Gluten-Free (Freeze-Dried) Berry Waffles!

 I love the idea of freeze-dried fruit.  One day recently, I realized that the tiny flecks of berry in some frozen gluten-free waffles we'd purchased (sometimes I just cave and buy things) could be duplicated at home by crushing up freeze-dried berries!  Voila!  A berry waffle that doesn't make a juicy mess all over the waffle iron!  Hooray!  Enjoy! 

Fresh, delicious berry waffles! 

I like to put waffles onto cooling racks.  My family snatches them off the rack to eat, and it also keeps them from getting soggy - so leftovers can be easily frozen once cool.

Gluten-Free Berry Waffles!

Makes ~36 waffles (6 batches on my waffle iron that makes 6 small waffles)

Turn on waffle iron so it can preheat. 

In a large bowl, combine: 

1 cup brown rice flour

1 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup white rice flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1/4 cup sugar

3 Tbsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

Add and mix just until thoroughly combined - it's okay to have some lumps, but try to get most smoothed out: 

3 1/2 cup milk (dairy or lactose-free work great)

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup applesauce

4 eggs

Mix and stir in: 

1 cup freeze-dried berries, measured out then crushed (I just crush them with my hands before dropping them in the batter)

Fruity waffle batter, ready for baking.

Butter the waffle iron lightly, then cook waffles until nicely browned and crisp.  Remove and immediately serve on plates OR place waffles onto a wire rack.  Putting the waffles on a cooling rack after cooking helps avoid waffles getting soggy if you aren't going to eat them right away.  Cooled waffles can be frozen in a ziploc bag and reheated in a toaster oven for quick and easy breakfasts.  Serve fresh, hot berry waffles with whatever toppings you enjoy most!  Enjoy! 

Gluten-Free Berry Waffles!!!!!

Gluten-Free Berry Waffles made with Freeze-Dried Berries Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

This gluten-free monkey bread with a drizzle on top is a fun treat.  Using egg whites only and a different blend of flours helps the dough be lighter and fluffier than my original monkey bread recipe, although we still like that recipe, too.  The bread can be pulled apart to eat when it's freshly made.  Once cooled, I love to slice it in thicker slices to freeze and toast for yummy breakfasts or snacks.  Enjoy! 

Monkey bread with drizzle added while the bread was warm so it melts into the top of the bread.  You can also let it cool and then add the drizzle.

A slice of monkey bread, toasted and ready to eat.  I love it sliced and toasted best.

Monkey Bread with Drizzle

Makes 2 loaves

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line two regular-sized loaf pans with parchment paper.  

In a mixer, combine: (It's important to mix dry ingredients first in gluten-free baking)

2 cups tapioca flour

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour

1/4 c + 2 Tbsp potato starch

1/4 cup quick cook steel-cut oats (Make sure these are gluten-free if Celiac or sensitive)

1 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 Tbsp rapid rise/quick yeast

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 baking powder

Add the following and beat 5 - 7 minutes, scraping occasionally: 

1 1/2 cups warm water (not hot)

7.5 oz (just under 1 cup) egg whites

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup oil (avocado, canola, light olive oil all work well)

1 Tbsp honey

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

While dough is mixing, prepare the following: 

Melt in a bowl: 

1/3 cup butter

Mix in a separate bowl: 

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1 - 2 Tbsp cinnamon (depends on how strong you like your cinnamon flavor)

Dip heaping teaspoonfuls of dough half into melted butter, then into the cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Using a second spoon, scoop the dough into the prepared large bread pans.  Repeat until the two pans are evenly filled.  I find I make two layers of dipped dough spoonfuls for each bread pan.  

You can use smaller sizes spoonfuls, if you prefer, but I find heaping Tbsp size scoops work well. 

Let bread rise, covered loosely - I find I need more space than just covering with plastic wrap for the rising.  I like to put a small baking pan upside down over the top of pans (you can have this resting on glasses or jars next to the pans if the pans don't have lips to rest the pan on top of).  If the bread is rising in a warm location, I find it rises in about 30 - 40 minutes.  If it is a cool day, it may take up to an hour to rise. It should be doubled in size.

Ready to cover with a upside down cookie sheet to rise.

It's always difficult to see the amount bread has risen in a photo, but if you look at the glass side of the dish on the left of the first photo compared to how the parchment paper is covered by the risen dough in the bottom photo, you can see now nicely it has risen.  

