticks unsalted butter, cut into ¼-inch dice and chilled
2T heavy cream or half and half or milk
Maldon salt, for sprinkling

Instructions

In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the egg yolk, crème fraîche and milk. Reserve the egg white.
In a large bowl, combine the 2½ cups of flour with the sugar, baking powder, table salt and pepper.
Using a pastry blender or 2 butter knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal–or rub in with your fingertips or pulse in a food processor.
Add the egg mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until the dough is evenly moistened. Gather the dough into a ball and knead 2 or 3 times, just until it comes together.
Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper and dust them with flour. Transfer the dough to one of the baking sheets and press it into an 8-by-10-inch rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400°. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and roll it out to an 11-inch square. Fold the square in half and roll it out again to an 11-inch square. Repeat the folding and rolling once more. Using a 2-inch round biscuit cutter, stamp out as many biscuits as possible. Gather the scraps, reroll and stamp out more biscuits.
Evenly space the biscuits on the lined baking sheets. Whisk together the reserved egg white with the cream or half and half, and brush the tops with this mixture. Sprinkle with Maldon salt.
Bake the biscuits in the upper and lower thirds of the oven for about 20 minutes, until golden; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Serve the biscuits warm.

Notes

The original recipe called for ¾ cup of creme fraiche and ¼ cup of milk–I used ½ cup of creme fraiche and ½ cup of Greek yogurt (2%) because that’s what I had on hand. I’m sure other combinations would work, as well as sour cream in place of the creme fraiche. As long as you use enough of an acidic dairy product (creme fraiche, yogurt, or sour cream) you should be good to go! I also mixed my leftover egg white with half and half for “painting” the biscuits before they went into the oven.

Sour Cherry Pie with Jarred or Canned Cherries

Posted by Sara — January 27, 2013

I’m feeling particularly impatient with the cold. Not just because it’s mid-January, but also because our heat has not been working properly for the past few days. It’s hard enough to get out of bed in the morning on a dark mid-winter morning, and when it’s 41 degrees in the living room, that doesn’t help matters.

While it’s still cold enough that the prospect of double digit temperatures is exciting, our heat is fortunately working (unless I just jinxed us).

I’ll still have to be patient for warmer temperatures but we can do some things to brighten our dark days. Like making a cherry pie that brings a bit of July to January.

And don’t worry–I’m not going to tell you about making sour cherry pie from fresh cherries in mid-winter. That would just be annoying. Tart cherries are hard enough to find when they are in season, much less this time of year (hence I’ve had to “make do” with sweet even in the height of summer). But fortunately they can be found jarred. My local whole foods sells 24 ounce jars imported from Hungary, billed either as “compote” or simply “sour cherries in sugar.” They are simply packed in their juice, which is only lightly sweetened–no viscous, cloying pie filling here. You could happily spoon this compote into your morning yogurt, or even just eat a few straight from the jar. Or, of course, make pie!

A few tweaks are in order, though. Most fresh pie recipes require you to macerate the cherries in sugar to draw out their juice–obviously that step is not necessary, but you should save some of the juice when you drain the cherries to compensate for this–I found a half cup worked well. I also added just a touch of sugar, as jarred cherries usually come pre-sweetened.

I’ve recently been experimenting with the Chez Pim pie crust method–a very pliable, easy-to-work with dough, which is particularly nice to use when making a lattice crust pie. You can always just fit your top crust with a rolled out disk, however–it will be just as delicious.

Sour Cherry Pie with Jarred Cherries

Recipe type: dessert, pie

Ingredients

Your favorite recipe for Double Pie Crust (see ours here or my new favorite method here).

Filling:

3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
2 24-ounce jars of sour cherries, sweetened (such as this brand) (reserve ½ cup of the juice)
3T sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white (optional)
sugar and milk

Instructions

Prepare crust in advance and divide into two disks. Make sure the dough has time to rest before assembling the pie.
Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 425°F.
Drain the cherries and reserve ½ cup of the juice.
Stir together the cornstarch, salt, cherries, sugar, lemon juice, reserved cherry juice, and vanilla extract.
Roll out 1 dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch pie dish. Trim dough overhang to ½ inch. If using egg white, paint the crust with the egg white to “seal” it.
Roll out second dough disk on floured surface to 12-inch round. Using large knife or pastry wheel with fluted edge, cut ten ¾-inch-wide strips from dough round. (You can also just roll into a round and use this to top the pie if you don’t want to make a lattice crust).
Transfer filling to dough-lined dish, mounding slightly in center.
Arrange dough strips over filling, forming lattice; trim dough strip overhang to ½ inch. Fold bottom crust up over ends of strips and crimp edges to seal. Brush lattice crust (not edges) with milk. (If not using a lattice crust, slash the top decoratively to allow steam to escape while baking). Sprinkle the top crust with sugar.
Place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Bake pie until filling is bubbling and crust is golden brown, covering edges with foil collar if browning too quickly, about 1 hour longer.
Transfer pie to rack and cool completely.

Pretzels: Gifted Inspiration

Posted by kclever — January 14, 2013

This post was inspired by gifts. Coming off the holidays – that’s no surprise.

