GF Flatbread and Cracker Recipe and a GIVE-AWAY!

Gluten free Feta & Dill crackers (with homemade hummus)Photo by Kate Chan

My girls have been asking for “pies” in their lunch boxes lately.  I couldn’t figure out what they wanted.  (Yes, I am the only one who packs their lunches…so yes, I’m … slow.  LOL!)  They assured me that they had eaten peanut butter and jelly pies with lunch.  I was convinced they got snacks at day care.

Turns out they were right.

I have been buying some of the thin, round sandwich thingies at the grocer every once in a blue moon (and especially when I didn’t have time to make bread for everyone).  They are not big bread eaters actually, so it’s been easy to maintain a gluten free house for the most part.  (Save for the ubiquitous box of Goldfish crackers.  I just can’t make enough gluten free mock goldfish crackers to keep up with their demand.  But as an FYI, the gluten free ones are preferred.)

Schools doesn’t break for summer vacation here until June 23.

And THAT seems very far away at the moment.  And thankfully so, I have a ton left to do at work.  But I can’t wait for some time with my girlies too.  I hope we have a warm (not hot) summer and they sun comes to visit.  (It goes missing for several MONTHS of the year here in the PNW.  If you ever hear me moaning about the lack of sunshine, really… I have reason.  I’m totally solar-powered.  This no-sun thing KILLS me.)

Recently, I also applied for a freebie sample of coconut oil from Tropical Traditions.  I did not receive payment for any review, but was provided with a sample.  They also offered a “give away” of one of their jars of coconut oil.  I think I actually like this stuff!  It is more expensive than buying traditional oils  Since so many people have been talking about using coconut oil in lieu of butters, etc, I thought I would give it a try.  We’ve made some fabulously light waffles with it (and the added benefit of coconut smell while oiling the waffle pan was great!  It was alike an invasion of summer.)  If you would like to try it too, please follow these guidelines:

Congratulations to Stephanie C – Winner!

 

Win A Quart of Gold Label Coconut Oil from Tropical Traditions!

 

INFORMATION FROM TROPICAL TRADITIONS:

“Tropical Traditions is America’s source for coconut oil.  Our Gold Label Virgin Coconut Oil is hand crafted in small batches by family producers, and it is the highest quality coconut oil they offer. You can read more about how virgin coconut oil is different from other coconut oils on our website:  What is Virgin Coconut Oil? Tropical Traditions also carries other varieties of affordable high quality coconut oil. Visit our website to check on current sales, to learn about the many uses of coconut oil, and to read about all the  advantages of buying coconut oil online.  Since the FDA does not want us to discuss the health benefits of coconut oil on a page where it is being sold or given away, here is the best website to read about the health benefits of coconut oil.”

ABOUT TROPICAL TRADITIONS COCONUT OIL:

HOW TO ENTER:  For each ENTRY, post ONE comment below.  You may receive an “ENTRY” by doing any/all of the following.

Just remember to post a new comment for each – sorry, but it’s the easiest way to track entries!

• COMMENT BELOW and tell me your fave idea or current use for coconut oil.
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• UPDATED INFO:  Tropical Tradition is requiring that people register for their newsletter.  Read this “In addition, as a requirement for people to enter your giveaway, please ask them to subscribe to our email Sales Newsletter here: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/subscribe_for_special_sales.cfm.”  SORRY FOR MISSING THIS EARLIER, people!  (egad!)

GIVE AWAY ENDS Friday, June 23, 2012 at midnight.  What a way to kick off summer for me!

A winner will be chosen using RANDOM.ORG.  The winner will be contacted via email to obtain a mailing address for Tropical Traditions.  Tropical Traditions will be mailing/supplying the quart of coconut oil.  Good luck!

So……

Now that you are jazzed to try coconut oil…. here’s a recipe you can start with.  (If you don’t have coconut oil on hand, you can use olive oil or butter.)

I’ve been making quick breads (like the lavash recipe) and others trying to get a speedy answer to lunch for me.  This one, Feta and Dill, is our current favorite.  I began making naan and other flatbread recipes several years ago.  Just as I perfected my recipe, our pizza stone broke.  Why does that matter?  Because all of the recipes that were the most successful had beautiful bread  that would puff up nicely on a pizza stone in the oven.  Without a stone, I rather went back to the drawing board.

