Author Archives: ::sharlyn::

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Posted on March 14, 2011 by ::sharlyn::| Comments Off on Sweet Potato Biscuits

A couple of weeks ago, I tried to make one of my favorite biscuit recipes gluten-free. It was a bomb. The poor things tasted of baking soda, they were so flat and dry, just sad little things. The whole tray of biscuits went into the garbage. Thankfully, I was smart enough to make a small batch in case they didn’t turn out so it wasn’t a huge loss. It wasn’t until a couple of days later that I decided to give it another go. This time I searched for a tried and true gluten-free recipe and the recipe I found did not disappoint (in fact, I’m baking more today). These were tender and sweet (from the maple syrup) and they went perfectly with our sausage and egg breakfast.

Sweet Potato Biscuits
recipe from bon appetit magazine

1 large red-skinned sweet potato (yam; about 1 1/4 pounds), pierced with fork
1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour plus additional for rolling out your dough
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
1/2 cup pecans, toasted, chopped

Preheat oven to 425°F. Line baking sheet with parchment. Microwave potato until tender, about 6 minutes per side. Halve; scoop out 1 cup flesh. Cool. Blend 1 1/3 cups flour and next 3 ingredients in processor. Add butter; pulse to coarse meal. Add potato, buttermilk, and syrup; process to blend. Add nuts; pulse to blend. Sprinkle dough with flour. Pat into 81/2-inch square. Cut into 16 biscuits. Transfer to baking sheet. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes

Notes: I left out the pecans. I used Better Batter flour to make these. I would recommended using a gluten-free blend that is mostly white (such as rice, tapioca, potato starch).

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Flying Apron Bakery

Posted on March 9, 2011 by ::sharlyn::| Comments Off on Flying Apron Bakery

On Sunday, we headed into Fremont to try out Flying Apron, a gluten-free, organic, and vegan bakery. Eating out has been a little tricky with a child who might be gluten intolerant. The idea of not being able eat his favorite foods from some of our favorite restaurants is still so new so we try to avoid eating at places where we’ll have deal with telling him what he can or cannot eat.

This place was a real treat for my son. To be able to walk into a bakery and know that he could choose anything without mom and dad having to remind him that there’s wheat in whatever it is he picked?! The kid was in heaven! And with so many choices, he didn’t really know what to pick so we just bought a box of pastries to share.

The children of course loved everything. I had the carrot muffin which was carroty, and moist. Just the way I like it. I did however find that most of the pastries were beany in flavor from the garbanzo bean flour that they use in the pastries. They were also quite dense as a few gluten-free pastries I’ve tried tend to be. That said, we would still go back because there’s nothing better than knowing you’ve made your kid’s day with a special treat.

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Gluten-free Gyoza

Posted on March 6, 2011 by ::sharlyn::| Comments Off on Gluten-free Gyoza

My husband had a weekday off a few weeks back and we sort of took advantage of this by eating at a restaurant we knew we couldn’t go to with our son who we suspect might have a gluten intolerance. We decided on a dim sum restaurant where the dumplings are all made from scratch right there. Halfway through the meal, I looked down at my plate of dumplings and my heart ached at the thought that my son is not able to eat them anymore. I went home determined to make a gluten free version for my son and thankfully, it was a success.

Gyoza wrappers.

The photo above is of my first batch of wrappers. I started to fill these and very quickly found out that they were too thick and too small (my biscuit cutter is roughly 3 inches in diameter, a 4 inch cutter would be better). I simply thinned them out a bit with the rolling pin.

My filling is very simple. Ground pork, an egg, green onions, and a splash of gf tamari. I was also a little worried that the wrappers would be a flop so my plan was to make a small batch.

The finished product. I still need to work on my wrapping skills so they were not pretty but boy did they taste good. Homemade wrappers, gluten or gluten-free, always seem to be a little chewier than the pre-made wrappers you buy in a package. We prepared some frozen, store bought gyoza (wheat) and ate them along with the gluten-free ones I made that day and guess which ones everybody preferred? There’s something to be said for freshly made pasta of any kind.

You can find the wrapper recipe I used here.

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