Jewish Christmas Potato Latkes

~5 lbs potatoes
3 eggs
1+ cups grated onions
Veg oil
salt
Apple Sauce
Sour Cream

Peel and shred potatoes. Update 2013: To keep from browning, add an acid (cream of tartar, vinegar, lemon juice, etc.).
Place in strainer and press down with bowl to press out water content. Lay shredded potatoes on paper towels and salt to extract more moisture.
Grate 1 to 2 onions in food processor.

Turn on oven to 200F to keep latkes warm. Mix eggs, onions and potatoes in bowl. Heat very-thin layer of veg oil in frying pan. Spoon in potato mix and press down. Cook and brown on each side. Place on paper towels to drain excess oil.

Watch Bad Santa and drink Manischewitz.

Muffins!

These came out really good, especially for a first try. I added chocolate chips in half and mixed berries (thawed and patted dry with a paper towel) in the other half. I topped them with brown sugar.

1 cup brown rice flower

1/2 cup tapioca (or potato) starch

1/2 cup amaranth flour

2/3 cup white sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup milk (or 3/4 cup buttermilk plus 1/4 cup milk)

2 eggs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla extract

chocolate chips or berries to taste (about 1 cup for the whole recipe)

brown sugar for topping

1. preheat oven to 400 F. Line muffin tin with papers.

2. combine wet ingredients and mix well.

3. Add dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

4. stir in chips/fruit

5. spoon into muffin papers, so they are about 1/2 full.

6. bake for 20 minutes, turning 180 degrees halfway through

makes 12ish muffins

60	g tapioca		50	g carbs
145	g brown rice		109	g carbs
55	g amaranth		37	g carbs
138	g sugar		138	g carbs
			334	total carbs
			28	carbs/muffin

Better Pizza Dough

Turns out milk interferes with yeast (or so I've heard)...so here is a milk-free recipe. Also, it has less of a beany taste because it doesn't have any beans. I like it better.

1.25 cups warm water (about 100 F, 38 C)

5g (1 tsp) brown sugar

7g (0.25 oz) active dry yeast (1 packet)

240g (2 cups) Tapioca Starch/Flour

110g (1 cup) amaranth flour

145g (1 cup) brown rice flour

11g (3 tsp) baking powder

6g (2 tsp) xanthan gum

6g (1 tsp) salt

46g (3 tbsp) brown sugar

50g (1/4 cup) olive oil

1 egg, beaten

1.5g (0.25 tsp) white vinegar

fresh herbs, to taste

1. Proof yeast (add sugar and yeast to warm water, stir, then let sit until foamy, 5-10 minutes)

2. mix dry ingredients

3. add proofed yeast to dry ingredients, stir

4. add wet ingredients and herbs (if wanted) and mix until dough is well incorporated. It will be sticky, almost like cookie dough

5. Cover and let it sit to rise. It should rise for an hour or so (min. 30 minutes).

6. Divide in half, place on oiled parchement paper (or a silpat, not oiled) on a cookie sheet. Cover with oiled wax paper and roll out to make a thin, even crust with slightly raised edges. If you want you can let the dough rise again at this point.

7. Cook in a preheated 400F oven for 12-14 minutes until the top is golden. Preheat broiler (hi)

8. Cover with desired toppings

9. Broil until cheese is melted, about 3 minutes.

Makes 2 12-inch pizzas (about 4 servings)

240	g tapioca starch		200	g carb
110	g amaranth		73.33333	g carb
145	g brown rice		108.75	g carb
46	g brown sugar		46	g carb
11	g baking powder		0
6	g xanthan		0
6	g salt		0
50	g olive oil		0
1.5	g white vinegar		0
57	g egg		0
672.5	total g		428.0833	total g carb
0.636555	g carbs/g dough
39.7847	carbs/slice

Vanilla Cake

Makes 12 cupcakes or 1 9-inch round cake

6 tbsp unsalted butter (room temp)

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs (room temp)

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

1 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup potato starch (or tapioca starch or corn starch)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

Preheat oven to 350F

With an electric mixer, cream butter. Add sugar and whip until fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating for about 1 minute between additions.

Add vanilla to milk

Sift or whisk dry ingredients together (flours, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum)

Add 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture to the butter/sugar/egg and beat until incorporated.

Add half the milk/vanilla mixture, beat until incorporated.

Continue until all ingredients are mixed. Add more milk if necessary, but batter should be very thick.

Line a muffin pan with paper cups, fill the cups about 3/4 full (they don't rise much), and bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating halfway through. If making a 9" round cake, bake time will likely be more like 35-40 minutes, pull it when it just starts to turn brown.

The texture of this cake is great. The added starch makes it less grainy than with brown rice flour alone. I added chopped peaches in the middle of each cupcake to make them really moist, but I think they'd be great even fruit-less.

Chocolate Chip Cookies II

These were way better than the first attempt. All measurements are in weights because that's easier (and more precise). I don't think that the flour mixture needs to be exactly the same as the one I used, but I do think it's important to use a mixture of at least 3 flours.