Bake bread at 350 F for 50-60 minutes.  You can cover the top of the bread loosely with aluminum foil for the last 10-15 minutes of baking if you don't want it to brown too much.   Let bread cool in pans for 5 minutes before carefully removing bread from pans (and removing parchment paper) and placing bread onto a cooling rack to cool.  

Fresh from the oven - let it rest 5 minutes before removing from pan and removing parchment paper.  

Once you place it on the cooling rack, mix together the following glaze: 

1 oz cream cheese, softened (optional)

2 Tbsp butter, softened

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

milk, 1 tsp at a time until smooth consistency

You can glaze your bread while hot if you'd like the glaze to melt into the bread a bit, or you can wait until the bread has cooled a bit, and then glaze.  Once the bread has cooled a bit, it's ready to eat!  You can pull pieces apart to eat, which is fun.  When the bread has fully cooled, you can slice it into thick slices and freeze.   I find this toasts up beautifully in the toaster oven.  Yum! Enjoy! 

Monkey Bread with Drizzle by Successfully Gluten Free!

 So, there's this delicious pizza place in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island called Famous Peppers.  They have such delicious and creative toppings.  We decided to recreate their fun taco pizza at home.  My kids were SO excited and loved helping prep toppings since this is one of their favorite pizzas.  Since then, we've made it over and over and over because we love it so much.  It's a similar idea to a loaded Navajo taco, but there's something fun about it being a pizza on crust.  Enjoy! 

Personal sized taco pizzas - made four to a tray for these particular ones.  SO yummy! 

Taco Pizzas!

Makes 6 medium sized pizzas or 12 individual-sized pizzas. 

Make a batch of naan bread for the crusts, or use the desired crust of your choice.   You can make them larger (2 crusts to a pan) or smaller (4 crusts to a pan) - you'll use 3 pans lined with parchment paper for the crusts.   The naan crusts can be made in advance and frozen until you want to thaw and make your pizzas. Let them cool on a wire rack before freezing in large ziploc bags.  You can place on your parchment-lined pan to thaw.  

Cook up your taco meat - I like to use the recipe I'd use for regular tacos.  I'll include the recipe here for ease:

Taco Meat: 

Heat in large, low sided saucepan over medium heat:

1 Tbsp olive oil

 

Add and cook until softened:

½ onion

5-6 mushrooms, diced (optional)

 

Add and cook until browned:

1 lb. ground beef

 

Then add:

1 Tbsp chili powder

½-1 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp salt

½-1 tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp ground cayenne (add an extra ¼ tsp for a spicier meat)

1 cup water

 

Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower heat to low and simmer uncovered about 15 minutes.  Once it's simmered, it's ready to eat!

Preheat oven to 425 F (or lower temperature to 425 F if you just made your naan bread.  You can also cook these at 450 F or 475 F for a slightly crisper pizza).

  

Place your pizza crusts on a parchment-paper lined pan. 

Top the crust with a very thin layer of:

spaghetti sauce of your choice 

Spread cooked taco meat, from above (drained) on top of your sauce. 

On top of your taco meat, sprinkle with: 

grated mozzarella

grated cheddar OR mexican cheese blend

thinly sliced bell peppers

Bake pizzas until nicely done at 425 F for about 6-9 minutes.  

Remove pizzas to cooling racks.  

Immediately top the pizzas with the following:

Iceberg lettuce, thinly sliced

Diced tomatoes (I like cherry or grape tomatoes since they're less juicy on a pizza)

Doritos, crushed (or tortilla chips)

sour cream (put it in a ziploc and snip the end to pipe on easily)

fresh green onions, sliced

Pizzas topped with lettuce, diced tomatoes and Doritos

Pizzas with the final topping - a swirl of sour cream and some fresh, sliced green onions 

Taco Pizza Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 I've actually been meaning to figure out a recipe that tastes right to me for gluten-free vanilla wafer cookies, and after a push by my friend Liz, I actually did the experimentation to figure it out!  (Thanks Liz!)  These are nice and vanilla-filled.   If you let these rest a day after baking and cooling, then they really taste so similar to the store-bought ones from my childhood.  And they're easy, too!  Enjoy! 

Gluten-Free Vanilla Wafer Cookies Cooling

Gluten-Free Vanilla Wafer Cookies!

