I grew weary of baking goodies for everyone else for Christmas and nothing for me, so I came up with another muffin recipe. This one is gluten-free and low sugar. In a small sauce pan, boil raisins, thinly-sliced peaches, 1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and 1/3 cup spring water in a small sauce pan. You may use peach filling, but I was keeping a lid on the sugar as well as the gluten. Boil on medium until it renders down to a sauce. In a bowl, mix 1 cup gluten-free Bisquick, 1/3 cup honey, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup milk. Stir in fruit compote. Bake at 350 for 16 minutes. This is the most addictive recipe we've conjured to date. We used vanilla icing on some of them, and my son loved those.
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The secret to this decadent, unforgettable cookie is butter, butter, and more butter. In this version, I used light brown sugar and white sugar, but I'd like to try it again using agave and/or honey. I have a friend who has diabetes and a heart condition, so I am losing the sugar but trying to keep the taste, since that's the point here. Refrigerating the dough for 30 minutes to an hour is another great tip for moister, softer cookies, and, as I discovered, refrigerating the extra cookies (if any exist) after allowing them to cool keeps them soft, especially if you're baking for a large group the night before. Add raisins or walnuts or both if you like.
RECIPE 1 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks to 2 sticks) 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup white sugar 2 cups gluten-free Bisquick 2 eggs 2 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 cups oats In a large bowl, whip the brown and white sugar with the butter. Add the eggs slowly while whipping with a fork. Follow with the dry ingredients and the vanilla. Mix in the oats. Chill dough for 30 minutes to an hour. Bake at 350. Check at eight minutes. Cookies will be sandy colored, in part, because of the gluten-free flour. Do not overbake. This is my eleven-year-old's favorite muffin recipe to date. We simmered 1-1 1/2 cups raspberries in 1/2 cup honey along with 1 drop each cinnamon bark oil and ginger oil until it boiled down to a compote. While waiting, we used two eggs, 1/3 cup vegetable oil, 2/3 cup milk and added the dry ingredients: 1 cup gluten-free Bisquick. The batter is thick, but that is a good thing, because next comes 1 small-medium sized bag of white chocolate drops slightly melted and the raspberry compote. We used white cupcake liners and filled the muffin holes 2/3 full, baking 16-18 minutes at 375 degrees. We had an icing recipe cooked up which called for 1/4 cup white chocolate chips melted, butter, and honey whipped, but the muffins were gone before I could get the icing made.
I love mid-summer for the blackberries. This is a fun and easy dessert the kids can help you make. You need:
1 to 1 1/2 cups blackberries 1/8 cup honey 1/8 cup water 1 cup crushed walnuts 1-2 cartons heavy cream 3-4 tsp white sugar 3 tsp brown sugar Add sugar to cream. Whip cream in a large mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Boil blackberries in sauce pan with honey and water. Crush walnuts. Mix walnuts separately in small saucepan with brown sugar and a tablespoon of honey. Heat up for about 30 seconds on stovetop. Do not microwave. Starting with walnut mixture, spoon in layers, walnuts, blackberries, and whipped cream, until filled. Top with a few walnuts. Serve fresh. As I write this, we're waiting for Round Four of a snow cycle in the Mid-South. But, recently, I encountered a glimpse of summer in a cold, dismal building in that time of year when, no matter what time you leave the office, the sun sets before you can pull into your driveway. My co-worker, originally from Houston, Texas, started missing her lemon tree and said as much to the educational assistant who worked alongside my friend to teach ELL students. The EA replied, "Go to Aldi. They have Meyer lemons." My friend left work, went to Aldi, and rediscovered the taste of summer. The next day, she brought the lemons into work and gave one to those of us fortunate enough to know her. She said, "This is not like any lemon you've ever had. First of all, eat the whole thing. Just bite into it. You won't be sorry." So, I did, and was amazed at the smooth texture, rich taste, and unexpected goodness of these lemons. Their skins are not tough, their taste is not all that sour, and the real boon is that these lemons are great for your health and . . . they help you lose weight. Add Lavender essential oil, and you've got an anti-anxiety drink to boot.
