EASY Gluten Free Pear Tart

This is a delicious and simple gluten free pear tart. I adapted this recipe from the one found here, and was really surprised at how quick and easy it was to prepare. I will be making pear tarts more often!

Easy gluten free, yeast free pear tart

I used butter in this recipe, but I think you could substitute organic vegetable shortening to make it vegan. By the way, I have noticed that Spectrum Organics now has a butter flavor vegetable shortening, although I have not tried it. If you try it, please let me know how it worked for you.

Gluten Free Rustic Pear Tart
Makes one 9" tart

Ingredients

For the crust
3/4 cup gluten free flour mix
1 chia egg (1Tbsp chia mixed with 3Tbsp water, let sit about 5 minutes)
2 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons organic unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon sea salt

For the filling
2 large or 3 medium pears, slightly underripe
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon tapioca starch (also known as tapioca flour)
Cinnamon and sugar for sprinkling

Method

Cream the butter, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Beat in the chia egg and gradually add the flour until dough comes together in a ball. Place the ball of dough in baking dish, and press it into shape with your fingers.

Refrigerate dough while you prepare filling.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Core pears and slice into thin strips. I used a mandoline, but using a knife is fine. I was going for a more rustic (and simple) tart, so I did not peel the pears.

Toss pears with 1 tablespoon sugar, lemon juice, and tapioca starch. Arrange pears in a fan-like array on the chilled dough. Keep layering pears until you run out of pears. Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and sugar to taste.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until edges of dough are just lightly golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

Yum!

Gluten Free Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes

This recipe is linked to Wellness Weekends and Allergy Friendly Friday- be sure to check those sites to find more healthy & allergy-friendly recipes!

Gluten Free Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes

Makes approximately 12 small pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup gluten free flour mix

1/2 tsp guar gum

1 tsp allergy-safe baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp allspice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp vanilla powder

3 T grapeseed oil (I think you could get away with 2T)

3 T organic brown sugar*

Enough liquid to make a batter (approximately 1- 1 1/2 cup)

Approximately 1/8 tsp fresh grated ginger
Approximately 1 1/2 cups grated carrot
Approximately 1/4 cup zante currants

Method
Optional: Preheat oven to 200F to keep pancakes warm while making the rest of the pancakes
Mix flour, guar gum, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, sea salt and vanilla powder.
Add brown sugar, oil, and your chosen liquid. I used seltzer water. I like to use seltzer water because the bubbles add extra lift and lightness- but any liquid will do. You can use non-dairy milk or fruit juice.
Fold carrots, ginger, and currants into batter. Batter will be thick.
Ladle 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle. When bubbles start to form, flip pancake.
Keep pancakes warm in a 200 degree F oven while making the rest of the pancakes.

*Sugar-free option: if you use fruit juice as your liquid (apple or white grape would work nicely) you probably won't need any additional sweetener. If you use water as your liquid, you could still try omitting the sugar, or you might use agave nectar, or stevia. You might also experiment with palm sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar, or maple syrup- although those are still sugars. <-- Those options are alternatives to cane sugar, not sugar-free or candida-friendly options.

I topped mine with the following- it was on a whim, and I didn't measure anything, so adjust to your taste.

Raw Vegan Cream Cheese Topping

Ingredients
Soaked raw cashews (Ideally soak 4 hours, but I just put some cashews in a bowl to soak while I was making the pancakes)
Raw agave nectar
Splash of lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt

Method
Blend in high speed blender. Adjust to taste.

Enjoy!

Macadamia Nut Pancakes

This morning I had macadamia waffles. Well, OK, not exactly... I was eating raw macadamias from the bag as I was making a raw vegan pie crust. Then I made waffles... so actually, I had macadamias then waffles...

But it reminded me of a recipe I created a few months ago, when I was going a little crazy with both macadamias and coconut. I tried several versions at the time, including one with orange syrup, which was amazing. Enjoy!

Coconut Macadamia Pancakes (Gluten-free, Dairy-free)
Yield: 8-10 small pancakes

Ingredients
1 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp corn-free baking powder
1/4 tsp himalayan salt
1/4 tsp vanilla powder
Approximately 1/2 cup seltzer water
2 tsp grapeseed oil
2 Tbsp raw cane sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp chopped macadamias*
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Method
In a large bowl, mix brown rice flour, tapioca flour, baking powder, salt, and vanilla powder.
In a small bowl, mix seltzer water, oil, sugar, and egg.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine.
Stir in shredded coconut and 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts.
Ladle batter by 1/4 cup measure onto hot griddle. Flip when bubbles start to form.
Tip: keep pancakes warm in a 200 degree oven while cooking all pancakes.
Serve piping hot with warm syrup. Top with remaining 1 Tbsp chopped macadamia nuts.