4 oz (1 stick) unsalted butter

85 g white sugar

85 g brown sugar (light)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

200 g gluten free flour blend

1 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

6-8 oz chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and sugar (you can melt the butter to make this easier but then must refrigerate the dough before baking for 30-60 min)

2. Add the egg and vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined

3. Sift the dry ingredients together and add slowly to the wet. Mix until combined. If dough is dry, add a tablespoon of milk. If dough is too loose, add tapioca starch. Once desired doughiness is reached add chocolate and stir.

4. Refrigerate if necessary.

5. Bake at 350 F for 11-13 minutes on a silpat, probably 2 min less on a cookie sheet.

Makes about 20 normal sized cookies

These cookies taste really good and stay soft and chewy for several days in an airtight container. I use my go-to flour blend: 50 g each of brown rice flour, sweet white rice flour, sorghum flour, and tapioca starch. The dough freezes well.

Easy Gluten Free Doughnuts

1 egg

1 cup buttermilk

2 tbsp butter, melted

2.5 cups cake flour mix

0.5 cups sugar

0.5 tsp nutmeg

0.5 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

0.5 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum

1. Beat the egg, buttermilk, and butter together with a whisk

2. Combine dry ingredients, then slowly add to the wet ingredients stirring by hand

3. Knead dough with your hands a few times to ensure all ingredients are combined

4. Let dough rest for 15-30 minutes (cover bowl with plastic wrap)

5. sprinkle a clean surface with extra flour mix and roll out the dough. Cut out circles using a juice glass and cut holes out of those circles using a shot glass. Alternatively roll dough into small balls to for doughnut holes. Minimize the number of times you reknead and roll out dough as working with the dough toughens it.

6. Fry in vegetable or canola oil at 375F for 3-5 minutes, until the outsides are brown and the inside is cooked through.

7. Glaze with desired icing or roll in a sugar/cinnamon mixture to finish and serve warm.

GF flour mix for cakes

I made doughnuts with this mix and it was perfect. None of the grainy texture of rice four, just smooth, cakey deliciousness.

1.5 cups amaranth flour

1.5 cups potato starch

1 cup tapioca flour

This mix will also need xantham gum (1-2 tsp).

Gluten Free Sugar Cookies

These cookies take some time but are totally worth the effort. They are somewhat chewy and for those who like a chewy sugar cookie, generally better than their gluten-full counterparts. They taste best frosted, but if you don't want to spend the time on that add a bit more sugar to the basic recipe. Adding some molasses and ginger and frosting with a lemon-ginger icing makes them into delicious ginger snaps, and filling with raspberry jam and covering with white chocolate makes them into thumbprint cookies.

1.5 cups amaranth flour

0.5 cups tapioca flour (or potato starch)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp xantham gum

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces or shredded with a cheese shredder

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon zest

1. preheat oven to 350 F, line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat

2. throughly blend all dry ingredients with a hand mixer, stand mixer, or food processor

3. add butter and mix for about a minute

4. add egg, milk, vanilla, and zest and mix until combined. The dough should be slightly sticky but stiff. Add more milk if needed, although I rarely need to.

5. wrap dough in wax paper and refrigerate for at least 2 hours

6. roll out dough to 1/4" on wax paper, using either sweet rice flour or powdered sugar (my preference) on the surface and rolling pin to prevent sticking.

7. cut out shapes, place on cookie sheet at least 1" apart, and bake for 9-11 minutes, until edges start to brown.

Icing:

I use a basic recipe of butter, milk, and powdered sugar. Lemon juice is a nice addition. Melt about 3 tablespoons of butter and mix with 3 cups of flour. Splash in lemon juice to taste and use milk to achieve the desired consistency. Food coloring often loosens the frosting more. If it becomes too drippy just add more sugar.

GF Brownies

The recipe is adapted from http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/01/dark-chocolate-brownies.html . The batter is really thick, but the texture of the cooked brownies was superb. I would say that they could handle a little more chocolate (like in the form of chocolate chips mixed in with the batter) but people seemed happy with them as is.

6 oz/ 175 g semi-sweet chocolate

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar
20 g cocoa powder

90 g all purpose GF flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

handful of chocolate chips and/or nuts (optional)

1. Melt the butter and chocolate together, stir until smooth

2. Beat the eggs until foamy, add brown sugar and beat until smooth.

3. Slowly add the chocolate mixture to the eggs, beat until smooth. Don't cook the eggs!

4. Combine dry ingredients then add to egg/chocolate mixture. Beat for a minute, add vanilla, beat for another 30 seconds.

5. Mix in chocolate chips/nuts by hand, if desired

6. Spread into a 8x8" pan and place in a 350F oven for 30-35 minutes. Brownies are done when an inserted fork comes out mostly clean.

These are really gooey when hot but set quite well after cooling to room temperature. Of course, gooey, oven-hot brownies are pretty much the best thing ever!