Makes ~24 (1 Tbsp sized cookies)

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

In a bowl, mix together: (It's important to mix the dry ingredients separately in GF baking)

1/4 cup white rice flour

1/4 cup cornstarch or fine-ground corn flour (or arrowroot starch)

1/4 cup potato starch

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 tsp xanthan gum

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

In a mixer, beat until fluffy: 

6 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Add and mix until nice and smooth: 

flour mixture, from above

1 egg white

1 Tbsp vanilla extract (OR 2 tsp vanilla extract + 1 tsp vanilla bean paste)

1 1/2 Tbsp milk (add an extra 1/2 - 1 Tbsp if you think your batter is too thick, but I find this amount works well)

Scoop small spoonfuls or use a small, 1 Tbsp sized cookie scoop to scoop batter onto parchment-lined pan.  I prefer to dip a couple fingers in water and gently flatten the top of each scoop.  This helps with even baking. 

Ready to bake!

Fresh from the oven!

Bake your cookies at 325 F for ~15-18 minutes, until nicely golden.  Too pale and they won't be nice and crispy.   Let them rest on the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.  Let them fully cool.  Store fully cooled cookies in a tupperware container on the counter.  These are good the day you make them, but we prefer to let them sit a day before eating for a real "vanilla wafer cookie" taste.  Enjoy!  

A couple more pictures:

I found if I was careful, I could fit the entire batch on one pan since they don't spread too much.  Here, you can see half flattened and half left un-flattened.

I prefer the more even baking of the flattened cookies, but the un-flattened work perfectly well, too. 

Gluten Free Vanilla Wafer Cookies by Successfully Gluten Free!

 These onion bagels are a fun savory bagel.  They'd be delicious topped as a smoked salmon bagel or just with cream cheese.  These are made and risen the same way as many of my savory bagel recipes, so you can look at those for extra pictures of the piped bagels and rising bagels.  Some of our favorite savory bagels are the everything bagel, the poppy seed bagel, the garlic & poppy seed bagel, the flavorful hearty bagel, and the jalapeno cheddar bagel.  I've posted plenty of sweet flavors, too!  Enjoy! 

Fresh from the oven - tasty onion bagels.

Onion Bagels

Makes ~18-24 bagels depending on size of bagel piped

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  

In a measure cup, combine the following and let rest 5-10 minutes: 

1 1/4 cup warm water

6 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp rapid rise/quick yeast

In a mixer combine: 

2 cup tapioca starch

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour

6 Tbsp potato starch

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbsp dried onion flakes (dried minced onion)

1-2 tsp onion powder (adjust depending on how strong you like your onion flavor)

For an even stronger onion flavor, finely mince or grate 1-2 Tbsp fresh shallots

Add and beat thoroughly for 3-4 minutes: 

yeast mixture, from above

6 Tbsp oil

3 eggs

Scoop into a large ziploc bag.  Cut 3/4" - 1" off the corner.  Pipe bagels onto prepared, parchment-lined baking pans.  I sometimes have to make ovals just to fit in all the bagels on two pans. Use 3 pans, if preferred.  

Brush/wipe the tops of the bagels with warm water.  Mix together and sprinkle on top of the bagels: 

1 tsp dried minced onion

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried chives

1/4 tsp salt

OR 

Use the Trader Joe's "onion salt" blend to top.

Let rise in a warm location for ~30 minutes until they've puffed up, but not doubled in size.  

Bake at 350 F for ~20-25 minutes, until bagels are nicely golden brown.  Too pale in color, and they'll sink/collapse a bit after you remove them from the oven.  Let rest a minute and then remove to cooling racks to cool.  

These are delicious with cream cheese & salmon, cream cheese, or used as a sandwich roll.  Once cooled, you can slice and then freeze leftovers.  They reheat perfectly in a toaster oven.  Enjoy! 

Onion Bagels Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

Asparagus, Shallot and Ham Tart/Quiche

Asparagus always seems like such a delicious springtime vegetable.  I usually just toss it in a bit of oil and roast it in the oven, but it's SO good in a quiche.  I have a wider, lower tart pan that I hadn't used in awhile, and so breaking it out to make a springtime asparagus quiche seemed ideal.  I added some ham underneath the shallots and asparagus, but you could just as easily leave it out.  Next time, I may just need to make two at once so we have more leftovers! Enjoy!  

