Quick Bread on a Whim

I had the itch to bake, so I made the following based on what I had available.  Ingredients in parenthesis are suggestions for alternate ingredients that I have not tested.

Poppy Seed Bread (Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free)

Preheat oven at 350°F.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan with preferred shortening.  

Blend together:

• 1 - 12.5 oz. can of poppy seed filling (OR 1-2 cups poppy seeds and 1/2 cup sugar of choice [may need to adjust volume of flour] OR equivalent volume of homemade filling)
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup lemon juice (OR apple cider vinegar)
• (optional lemon zest to make a lemon poppy seed loaf)
• 2 eggs (or equivalent substitute for binding)
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract (You can leave out if you are using another flavoring extract like: lemon extract OR almond extract.)
• 1/2 cup grape seed oil

Blend until seeds are well dispersed.

Sift together:

• 2 cups sorghum flour
• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 tbsp. xanthan gum (or 1/2 tbsp. guar gum)
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• dash of salt (You can leave this out if you are watching salt intake.  The baking powder adds sodium.)

Flour can be roughly measured.  Stir into wet mixture.  It will not be batter like, but will not be very stiff.  It will be like a soft cookie dough.  

Pat into pan with spatula.  

Bake for 1 hour.  The top will be golden and knife inserted will come out clean.  Completely cool before slicing.  

The bread will rise nicely and have a nice fine crumb.  Enjoy with you favorite spread!

A Little Chocolate Twist

The other week I had some leftover coconut milk and a craving for seven layer bars.  Solution: Substitute the coconut milk for sweetened condensed milk.  What I was using was canned coconut milk - not the light kind.  This meant that it was thick and ready to go without simmering water off, and there is no added sugar.  Using just what I had on hand, I made up the following recipe.  

Enjoy this picture I took in Brussels instead of chocolate bars 

because Belgium has wonderful chocolate.

Chocolate-Nut Layer Bar (Dairy Free, Gluten Free)

8” Spring form pan - greased lightly.

1 cup raw almond in skins

1tbsp. 

1 whipped egg white (or egg substitute for one egg)

5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate mini-morsels (I used Enjoy Life brand)

1-2 cups Chopped walnuts

2/3 cups canned coconut milk

1 tbsp. raw sugar crystals (optional)

1. Chop almonds in food processor until they resemble a course flour (should be fairly fine for chopped nuts).  You could also use a nut grinder if you have one.  Right before you are done chopping, add in sugar.  Transfer to large bowl.
2. Whip egg whites into stiff or nearly stiff peaks.  Fold into nuts.  You do not need to preserve bubbles.  The point is to bind the nuts.  Transfer to greased spring form pan.
3. Wet your fingers and press nut crust into place so that it covers the entire bottom of the pan.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 10-15 minutes.  You want to set it, but not fully cook it.  Remove.
4. Add the layers beginning with chocolate chips; then add walnuts to taste; and then drizzle on the coconut milk.  Sprinkle with sugar crystals if you like.  (Other options: kosher dairy-free butter scotch chips or a few tablespoons of gluten-free oats.)  
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.  The chocolate will appear to be mostly melted on top and the coconut milk will appear tan near the edges of the pan.  It will smell done, and like it it close to jumping to overdone.  
6. Allow to cool to room temperature before removing ring.  Cut into 1 X 1 1/2” bars.  Put in fridge to chill.  Do not remove from base until fully chilled.  They are too soft to handle before chilling.  Store in an airtight container in fridge.

While this is not sugar-free, it is not excessively sweet because most of the sugar is just what is in the chocolate chips.  

Good Intentions; Setting Goals

Well my extremely-small-readership-who-may-have-forgotten-about-my-two-post-blog,

I had some good intentions to post some recipes in this two week period following the end of exams.  During exams I could not devote time to site development.  Now that exams are over, I have been visiting family and getting ready to spend some time overseas.  While I am overseas, I will do some posts about foodie adventures in healthy eating abroad.

I will still try and post at least one recipe before or shortly after I leave.  For now I will begin a list of culinary goals.

#1 - developing/learning really good non-dairy cheese substitutes that can be melted for pizza and macaroni and cheese.

#2 - developing/learning a grillable non-dairy Halloumi type cheese.  This should be a great challenge.

Parameters for cheese include: no gluten, no corn, no soy, nor derivatives thereof.

#3 - developing/learning vegetarian and vegan recipes that are primarily raw based.  I still plan to eat meat, but not as much. 

#4 - learning more technique with gluten-free baking.  I miss beating a glutenous dough, but I will put my creative energy into developing...

#5 - sugar-free or low-sugar, gluten-free baked yumminess.  I have already had some moderate success with a rhubarb tart.  The filling was great sweetened with stevia (if you like you tart tart like I do), but the crust needs some work.
 

 Well, “hey there, good looking.”  Now to work on the crust!

If I come up with some other new goals, they will be posted in a later post.

Until then, Guten Abend!