*Tip: Macadamia nuts do not have much flavor when raw. I recommend using roasted macadamia nuts for this recipe.

Fluffy AND gluten-free!
Vanilla bean specks... Mmmm

Macadamia Syrup

Ingredients
1/3 cup light agave nectar (I imagine you could also use pure maple syrup, honey, or Lyle's Golden Syrup)
1/4 cup macadamia butter

Best method: combine in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring continuously, until melted and thoroughly combined. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn.
Lazy method (what I did): combine in a small pyrex measuring cup, and microwave for 30 seconds. Stop, stir, and heat again in 10-second intervals if necessary. Watch carefully so it doesn't burn.

I cannot recall what I did to make orange syrup, but my guess is that I used the same method, using 1/3 cup agave and 1/4 cup orange juice (no nut butter).

Find health and other interesting information about coconut here and here
Find health benefits of macadamia nut here

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup

Gluten Free Vegan Peanut Butter Pancakes with Peanut Butter Syrup
Makes about 20 small pancakes

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour
• 2 Tablespoons organic cane sugar
• 1 Tablespoon corn free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cup rice milk 
• 1/4 cup organic peanut butter
• Optional: sliced banana
• Optional: allergy-friendly chocolate chips

Method

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.
• In small bowl or measuring cup, stir together the rice milk and peanut butter til smooth.  Add to the dry ingredients and stir just until a batter is formed.
• Heat a nonstick pan or griddle over medium heat.  Ladle the batter by 1/4 cupfuls into the pan.
• When bubbles appear, flip to cook other side. Cook until golden brown on both sides. Keep the pancakes warm in 200 degree oven while you cook the rest of the batch.
• Optional: Top with sliced banana and/or allergy-friendly chocolate chips.
• Serve immediately.

Peanut Butter syrup

• 1/2 cup dark agave nectar 
• 1/4 cup peanut butter, or slightly more, to taste

The original recipe said stir gently over low heat on the stove. I was too hungry and impatient to wait for that (and I didn't want to wash the pan) so I stirred the PB and agave together in a glass measure cup and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. It was perfect. Be careful and watch it closely- it can easily burn in the microwave. I have a very small, low-power microwave; a larger microwave would probably only take 10-15 seconds.

This syrup would also make a delicious dip for apple slices. Or ice cream. Or bananas. Or ice cream with bananas. Mmmm.

Gluten Free Pluot Coffee Cake

This recipe is heavily adapted from the Plum Coffee Cake Muffin recipe in The Allergen Free Baker's Handbook:


Among other changes, I adapted the recipe by using a different gluten free flour mix that does not use potato starch. I always substitute guar gum for xanthan gum since xanthan is derived from corn. I used fresh pluots in place of plums.

In my new effort to reduce sugar, I omitted the delicious crumb topping that Cybele Pascal's original recipe calls for in the book. By all means, use that topping if desired- I have made it before and it is delicious. But I was quite pleased that this simpler version also worked out very well. It is a very moist coffee cake, not too sweet, and just a hint of spice.

Gluten Free Pluot Coffee Cake (vegan)
Contains no gluten, corn, potato, coconut, dairy, eggs, soy, or refined sugar

Ingredients

• 3 cups of your preferred gluten free flour mix
• 3/4 teaspoon guar gum
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup grapeseed oil
• 1/4 cup light agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla powder
• 1 teaspoon organic cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon allspice
• 1 1/2 cups organic unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup diced pluots (you could also use plums)

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• Grease a 9" pie pan, or line with parchment paper (I use parchment paper). 
• Whisk dry ingredients: GF flour mix, guar gum, baking soda and sea salt in small bowl, or use the food processor to combine.
• In a large bowl, mix grapeseed oil and agave nectar using hand mixer. Add vanilla, cinnamon, allspice, and applesauce, and mix until combined.
• Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until combined.
• Fold in the diced pluots.
• Pour batter into greased or parchment lined dish. You might have some extra batter- you could fill a mini-muffin tin, or a baby loaf pan. I made two baby loaves. I ate them before I thought about taking a photo to show here on the blog. You'll just have to take my word for it :)
• Bake in center of oven for 25-30 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan before serving.

