Archives for “dessert”

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding (Gluten Free, Dairy Free–If You Wish)

March 12, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, bread, breakfast, dessert, easy, gluten free, recipe, treats ·18 Comments

Along with pound cake, bread pudding is a dessert I grew up eating. One of my grandmothers made great bread pudding. It was one of the few things she was still making “from scratch” when I was growing up. My mom’s bread pudding was very similar to that made by my dad’s mother—both in taste and quality. Of course, I learned from both of them and made bread pudding the same way—using stale bread and saved ends of bread and throwing it all together with a few eggs, spices, and milk. There was never a recipe. You sort of eyeballed how much bread you had once you crumbled it in a bowl, covered it with milk, added some eggs, and went on from there. This method actually worked pretty well, but you were never 100% sure your bread pudding would be a success until you had your first bite. Then one day a good friend of mine, Denise, brought her bread pudding into work for a luncheon. It was wonderful! It had a rich custard flavor, but wasn’t heavy in any way, and the cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla made both the smell and taste lovely. Best of all, Denise had an actual recipe … with measurements. What a concept! LOL With her recipe, one could re-create delicious bread pudding over and over—with no moments of uncertainty. I passed the recipe on to my mom and she’s been enjoying using it for many years now. Denise’s recipe guarantees success every time. Incidentally, Denise also made a scumptious pound cake. That recipe she would not share. Instead, she made pound cakes for everyone during the holidays. As you can imagine, nobody complained about the lack of the actual recipe.

Of course, going gluten free made me push the bread pudding recipe card to the back of the box. But, when I had some leftover gluten-free challah bread from a vendor’s donation to our support group, I thought it was time to pull out the recipe again. I’m happy to report that it worked beautifully! So start saving your stale bread and look forward to a delightful dessert. It makes a very nice breakfast, too. Bread pudding is often served with distinctive sauces like lemon, vanilla, caramel, and even whiskey, but I grew up enjoying it with a little milk poured over it. (We actually did that for any type of pudding.) This time, I enjoyed it with a drizzle of honey mixed with some vanilla.

Oh, Mr. GFE is not a big fan of bread pudding … unless I add some raisins, then he’ll enjoy a bowl or two. I added a small amount of raisins to part of the bread pudding mix left in the bowl to allow one section of the pan just for him. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any photos that really show the raisins. But, if you love raisins, be sure to head over to Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang where you’ll find lots of recipes that feature raisins.

Old-Fashioned Bread Pudding (Gluten Free, Dairy Free–If You Wish)
(Click here for a printable version of this recipe.)

6 eggs
1 ¼ cup sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
12-ounce can evaporated milk (see coconut milk substitution in notes below)
½ can (¾ cup) of water
1 cup raisins, optional
4 cups of gluten-free bread, crumbled (I like chunky pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Grease 9 x 11 baking pan.

In large bowl, mix eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla extract.

Add bread and raisins (if used) to mixture.

Pour milk into saucepan. Fill milk can halfway with water; add to saucepan with water. Heat milk and water over medium heat until warm, not hot.

Add milk and water mix to other ingredients in bowl. Let sit 5 minutes.

Pour into baking pan and bake for 45 minutes. Serve warm or cold, topped with milk or any sauce of your choice.

Shirley’s Notes: Any leftover bread, muffins, waffles, and such, should work. Even the results of failed recipes for such “bread” products could potentially be used. If you only have a small amount at any given time, just stockpile them in a container in the freezer until you have 4 cups worth. If using coconut milk, you can use the full can, which is generally 14 ounces, but be sure to use only ½ cup of water in that case.

Adapted from my friend, Denise

The bowl in the photos is from my grandmother’s china. Even with cracks and chips, it gives me such joy to use it. Spooning my bread pudding out of this bowl, I can almost imagine myself back at Grandma’s table.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: bread, breakfast, dairy free, easy, GFE, gluten free, go ahead honey, pudding, raisins, recipe

Another Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party Plus …

February 19, 2010 · Filed Under Progressive Dinner, dairy free, dessert, easy, gluten free, ice cream, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan ·4 Comments

Next week is the Gluten Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. Yes, all of us are creating a meal related to an Oscar-nominated movie—another brilliant idea from our fearless GFPDP leader, Diane (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang). Won’t it be fun to see what everyone makes? Not only are you guaranteed a variety of wonderful recipes in our monthly GFDP, but there are always recipes to fit everyone’s dietary needs. I’ll be serving my meal on Monday, so please be sure to check in after the weekend.

