Diane and Brad's Almond Flour Treats
School started and I made a promise to myself that before it did, we would bake and cook some breakfast and dinner items to make life easier on busy days. Well this past weekend I kept that promise. We sat down with Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook and started making our plans. By we I mean me and my son Brad, who is the baker of the family. He’s starting 10th grade at a school where there’s a long bus ride to get there. So early mornings and a desire to not cook breakfast every morning was the inspiration for this adventure.
Arrowroot Decor
I say adventure because if I’m in the kitchen baking you never know what will happen. Just take a look at how things started. I pulled out the arrowroot as I was gathering supplies and somebody didn’t put the lid on tight the last time she was cooking. Don’t worry she and I had a long talk about that one. As I pulled it out of the cabinet it flew open and went everywhere including all over me. You can see my footprint where I was standing and where it’s all over the cabinet doors, it went into the cabinet. Here is a warning, keep the lid on tight to your arrowroot. When it spills, it goes everywhere.
Apple Cinnamon Muffins
So after cleaning that mess up we got busy measuring and baking. It was a lot of fun to work from Elana’s cookbook. The first thing I love about this book is the short ingredient list. I don’t often do a lot of gluten free baking because of the long list of flours needed. There usually are some I can’t eat anyway. But these recipes had a short list of ingredients and a short list of directions. Two things I can handle.
Cinnamon Coffee Cake
This enabled us to bake Cinnamon Apple Muffins, Cinnamon Coffee Cake, Chocolate Chip Scones, Cheddar Cheese Crackers and Pancakes in just a few hours. Now there is only one problem with these recipes, they all taste AMAZING! The Chocolate Chip Scones are hunt you down if you don’t give them to me now good. Believe it or not we still have a few left. I pulled out 3 from the freezer today and there are two left. We’ll need to make more of these soon.
Cheddar Cheese Crackers
Everything we made worked and tastes great. Now I did cook the coffee cake a little longer and the edges are a little too done, but that was my fault. Next time I’ll know to stay to the baking time she gave. I think Brad’s favorite were the Cheddar Cheese Crackers. He’s the only one who can eat dairy so he doesn’t have to share them. I did have one just to taste it and they are great. They really do taste like a Cheez-Its.
This morning I was able to pull out a couple of pancakes and heat them up with a piece of sausage and served that with orange juice. It took me 3 minutes to make breakfast. I’m very happy we took the time to make these foods and even happier that they taste so good. If you live gluten free this is a Must Have cookbook.
51 Chicken Taquitos
Today I finished up with the Chicken Taquitos. I ended up with 51 to freeze. I would have had more but I ate the first 3 or 4, OK 5. I only ate the ones that fell apart. How was I going to bag those. I cooked the chicken in the crockpot with some dried chili peppers. When it was done I shredded the meat. This time to the meat I added pureed chilies. I followed the same process as I did with the Posole. This gave the chicken a great flavor. I added in the usual suspects of cumin, ancho chili, cilantro, salt and pepper. It was a great mixture for the Taquitos.
The Chicken Taquitos will make their appearance when a quick, I don’t want to cook dinner is needed. I’m sure that’s right around the corner.
If you have busy mornings like we do, I hope you will take the time to bake up a few of your favorite recipes to have on hand. It’s really nice to not have to think so early in the morning.
If you have not ordered your own copy of Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, what are you waiting for. Do it now. Go to the top of this blog where it says Store and click to ship. Or go to her website, Elana’s Pantry and order it from there. Whatever you do, get your hands on this book! Don’t you just want to lick that icing.
Great review, Diane! I am so impressed with all that you and Brad made–way cool! I have Elana's cookbook, but have only made a few so far. Like you, I'm a big, big fan! 🙂
Shirley
Shirley- Sometimes I think it's easier to get on a roll and make a bunch. The only problem is we're eating everything so fast we're going to have to get baking more. I really love how fast and easy these recipes are. I made another recipe this week. It was great too! Can't wait to hear her talk at the BlogHer Food Conference.
I just received Elana's book in the mail last weekend, and I'm making a list of a few items I need to hunt down. (Arrowroot flour, for one…why is this so hard to find?) I did make her coconut macaroons and coconut frosting (both from her website) last weekend – the frosting was to top my first attempt at a zucchini cupcake. Tasty indeed! Happy baking!
Alta- How's the baking going? Did you find the arrowroot? I buy mine either at Penzeys or Whole Foods. I can get Bob's Red Mill at Whole Foods and it's a nice big bag. If you buy arrowroot at a regular grocery store it will be with the seasonings in a little jar. Not enough for me. Let me know what you make. I might try it too.
I am considering purchasing Elana's book as well. I'd like to try almond flour. I tend to get lazy and rely on Pamela's Baking Mix which really is wonderful. I make so many good things with it, pancakes, muffins and cookies-even a delicous fruit cake twice!
Lynn- I love her book. The recipes are fast and easy and taste great. They are also grain free. Most of the pre-made mixes have rice in them. When on a gluten free diet it's easy to get too much rice with the processed foods. I hope you give it a try.
I like the arrowroot on the floor Diane! I have to tell you a funny story….the other day I was baking blueberry muffins with my boys (20 months old). The muffins were in the oven and I had most ingredients put away but the bag of arrowroot. One twin had a diaper that needed changing so I went to the bathroom to deal with that. When I came out the other twin was on the counter covered in arrowroot, the counter was covered in powdery white, as was the floor. He was tossing handfuls in the air! I stopped for a moment in shock and then took some photos. I'll have to share the photos sometime, it was quite the site! 🙂
BTW – I buy my arrowroot from Authentic Foods (www.authenticfoods.com) – it is the only arrowroot that I have found to be truly gluten-free.
I love that you made so many recipes in one day! I bet that was fun! They all look so yummy! What a thoughtful review! I am sure Elana appreciates it. -Ali 🙂
Ali- I'd love to see those photos. He knows how to have fun. Did he help vacuum it up? Thanks for sharing the info on arrowroot. I've used Bob's Red Mill and it says it's gluten free. I didn't have any problems with it. It takes a lot to get me baking so I try to do as much at once as possible. We never got to the waffle recipe. I really want to give them a try. They look so good. I even bought teff to give it a try. Next time we bake.