Enjoy!

This coffee cake is good warm from the oven, room temperature, and cold from the refrigerator. Yes, I tried it each of those ways. It's a tough job, testing foods in my kitchen <smile>. It also freezes well and defrosts easily, so this is a good recipe to make ahead and keep individual slices in the freezer for a quick and easy breakfast or snack.

More info on the nutritional benefit of: plums, cinnamon, apples, allspice
What is a pluot?
Another article about pluots

Gluten-free Black Currant Muffins

OK, I must admit, I am struggling with the "no sugar" effort... suddenly I'm craving something sweet all of the time. Which only reinforces that I need to lay off the sugar for a while.

I decided to experiment with a sugar-free muffin this morning- using whatever I have in my refrigerator, which isn't much these days. Summer time is slim picking at the Farmers' Market. But I have carrots... a lot of carrots. Perfect.

Since I was craving something sweet, I loaded this muffin with sweet things like carrots, apples and currants. In retrospect, I believe I was subconsciously thinking "carrot cake". I'm not sure if using agave exactly counts as sugar-free, but at least it's lower-glycemic than cane sugar. I think this no-sugar effort is going to be a work in progress.

These muffins are deliciously dark due to the black currant juice.

Gluten-free Black Currant Muffins
Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups your favorite gluten free flour mix (I used this one)
• 1 teaspoon guar gum
• 2 teaspoons corn-free baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 cup black currant juice
• 1/4 cup white grape juice
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/2 cup agave nectar (I think you could get away with less; perhaps 1/4 or 1/3cup)
• 1/3 cup grapeseed oil
• 1 cup shredded carrots
• 1/2 cup dried currants (Note: while black currant juice appears to be actual black currants, be aware that what is sold as dried "currants" in the US is just a small variety of grape; usually called "zante currants") You could substitute raisins if you do not have dried currants.
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans
• 1/2 apple, diced small (I used a gala, because that's what I had on hand, but I think a granny smith would be better)

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Line a muffin tin with unbleached parchment cups. I ran out of muffin liners, so I improvised my own from regular parchment paper:

The spice jars were just holding the parchment down in the cup until I could spoon batter in each cup.

In a large bowl, whisk together the GF flour mix, guar gum, corn-free baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together black currant juice, white grape juice, unsweetened applesauce, agave nectar, and grapeseed oil.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine.

The batter is purple from the black currant juice! It doesn't actually show up so well in the photo here, but it was quite a pretty shade of purple.

Fold in carrots, apple, currants, and pecans.

Spoon batter into muffin cups and bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool approximately 10 minutes, and enjoy!

Those DIY parchment cups didn't turn out so badly:

The muffins are very sweet and very moist. The moistness doesn't quite come across in the photo, but think: carrot cake. Hmmm... maybe I should call this recipe "carrot cake muffins"?

I'm sure these will freeze well, so there will be a stash on hand!

More info on the nutrients in: black currants, carrots, cinnamon, zante currants, apples, and brown rice.

Gluten Free Raspberry White Chocolate Scones

The first time I made butter bean cookies, I thought they had a texture similar to a scone. So I experimented, and came up with this recipe.

Gluten Free Raspberry White Chocolate Scones

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten free flour mix
• 1 1/2 tsp corn-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp organic cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp vanilla powder
• Dash himalayan salt
• 1/2 cup canned white beans, liquid reserved (I used cannellini beans)
• 1/2 cup sucanat, or substitute brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup fresh or frozen rasberries (I always recommend using organic berries)
• 1/4 cup white chocolate chunks ( I cheated and used Ghiardelli baking white chocolate- not ideal, since it contains dairy, but you could use this recipe for vegan white chocolate)

Method

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat
• In the food processor, mix dry ingredients: GF flour mix, baking powder, cinnamon, vanilla powder, and salt. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
• In the food processor, mix white beans, sugar, applesauce, and approximately 1 Tbsp of bean liquid. Process until smooth.
• Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir to combine. If it is too dry, add a little more bean liquid.
• Add raspberries and white chocolate chunks and stir to combine.

• Scoop out a scone-size amount of dough, shape a little with your hands if desired, and put on parchment or silpat-lined cookie sheet.

