A Gluten Free Holiday

Ahhh, holiday baking.

Well, some things worked. Some things didn't. Some just need some more work.

On the " Wow, I can't believe I can eat this again " list:
Nanaimo bars - mint
Sugar cookies
Peanut butter balls
Nutchos
Truffles
Fried Rice
Wontons
Chicken Balls
Cinnamon buns

On the "needs more work" list:
Egg Rolls - I need a better deep fryer and they needed to be a little thinner and cook a little longer. Still delicious though.


Plus the usual stuff for different holiday dinners:
Grilled steak and lobster tails
Glazed Ham
Roast Beef and Gravy


Sadly, I have no real pictures of it all. Other than these:

mmm, Perogies

I've only had perogies once in my life before these. Safeway Potato and Bacon. Boiled and then fried in bacon and onions. Bacon fried in onions. Onions fried in bacon. I think that's why I enjoyed it so much.

So why would I even want them now that I can't have them? Because I can't have them.
I looked around the Internet. Found an American supplier but it was really difficult to find out where they were actually sold. Okay.... Seems there is a Canadian vendor at a farm market northeast of Toronto. I don't feel like driving.

Found a couple recipes on different blogs and after my favourite bakery, GF Patisserie in Cochrane, Alberta, made some, I decided to try it.

Made the mashed potatoes for it with bacon and onion and honestly made 4 times too much but I was more than happy to eat it. It was incredible.

I used the dough recipe from The Celiac Husband but substituted my own flour mix. My mix already has the xanthan in it so I didn't use quite that much. Here it is:

Dough:

1 3/4 cups GF Patisserie Flour Mix
Some more for dusting
3 teaspoons Xanthan
2 large eggs
1 tbs. sour cream
1/2 cup water; more as needed
Butter
Salt & pepper

In a large bowl, combine the flour, eggs (Beat them first), sour cream, and 1/2 cup of water. If dough is sticky, add more flour.
While you fill the perogies, put 5 qt. water on to boil.
Drop the perogies in batches into the boiling water, stirring occasionally. When they float to the top, cook for another minute.
Fish them out with a spider and put them in a bowl. Sauté in butter, simply add some salt and pepper.

Here's the flour mix I used:
1 part brown rice flour
1 part white rice flour
2/3 part potato starch
1/3 part tapioca starch
Add 3/4 tsp xanthan gum for each cup of flour you create.


Bacon & Potato Filling:

3 medium starchy potatoes
2 tbs. unsalted butter; more as needed
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced 2tbs. freshly grated cheese
BACON!


Ready? Wanna see?




Sour Cream anyone?

Now, to be honest, I didn't cook them right away. Laid them all out flat on a parchment lined cookie sheet and slid them in the freezer overnight. Bagged them up in individual serving.

Now, they are all ready to go whenever I want some. Kind of like going shopping at the grocery store in the freezer aisle. How great is that?


So, the leftover scraps? Rolled them out super thin to make a Chinese wonton. Deep fried them. Just as practice for when I want to make a Chinese meal. Yum.

Rolled Sugar Cookies

When I went to a Farmer's Market early this year, I saw a booth with gluten free baked goods. They had some sugar cookies and I think I paid about $5 or $6 for about 8 of them. One bite and that was enough.

If this was what I was in store for, I was already ready to quit.

Christmas time for me, always includes Sugar Cookies. Nice colorful frosted sugar cookies.

For the last few years, I've used one from Allrecipes.com. This one.

With a few changes, I was ready to go!

I scaled it down to 30 cookies but it still made closer to 40.


Ingredients

* 3/4 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup white sugar
* 1/2 cup icing sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 2-1/2 cups gluten free flour mix*
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt


*GF Flour Mix - 1 part brown rice flour, 1 part white rice flour, 2/3 part potato starch, 1/3 part tapioca starch and 3/4 -1 tsp xanthan gum per cup

Directions


1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. The recipe says 400F but my first batch got a little dark. Roll out dough on gluten free floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Here they are after they've cooled.




Look at the texture! It looks real!


Sugar Cookie Icing is the one I use. I tripled it for this recipe which was the perfect amount.
* 3 cups confectioners' sugar
* 6 teaspoons milk ( I had to add a little more to get it thinner)
* 6 teaspoons light corn syrup
* 1/4 teaspoon almond extract or to flavor to how you like
* assorted food coloring

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.



And then try not to eat all of them.