Chocolate Mint Ice Cream (dairy free)

Hi all. Did you think I dropped off of the face of the earth? It's been a rough spring with sick kids, so I haven't had much time to think about blogging. Thankfully we're all healthy and we're on to summer.

It's been really hot the last week or so here, so I decided to try to make some dairy free ice cream to cool us off a bit. Sure, you can buy some really good dairy free ice cream at the store....Coconut Bliss is a favorite around here. But there's something about homemade ice cream. This ice cream was super easy to make, very refreshing and good! Trust me, you won't be thinking that it's a dairy free treat.....it's just a good chocolate treat! :)


Chocolate Mint Ice Cream

2 teaspoons kosher gelatin

1/4 cup peppermint tea, room temperature

1/4 cup honey

3-1/4 cups chocolate almond milk


1. In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over apple juice. Let sit, stirring occasionally, until gelatin is dissolved and softened, about 10 minutes.

2. In a medium saucepan, whisk together honey and 2 cups almond milk. Cook until just hot, stirring frequently; remove from heat. Add softened gelatin to hot milk mixture, stirring until gelatin is completely dissolved. Stir in remaining almond milk; let cool, cover, and refrigerate until very well-chilled ( I chilled it for about 8 hrs)

3. Spoon chilled mixture into the canister of an ice cream maker and make the ice cream per the manufacturers directions.

Makes about 1 quart.

Awesome gluten free bread

I recently tried a new gluten free bread recipe that we are LOVING. I've had this recipe for a while, but always passed by it because it calls for powdered milk which doesn't work for my daughter. Sure you can get powdered soy milk, but we still have the same problem. So without a good substitute, I passed it up. I then learned that you can replace powdered milk with sweet rice flour. Happy day! I decided to try this recipe with that substitution.....and it worked!


The first time I made this bread, it was good but after a couple days it started to crumble. A few tweaks and this bread is a keeper. It may be due to altitude (we live at 7,000 ft) but I found after adding a bit more water (~ 2 Tbsp) and baking it at the minimum baking time, that was all it took. No more crumbly bread. I have a hard time keeping this bread in the house....my family gobbles it up!

Ok, ok. Enough chatter.....on to the recipe! :)

White Bread
adapted from 125 Gluten Free Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butts

1 3/4 cups white rice flour
1/2 cup potato flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup powdered milk or sweet rice flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 cup water ( plus 2 Tbsp)
2 tsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp oil
2 eggs
2 egg whites

• In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Mix very well and set aside.
• In a separate bowl, using a heavy mixer with paddle attachment, combine wet ingredients until well blended.
• With the mixer on the lowest speed, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until combined. You may need to scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer on the HIGHEST speed, mix for 4 minutes.
• Spoon into prepared pan. Smooth the top with hands, using shortening. Let rise, uncovered, in a warm, draft free place for 60 to 75 minutes or until dough has risen to the top of the pans. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 35 to 45 minutes (I bake mine for 35 minutes).

Enjoy! I have another gf bread recipe that I'm going to try.....stay tuned. :)

gluten free pizza crust

Pizza!!! I love pizza and having a gluten free and dairy/soy free diet restriction for the kids pretty much takes care of pizza. Until now. This crust turned out perfectly and acted just like wheat. Plus it has Italian seasonings in the dough so making a pizza with no cheese is still good. I made a large pizza with cheese and then a small single serve pizza without cheese for my daughter. She loved it. I think we can finally have pizza on our menu again. All thanks to my sister for sending me this fabulous recipe....thanks!!!

The recipe is from here. I made no changes to the original recipe, besides using sweet rice flour instead of powdered milk. That seems to be a great replacement for powdered milk.


Gluten Free Pizza Crust:

• 1 tablespoon dry yeast
• 2/3 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour
• 2 tablespoons sweet rice flour
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
• 2/3 cup water (110 degrees F)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. In medium bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend all ingredients on low speed.

3. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

4. (If mixer bounces around bowl, dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) Dough will resemble soft bread dough.

5. Put mixture on lightly greased 12-inch pizza pan or 11 x 7-inch pan (for deep dish version).

6. Liberally sprinkle rice flour on dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking to hands.

7. Make edges slightly thicker to hold toppings.

8. Bake pizza crust for 10 minutes.

9. Remove from oven.

10. Spread pizza crust with your favorite sauce and toppings.

11. Bake another 20 to 25 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

Coming soon......

