Blueberry Pecan Muffins with Toasted Millet

I can't even begin to tell you how surprisingly happy I am with these muffins. They are really, really good.

I've had several of you ask me if I've tried Pamela's Products Artisan Flour Blend and until recently, I hadn't tried it - nor was I that anxious to try it. However, I've been doing a lot with sourdough these days (I'll share about that at a later date), and making actual bread loaves with the starter has been posing a challenge for me with the flours I'm trying to combine, as well as blends that I normally purchase for use in other baking. I started thinking this particular blend might work a bit better, but I haven't tried it with the sourdough yet. Seeing it available as a single bag purchase through Amazon's subscribe and save program, however, gave me the incentive to go ahead and purchase a bag.

The first thing I tried with this flour blend was pancakes. I mostly followed the instructions on the bag, with a few of my own tweaks. I have to beg of you in the name of all that is good to NOT make pancakes with this flour blend. My daughters found them edible, but not as tasty as other pancakes. I, on the other hand, could barely gag them down. The texture was terrible. Very gummy and heavy. The batter was thick and slimy. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

So it was with much trepidation that I made muffins out of it, following the basic recipe on the bag but making my own adjustments that I felt would give the batter a better chance of turning out something edible. I wasn't disappointed, and am looking forward to making them again this week. The toasted millet adds a lovely crunch and flavor you don't want to skip out on!

I feel better about trying it with the bread soon. I'll let you know how that goes.

Blueberry Pecan Muffins with Toasted Millet
(Printable Recipe)

Projected Prep Time: 15 min; Projected Bake Time: 15-18 min; Makes 14-19 muffins (regular size)

2 cups Pamela's Products Artisan Flour Blend
1/2 cup almond flour
1 Tbsp. gluten-free baking powder
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
8 Tbsp. melted butter, unsalted
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups milk, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup toasted hulled millet (see directions)
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
2/3 cups pecan pieces

Place 1/3 cup hulled millet in dry pan and cover with lid. Heat at low-medium heat for a few minutes, shaking pan often, until millet is hot and toasted. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line muffin tin with baking cups.

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl with a fork.

Whisk together melted butter and milk (room temperature will keep butter from getting firm again), then whisk in eggs and vanilla.

Pour liquids directly into dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. Mix in toasted millet. Fold in pecans and then blueberries.

Drop evenly into muffin cups (the batter made 19 muffins in my regular size tins).

Place in oven (top rack if gas oven) and drop temperature to 375 degrees. Bake 15-18 minutes or until done. Cool on wire racks. Store leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator, bringing to room temperature or warming back up just a little to eat.

Enjoy!

Gluten-Free Ratio Rally Does Tea Bread!

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

Time for me to post another Gluten-Free Ratio Rally catch-up - eventually I'll catch up to where they are and maybe, hopefully, I'll be able to start baking in the challenges again!

The rally participants did tea bread for the challenge in May, and the ever-so-sweet Brooke from B and the boy! was the host for this challenge with her Scottish Tea Bread. Be sure to check out Brooke's yummy bread, as well as the recipes the other participants baked up for you.

If you aren't familiar with the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally, I have a rally page here where I link to all the challenges I participated in, as well as host posts to those I didn't.

Heather: Discovering the Extraordinary -- "Figgy" Tea Bread

Adina: Gluten Free Travellette -- Rhubarb Tea Bread

Morri: Meals with Morri -- Oatmeal Raisin Tea Bread

I hope you're all having a great summer!

Zucchini "Panini"

If you ignore the homework mess in the upper left of this photo and forgive the lighting, you'll discover a delicious, quick and super-simple meal to serve on these oh-so-busy school nights. I call it zucchini "panini."

Corn tortillas, zucchini, white onions, mozzarella, salt and pepper and about 20 minutes from start to finish for five of these yummies.

My husband and daughters got me this Cuisinart Griddler for Mother's Day this last year. While I'd been eyeing the appliance for a few years, I had hesitations about it being just that: Another appliance that gets pulled out for use a few times a year and takes up space the rest of the time. Boy, was I wrong. With the exception of my mixer, the coffee maker and my blender, it probably gets used more any other small appliance in my kitchen. We even make our fresh eggs on it in the morning, sandwiching them together between the flat side of the plates for about a minute or two, and we have "fried" eggs without frying them. This griddler is what I make the zucchini paninis on.

