Gluten Free Apple Crisp

This is taken from my Bon Appetit dessert cookbook.
The original recipe is for Apple-Almond Crisp
 Ingredients topping
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour- I used 1 cup Betty Crocker Gluten Free Bisquick mix and half cup of Domata brand GF flour
 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) chilled salted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 cup sliced almonds (about 4 1/2 ounces) I used Pecans instead
 Filling
3/4 cup sugar
 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
 8 small Granny Smith apples (about 4 1/2 pounds), peeled, halved, cored, thinly sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
Preparation topping
Whisk flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl to blend well. Add butter and rub in with fingertips until mixture holds together in small, moist clumps. Mix in almonds; cover and chill until ready to use. DO AHEAD Can be made up to 3 days ahead.
  Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch glass baking dish. Combine first 5 ingredients in large bowl; whisk to blend well. Mix in apples, then vanilla and almond extracts. Spoon filling into prepared dish. Sprinkle topping over. Bake until apples are tender and topping is golden and crisp, about 1 hour. Cool at least 10 minutes; serve warm.

Gluten Free Strawberry Almond Tart

I wanted a simple, yet delicious, Easter Day Dessert. I found this recipe on Cooking Light's website. I modified it to make it gluten free.


Ingredients

Crust:
1 bag of gluten free Pecan cookies.Or you can use 30 gluten free graham crackers
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 teaspoons water
Cooking spray

Filling:
2 packages of 5 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Topping:
6 cups small fresh strawberries, hulled and divided
2/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted. I used a skillet to toast the almonds because it's faster. Or you can toast them in the oven while the crust is baking.

Preparation


1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. To prepare crust, place crackers in a food processor; process until crumbly. Add 2 tablespoons sugar, butter, and 4 teaspoons water; pulse just until moist. Place cracker mixture in a 9-inch round removable-bottom tart pan lightly coated with cooking spray, pressing into bottom and up sides of pan to 3/4 inch. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.
3. To prepare filling, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, and extracts in a medium bowl; stir until smooth. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over bottom of tart shell.
4. To prepare topping, place 2 cups strawberries in food processor, and process until smooth. Combine strawberry puree, 2/3 cup sugar, and cornstarch in a small saucepan over medium heat; stir with a whisk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low; cook 1 minute. Remove glaze from heat. Cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.
5. Combine the remaining 4 cups strawberries and juice; toss to coat. Arrange berries, bottoms up, in a circular pattern over filling. Spoon half of glaze evenly over berries. Put Tart in the refrigerator for 3 hours to chill.

             Light and Fluffy Gluten Free Biscuits

I have finally discovered how to make my biscuits light and fluffy.

1 1/2 cup GF flour. I use Domata brand. **Do Not pack the flour into the measuring cup. This is the first step in keeping the flour "light" and not condensed.

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Stir these three together very well with a fork. Then add: 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter. Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter. **Spend twice as much time as normal to make it look like a "meal".

Then add 2 eggs and half a cup of milk. (I use almond milk). **Make sure you stir the eggs and milk very well together.

Then make a "well" in the dry ingredients. Pour the liquid in and do broad, wide strokes to stir the liquid together with the dry ingredients. **The less you stir these together, the fluffier your biscuits will be.

Add a tiny amount of flour if dough is too sticky. **Then use a soup spoon and drop biscuit dough onto cookie sheet.

Bake Biscuits at 450 Degrees for 15-20 minutes on 2nd lowest rack in the oven.

Almond Crusted Salmon


4 Salmon fillets
1/2 cup almonds
Butter- about 4 tablespoons
Lemon
Salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Coriander

Put almonds and seasonings in a food processor. Then, Melt butter. Dip salmon fillets in butter and then in the almond mixture. Place fillets in shallow pan that has been greased. Squeeze lemon juice over fillets.
Bake covered at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until fillets fall apart when tested with a fork. Add butter and more lemon if fillets seem to be getting dry. Leave oven on.

After fillets are cooked. Add 1/2 cup butter to sauce pan at medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon fresh minced garlic. Add 1 cup heavy whipping cream. Stir until it is smooth and creamy. Take sauce off heat and add it to the cooked fillets. Pour about 1/4 cup chopped almonds over the dish. Put Fillets, with the sauce added to it, back in the oven for about 10 minutes.

Bon Appetit Pumpkin Cheesecake..gluten free!

I altered this recipe slightly.You will below that I substituted cream cheese for the ricotta and mascarpone. I also found Gluten Free Gingersnap cookies and skipped down below to how you combine the cookies with.

* Special equipment: A 9"-diameter springform pan; 18"-wide heavy-duty foil

Ingredients
Gingersnap Cookie crust:

Preheat oven to 350°. Line spring form pan tightly with foil. Butter foil. Wrap outside of pan tightly with foil (to create a watertight seal during baking), pressing wrinkles flat.
*
Put half a package of Gingersnap cookies, 4 Tbsp. melted butter , 1 Tbsp. flour, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 cup brown sugar in Food Processor. a large bowl. Press crumbs into bottom of prepared pan. Freeze for 10 minutes.
*
Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake until crust is fragrant and set, 20–25 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool.