Oh, the recipe still works beautifully, but I had to adapt it a little bit to adjust for the different baking/cooking techniques.  This dough can be flattened thinly used to make crackers (picture above) or formed into pita/naan/flatbread (into which I slide a thin sharp knife for sandwiches), etc.  Adjusting the baking times can be adjusted to add more flexibility (more moisture) or a light crisp airy crust (like the pita below).    I’ve even pan-fried them in a little olive oil with a generous sprinkling of sea-salt to make a nice crisp crust.

I love the fact that recipes are so versatile.  Makes for easier on-the-spot adjustment!

As I finish writing this post (which has taken forever this morning to get started!), I realize that we’ve now eaten the 8th or 9th batch with this recipe.  And today, I used my piece (thicker/pita-like) to have a turkey, avocado and sprout sandwich.  My Love used his for a pizza base and the girls ate the chips (above) with hummus.  Sweet deal.

You can also adjust the cheese (use parmesan or asadero or a gluten free bleu).  I suggest sticking to the dry/crumbly cheeses for this so you don’t have to mess with the liquid/dry ratio.

Gluten Free Feta and Dill Flatbread

Recipe makes 8-9 pita shapes or more if flattened thinly for flatbread/chips)

Ingredients:

PROOF:

1/3 cup warm milk

1 teaspoon sugar or honey

2 teaspoons yeast

DRY:

2 cups GF blend (rice, millet or sorghum based – or use GF Mama’s Almond Blend)

         (OR:  1 1/2 cup millet or sorghum or rice + 1/2 tapioca or potato starch)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 cup feta

1 1/2 Tablespoons dried dill

WET:

1/2 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt

1 Tablespoon coconut oil (or butter or olive oil)

1 egg

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat your oven to 400F.
2. Mix together your proofing ingredients:  warm milk, sugar and yeast.  Set aside.
3. Into the bowl of your mixer, add your dry ingredients.  Mix.
4. Add the wet ingredients.  Mix again.
5. Add the proofing mixture (which should have puffed up by now).
6. Mix together on medium for 2-3 minutes.  The mixture will still be wet and sticky but you should be able to scrap it into a large mass within the bowl.
7. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.  Grease your hands (I coated mine with the coconut oil).  Take the dough in small balls/chunks a tiny bit larger than a golf ball and press them flat onto the parchment paper.  Try to do this evenly.  (You will have uneven browning spots if you are not careful… or if you are me.  😀 )
8. Bake – under a watchful eye as all ovens vary! – for 8 – 13 minutes.  (8 minutes for the thin cracker-bread and 10-13 minutes for the pita).
9. Remove an allow to cool (if you can) before storing (if you have any left over).

I have successfully doubled this recipe – but I did NOT add another egg.  Rather I adjust the moisture by adding more sour cream or Greek yogurt.  (Just an FYI if you find that it disappears quickly in your house as well.)

Happy GF Eats, Everyone!
And good luck with your Give-Away Entries!
~Kate

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Unbelievably fabulous: Gluten Free Peanut Butter & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Really. Un-freakin’-Believably DELICIOUS.

GF Peanut Butter, Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Photo by Kate Chan

I have finally clicked “POST GRADES” on my last class for the semester. The finals are all stacked up neatly and ready to be returned to the students. And I am DONE DONE DONE! I truly love my job (parenting wins, but teaching is great too! LOL) but the paperwork involved is insane. Really. It is.

It follows you wherever you are: classroom desk, reminders written on post-it notes scrunched quickly into pockets or my purse, email (everywhere!), class web page updates, in the car next to the kids day-care bag rides my school BAGSSSSSS, and on every spare surface in the family room/office of the house. Teaching paperwork hangs around link a lingering perfume. And after a while, you are almost drowning in it. And it never ends.

I am just getting better at carving out time for me and my family. There are several hours each day when we are just here together – wherever that may be. But together? Always.