Projected prep time, start to finish, for 5: About 20 minutes

(Printable Recipe)

10 gluten-free corn tortillas

2 or 3 zucchini, cut in half, then slice each in four slices lengthwise

Half of a medium white onion, or a whole small one, sliced

Shredded mozzarella

Sea salt

Italian pepper

Place panini grill plates into griddler and heat on grill setting at medium/high. If when you begin to cook, the grill marks don't start to brown the vegetables within a couple of minutes, turn the heat to high.

Cut onion in half and slice it. Place slices onto grill, close and cook for a couple of minutes.

While onion is cooking, cut up zucchini. Remove onions and place on a plate, then put the zucchini slices onto grill, close and cook for two or three minutes. Remove and place on plate.

On one corn tortilla, sprinkle a small handful of mozzarella onto surface, then top with three or four zucchini slices. Top with several onion slices, then grind some sea salt over the vegetables and follow with a dash or two of Italian pepper. Sprinkle more mozzarella over vegetables and top with another corn tortilla. Repeat. Place the two "sandwiches" on the grill and close the plates, cooking for a few minutes until the tortilla surface has crisped up and cheese is melting well.

Continue repeating until you have enough. Slice panini in half, or quarters.This recipe will make five "paninis."

Enjoy!

Pumpkin-Chocolate Chip Muffins and a Giveaway!

Are you enjoying your holiday season so far? Lots of preparations under way? I'll be honest that I haven't been able to do too much baking yet, but I plan to get some things baked this weekend.

I think I might make these muffins again. They are that good, and work perfectly for a fall or winter treat or gift for someone special. This muffin recipe comes straight out of "Fast and Simple Gluten-Free: 30 Minutes or Less to Fresh and Classic Favorites" - the recently-released cookbook written by Gretchen Brown of kumquat blog. I'm giving away a copy of this book at the bottom of this post, so don't forget to enter for your chance to win!

I have gotten to "know" Gretchen a little through the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally (look forward to the day when I can meet so many of these bloggers in person!) and I love her blog. Naturally I was thrilled when she asked  about interest in reviewing her cookbook.

Gretchen provided me with a copy of this book to review and give away and I can't be anything but honest with you when I tell you that this is my new favorite all-purpose and more gluten-free cookbook. In fact, I've used this book so much before the review that some of the pages got dirty, so I'm keeping this copy and providing a new copy for the giveaway.

This book is simply amazing, and not just for "gluten-free." Anyone would love this book. Unlike other "fast" cookbooks I have intended to give you recipes in 30 minutes or less and you end up spending more than hour on them, this book truly delivers recipes that take 30 minutes or less. The recipes range from beverages to entrees, sides to desserts and more. She has a few recipes in the back that take a little more time, and states so. They are worth it, though, and don't take too much time. These muffins are one of those recipes.

I have already made several of the recipes in this book (including entrees), and my family and I have loved every one of them. You won't be disappointed to receive this book as a holiday gift for yourself or to give to someone else. Gretchen fills the pages with tips and gorgeous photos. I've always loved her food photos. She is also a registered dietitian, so she doesn't steer you wrong with ingredients.

You'll want to enter yourself for a chance to win at the bottom.

Pumpkin-chocolate chip muffins
From pg. 160 Fast and Simple Gluten-Free: 30 Minutes or Less to Fresh and Classic Favorites

Ingredients:
1 1/2 (210 grams) Kumquat's Gluten-Free All Pupose Flour Blend (see link or page 15 of book) or gluten-free all-purpose flour (*Caneel's note: something like Pamela's baking mix would work here)
1 teaspoon baking powder (*Caneel's note: Cut back on all leavening agents if you are using a blend that already contains them)
1 teaspoon baking soda (*see note above)
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (*see note above, some blends already contain salt)
1/2 cup (120 ml) canola oil (*Caneel's note: I used extra light olive oil)
1 cup (225 g) packed brown sugar (*Caneel's note: I used dark brown)
1 cup (245 g) canned pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (175 g) miniature chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (200 degrees Celsius, or gas mark 6).

Line 12 muffin tins with cupcake wrappers.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Combine the oil, brown sugar, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Stir the oil mixture into the flour mixture until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin pan. Bake for 21 minutes and then cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

The giveaway has ended. Congratulations to Marci who is the winner!

Now, here's how to enter for a chance to win this fabulous cookbook:

This giveaway is for one copy of  "Fast and Simple Gluten-Free: 30 Minutes or Less to Fresh and Classic Favorites" and the entry period begins today, December 13, 2012 and will end on Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. CST. The winner will be picked through the Random Sequence Generator on Random.org. 