Meyers are the very best lemons for lemonade, and I began to wonder why I ever thought lemonade was a summer drink when I can just go to Aldi and other stores where Meyers are available and make giant pitchers like it's July. In fact, after the snow moves out, it's supposed to be 70 degrees again. It's not uncommon for temps to reach 80 in February and March. So bring on summer, bring on the lemonade, and bring on the Meyer lemons. Winter is all in the mind, apparently. Lavender Lemonade with Meyer Lemons Six to eight Meyer Lemons 1 to 1 1/2 cup honey Fill a pitcher with spring water 1-2 drops lavender essential oil Let blend Serve over ice Out of necessity, I took the advice of those who suggested using oregano to boost the immune system and concocted a spicy gluten-free chicken noodle soup to combat a virus going around. The secret ingredient was oregano oil -- just 1-2 drops turned up the heat and made the broth so savory that my son, who doesn't like soup as a rule. ask for a second and then a third bowl. Ingredients 1 green onion 1 vidalia onion 1 small green pepper 1 small garlic clove diced, cooked chicken broccoli heads Pre-cooked gluten free fettuccini noodles Instructions: In the soup pot, simmer chopped vegetables in 3-4 tsps olive oil until onions are translucent. add diced, pre-cooked chicken and broccoli until well simmered. Add chicken broth, 2-3 boxes gluten-free Swanson or other brand. Add 2 drops oregano, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp lemon pepper, 1 tsp cajun or creole seasoning (Emeril's Essence or Bayou Blast will work). Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add pre-cooked fettuccini at the last minute. Simmer about 2-3 minutes on low to medium heat. Serve with tortilla chips and a dollop of sour cream. We had our first essential oils. A big hit: all-natural gluten-free blueberry muffins, an experiment that worked. My ten-year-old son and I took some basic recipes and made things up as we went along. We were out of yogurt so we substituted egg whites. They were the most moist and delicious blueberry muffins I ever tasted, AND they were light on the digestive system -- no bloating or cramping, no guilt.
Dry Ingredients: 2 cups brown rice flour, almond flour, or gluten-free bisquick 1/2 cup sugar 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp cornstarch (optional) Wet Ingredients 2 lg whole eggs Three egg whites set aside 1/3 cup olive oil 1 drop cinnamon oil 1 drop ginger oil 1/2 cup whole milk (you may use cream) 1 cup blueberry compote (natural whole blueberries reduced down) Boil blueberries with 1/4 cup honey, 1 cup sugar, 1 to 1 1/2 cups water. Start on med high and turn down to let simmer. Blueberries should reduce down and thicken to resemble jam. Instructions: You will need three bowls, two large and one small. Mix the dry ingredients in one bowl and set aside. Put the whole eggs and olive oil in a separate bowl and whip manually. Add the other wet ingredients except the egg whites (add the drops of essential oil last and stir lightly with a spoon. Do not heat with compote). In a third bowl, beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Fold in the egg whites after the rest of the batter is mixed. Do not overstir. Place in muffin tins; if you don't use paper liners, grease with real butter or olive oil. Note: Muffins will be purple/blue. I counted twelve blackberry bushes in my fence row and the largest is giving a continual harvest of soft, ripe fruit. My son, my husband, and I picked a batch a few evenings ago at twilight with friends. The afternoon temps rose that day to 97, but it was bearable as the sun sank. The blackberries felt cool to the touch as we avoided the thorns the best we could. My favorite wine is blackberry, but I confess I have never run a still or made my own spirits at home. I do, however, have a great recipe for gluten-free soul-food peach cobbler, which I have adapted here for blackberries. Recipe: |
Author
Mother, writer, reformed culinary disaster, Andrea Mosier shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Award for Fire Eater and was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Award for prose in 2014. "The Illuminated Man" will appear in the first edition of Serendipity. Her legendary potato salad recipe appears here on the June 5 entry. Archives
February 2019
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