Filling

* 2 1/2 cups whole-milk ricotta - I used 4 packages of cream cheese instead
* 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp. mascarpone- See above. I used cream cheese instead
* 1/3 cup sugar
* 4 large egg yolks
* 2 large eggs
* 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
* 1 cup canned pure pumpkin purée
* 1/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
* 1/4 cup heavy cream
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom


Filling:

*
Preheat oven to 350°. Purée Cream Cheese or (ricotta and mascarpone), sugar, eggs yolks, 1 egg, and 1/2 tsp. salt in a food processor until smooth. Scrape most of cream cheese (ricotta) filling into a large bowl, leaving about 1/2 cup of filling in processor. Add remaining egg, pumpkin purée, brown sugar, cream, cardamom, and remaining 1/4 tsp. salt to processor; purée until smooth. Scrape filling into a medium bowl. Pour ricotta filling over cooled crust. Spoon pumpkin filling over. Using a spoon, gently swirl the 2 fillings in 6–7 places.

* Put cake pan in a large roasting pan. Add hot water to come halfway up sides of cake pan. Cover roasting pan tightly with foil. * I used a cookie sheet that had 2 inch sides.

* Bake cake for 1 hour. Open foil carefully to release steam. Reseal foil and continue baking, opening foil to release steam every 15 minutes, until cheesecake is set around the edges and jiggles slightly in the center when nudged, Then bake for another 45 minutes–1 hour longer until toothpick comes out fairly clean.


* Remove cake pan from roasting pan. Carefully unwrap outer foil from pan. Chill cake at least 6 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and keep chilled. Run a thin knife around inside of pan to release cake. Remove pan sides.

My First Turkey- Cider-Brined Turkey with Star Anise and Cinnamon

Thanks to Bon Appetit Magazine's "Thanksgiving Edition", I have roasted my first Turkey! Please note..I couldn't find Star Anise, so I just used loose Anise.

Ingredients

* 2 quarts plus 1 cup apple cider
* 1 cup kosher salt plus more
* 1 cup soy sauce -I omitted this since it's not gluten free
* 1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
* 16 whole black peppercorns
* 8 whole star anise pods plus more for garnish
* 6 garlic cloves, smashed
* 6 scallions, white parts only, trimmed, split lengthwise
* 6 1/4”-thick slices unpeeled ginger
* 5 dried shitake mushrooms
* 2 3”-4” cinnamon sticks plus more for garnish
* 2 sprigs cilantro
* 1 12–14-lb. turkey
* Freshly ground black pepper
* 2 Granny Smith apples, cut into sixths
* Melted unsalted butter or vegetable oil (for basting)

Preparation

*
Bring 2 quarts cider, 1 cup salt, and the next 10 ingredients to a boil in a very large (16-qt.) pot, stirring to dissolve salt and sugar. Let cool to room temperature. Stir in 1 1/2 gallons cold water. Add turkey to brine and press down to submerge. Cover; refrigerate overnight.
*
Remove turkey from brine and pat dry with paper towels; discard brine. Season lightly inside and out with salt and pepper. Place turkey, breast side up, on a rack set in a large heavy roasting pan and tie legs together with kitchen twine. Let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375°. Combine the remaining 1 cup of cider and 3 cups water in roasting pan. Scatter apples around. Brush turkey with butter. Flip breast side down.

Roast turkey, breast side down, basting occasionally, for 1 hour. Using paper towels, flip turkey. Roast, basting occasionally, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165°, 1–1 1/2 hours longer. Transfer turkey to a platter. Let rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.

Meanwhile, strain the juices from the roasting pan into a saucepan, reserving apples. Simmer over medium heat until juices have thickened, about 10 minutes. Serve the cider jus alongside the turkey and apples and garnish with extra star anise pods and cinnamon sticks.

Gluten Free Cranberry Apple and Pecan Muffins

I made A LOT of homemade Cranberry sauce this weekend and none of it was used. So, I needed to find a way to put some of it to good use. Hence, I searched for "leftover Cranberry sauce recipes" and I found this. From "Seriouseats.com. I made this gluten and dairy free!

Ingredients:
* 1 cup flour - Domata Gluten free flour
* 1/2 cup whole-grain wheat flour- Domata gluten free flour
* 1 cup oats
* 1/3 cup brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 ½ cups of leftover cranberry sauce
* 1/2 cup skim milk- I used almond milk
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil -I used butter flavored Crisco
* 1 egg - I used 2 eggs
** I added one Granny Smith Apple, diced


1. Heat oven to 400 Degree. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups.
2. In a large bowl, combine regular flour, whole-grain flour, oats, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; mix well. In medium bowl, combine milk, oil, cranberry sauce (and apple)and egg; blend well. Fold into dry ingredients all at once; stir until dry ingredients are moistened.
3. Fill muffin cups about three-quarters full.
4. Bake 25 and then cover with foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Break off that seductive muffin top, then inhale the rest!