• Bake at 350F for approximately 20 minutes. Edges will get slightly brown, and the middles will be firm. They will firm up a little more after they cool, so don't overcook.
• Let cool, and enjoy!

These freeze well and defrost nicely in the microwave.
p.s. can you believe I forgot to take a photo of the final product? I will try to remember next time.

Gluten free cherry vanilla pecan waffles

Rainier cherries were on sale this week at Whole Foods.

Gluten free cherry vanilla pecan waffles (vegan)
Makes 10-12 waffles

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten free flour mix
• 1 tsp guar gum
• 1 tsp corn-free baking powder
• 4 Tbsp organic cane sugar
• 3/4 tsp himalayan salt
• 3/4 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 cup pecans
• 4 Tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 cup seltzer water
• 3/4 cup white grape juice

Method

• In a large bowl, mix together gluten free flour mix, guar gum, sugar, salt, chia seeds, vanilla powder, and pecans.
• Add seltzer water, white grape juice, and grapeseed oil and stir to combine. Make sure you don't have any lumps.
• Make waffles according to the directions for your waffle maker. 

Ugh! Please excuse the terrible lighting in this picture.

Top with fresh cherries, and additional pecans, if desired. Enjoy!

Gluten free blueberry millet muffins

Blueberries and millet are both incredibly good for you. These muffins are not too sweet, and the whole millet adds a nice crunch to the texture.

Gluten free vegan blueberry millet muffins
Makes approximately 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup millet flour
• 3/4 cup gluten free flour mix (I used this one)
• 1 1/2 tsp guar gum
• 1 tsp corn-free baking powder
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 2/3 cup millet seeds
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup oil
• 1/2 cup sucanat OR brown sugar
• 1 cup liquid (I used 1/2 cup seltzer water and 1/2 cup filtered water)
• Lemon zest from one medium lemon OR approximately 1Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup organic blueberries

Method

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
• Fill a muffin pan with non-bleached parchment cupcake liners.
• In a large bowl, mix millet flour, GF flour mix, guar gum, baking powder, salt and millet seeds.
• In a small bowl, mix applesauce, oil, sucanat, water (or other liquid), and lemon zest.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir to combine. 
• Add blueberries and stir.
• Fill muffin cups approximately 3/4 full.
• Bake at 425 for approximately 25 minutes.
• Let cool and enjoy!

Pardon the photos, I didn't have great light. And I was too hungry to save the muffins to take pics in better light, so this is the best I could do before we ate them- yum!

Thoughts and ideas: These were a tad bit heavy/dense. If I used this exact recipe again, I would decrease the guar gum to 1tsp instead of 1.5tsp. Next time I make these, I plan to use less oil and maybe a little more applesauce.

If you eat dairy, you could use buttermilk as the liquid in place of water. These millet muffins would also be very good as a savory muffin- they would be really good with herbs and cheese in place of blueberries. Or- olive and rosemary? Mmm.

Another tip: if you do not want to buy both whole millet and millet flour, just buy one package of whole millet. You can make millet flour by grinding the whole millet in a coffee grinder or a VitaMix. You may be able to make millet flour from whole millet in a regular blender, but I haven't tried that. If you try making millet flour in a regular blender, I'd love to know how it works.

Blueberries!

Blueberries are in season, and I've been going a little blueberry crazy...

Blueberry-guarana smoothie

Gluten free vegan blueberry-chia waffles

Raw vegan blueberry tart

Raw vegan blueberry tart

More info on health benefits of: blueberries, chia, guarana

Yum!

Gluten free vegan key lime waffles

Adapted/inspired by this recipe at Manifest Vegan.

Key Lime Waffles
Makes approximately 10 waffles (depends on your waffle iron)

Ingredients

• 2 cups gluten free flour mix
• 1 tsp guar gum
• 5 Tbsp raw cane sugar
• 3/4 tsp himalayan salt
• 3/4 tsp vanilla powder
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• Zest of one key lime
• 2 Tbsp key lime juice 
• 4 Tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 3/4 cup seltzer water

Combine gluten free flour mix, guar gum, sugar, salt, vanilla, and poppy seeds.

Add lime zest, lime juice, grapeseed oil and seltzer water. Stir to combine. Whisk to eliminate any lumps.

Cook according to the directions for your waffle iron.

Voila! Enjoy!

Note: These would be delicious topped with coconut butter, or shredded raw coconut. Key lime coconut waffles- yum!