Asparagus Tart/Quiche, fresh from the oven. Yum! 

Asparagus, Shallot & Ham Tart or Quiche

Line a 10" - 11" tart pan with 1/2 recipe of Kristin's buttermilk pie pastry crust.  You can roll it out as directed, or sprinkle and then press into pan with a piece of plastic wrap over your hand to avoid sticking.  If you don't have a tart pan, you can make this in a pie dish. 

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Sauté the following over medium heat 5-7 minutes: 

1 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp olive oil

2-3 shallots, thinly sliced

1 bunch asparagus, washed, ends trimmed, and cut into ~3-4" pieces

Remove from heat and let cool while you prepare the rest of your filling. 

Dice into bite-sized pieces: 

~1/2 - 3/4 cup diced of thickly sliced baked ham (Optional - you can leave out the ham if preferred, but I recommend replacing it with something flavorful, like Boursin cheese)

In a bowl, whisk together:
~6-7 eggs (you may find you need more/less depending on how large your tart pan is)
1/4 cup milk (lactose-free works well)
salt & pepper

On top of your prepared crust, spread the diced ham.  Spread in the sautéed shallots and asparagus.

Ham topped with sautéed shallots and asparagus.

 Pour the egg mixture evenly overtop of everything.  

Evenly pour over the egg mixture, and it's ready to bake!

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes.  Lower the oven temperature to 350 F and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes, until eggs are nicely set and crust is a nice golden brown.  Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Wonderful served warm.  Refrigerate any leftover pieces.  You can serve chilled or warmed, but we do love leftovers of this asparagus tart warmed in a toaster oven.  Enjoy! 

Asparagus, Shallot and Ham Tart or Quiche by Successfully Gluten Free! 

 My youngest wanted to help me make carrot cake, so we decided to change it up a bit and make little individual carrot cakes.  This was so fun to do, in addition to helping our cake last a bit longer since serving sizes were smaller than slicing the regular carrot cake.  They were so moist and delicious!  A new favorite way to make and serve carrot cake.  Enjoy!  

Cooled and frosted mini carrot cakes - ready to eat! 

Individual-sized Carrot Cakes!

Makes 24 mini carrot cakes

Carrot Cake Batter:

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Butter and flour (use GF flour mix OR brown or white rice flour) 24 muffin-sized square tins.  I have some square pans I found years ago that work perfectly for this recipe.  You can also make these in buttered and floured muffin tins for individual muffin-shaped cakes. 

The square tins we buttered and floured - you can easily make these in muffin tins.

In a food processor with a grater attachment, or with a grater, grate 4-5 washed, trimmed (and peeled, if desired) carrots so you have 3 cups grated carrot.  I like to pack down the cups of grated carrot to pack in a lot of carrot.

In a large bowl, mix together:

2 cups Kristin's Gluten-free Flour Mix

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Add and mix in until thoroughly combined: 

3 cups grated carrot

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 cup oil 

2 tsp vanilla extract

Divide batter into prepared pans.  They should fill each tin about halfway.   Bake at 350 F for about 15-18 minutes, until baked through, but not dried out.  These are a nice, moist cake but shouldn't be wet in the middle.  

Let rest 5 minutes in the pans, then remove to a cooling rack to fully cool. 

After resting and then removing onto cooling racks.  The buttering and GF flouring helped them pop right out of the pans.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

In a large bowl or measuring cup, mix together the following until nice and smooth: 

2-3 Tbsp butter, melted

4 oz cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

3 cups powdered sugar

Once the frosting is nice and smooth, transfer into a medium-sized freezer ziploc.  Snip the corner and use to pipe zig-zags of frosting on top of your cooled carrot cakes.  *Note: If you want fluffier frosting, don't melt the butter, just soften.  Beat all ingredients in a mixer until light and fluffy.  Spread on or pipe on cooled cakes, as desired.

Easy Glaze:

Need something dairy-free?  Just mix together a bit of powdered sugar and water to desired consistency (aim for a thin, running glaze).  Spread over top the cooled carrot cakes.  Voila! An easy dairy-free option! 

These store wonderfully in the refrigerator for a few days.  They've never lasted longer than that around here.  Enjoy! 

Ready to eat!  We had lots of grated carrot, so we made a batch of a more healthy carrot muffins, too. 

Mini Carrot Cakes Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!