Gluten Free Pancakes

Been eyeing on some recipes for gluten free (GF) pancakes and decided on this recipe for the first try, simply because I had all the ingredients in my kitchen cabinet :)

This pancake has nice taste, and soft too, but not as fluffy
Honestly, I still prefer the normal buttermilk pancakes using normal plain flour, but this is definitely a healthier alternative worth trying, especially if you really have to avoid gluten :)

Recipe is from AllRecipes

What you need:

1 cup rice flour
3 tbsp tapioca flour
1/3 cup potato starch
2 cups buttermilk
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
3 tbsp canola oil

Sift together rice flour, tapioca flour, potato starch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt
Stir in eggs, buttermilk and oil til well blended and few lumps remains
Heat a pan, put a little bit butter and spread all around
Spoon some batter and let it cooked til bubbles appear and you can lift up the edges
Flip pancake and cook the other side til browned

Serve immediately with maple syrup and fresh fruits of your choice
What a great breakfast!

Note:
You may replace rice flour, tapioca flour and potato starch to plain flour (1 1/3 cup + 3 tbsp)

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #21 Gluten Free Bakes hosted by Hankerie

Gluten Free Cheese Oatmeal Cookies

Nobody will know these crunchy cheesy cookies are gluten free!
Delicious and easy to make, too
I made some with chocolate chips instead for the kids
I personally like the cheese better

Recipe is from one of LBT friend, Husfani Agri

What you need:

150g unsalted butter, room temperature

1/4 tsp salt

80g icing sugar, sifted

75g oatmeal, process til fine

75g grated cheddar cheese

150g gluten free flour (GFF), sifted

How to make GFF:

1 cup rice flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca flour

===> Mix well all three flours together in airtight container and store in it

          Makes 2 cups

1. Put butter in mixing bowl, add in icing sugar, mix with wooden spoon til smooth
2. Add in oatmeal, mix well
3. Followed by  cheese, mix well
4. Lastly, add in GFF gradually
5. Shape dough into a ball, flatten with rolling pin and shape with cookie cutter as desired
6. Bake in preheated oven of 160degC for approximately 20 minutes

Note:

* For chocolate chips cookies, replace cheese with the same amount of chocolate chips

* For chocolate cookies, replace 30g of the flour with cocoa powder

* GFF can be replaced with normal plain flour

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #21 Gluten Free Bakes hosted by Hankerie

Fire Truck Birthday Cake For Ian - He's 5 Today! - Gluten Free Steamed Brownies

See what I have made today, it's a birthday cake for Ian
He requested for a fire truck cake
He's not only a car lover, but also all kinds of trucks, buses and all heavy weight machines
Last year I did a car cake for him at his request too, so this year he switched to something else :)
Luckily I could find a tutorial for the cake from Betty Crocker, you may watch the video HERE
My first barbie cake last year also followed tutorial from Betty Crocker

It's a simple cake - well, looked simple enough to me but still I couldn't make as neat as the one in the video, as you know, I'm a big zero in cake decorating LOL

Anyway, Ian loved it so much!
He did watch the video too a couple of times, so when I did the carving and the frosting also the decorating, he was all the time beside me, watching me doing everything, and commenting what to do next :)

It's 100% buttercream frosting, the wheels are oreo biscuits, the lights are all gummies, and the hose is fondant, since I couldn't find black licorice

Hhhhmmm I wonder how to make my hands not trembling and moved steadily while doing the frosting, as you can see, those meant to be straight lines weren't straight, eg: the windows, and the rest... wew...

Well, what matters most is, the birthday boy was happy :)

I used Indonesian style Mrs Liem steamed brownies recipe, very well known among Indonesian foodies
Very fine texture, soft but sturdy enough to be used for 3D carved cake
Very yummy, moist and chocolatey

Here's the recipe, I made this cake gluten free by replacing the plain flour with gluten free flour mixture (GFF)

For the GFF:

1 cup rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour

Mix well all three flours together in airtight container and store in it
Makes 2 cups

This GFF gives very satisfying result that mocaf flour can't compare
I definitely prefer this mixture

For the cake:

6 eggs
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
a pinch of salt
1/2 tsp sponge gel (optional)
125g GFF
50g cocoa powder (I used valrhona)
175ml canola oil
100g dark chocolate, melted
75ml sweet condensed milk

