Okay, folks, I’ve never claimed to be a whiz in the kitchen…my sister has the “cooking gene” in the family–she can go in a kitchen and make dirt taste good…
Having said that, I’m cautiously venturing into the unknown in the kitchen…flying by the seat of my pants without the comfort of recipes…
I checked out a book from the library on gluten free cooking. I had read a booklet from a pharmacist whom also had gluten intolerance, and she highly recommended this cooking book. The author has a PhD, I assume in home economics (or whatever they’re calling it these days), so I thought that she must have some pretty good recipes…
…really, the author *loves* sorghum flour and uses it as a basic flour combination in almost all of her recipes.
…um, this tastes like cardboard to me, but your mileage may vary…
I still like the basic recipe I included in the oatmeal cookie recipe. (I’ve discovered that I react to oatmeal too. Pfft. Hopefully, it’s just temporary–from what I’ve read, your system becomes a little more sensitive when you first start going gluten-free. Kind of a hyper reaction to finally not having the irritation?)
That basic recipe is: 1 cup rice flour, 1/2 c. potato flour, and 1/2 c. tapioca flour. I’m going to experiment more, because the tapioca flour does seem to make things a little dry, where I have to add a little more water or milk or shortening, according to what I’m baking. And the biscuits I made last night were just a tad dry…but otherwise tasted good.
…on to more adventures…it’s kind of fun, actually…
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Here’s a pretty good gluten free Coconut Macaroon recipe. I’m going by memory, because it’s over in my apartment–this was submitted by Coffee Bean on a gluten-free website, but I’ll be darn if I can find it on the web now:
Coconut Macaroons
2 cups coconut flakes
2 egg whites, room temperature
pinch of salt
1/3 c. sugar or you can use healthy honey — just use one-half of 1/3
1/2 tsp. almond extract (I prefer vanilla, and it gives it a wonderful taste…plus the apartment smells soooo good while they’re baking.)
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 TBSP cornstarch (I didn’t have any cornstarch on hand, so I used tapioca flour, which has the same consistency of cornstarch, and it worked out fine.)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place egg whites in small mixing bowl. Sprinkle salt over them. Beat with electric mixer until they form soft peaks (or if you want to be a doll, beat with hand beater–conserve electricity and work those arms, baby!).
Sprinkle sugar over egg whites. Beat to stiff peaks.
Using wooden spoon, fold in one-half of coconut.
Add vanilla, mix gently in. Mix in nutmeg.
Mix in cornstarch.
Fold in remaining coconut.
Drop by large spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake in 325 degree oven for about 12-20 minutes. The tops should be lightly toasted. Enjoy!
