Kransekake

Kransekake is a genuinely wheat and dairy free cake. In the original recipe there is no flour, no dairy, and no ingredients that 'may contain traces of wheat and dairy.' It does however, contain egg whites and almonds. I replaced the egg whites with 3 egg replacer mixed with water, but I don't think you could get away with replacing the nuts if you're trying to avoid those. 

This cake is traditionally for celebrations, like weddings and New Years. My backyard party while hardly as significant as the joining of two people for life or the dawn of a new year was reason enough for me to undertake the project. 

If you are Scandinavian you might already have Kransekake pans, but I'm not and I didn't, so my cake was decidedly more free form than one baked in the proper pans. To make my ad-hoc version, start with the smallest ring and bake it alone. See how much the dough expands and then make the rest of the rings based on that assumption. Full Disclosure: the above picture is not my cake–it was eaten before I could take a picture. If you make the cake without the rings, each layer will be a little flatter, but the effect will be the same.

KRANSEKAKE INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 pounds ground almonds

1 1/2 pounds icing sugar

3/4 tbs baking powder

3 egg replacements mixed with water

KRANSEKAKE DIRECTIONS:

I followed exactly what this man did on A Baker's Odyssey except without the pans. 

GLAZE INGREDIENTS:

hot water

icing sugar

GLAZE DIRECTIONS:

Mix ingredients together until you have a thick glaze that holds its shape. Place in a pastry bag fitted with a round hole and pipe onto kransekake. 

Blogger's Delight Granola

I absolutely never thought I'd be the type of person who makes my own cereal. Not only is it relatively inexpensive and widely available, it's just about the only thing I can safely buy at any number of country fairs I attend over the summer. If you get into this blogging business; however, you may find yourself (as I have) at the receiving end of free samples and thoughtful gifts sent to you by well meaning friends. While I am always eager to try something new, I regret to say that sometimes I end of serving myself something that truly deserves the name and bad connotations of 'health food.' Fortunately, I've found that if you combine many of these offending grains and cereals, coat them in oil and sugar and bake them until they are quite brown they (not surprisingly) taste amazing!

I like my granola in big clusters, perfect for snacking on, so I've invented a twice coated method that solicits large hunks rather than separated bits. 

Makes about 5 cups. 

GRANOLA INGREDIENTS:

5 cups of your choice dry ingredients. I suggest at least 2 cups being composed of oats. If you want to add chocolate chips or dried fruit, do so at the end after the baking. 

3/4 cup maple syrup

4 tablespoons vegan margarine (or, if your cereals are salty, use canola or coconut oil)

2 tbs honey/agave nectar

3/4 brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 tbs wheat free flour

GRANOLA INSTRUCTIONS:

In a saucepan, combine maple syrup, honey, sugar, and margarine. Heat over low heat until boiling. Remove from heat and add vanilla, stirring to combine. Pour two thirds of the sugar mixture over the dry ingredients. Using a rubber spatula, stir to coat. Spread this mixture on a lined baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for twenty minutes. The cereal should be nice and brown. Remove from heat and set aside. Gently reheat remaining liquid. Remove from heat and add flour. If you are adding dried fruit or chocolate, sprinkle ontop of the granola. Pour over granola. Allow to set for 1/2 hour before breaking apart and storing in an airtight container for upto a week. 

Almost There Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been struggling with making the perfect chocolate chip cookie and these are pretty darn close. My only quibble is that they are a tad puffy rather than flat and Mrs. Fields like. Hopefully, with a bit more tinkering I can make them match the cookies of my pre-allergy memory. The taste, I have to say is, just about perfect. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know! I've been thinking of trying to use brown sugar and substitute some of the coconut oil with vegan margarine. 

Makes about 24 cookies.

COOKIE INGREDIENTS:

1 cup coconut oil, melted

2 tablespoons vanilla

1 tablespoon molasses

pinch of salt (optional)

3/4 agave nectar

2 cups wheat free flour

1/2 cup ground up gluten free oats

1 1/2 tsp xantham gum

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup vegan chocolate chips

COOKIE DIRECTIONS:

In a bowl, combine the oil, vanilla, molasses, and agave nectar. Then, using a sieve, add the flour, xantham gum, salt, soda, cinnamon and oat flour. Sift this in and stir. Fold the chocolate chips in and mix until the dough is not shiny. Drop on a lined cookie sheet and spread the dough out a bit with an inverted spatula. Bake at 325 degrees for about nine minutes.