I have a few recipes lined up to share with ya'll. Pizza crust, frosted sugar cookies and I'm currently trying out 2 new bread recipes. I will have them up soon!!!

Pumpkin Muffins

I am absolutely loving Annalise Roberts cookbook. It is currently my favorite gluten free cookbook. I have been trying a lot of her recipes lately. Mainly muffins and cookies at the moment. But there a lot of other good looking recipes that I will definitely have to try.

These muffins are the best gluten free muffins that I have ever had. Actually, they are the best pumpkin muffins I have ever had. Including wheat. The texture is perfect, they are moist, they are GOOD. Even my hubby, who isn't a fan of pumpkin, had to agree that they were very good. I froze a lot of pumpkin from our garden this year, so was glad to find another good use for it.

I did change the recipe slightly from the original, mainly cutting back on a few spices, so my hubby and kids would enjoy them. The original recipe calls for ground cloves and ginger, which I omitted. It also calls for molasses, but I replaced that with brown sugar.

Pumpkin Muffins

• 1 3/4 cups brown rice flour mix (see below)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 cup pumpkin puree

Brown Rice Flour mix: 2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch (not potato flour)
1/3 cup tapioca flour

Preheat oven to 350. Grease muffin pan or use baking cups.
Mix dry ingredients together in large mixing bowl of electric mixer.
Combine eggs, water, oil, brown sugar and pumpkin in a separate bowl and whisk to blend.
Pour the pumpkin mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. Do not over beat.
Pour batter evenly into muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan immediately.

Enjoy! :)

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies

I'm a little slow at getting this posted. This was our favorite Christmas cookie this year. You can't go wrong when chocolate and candy canes are involved. :) You won't be disappointed.

Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies:

• 1 bag semi sweet (or bittersweet) chocolate chips
• 6 Tbsp ( 3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup gf flour mix
• 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 bag semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 or 3 crushed candy canes
  

Directions:

1. Melt bittersweet chocolate chips and butter in medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stirring constantly.

2. In large bowl with electric mixer beat eggs and sugar until thick; stir in chocolate mixture. In small bowl , stir together flour and baking powder; stir into chocolate mixture. Gently mix in semi sweet chocolate chips and walnuts

3. Refrigerate at least an hour or until firm. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, place spoonfuls 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes until shiny crust forms on top but interior is still soft. Sprinkle crushed candy canes over top of cookies immediately after taking them out of the oven.

Sweet biscuits!!

Since I started cooking/baking gluten free, I have been on a search for a good biscuit recipe. I have tried countless recipes and none of them have been even remotely good. I was beginning to think that you just couldn't make a good gluten free biscuit. Think again!! I recently found a buttermilk biscuit recipe in Annalise Roberts cookbook, Gluten free baking classics that I had to try. It was AWESOME. Melt in your mouth goodness. My kids thought they were cookies...probably didn't help that I used a cookie cutter to cut them out. Ha!

I did change the recipe a bit to make it dairy free as well. That didn't seem to affect the taste or texture at all.



Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup Brown Rice Flour Mix (see below)
• 1/4 cup Sweet Rice Flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon milk (or any milk substitute, I used almond milk)
  
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 5 slices
• 1 large egg white (or 2 small)
• 2 tablespoons water

• Brown Rice Flour Mix

• Brown rice flour (extra finely ground) 2 cups
• Potato starch (not potato flour) 2/3 cup
• Tapioca flour 1/3 cup

Directions:

1.Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Position rack in center of oven.

2. Mix brown rice flour mix, sweet rice flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt in large bowl of electric mixer. With mixer on low speed, cut butter into flour mixture until mixture is crumbly and resembles coarse meal. Put mixture into a small bowl and set aside.

3. Beat egg white in the same large bowl of electric mixer until very foamy. Add water, milk and flour mixture all at once, and mix at medium-low speed for 1 minute. Use lightly floured hands to pat out dough into a large 3/4 inch thick round on lightly floured surface. Cut out biscuits with a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter. Press dough scraps together and repeat.

4. Place baking sheet on center rack of oven and turn oven temperature down to 400 degrees. Bake 15 - 18 minutes or until medium golden brown. Serve immediately.

I used a star cookie cutter to make things more interesting.

Watch out, these will go fast!! There were no leftovers. I better make a double batch next time. :)