And now both babes are engaged in conversation and action (the baby just sat up for the first time tonight by herself!), life is getting good. The Chicklet and I have been whipping up cookies, rolls and pancakes like nobody’s business. And she has some interesting ideas for flavors. In her mind, everything needs a little cumin. I’m fairly certain that this influence comes from two things: (1) my mention of needing milk and cumin as the purpose for our grocery trip MONTHS ago and (2) her dad will eat anything and EVERYTHING with cumin in it. ;D

I know I’ve been stressed about the paperwork/semester finals etc when we’ve made several batches of cookies. And once again, it’s fabulous to have colleagues to happily volunteer to munch on your test batches of cookies or my booty would seriously needs its own zip code. 😀

Do you have a favorite cookie flavor?

I enjoy peanut butter cookies and my sister’s blue ribbon winning “Aunt Selma’s Oatmeal” cookies. But when I decided to make some cookies, a couple things came up. First, I’m not a fan of using vegetable shortening any more. I can really taste it after making something with it. So that was something I needed to modify from the Aunt Selma’s recipe. And two: I wanted some chocolate! 😀 And that is always a happy thing – unless there isn’t a lot of chocolate in the house.

Anyway, after a few attempts, I have my perfect hybrid recipe. This one is easily adapted too. I’ve used it with almond nut butter in lieu of the peanut butter. I’ve used peanut butter and sliced almonds (instead of the oatmeal) too. I’ve used my GF flour mix with delicious results, and my favorite batch used just millet and sweet rice flours. YUM! Oh – and you can make large or small cookies – and even freeze the little dough balls for “cookies on the fly” if you would like. (This was particularly helpful for me as I am the only cookie-sweet-tooth in the house.) And there is no need for gums of any kind.

Genius, right?

Well, okay. Not really. But it is fabulously tasty. And I will continue to make this recipe over and over again. I think my next trip to the store will involve some hazelnut butter, sliced almonds and dark chocolate chunks. 😀 It’s going to be a fabulous weekend.

How will you make yours?

GF Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe makes 24 -28 small (1.5 inch) cookies or 12 -18 large (2.5 inch+) cookies

Download a printable copy of this recipe here.

Or get a PDF copy of it here. (with a photo to remind you)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, cold but not hard
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
1 egg
1 1/12 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup GF Flour OR 2/3 cup millet flour + 1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 GF-certified oats (OR 1/2-2/3 cup sliced almonds)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (OR peanut butter-chocolate chips, or chocolate chunks, etc)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F if baking (not freezing) the cookies.
2. Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar for 4 minutes on medium.
3. Add vanilla and egg. Beat mixture again for 2 minutes on medium-high.
4. Add peanut butter. Beat again for 2 minutes on medium-high.
5. Add flour(s), oats, baking soda and salt. Mix again. Dough will be exactly like regular cookie dough.
6. Quickly and carefully (so as not to mash them) mix in the chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.
7. If you are freezing the cookies, form in to the size ball that you want. Place the balls on a plate so that they are not touching. Place the plate of cookie balls with a loose covering of plastic wrap in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. When the balls have hardened and are no longer super-sticky, move them into a freezer-ready package (freezer bag or other type of freezer container). Use as you would any other frozen cookie ball. Remove as many as you wish and bake at 350F for 15-18 minutes (small cookies) or 22-25 minutes (larger ones). Watch the baking time as it will vary based on the size of your cookie, how frozen/cold the cookie dough, and your oven. The photo above shows the golden brown tinges that you are looking for to determine “doneness”.
8. If you are baking the cookies right away, shape into balls. (I use my ice cream scoop when wickedly lazy and wish for large cookies. It works great with this recipe. I might just have to invest in the little cookie scoops.)
9. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet covered with a silpat or parchment paper. Bake for 11-13 minutes for small cookies or for 15 – 18 minutes for large ones.
10. Remove from the oven when the top begins to turn golden brown. (See the photo above.) Allow the cookies to cool for 3-4 minutes before attempting to move them on to a cooling rack. Cool and pack for transport to work (or to a hiding place in the kitchen for your secret stash of goodness).

Enjoy!
Kate

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