Today is the Friday Foodie Fix over at Diane’s. The “secret” ingredient is agave nectar. Head over to my Out and About page to see what I’ve created. I promise that you won’t be disappointed!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

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Tags: dairy free, GFE, honey, maple, nuts, recipe

Maple-Nut Sundae and Xagave

February 19, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, Out and About, dairy free, dessert, easy, giveaway, gluten free, recipe, sugar free, treats, vegan, vegetarian ·51 Comments

Full disclosure: The nice folks at Xagave sent me some of their Xagave nectar to use at the beginning of the year. They also provided a cookbook, Where Nutritious Meets Delicious, of recipes using Xagave. The Xagave and cookbook for this giveaway were complimentary as well. However, I was not paid to write this post. I am writing the post because I like the taste of the Xagave over other agave nectar products that I have used.

This post is linked to the Friday Foodie Fix—Agave (The W.H.O.L.E. Gang).

UPDATE: This giveaway is now closed. Congratulations to the winner of this gfe giveaway—Lauren of Celiac Teen! Thanks to all who entered and special thanks to the Xagave folks for sponsoring the giveaway!

One of the most popular spots in our area is Carl’s Frozen Custard. Carl’s is a family-owned ice cream “mecca.“ Carl’s has been in business since 1947 and still uses its original 1940s Electro-Freeze ice cream machine. Housed in an Art Deco-style building, Carl’s has colorful neon illumination, including a giant cone. As far back as I can remember, we’d go to Carl’s. It’s been on my mind lately because it opened for the season a week ago. I don’t remember a time when we didn’t go to Carl’s as a special treat. We lived a half-hour away so we didn’t visit frequently. Now I still live a half-hour away—just in the other direction—so we still do not visit frequently. That makes any visit to Carl’s a special occasion. However, there was a period of time (part of college and a few years afterwards) when I lived just a mile or two away from Carl’s. In college, I even devised a Carl’s diet. Yes, I’ll admit it. I’d go to Carl’s when it opened at 11:00 am, get a small chocolate shake, inhale it, and then not ingest anything until I ate a small dinner. Oh, I did lose weight, but it was one of several foolhardy dieting strategies of youth and was soon abandoned. (Melissa’s recent post on her fabulous Montana Cookies mentioned The Hollywood Cookie Diet, which reminded me of my short-lived Carl’s Diet.) Because Carl’s is not open year round, we tend to go immediately when it opens for the season, stop a few times during the summer, and then stop by right before it closes in November. There’s always a line of folks waiting (except when it’s closed as shown in my photo). Often it’s a very long line, but the staff is the picture of efficiency, taking no time to exchange pleasantries. Non-locals are often amazed at how short the wait can be.

My favorites at Carl’s have changed over time. There was a period of time where I went for a simple vanilla or chocolate sugar cone. Then, I became somewhat addicted to the maple-nut sundaes. Imagine vanilla frozen custard covered with a gooey mixture of maple syrup and walnuts. Their sundae was way too sweet, but hard to resist at the time. When I became a teenager, hot fudge sundaes with nuts were my order. However, as I became more mobile, sitting to eat a sundae did not seem practical, so I moved on to chocolate shakes. Then one day, Mr. GFE and I were both in line and we heard the person in front of us order a hot fudge shake. Hot fudge shake? We both looked at each other with raised eyebrows and when the cashier/server looked at me for my order, the words, “hot fudge shake” came out. Mr. GFE ordered the same and we’ve never looked back. There’s nothing mysterious about this treat. They simply add a squirt or two of hot fudge to the chocolate milkshake before completing the mechanical stirring action. The flavor is fabulous. We both agree that we could never go back to a regular chocolate shake again. Yes, the hot fudge shake is definitely our choice these days. But, when I saw Diane’s secret ingredient was agave, Carl’s maple-nut sundae came to mind.

