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!