I took a knife to a gun fight...

When I brought my very first gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free pie to a pie contest fundraiser at my work, I felt very much like the guy in the movie the Untouchables who brought a knife to a gun fight. This was the very first pie I ever made since going gluten free. I mostly made it so I would have something I could eat since I knew I'd be surrounded by tempting, gluten filled, no doubt delicious pie. The other gluten free person in the office told me she enjoyed my pie, which made me happy. I tried it, and I liked it as well. But I was absolutely shocked when it was announced that my pie actually WON the pie contest. All the other entries had gluten, sugar and in some cases- glorious whipped cream. I took my knife into the gunfight and somehow I came out on top. I'll post some more info on the pie I entered soon. It was a Caramel Apple Pie, and now I can say it is "award-winning". Hee hee.

Updated: Caramel Sauce with a Twist: Refined Sugar Free and Dairy Free

Update: New and Improved Caramel Sauce

I'm sure some of you may have heard of Mimic Creme before, but I just discovered it the other day. This works much better for the caramel sauce than the previously used Soyatoo. And, as a bonus, this is now a soy free recipe!

1/2 cup palm sugar

1/2 cup light agave nectar

1 cup water

1/2 cup Mimic Creme (almond and cashew cream substitute, available @ Whole Foods)

Combine palm sugar, agave and water in a medium saucepan (don't use small it will bubble up). Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium. Boil until most of the water has evaporated and the remaining liquid takes on a medium brown color. Remove from heat and stir in the Mimic Creme. Return to low heat and simmer 2 minutes until sauce is smooth. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon. It will thicken as it cools.

Guest Review on Make Me Some Pie!

My guest review of Queen of Hearts Berry Pie is up now on my brother's pie blog- makemesomepie.com. Head on over and check it out.

GF @ the Portland Farmer's Market

Portland Farmer's Market opened up last weekend, so we decided to go check it out today. I confess, the main reason I woke up early to hit the market was because I knew (via Facebook) that Petunia's Pies and Pastries was going to have doughnuts. I work downtown, and for some reason this week (maybe because of Spring Break) I saw an incredible number of people walking around with pink boxes. For those who don't know- the pink boxes are from Voodoo Doughnuts (not GF). This made me start to crave doughnuts like mad. As you can see from the picture, the doughnuts didn't make it home. I had chocolate glazed with sprinkles and my wife had a maple bar. Thanks Petunia's for satisfying my craving. It sounds like this could become a regular thing for Petunia's at the market- this week was raised style, next week they will have cake doughnuts. Hooray for gluten free doughnuts, what a treat!

Besides the obvious gluten free options like all the fantastic fruit and vegetables, there were several other vendors selling gluten free goods. We got pasta from Nonna's Noodles, a berry hand pie from Queen of Hearts, a Chocolate Hazelnut pie from Divine Pie and bagels from New Cascadia Traditional Bakery. I also saw another vendor selling gluten free flours (sorry I don't remember the name) and HeidiHo Organics was selling vegan gluten free "cheese" which was actually pretty good.

Why did I buy two pies? Well, my little brother runs makemesomepie.com, so let's just say it's both for my enjoyment, and research. Oh yeah, and I LIKE pie! Stay tuned for more on that.

I was very happy to see all these vendors at the market, helping to make our gluten free lives a little bit easier, and more delicious!

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Update: I just made another batch of these. This time I used palm sugar in place of the demerara sugar and palm shortening (Spectrum Organic) instead of butter. This makes them dairy free and refined sugar free. Also, they actually turned out even better than the original!

The verdict is in. I thought these muffins were good, and my lovely wife thought they were great! I used some Demerara sugar in this one, but I think palm sugar would work too. Or you could try all agave, but the results might be a little different.

½ cup brown rice flour

½ cup white rice flour

¼ cup tapioca flour

¼ cup arrowroot

1/3 cup Demerara Sugar or Palm Sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Butter or Palm Shortening (like Spectrum Organic)

1/3 cup dark agave

2 mashed bananas (about 1 cup)

1/4 milk substitute (i used unsweetened coconut)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix all the dry ingredients in a food processor or mixer until combined. Add butter/substitute and mix until coarse. Add the wet ingredients and mix until you have a thick batter. If using food processor, remove batter and add chocolate chips and fold them in. If using a mixer add the chocolate chips and mix until incorporated. Scoop into a greased muffin pan (I used an ice cream scoop). Use enough batter to fill the tin almost to the top. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (except for maybe a little melted chocolate). Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

Gluten Free Central Oregon Coast

We went to Depoe Bay last weekend and I just thought I'd post some info on gluten free options for folks since Spring Break is here.

Hilltop Inn in Lincoln City is not fancy. It looks exactly like what it is- an old Denny's. We went for breakfast and the list of gluten free options is pretty good. Apparently one of the owners eats GF. They made us hashbrowns from scratch, with house made GF toast for me and a house made GF chocolate muffin for Kristen. They also get bonus points from me for knowing how to cook an egg to order.

Captain Dan's Pirate Pastry in Lincoln City has a few GF options. I had a slice of chocolate cake that was pretty tasty- nice and moist, but kind of flat and dense. It's worth a try if you are craving something sweet- they have cookies and muffins too.

We were only in town for a couple days, and we cooked at the condo a couple times (I cooked some seafood we got from Local Ocean in Newport- highly recommended). But there are more GF options to try next time:

One place we wanted to try but it was closed on Sunday, and that is Beach Town Bakery. Apparently they have GF options, but I don't know how many or what is available. They do have an Udi's sign on the door, so I'm also not sure if they actually bake the GF options in house or not. *(note: since this review was written I received notice that BTB has given up on gluten free because it wasn't selling).

Also there is a pizza place called Pizza Cucina that had an ad in the local restaurant guide that said they have gluten free pizza available. It is in Newport.

In Newport as well is Savory Cafe, which is in the Nye Beach area. They have GF personal pizzas as well as a large selection of GF items ranging from tacos and burritos to their signature Savory bowls, which are all GF and vegan (unless you add meat). This is one we are definitely going to check out next time.

Cupcakes!

A lot of times with my gluten free baking experiments, I start by trying out someone else's recipe as a base (gluten free or not), then tweak and modify it until I get something better. But sometimes a recipe actually works so well it needs (almost) no modifications. These cupcakes I made tonight are the best I've ever had- gluten or not. The recipe is not mine, and is published in a cookbook that I don't have permission to reprint. But I can tell you, it is from Babycakes NYC, and you can find the recipe on Gwenyth Paltrow's website GOOP right here. I was amazed because the last batch of cupcakes I made had some of the same ingredients, but turned into bricks, unsuitable for human consumption.

I wasn't sure I believed all the hype about Babycakes, but the fans are right, this recipe is the real deal. Of course, one look at the ingredient list, and you gluten free bakers out there can quickly see that these are not cheap to make. Making these regularly could break the bank, so you may want to put this recipe in your special occasions folder. I hate to mess with such a good thing, but I'm already thinking of ways I could make this cupcake just as delicious, but more affordable. Stay tuned.

p.s. Besides being gluten free, these are refined sugar free (sweetened with agave and applesauce), dairy free and even vegan- or at least they were until I put cream cheese frosting on them!