***My apologies, but this giveaway is only open to residents of the United States.***

You are eligible for up to seven entries in this giveaway. To enter:

1. Leave a comment on this post telling me what type of recipe you'd be most excited to make out of this cookbook (only one comment per person will be counted this way, and this counts as one entry).

Additional entries may be earned by leaving a comment EACH TIME you do one of the following (you get an entry for each one only if you leave a comment for each):

2. "Like" Mama Me Gluten Free on Facebook (if you already "like" the blog on Facebook, that also counts as an entry) and leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

3. Follow @MamaMeGF on Twitter (if you already follow, that counts as an entry), then leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

4. Share this giveaway on Facebook with a link to this post, and leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

5. Share this giveaway on Twitter: "I want to win "Fast & Simple gluten-free" cookbook @MamaMeGF! http://bit.ly/XXzGr3 " and then leave a comment here telling me you've done this.

6. Subscribe to Mama Me Gluten Free RSS feed, then leave a comment here telling me you've done this. (If you already subscribe, then that counts too - just leave a comment letting me know!)

7. "Like" Gretchen's kumquat blog on facebook and then leave a comment here telling me you've done this. 

You must leave a comment on this post for each of things if you want an entry for each one. Only one comment per item per person will be counted. In other words, if you comment more than one time saying you "like" Mama Me on facebook, only one of those comments will be counted, etc. On the other hand, if you only leave one comment saying you did all of these things, you will only get one entry rather than seven.
********Be sure to leave a contact email if you are posting anonymously or don't have a way to contact you listed in your profile!

Good luck! 

*In the interest of full disclosure, Gretchen Brown had a copy of this book provided to me for review. Mama Me Gluten Free is purchasing a copy for the giveaway. I was not compensated in any other way, and the opinions of this book are entirely my own.

Gluten-Free Ratio Rally Does Focaccia Bread

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

I missed out on the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally this month - the holidays had begun and it was already December and wait - I didn't do the focaccia challenge! I'm going to have to give it a try, though, because I really love focaccia bread - especially for sandwiches!

In the meantime, please head over to the host this month - Heather from Discovering the Extraordinary - and see her incredible focaccia with rosemary and garlic. Hello, yum! And don't forget to check out the other delicious breads baked up for you by the other participants this month.

If you are curious about the rally, you can check out my rally page here, where I link up to all of my previous rally posts and recipes, as well as the ones I have missed. You can also find Shauna's first post introducing the rally and what it's all about.

Here are the other delicious recipes this month:
Carol | Goodness Gluten Free made Gluten Free Garlic and Parmesan Focaccia
Morri | Meals with Morri made Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Focaccia Bread
mary fran | frannycakes made Gluten Free Sage Foccacia
~Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R) made Focaccia Bread
Silvana | Silvana’s Kitchen made Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Focaccia
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Gluten Free Cheesy Herb Focaccia

I hope you're all having a great start to your holidays so far!

Gluten-Free Ratio Rally Does Tortillas and Wraps

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

So ... Fall has begun, school has started and I missed the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally's tortillas and wraps. Actually, I didn't completely miss it. I made some flour tortillas that turned out hard (as has been the problem with nearly every other time I've attempted flour tortillas gluten-free!) and decided not to share that recipe with you. They made tasty crackers, but we were going for pliable, right? I didn't want you to miss out on the other participants' recipes, though, because there are some great ones this month (yes, I'm a little late - sorry!) ... I also plan to keep at the whole flour tortilla thing. I got a tortilla press for my birthday last year and am determined to get good use out of it!

(And how have you all been, by the way? Are you as crazy busy as I am with school, sports and everything in between? I've been incredibly busy with work these days, which is a good thing, but now that it's been a few months since I started up my new business, things are slowly, slowly settling down and I'm getting my work schedule smoothed out. More recipes coming soon, I'm trying to promise without crossing my fingers!)

Now on to the tortillas and wraps. Many thanks to the lovely Brooke - a genuinely nice person - for hosting the rally this month! Check out her tortillas on the host post at http://bellwookie.blogspot.com/2012/09/ratio-rally-tortillas.html

And here is the list of the other participants, which can also be found on Brooke's post:

Jenn | Jenn Cuisine Corn Tortillas
Jonathan | The Canary Files Vegan Curried Flour Tortillas
Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie Lefse (Norwegian Potato Flatbread)
Pete and Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem Flour Tortillas
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies Gluten Free Flour Tortillas - Quesadilla
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary Sundried Tomato & Basil Tortillas
Charissa | Zest Bakery Paleo Grain-Free and Gluten-Free Tortillas
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free! Gluten Free Healthy Flours Tortillas

And if you are curious about the Ratio Rally and what it's all about, you can check out my rally page here where I have links to other rally posts.