I found a maple-walnut syrup recipe at Recipezaar.com that sounded similar to what I wanted. However, it contained corn syrup, maple syrup, and granulated sugar. I omitted the corn syrup, omitted the granulated sugar, and added a small amount of Xagave—all of which increased the ratio of walnuts to syrup. Per the Xagave site, “Xagave is a premium blend of agave nectar derived from organic agave salmiana (white agave) and organic inulin from agave tequilana (blue agave). This combination results in the highest quality nectar with the best taste, best cooking qualities and the most heealth benefits of any nectar on the market; making our nectar the perfect sweetener for all of your cooking, canning, and baking needs.” I actually do like the taste better than any other agave nectar I’ve tasted.

In the end, the taste and consistency of the maple-nut syrup I made using Xagave, maple syrup, and water was just right—plenty sweet, but not too sweet, with softened walnuts hunks, and, of course, no refined sugar. When the maple-nut syrup was finished cooking, the vanilla ice cream was also ready. I waited for the maple-nut syrup to cool just a tad before ladling some over the ice cream. The resulting maple-nut sundae was incredibly good. Then my immediate concern became the fact that I was home alone with enough ice cream and maple-nut syrup to make several sundaes. Miraculously, Son and a buddy of his showed up … whewww, that was close! I fed them lunch and then served their sundaes. Son raved over his sundae, especially how good the walnuts tasted. That’s saying a lot because he typically does not like nuts in his dishes.

This sundae is gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, egg free, soy free, and probably “more free,” but it still tastes of indulgence.

Maple-Nut Sundae
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

Vanilla Ice Cream

1/3 cup Xagave (or honey)
3 cups full-fat coconut milk, chilled (2 cans)
1 ½ – 2 tsp vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract)
some scraping from inside one vanilla bean (optional, to taste)

Mix all together in bowl with mixer or in blender. Add to ice cream maker and churn 20 to 30 minutes. Chill in freezer after churning if needed. Scoop and top with maple-nut syrup (recipe below).

Maple-Nut Syrup

1/2 cup Xagave
1 cup maple syrup
½ cup water
2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts (or walnut halves)

Combine Xagave, maple syrup, and water in sauce pan.

Bring to a boil slowly, stirring occasionally.

Reduce heat and simmer until syrup thickens, about 15 minutes.

Stir in walnuts; simmer about 5 minutes more. Mixture will thicken upon standing.

Cool enough to serve warm (but not hot) over ice cream or refrigerate and serve later.

Shirley’s Notes: I used a very heavy pan that was much larger than needed so I would not have to worry about stirring constantly to keep the mixture from burning. I loved the process. As the mixture simmered and bubbled, it put on quite a show as you can see from the photo above. The syrup will “harden” quite a bit in the refrigerator. Therefore, reheating or at least allowing syrup to return to room temperature may be necessary if it has been chilled for a long period of time.

It might be Friday, but it’s Sundae time … enjoy!

UPDATE: The Xagave folks are sponsoring a giveaway of a 25-ounce bottle of Xagave and their cookbook, Where Delicious Meets Nutritious. While the cookbook is not exclusively gluten free, most of the recipes are naturally gluten free (e.g., flan) or easily made gluten free (teriyaki sauce).

The deadline for the giveaway is Friday, February 26, 9:00 pm, Eastern.

Here are the many ways you can enter:

1. Leave a comment below.
2. Subscribe to my feed via email or RSS and leave a comment saying that you did.
3. Tweet about the giveaway sharing the link and leave a comment saying that you did.
4. Post a message on your Facebook page about the giveaway and leave a comment saying that you did.
5. Post about the giveaway on your blog and leave a comment saying that you did with your link.
6. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment saying that you did.
7. Become a fan of my new gfe-gluten free easily page on Facebook and leave a comment saying that you did.
8. Read and comment on any of the posts in the Gluten-Free Progressive Oscar Dinner Party. You can find all the links here. Then leave a comment on this post saying that you did.

All entries will be tracked by the individual comments, so you must enter a separate comment to get an additional entry. One comment showing you did all these things will only be counted as one entry, so please remember to note each by separate entries.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!