Store in an airtight container for upto 3 days. Refrigerate for longer life. 

The Great Fake Pound Cake

I made this cake to celebrate the completion of my Masters degree. I'm very excited if a bit jobless, so hopefully that will mean more time concocting recipes and less time writing papers. To celebrate, I baked a cake! After a week of no baking it was so satisfying to sift flour over creamed sugar; to pour batter into a tin; and bake a delicious, simple, wholesome treat. 

I wanted to make a pound cake. It has the depth and heftiness that a Masters degree seemed to require. Obvious restrictions were overcome and the result was a deeply vanilla-y cake with a dense crumb. 

POUND CAKE INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup apple sauce

1/2 cup vegan mayonnaise

1 cup white sugar

1 vanilla seed, scraped and deseeded

1 1/2 cup wheat free flour

1 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup rice milk or soy milk mixed with 1 tsp cider or white vinegar

1 egg replacement

POUND CAKE DIRECTIONS:

In the bowl of a mixer, combine the apple sauce, mayonnaise, sugar, and vanilla seeds together until creamy and the vanilla seeds are evenly dispersed. In another bowl combine the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and powder. Add, alternating with the rice milk until combined. Finally, add the egg replacement prepared as per the instructions. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, rotating half way through. Allow to cool mostly in the pan and then turn out onto a cooling rack. 

MILK CHOCOLATE ICING INGREDIENTS:

2 tbs vegan margarine

1 tsp cocoa powder

2 tsp bird's custard powder

vanilla soy milk/rice milk

icing sugar

ICING DIRECTIONS:

Beat the margarine, cocoa powder, and custard powder combined. Alternatively add icing sugar and soy milk until enough icing to cover the top of the cake is made. Spread on cooled cake. 

Gluten Free Tea for Two

When you are in the mood to decorate these little goodies are a great alternative to sugar cookies. There is no doubt, that in a crunch, a drop cookie is the way to go. But there is something that just can't be beat about rolling out a bunch of dough, pressing it into shapes, and later when it has cooled, slathering them in icing. 

These cookies are incredibly soft and chewy and don't need to be iced at all if you prefer a less rich cookie. Both ways, these are great for afternoon tea. 

TEA COOKIES INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg substitutes

3 cups wheat free flour

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 cup cocoa powder

COOKIE DIRECTIONS:

In a mixer, beat the oils, apple sauce, and vanilla together. Add the sugar. Using a sieve, sift in the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Mix together. Add the prepared egg replacer. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and allow to harden up in the fridge for a bit. 

Roll the dough into a 1/4 inch thickness onto a floured surface. Cut into shapes and baked on a greased sheet for about 8 minutes. Cool before icing. 

Everything Free Ice Cream

This ice cream recently came to my attention via. several other blogs, to whom I owe incredible thanks. After taking dairy out of my diet, I sullenly moved to sorbet, which while I appreciated the health benefits, I've truly never enjoyed as much real ice cream. In addition, sorbet does not take to toppings and sauces the way a bowl of vanilla can. 

This little treat, on the other hand, is made with banana, which baked and on its own takes to just about every flavor you'd want to add to ice cream; chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, vanilla, strawberry, I even swirled in some cookie dough. 

There really is no recipe for the base, just keep in mind that one banana will give you about 1/4 cup ice cream. 

For chocolate, I added 1 tbs. cocoa and 1 tbs. sugar for every banana. This made a not too sweet, but very chocolatey ice cream. 

To make the basic ice cream: Cut very ripe bananas into large pieces. Freeze completely. Put into a blender and whir about until creamy and custardy. Store in an airtight container in the freezer. 

Decorating Cakes

Decorating cakes without buttercream or royal icing can be a challenge and is one of the reasons wheat and dairy free bakers often make do with cupcakes instead. There are some occasions that require a sheet cake covered in mildly distressing colors of icings. 

The following recipe is how I decorate my cakes when such an occasion arises. 

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup vegan margarine, unsalted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs - 1/4 cup vanilla soy or rice milk

3 - 5 cups vegan icing sugar

DIRECTIONS:

In an electric mixer, combine the vanilla and margarine, whirring together until creamy and smooth. Add a few tablespoons of milk. Then add your icing sugar. Alternate the icing sugar and milk until you've reached a consistency that is thick enough to pipe and spread. If you can, use gel food paste as it doesn't change the consistency of the icing as much as the little bottles do.