Tag: fall

Fall Baking Fail Number 1 – Gluten-Free Baking Can Be Tricky

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I love to try making all the fall baking treats.  I still haven’t been able to make a good Pumpkin Bread, so I thought I would try a Pumpkin Bar.  It was definitely a “No”.  Too chewy and oily.

Baking fails happen.  It often feel worse now that I’m using all the different gluten-free flours and dairy alternatives that are more expensive.  But I had plenty of baking fails before we needed to change our diets due to Celiac Disease and food allergies.

It’s a good thing I have Aldi’s new Sea Salt Caramel Dessert Hummus to have with apples instead of the chewy pumpkin bars. Have you tried this seasonal dessert hummus?  It is really good.

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I better make some Brownies, since when my kids saw the pan yesterday they thought brownies (it is the only thing the pan is used for) and I had to quickly warn them it was NOT brownies.

I’m back to the pumpkin bar/ pumpkin bread drawing board.  I also have one other dessert I am trialing this week.  I hope it turns out better than my pumpkin bar experiment.

 

Apple Crisp and Pumpkin Bread plus my review of FAACT’s Teen Retreat

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I love fall.  It is my favorite time of year.  So far it has been busy and cold!

I participated in FAACT’s Teen Retreat with my daughter.  What an amazing time for teens with food allergies and their parents.  As an adult with food allergies I often feel the odd man out, and am thankful that most of my friends, family, and coworkers ask questions and are understanding to my food needs.  This weekend was the support that my teen needed to feel NORMAL.

Many of us lunched at Maggiano’s Oak Brook. With well over 20 teens and adults needing to special order, Chef Tito did an amazing job.  I love seafood, but often it is pre-seasoned in the morning or the night before.  I knew they could do the pasta for me (gluten-free pasta with just oil and garlic) but I really wanted some shrimp. Chef Tito said yes, they pre-season their shrimp but would try to find some plain shrimp for me and he did! It was great to see all the kids order and eat with no problems. Every child at the table had to list their allergies and ask extra questions making it normal for the next child to do the same.

The rest of the weekend was full of new friends, speakers who were informative and personable, and teens and parents who get what it’s like living with food allergies.  We can’t wait till next years and are trying to figure out how to fit Camp TAG into our summer schedule and hopefully a visit with our new friends before the 2020 Teen Retreat.

Now that we are home and getting back in the swing of things, I am again attempting to make pumpkin bread from scratch that tastes as good as the GF box mix from Trader Joes. With all of it’s cross contamination warnings I would like to find something safer.

My attempt looked good but wasn’t quite done and was dense on the bottom. My kids had all kinds of Great British Bake Off lines to describe the failure, which made me happy. It was an improvement on my last attempt at pumpkin bread, yeah me.

 

I guess I will stick to my Apple Crisp for today.  And try pumpkin bread again next week.

Apple Crisp (Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Nut-free, Nightshade-free)

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It is apple season, well apple season is almost over.  I love making apple crisp. It is a recipe I think of when I think fall.  I love to eat it warm, even though I know that many like it cold.

This is a recipe I made many times before we were gluten-free and changing the recipe may have made it even better.  Plus, I get to use my favorite kitchen utensil, the pastry cutter.

Enjoy this lovely fall treat.

 

Gluten-Free Dairy-free Apple Crisp

  • Servings: approx. 9
  • Difficulty: easy
  • Print

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Ingredients

  • 6 granny smith apples
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup Earth Balance Soy-free Butter
  • 1 cup Sweet Rice flour or (gf flour of choice)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 3/4 cup cold water

 

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Spray a 8×8 baking dish with coconut oil
  3. Peel and slice apples and place them into the baking dish
  4. Sprinkle the top of the apples with cinnamon
  5. Combine sugar, Earth Balance, flour and baking power in a bowl and mix using a pastry cutter
  6. Spoon mixture onto the top of the apples
  7. Pour cold water over the top of the pastry mixture
  8. Bake for 45 minutes

Apple Crisp by Cygnet Organizing LLC

http://www.cygnet organizing.com