First, my gift. Let me say, “BAKERS, I have ARRIVED!” I am now the proud, delighted, and still-surprised owner of a Kitchenaid Professional Plus Stand Mixer. For so long, I assumed this would never grace my counter. For one, it’s quite expensive — and nearly as heavy, and it’s hard to justify a large purchase on a mixer when there are quite a few other home items that are closer to the top of the list (a table? lamps?). So many recipes say “place in a sturdy mixer” or blog posts reference their “trusty kitchenaid” and I’ve just sighed in resignation and pulled out the hand-mixer. It has served my well, but in making this latest recipe, how pleasant it was to just walk away and return to watch all the magic happen, more or less unaided. To let the dough hook do the work without the dough squirting into the beater holsters. Oh yes. Bakers, I made it to the party.

And really – who needs an inspiration to use a kitchenaid? You can do so many things — and I haven’t even explored the attachment options (ice cream maker – YAY!, sausage maker – NAY!). But, Paul received some fancy spicy mustard as a gift. Yes, indeed. Mustard.

I rarely use mustard. I’ve never liked it much and it’s a common condiment for cold cuts, so – you get it. But, it has often been used a balsamic vinaigrette. I do, however, associate it with soft pretzels – though I prefer the fake cheese option myself (“cheese food” or is it “cheese spread” — maybe “pub cheese” sounds better) or just the straight kosher salt.

And so, when Paul showed me the mustard I exclaimed, “Oh! I should bake pretzels to go with the mustard!” Right – natural thought progression!

They were indeed delicious but really quite a bit of work, probably because it was short amounts of “rest” so it by the time you finished one task you only had few moments to get distracted by some other house chore before you’re back at it — manipulated the dough for a couple minutes and then letting it “rest.” I used the “Joy of Cooking” recipe for pretzels. Actually – my dear friends Maren and Lis bought me that book for my birthday a few years ago — another lovely, thoughtful gift!

Here are the pretzel, preformation and at the 2nd rising, I think.

And shaping the pretzels. The first is never as good as the last one is.

And, like bagels, these are blanched in boiling water.

Ready for the oven.

Ready for the tummy!

Lebkuchen (Austrian Gingerbread Cookies)

Posted by Sara — December 10, 2012

Sad to say, this blog has a regrettable dearth of Christmas cookies. (Or cookies in general). I hope this post can help make amends. With marmalade (if like me you have too much), brown sugar, molasses, a riot of spices, plenty of eggs, and of course candied ginger, these cookies are full of flavor and well worthy of the holiday season.

I’ve loved this slightly chewy, soft gingerbread cookie (in contrast to the crisp, snappy variety) since enjoying is as often as I could in the Czech Republic. Besides beautifully decorated showpieces, every grocery store stocked multiple varieties single serving cakes filled with your selection of jam and glazed in a thin veneer of chocolate. Years later, I even imposed upon my friend Jennifer to bring me back some from her annual trip to Austria, along with marzipan and plum paste. (That’s sort of a lot, isn’t it?)

These cookies are so easy to make–it’s whirred up in the food processor and frozen for at least four hours to stiffen it up a little. I left mine in the freezer a full twenty four hours, and you can see how soft and viscous it is even after that–so don’t skip that step or you may turn an easy cookie making venture into a frustrating one.

Scooping out with a cookie scoop is definitely helpful (see that part about being sticky and viscous above), but the good news is even as imperfect as my scoops started looking, they all baked up into lovely rounds. Even my younger son enjoyed helping–that’s his cute little hand.

The frosting is as simple as can be–sugar held together by milk and a bit of butter. It’s nothing but pure saccharine, which actually is the perfect icing for such complex and rich cookies. Everyone I shared these cookies with gave them rave reviews, and I hope you enjoy them as much as we all did!

Lebkuchen (Central European Gingerbread Cookies)

Adapted from here

Ingredients

1½ cups blanched whole almonds
2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1¾ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon fine salt
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
1½ cups light brown sugar
½ cup sweet orange marmalade
¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger (1 ounce)
¼ cup unsulfured molasses
5 large eggs

Icing

3 cups plus 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup whole milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°. Spread the almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes, or toast, stirring frequently in a hot dry skillet for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and lightly golden. Remove to a plate to stop the cooking, and let cool completely.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, allspice, salt and nutmeg.
In a food processor, pulse the cooled almonds until coarsely chopped. Add the brown sugar and pulse until incorporated. Add the marmalade, candied ginger and molasses and pulse until the mixture is well blended and the nuts are finely chopped. Add the eggs all at once and pulse until just incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and pulse until incorporated and the batter is uniform in color.
Scrape the soft batter into a bowl, cover and freeze until very firm, at least 4 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a 2-tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop 8 level mounds onto each baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Freeze the remaining batter between batches.
Bake the cookies in the upper and lower thirds of the oven for about 20 minutes, until risen and slightly firm; shift the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Transfer the sheets to racks and let the cookies and pans cool completely. Repeat with the remaining batter.
In a bowl, whisk the confectioners’ sugar with the milk and butter. The butter will eventually incorporate. Spread the cookies with icing (it’s easiest to pick each cookie up and frost it rather than frost them on a plate) and let dry completely before serving or wrapping.

Notes

The cookies can be stored between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container for up to 5 days.