1. Grease pans (I used 2 loaf pans)
2. Beat eggs, sugar and sponge gel til ribbon stage (high speed)
3. On low speed, add in sifted GFF flour, cocoa powder and mix well
4. Add in melted chocolate and oil, mix well
5. Divide the batter into three parts, one parts to mix with sweet condensed milk
6. Preheat steamer til very hot
7. Pour one part of the batter in the pans, and put them in steamer, steam for 10 minutes over medium fire
8. Pour the batter with sweet condensed milk on top and steam for another 10 minutes
9. Pour the last part of the batter and steam for another 20-25 minutes

For the buttercream, I used Aunty Yochana's recipe:

What you need:

200g sugar
60g water
140g egg white
300g butter
300g shortening

1.  Boil sugar and water till thick but flowy
2.  Beat egg white  (high speed) till fluffy (medium peak), then pour in the hot syrup
3.  Continue beating the egg white till cool (low speed)
4.  Slowly add in the chilled butter and shortening and let it beat till thick and fluffy

 

Here's a snap of the cake texture, so fine, chocolatey, soft and moist!

 

 

 

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #21 Gluten Free Bakes hosted by Hankerie

Now, I have another cake to bake to bring to his school on Monday to celebrate with his friends
Wanted to do this morning but since today was Racial Harmony Day and they had programs at the school, so we're advised to do the celebration on Monday instead

 

 

To Ian, happy birthday to you
Mummy, daddy and Abby love you, as always!
God bless you always
Hugs and kisses XOXO

Bake Along #28 - Gluten Free Coconut Checkerboard Brownies

I was curious to find how this two combination taste like
Brownies and coconut, one thing I never think of putting together
To my surprise, it's not bad at all - an occasional nice twist which every brownie lover can't say no to
East and West brownies, very nice indeed :)

Knowing that my kids will not fancy brownies with coconut, I made using 20cm square pan, half just plain brownies :)
They enjoyed the brownies, a little too sweet - even though I have reduced the amount of sugar used, but nice

One problem was, I couldn't make a nice checkerboard design, I wasn't sure what I made actually... Checkerboard? No... Polkadot? No...
Anyway, it looked better after I cut into small squares hehehe....

Fudgy brownies - my kind of brownies :)

Recipe is from the book Bon Appetit Desserts by Barbara Fairchild

What you need:
(modified to suit my family liking)

Coconut batter:
(I made half of the recipe below)

200g fresh grated coconut
20g icing sugar
60ml cream of coconut
60g Philadelphia cream cheese, cut into 1 inch cube, room temperature
1 large egg
a big squeeze of lemon juice
pinch of salt

Brownies batter:

90g unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
100g dark chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
200g golden brown sugar (will reduce to 150g the next time I bake this again)
85g mocaf flour, sifted then measured
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt

To make the coconut batter:
Measure 1/3 cup flaked coconut, cover and set aside. Place the remaining coconut and sugar in processor, finely chop. Add cream of coconut, cream cheese and blend well. Add egg, lemon juice and salt, blend well, stop ocassionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer to bowl. Cover and refrigerate til very firm, about 3 hours (I did overnight)

To make the brownies batter:
Butter pan (I used 20 x 20 x 4cm square pan). Melt butter and chocolate in heave small saucepan over low heat, stir til smooth. Pour into medium bowl. Cool to lukewarm. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Whisk sugar, flour, baking powder, salt in small bowl
Sift over chocolate mixture. Mix til blended and smooth. Spread 1 1/4 cups of the batter in the pan and cover pan tightly with aluminium foil. Refrigerate til very firm about 3 hours. Also refrigerate the remaining batter in the container (I did overnight)

1. Position rack in the centre of the oven and preheat to 165degC
2. Alternate 1 tbsp of the remaining brownies batter and 1 tbsp of coconut batter over chocolate layer, filling pan completely. Sprinkle reserved 1/3 cup of the coconut over coconut mounds, press gently to adhere. bake for approximately 45 minutes til skewer comes out clean
3. Cool completely and cut

This time, I used gluten free mocaf flour for this brownies, this is my second brownies using this flour (the first one I used different recipe) and both gave nice results
A little details about mocaf flour can be read HERE

Initially I wanted to use gluten free flour mixture from this site which many gave good reviews
But then I realized what I had was tapioca starch, while the recipe said tapioca flour
I wasn't sure whether these two are the same or different
I googled for information, many said they're the same, but some said different
So, I decided to use mocaf flour for now, while searching for the real truth :)
Anybody know the answer? :)

This post is for Bake Along event, hosted by Joyce, Lena and Zoe

Please view other wonderful bakers in the link tool below to see their lovely brownies too :)

I'm also submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #21 Gluten Free Bakes hosted by Hankerie

Bake Along #27 - Gluten Free Cheese & Choco Chips Scones Cookies

For Bake Along this time, the theme is scones
I baked this morning and I wasn't pleased at all