Have an amazing weekend, everyone!

Breadsticks and Crackers for the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally in July

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

Happy summer, everyone! I hope you're enjoying it and able to get out as much as I've been - I've traveled literally halfway across the United States (by car) and back over the last few weeks - and am preparing for travel once again. The girls and I have been busy, busy! The only thing I regret on long vacations is the fact that, usually, my husband is left behind. We sure enjoy getting home to see him!

Obviously I missed, once again, the last Gluten-Free Ratio Rally. I hope to remedy this by providing you with the links (even though they are very late!) to the yummy breadsticks and crackers the other participants baked up for you. This challenge was hosted by Rachel over at The Crispy Cook, where she made cilantro crackers.

If you aren't familiar with the ratio rally, check out my rally page where I have linked to the introduction post written by Shauna from Gluten-Free Girl as well as all the other rally challenges I've posted about.

The good news is I AM participating in the challenge for August and have already written that post and scheduled it for publication on Wednesday.

In the meantime, enjoy these other delicious recipes, as well as Rachel's above!

Gluten Free Graham Crackers - by T.R. at No One Likes Crumbley Cookies

Zippy Garlic Crackers - by Heather at Discovering the Ordinary

Seafaring Crackers - by Claire at My Gluten Free Home

Savory Spice Crackers - by Jonathan at The Canary Files 

Crisp Bread Sticks and Bread Stick Sparklers - by Angela of Angela's Kitchen

Gluten Free Cracked Pepper Crackers - by Mary Fran at Frannycakes

Gluten Free Breadsticks - by Shauna of Gluten Free Girl

Bread for the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

Goodness! Has it really been so long since I've written here?? Yes, I'm afraid it has ... I've had to take a little hiatus from this site and I'm afraid this is only a short little "hello" before I'm off again for a few weeks. Since I last posted, we've had end of school activities, the flu, summer break beginning, dance recital, travel, seeing a specialist doctor halfway across the state for my health issues, travel again, braces for the oldest (an ongoing process that isn't finished with one visit!), launched a new business (yay for continuing to work doing something you love!), sorted out permits for new business etc. ... and we are traveling (for fun!) again. I'm taking a little break from packing to touch base with you real quick ...

On a food note, I took photos of a fabulous dessert made last night that I will edit and type the recipe up for you after the majority of my travels have come to an end. It was the first time I'd taken time to actually photograph food in a few weeks and it felt great.

On a new note, very good news in my health situation. The specialist I saw said that I don't have the rare, scary "chronic active" Epstein Barr that was feared. My EBV numbers remain off the charts high, but it doesn't indicate this active state of EBV. Thank God! Some other scary illnesses were ruled out with further testing and since we had already ruled out the very scary lymphoma with my surgery earlier in the year, the scary stuff seems to be (SO THANKFUL!!) not an issue for me. The bad news is he believes I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and it could be a few years before I see remission and even then it can come back.

The way I see it, though, is that CFS isn't a fatal disease and it doesn't cause organ failure like some of the other things we were concerned about. I have had to alter my very active lifestyle since all this hit in the fall, and I still get the swollen glands, sore throat, achy body and extreme fatigue (all of which can be caused by CFS) if I overdo it, but I'm learning how to manage it and the specialist felt like I already was doing many of the things I need to do in order to live with this the best I can.

So, after that little update on me, I am finally giving you links to the Gluten-Free Ratio Rally bread challenge which was hosted by Karen of Cooking Gluten-Free earlier this month (thank you, Karen!). I hated to miss out on this challenge - it was only the second one for me to miss - but once I caught the flu, there was no chance of experimenting with a ratio bread recipe with everything else going on. I'm afraid it looks like I'll be missing the July challenge as well, but I'll post the links for you when I'm able and hopefully will be back in the game for the next one.

(To see all the other previous rally challenges and what the rally is all about, check out my rally page here: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/p/gluten-free-ratio-rally.html)

In addition to Karen's amazing bread, check out the other delicious recipes the rally participants baked up for you!

