GF Chocolate Muffins

I had a pack gluten-free flour that was reaching it's expiry date - a perfect excuse to bake ;-) My boyfriend wasn't really in the mood for waffles, so I had to think of something else. I decided to try a recipe for chocolate muffins.

These are quite good. Not as good as regular chocolate muffins, I have to admit. But, well, I can't eat the regular ones, and I can eat these. My boyfriend thinks they're yummy, so I guess they're quite alright :-)

Gluten-free Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients:
• 210g gluten-free flour mix
• some baking powder
• 40g cocoa powder
• a pinch of salt
• 150g brown sugar
• 2,5dl milk
• 60g butter (good quality)
• 120g coarsly chopped chocolate

Preheat the oven at 180°C.
Mix the flour with the baking powder, cocoa, sugar and salt. Make a hole in the middle. Melt the butter (I add the butter to the milk, and heat the milk). Pour the milk and butter in the hole. Stir the mixture. Add the chopped chocolate and mix it through the dough. Fill your muffin-forms with the dough and bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Chocolate Ice Cream

After two batches of banana ice, it was time for something different. It's remarkable I have waited so long to make chocolate ice cream - I'm quite a chocolate lover !

Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:
• 1,25dl milk
• 1,25dl cream
• 100g chocolate
• 3 egg yolks
• 40g sugar

Heat the milk and the cream. Add the chocolate and let it melt. Stir frequently. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar, and beat until white and creamy. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate milk and stir well. Let the mixture cool completely.

Put it in your ice cream maker and let it work for about 30 minutes. Put the ice cream back in the freezer for another 30 minutes - enjoy !

Banana Ice Cream

This recipe really takes no time at all - it's super easy, and very tasty. The banana flavor isn't too overwhelming either, it's just right.

Banana Ice Cream

Ingredients:
• 150g ripe bananas
• 65g sugar
• some lemon juice (you can leave it out)
• 1 egg yolk
• 200ml cream (I used light)
OR 50ml cream + 150ml whole milk

Puree the bananas with the egg yolk, sugar and lemon juice. Mix the puree with the cream (don't beat it). Put it in your ice cream machine and let it work for 35min (or according to your machine's instructions). Put it back in the freezer for aprox. 30min.

That's it.

365-Days-Pie (GF)

We are getting married next year ! Exciting, isn't it ?! D-Day is exactly one year away, so I baked a pie to celebrate that ;-)

It was a kind of "biscuit" filled with pudding, cream and strawberries. The cream didn't work out, because of the heat of the summer, but taste is all that matters. And it was good !

Biscuit

Ingredients:
• 4 eggs
• 100g sugar
• 50g gf flour mix
• 50g potato starch
• Additional: Lime juice, vanilla extract, rum extract, ...

Beat the eggs with the sugar "au bain marie" until the sugar dissolves. Add an additional flavor if you want to. Beat some more until the mixture is thick, white and creamy. Add the flours and mix carefully. Pour the mixture in a buttered cake form and bake for 35min at 175°C.

Decorate to taste. I filled the cake with pudding and strawberries. To make this filling, you need to make some firm vanilla pudding, cut a bunch of strawberries in pieces, and beat some cream until firm. You combine and you've got a delicious pie-filling !

Homemade Ice Cream

Seriously, Homemade Ice Cream is Good ! It's Great !

Okay, it was the first time I used our new (small) ice cream maker, and we were both wildly enthusiastic. I was making regular vanilla ice cream, but then I decided to throw in a little fudge/dulce de leche. So there was a little hint of caramel, and somehow that made the vanille flavor come out even better.

Vanilla Ice Cream with a hint of Dulche de Leche

Ingredients
• 125ml milk
• 125ml cream
• vanilla
• 3 egg yolks
• 45g sugar (I used 18g vanilla sugar and 27g regular white sugar)

Heat the milk with the cream and the vanilla until boiling, then let it cool. Mix the egg yolks with the sugar and beat until thick and white. Add this to the milk/cream. Mix well. Put this mixture in your ice cream maker for about 35min. Let it freeze for about 30min before consuming.

Note: I have a small ice cream maker of about 1,1l. Use more if you have a larger one.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies - GF

Last weekend I wanted to make fudge, as a present. Unfortunatly, the fudge turned out a bit too sticky. It was firm, but I couldn't cut it in pieces and take them of the baking sheet.

So I had to make something else with it.... After some pondering, it came to me: Fudge Brownies ! These turned out great. And they taste even better after a day (or two).

Fudge

Ingredients:
• 125g sugar
• 50ml coffee milk
• 75g firm butter
• 175ml cream
• 225g sugar
• a pinch of salt
• some vanilla

Heat the first batch of sugar until it melts. Don't forget to stir ! Heat it a little more, it needs to get a nice lightbrown color. Then add the coffee milk and the cream. Keep stirring. Finally add the butter, the rest of the sugar, the vanilla and the salt. Stir frequently and heat the mixture to aprox. 120°C, when it's thick and liquid. Cool down the mixture, whilst stirring - that way you create the fudge-structure. Pour out the mix on a plate (lined with baking paper). Put some baking paper on top of it too, to prevent the fudge from drying out. Let it cool completely.

Now, that didn't really work out for me. I scooped out the fudge I needed for the brownies, and warmed it up a little to make it liquid.

Chocolade Fudge Brownies

Ingredients:
• Fudge (I didn't measure it. I think it was about one cup)
• 115g firm butter
• 180g chocolate (I used dark)
• 3 eggs
• 120g sugar
• 40g tapioca starch
• 50g glutinous rice flour (= Sweet rice flour)
• 50g rice flour

Melt the butter. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, stir in the sugar, then the flours.

Scrape half of the batter into a prepared pan. Drop half of the fudge over the brownie batter, and drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop the remaining fudge over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl it slightly.

Bake in a preheated over (175°C) for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely before cutting.

GF Pizza

I base my pizza-recipe on this one from Heythattastesgood, because I'm actually quite satisfied with it. I find it hard to form the pizza (the dough doesn't really spread out easy) - but it's the taste that matters, isn't it ?!

This is also my entry for this month's Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten-Free!The theme this month is "Manly Food". I found this quite apropriate, as my boyfriend loves pizza :-)


Pizza Dough

Ingredients:
• 250ml warm milk
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 packet instant yeast
• 190g rice flour
• 64g potato starch
• 32g tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum (I use "St. John's bread")
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• dried herbs & pepper to taste

Mix the milk with the sugar and yeast in a bowl and let sit for 5 minutes to proof. Combine the flours, xanthan gum, salt, herbs and olive oil. Then stir in yeast milk. Mix until combined. Then divide dough in half if you want to make 2 pizza's. Mostly I just make 1 large pizza. Spread the dough on a baking sheet or baking pan. Let it rise (somewhere warm) for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 220°C. Bake the pizza crust for about 7 minutes until slightly cooked. Then top with tomato sauce and toppings of your choice. Bake till ready.

Basic Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:
• 1 can (400g) tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato puree
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• garlic & basil

Let the canned tomatoes leak out for a bit. Then put them in the blender, add the tomato puree, olive oil and herbs. Puree until you get a thick mixture. Season with salt and pepper. If it's too sour to your taste, you can add some ketchup to make the sauce a bit sweeter.