I wasn't so sure whether I should post this or not, initially
This was not like what I expected to be, even though I knew the texture would not be the same, since I used gluten free mocaf flour
This was my second bake using this flour, you may view HERE for my first bake including the short description about the flour

Gluten is one substance that makes cakes rise, and I expected my scones would be shorter, but I never expected they would be flat like cookies!
The dough was so sticky and soft, couldn't do any remedy action that I just spooned it on the pan and baked them
I think the culprit was not only the flour I used, but more on the quantity of eggs I used, I think it's a little too much...
Wew... pure intention to modify these scones to a healthier treat turned disastrous! So annoyed!

Until my kids said, wow...mummy baked chocolate chips cookies...yum!
Then I was like, oh yeah, why not, these are scones cookies
Indeed the texture was like cakey soft chewy cookies
One consolation - the taste was yummy :)

Original recipe was from Barefoot Contessa, modified by me

What you need:
(I made half of the original recipe and I had 12 large scones cookies)

2cups mocaf flour plus 1/2 tbsp mocaf flour, divided (original recipe: all purpose flour)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
170g cold unsalted butter, diced
2 1/2 eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 cup cold yoghurt (original recipe: heavy cream)
80g grated cheddar cheese (original recipe: 115g)
80g semi sweet chocolate chips (original recipe: 1/2 cup minced fresh dill)
1/2 egg beaten with 1/2 tbsp milk, for egg wash

1. Preheat oven to 200degC
2. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl
3. Add butter, and rub til mixed and butter in pea sized pieces
4. Mix eggs and yoghurt, quickly add to the flour & butter mixture
5. Combine til just blended
6. Toss together cheese, chocolate chips and 1/2 tbsp flour, add them to the dough. mix til almost incorporated
7. On floured surface, knead the dough for 1 minute til cheddar and chocolate chips well mixed evenly
8. Roll 3/4 inch thick. Cut 4 inches squares and half diagonally to make triangles
9. Brush the top with egg wash
10. Bake around 30 minutes til outside crusty and inside fully cooked

I was quite happy to know the scones cookies was liked by my family, moreover to know that it's rather a healthy treat - no gluten and no sugar used
But the next time I bake this again, since the recipe has many great reviews, I'll just stick to the original recipe to the dot, including using chopped dill instead of chocolate chips
I'm sure I will munch happier that way, I am a kind of missing the real scones texture :P

The event is hosted by Zoe, Joyce and Lena, please hop over to their fabulous blogs :)

Below is fellow bakers with their wonderful scones
I feel like one ugly duckling to put my scones among theirs!

Gluten Free Cassava Fudgy Brownies

Good knowing for once I can make gluten free bake
I read many times, gluten takes the longest time to digest, it can be as long as 3 days!
This brownies used modified cassava flour I got from Indonesia
It has perfect texture, fudgy, a little gooey, with flaky crust on top... my kind of brownies
Taste wise, nobody will know it's gluten free.
The usage of Valrhona cocoa made this brownies taste even better. Simply delicious!

A little description about the flour adapted from Ricke's site where the recipe comes from...

Modified cassava flour (mocaf) is made from cassava made into powder form, and then processed using enzyme from yeast whom able to break down cassava flour cells resulting in finer texture, brighter white color and trace of cassava odor can be minimized to 70%
Mocaf is different from cassava flour or tapioca starch
The characteristic is very close to plain flour so it can be used for cake making
But it's gluten free, unlike plain flour, resulting in shorter cake
Replacement to mocaf can be done 100% or only partial - combining with plain flour
Only for bread making, certain percentage of high protein flour must be present, since gluten is essential to reach elasticity and to help the bread to rise well, too
What you need:

225g butter
125g dark cooking chocolate
200g mocaf
50g Valrhona cocoa powder
20g full cream milk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 medium eggs
300g caster sugar
For topping: walnuts and chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 180degC
2. In a pot over low fire, melt butter and chocolate, set aside
3. Grease 24cm square pan (height 4cm), line with baking paper, grease again, set aside
4. Sieve mocaf, cocoa powder, milk powder, baking powder, set aside
5. Whisk eggs and sugar til dissolved (need not to expand)
6. Add in mixture of butter and chocolate, also vanilla, mix well
7. Add in sifted flour mixture, stir til just combined
8. Pour batter into pan, sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts, bake for 45 minutes or til skewer comes out clean

I'm linking up this post to :
* Allergy Free Wednesday #18
* Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff Thursday
* SweetTooth Friday
* Sweets For A Saturday #71