No-Fail, No-Knead Bread for Thanksgiving (or any occasion)

Posted on November 22, 2011 by thelifeoflulubelle

Crusty loaf ready to eat!

I was recruited to make the bread for the Thanksgiving celebration with my in-laws. I’ve made bread a few times – every single time using the no-knead bread recipe that is all over the internet. Since I haven’t yet made it (waiting for the last possible minute so that maybe I can bring the bread warm!), I don’t have any pictures (haven’t made it in such a long time since we have been eating mostly grain-free!).

The classic recipe was made popular by the New York Times, as adapted from Sullivan Street Bakery. Here are the ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
1 5/8 cups water
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed (optional)

I like to make it a little more different to add some flavor. Here’s my version of the no-fail, no-knead bread:

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Berry Good Goat Cheese Tarts

Posted on July 15, 2011 by thelifeoflulubelle

Gluten-free goat cheese tarts with blueberry compote

I bought goat cheese at the store the other today in hopes of recreating a magical coconut goat cheese tart I had a couple weeks ago. I haven’t bought the coconut yet, but I still wanted to bake something. I also didn’t want to spend a long time over a hot oven in the middle of summer. I opted for mini tarts and no-bake cheese cake filling with goat cheese. And because I still have a ton of blueberries left, I also whipped up a quick batch of blueberry compote.

The little tarts taste even better after being in the fridge and completely chilled, but eating them warm won’t do any harm either.

Quick Gluten-Free Cheesecake Tarts with Goat Cheese and Blueberries
Makes 10 mini-tarts
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease muffin tins – I like to then put a little strip of tinfoil in the cups (where the ends reach above the cup) and grease that as well, so that when the tarts are cooked, the strips can be pulled up to release the cups easily.

Tart Crusts:
3/4 cups almond meal
1/2 cups coconut flour
4 TBSP butter, cut into chunks
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp maple syrup
3-5 tsp of water

Mix almond meal and coconut flour together in a bowl. Using a pastry cutter, a fork, your hands, or whatever works for you, cut cold butter into flour mixture until crumbly. Mix in vanilla and maple syrup. Add water, one tsp at a time until mixture becomes a dough consistency and can be formed into a ball. Press dough into greased muffin tin. Poke bottom of each dough cup with a fork a couple of times to prevent dough from rising. Bake 8-10 minutes or until they start to brown and are firm to touch. Let stand for a couple of minutes and carefully remove crusts and let them finish cooling on a wire rack.

Blueberry Compote
3/4 cup blueberries
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp arrowroot

In a small sauce pan, combine all ingredients. Cook on med heat, stirring occasionally. Smash berries and cook for approximately 8 minutes or so, while you prepare the cheesecake filling and finish baking the tart crusts. Place in bowl and let cool in the refrigerator.

Cheesecake Filling:
8 oz goat cheese (I used goat cheese w/honey)
3 tbsp cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp coconut butter
2 tsp maple syrup
2 tsp honey
1/2 tsp arrowroot

Using a stand mixer, mix all ingredients for 3 minutes or until perfectly smooth and creamy.

Assembly:

After the tarts have cooled, gently spoon cheesecake mixture into crusts. Place mini-tarts in the fridge and allow to set for at least an hour, or until firm. Serve with a spoonful of blueberry compote on top.

Variations:

Add lemon juice or other flavor to cheese mixture
Make different fruit compotes – strawberry, blackberry, or a mixed berry, apricot, cherry, the options are endless
Use cheesecake filling for cupcake fillings or even as frosting – just add additional liquid for desired consistency
Mix fruit and cheese mixtures and use for pancake topping

Gluten-Free White Peach and Blueberry Cobbler

Posted on July 8, 2011 by thelifeoflulubelle

More Summer Berry Goodness!

Fruit cobbler and ice cream belong with summer. There’s just something about summer fruit and ice cream that pair perfectly with hot summer days and BBQ’s. For the 4^th of July I decided to make cobbler and ice cream from scratch, using no white sugar or flour.

I had an abundance of white peaches (my favorite) and blueberries that seemed destined for this tasty experiment. I also replaced the flour with my trusty combo of 3:1 parts almond meal and coconut flour. For the ice cream, I used a recipe out of Nourishing Traditions and it was a crowd hit!

Warm white peach and blueberry cobbler with homemade ice cream

Nourishing Traditions Vanilla Ice Cream:
3 egg yolks, beaten
1 tbsp Vanilla (I used 2 tsp vanilla and the scrapings from 1 vanilla bean)
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 tbsp Arrow Root (which I found in the organic section of Raleys)
3 cups Heavy Cream (the book calls for raw or not ultra pasteurized, but the only cream I found that wasn’t ultra-pasteurized was about $4 a cup and a little too expensive for me. I did, however, scoop the cream off the top of our milk to account for part of the 3 cups cream).

Mix ingredients into beaten eggs and follow your ice cream maker’s instructions.

For whatever reason (maybe because of the arrow root) the ice cream froze quickly to the sides of the ice cream maker so that the paddle could not turn, making the ice cream maker stop. I had to scoop all the ice cream out, freeze it for a couple hours then mix it with my mixer and put it back in the freezer. Next time I will try it with less rock salt.

Peach Berry Cobbler:
Bake in a 9×9 square Pyrex dish or something of similar size and depth.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees

For the filling:
5 White Peaches peeled, cored, and cut into pieces
½-1 cup blueberries
¼ cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp arrow root (optional)
2 tbsp butter

Combine all ingredients and pour into dish. Cut butter into small pieces and scatter over top of the fruit mixture.

For the topping:
¾ cup almond flour
¼ cup coconut flour
4 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp maple syrup
½ tsp cinnamon
2 tbsp granola (Optional – I used gluten-free vanilla granola, oats would probably work as well.)

Mix flours together. Stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and maple syrup. Using a pastry cutter, fork, or other method, combine cold butter, pieces at a time, into the flour mixture until crumbly and evenly distributed. Stir in granola. Sprinkle over fruit mixture.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until top of cobbler is golden brown.

Serve with homemade ice cream and enjoy!

Notes – you can really use any amount of fruit that fits in a 9×9 pirex. The other day I made a cobbler with all the fruit that was about to turn – pluots, peaches, and nectarines. A cobbler is very versatile and hard to mess up. If I wasn’t trying to stay away from sugar, brown sugar is quite tasty in the topping instead of maple syrup. I made a sinful cobbler for my family and it included a cube of butter, a half a cup of brown sugar, and about a half a cup of flour. Not healthy in the least, but very good!