Adina | Gluten Free Travelette  Seedy Sandwich Bread
Angela | Angela’s Kitchen  Our Family’s Basic Gluten Free Dairy Free Bread
~Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R) | Honey From Flinty Rocks  Chia Millet BreadBrooke | B & the boy!  Buckwheat-Oat Bread
Charissa | Zest Bakery  Cherry Pecan Pot Bread, Gluten Free  
Claire | This Gluten-Free Life  German Vollkornbrot (Seeded Bread)
Erin | The Sensitive Epicure English Sandwich Bread (gluten-free & egg-free)   
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine  Gluten Free BouleJonathan | The Canary Files Gluten-Free, Vegan Mediterranean Soda BreadKaren | Cooking Gluten Free!  Gluten Free Sandwich Bread/Gluten Free Naan
Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan  Vegan Gluten-Free Bread
Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie  Ciabatta (gluten-free, egg-free/vegan)Monika | Chew on This!  amaranth skillet flatbreads, amaranth mini pita roundsMorri | Meals with Morri No Knead Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Flatbread (yeast free/grain free)Pete & Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem  Gluten-Free Challah
Rachel / The Crispy Cook  Gluten Free Chickpea Sandwich Bread
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies  Gluten Free White Bread
Tara | A Baking Life  Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread & Boule

I hope you are all having a fabulous summer - see you back here soon!

Just Plain Bagels

Hello, friends. It's been a few weeks, hasn't it? I won't use this post to go into everything that has been happening in my life but if you are a regular reader, you know something must be up (other than this wretched health issue I'm battling) because things have been quiet and I haven't even been posting my photos of beauty every day, or almost every day.

I'll just leave it, for now, with telling you that first, I've been playing Mama Hen to some incredibly sweet and precious baby chicks that became part of our family the day after they hatched. 

We started with five, but my favorite (Guinevere) didn't make it, as you know if you are on my facebook page. It was a traumatic event that I won't go into in this post. The other four - Snowflake, Peekaboo, Fluffy and Daisy - are staying healthy and strong and we look forward to having fresh eggs in several months. I'll share more photos of them and information about them when I have a chance sometime.

Secondly, the photos of beauty have been missing partly because I've been so busy and partly because I accidentally formatted the compact flash card on my camera with a couple of weeks' worth of photos that I hadn't yet uploaded ... erasing every single one of them. HOWEVER, I made two cheap purchases on software and a card reader and got them ALL back yesterday! :) Again, I'll share some of those photos with you on another post - as well as tell you what I did to recover them in the event any of you ever find yourselves in a similar situation.

For now, let's get back to the reason for this post: The Gluten-Free Ratio Rally day is here again and this month we did bagels. Many thanks to Morri from Meals with Morri, our host for this month's challenge, for choosing bagels and hosting us this month! You can find her blueberry oat bagels (Yum!) and links to all the the rally participants' bagel recipes on her blog post here. I'll have a list at the bottom of this post of the other recipes with links at a later time. I'm really looking forward to trying out some of these other bagel recipes, especially considering I'm just not as happy with mine as I wanted to be!

Logo designed by Anile Prakash

If you're not familiar with the ratio rally yet, it's where a group of bloggers come up with recipes based on a ratio for a specific gluten-free challenge each month. Working with ratio and weight frees you in your kitchen more than you can imagine. For more information and previous recipes and challenges, you can visit my rally page here.

Before you get too excited about my "just plain bagels" recipe, let me tell you that I'm not completely happy with the way mine eventually turned out after trials, and I plan to keep at it and have a better recipe for you at some point. Given everything going on this month, I didn't get to play around with the bagels as much as I'd planned and nearly didn't write this post ... however I figured I'd keep it real and share my bagel-making experiences with you. This month was, after all, my very first bagel-making attempt - gluten-free or otherwise.

The final result before deadline proved to be a decent sort of bread. I wouldn't think it fair to really call it a bagel - and I realize that's coming from someone who isn't from New York or anywhere in the Northeast at all. I do, however, think I have a pretty good idea of what a true bagel is and how it should taste. I've had them and they are good. My bagels turned out to be ... rolls with a hold in the middle? ... that taste quite good sliced in half and covered with cream cheese. They were a little on the dry side but not too bad and lacked the amount of chew I was aiming for. They tasted too much of yeast, even after I cut back on the yeast.

Next time, I'll be trying Bruce Ezzell's bagel recipe on Michael Ruhlman's site. This is the first recipe I studied for bagels and had planned to go with adapting it, but then suddenly decided to try converting the Joy of Cooking bagel recipe to an easy ratio instead. As noted above, it's decent but not what a bagel should be. Mr. Ezzell's will no doubt taste more like a bagel once I get around to figuring my flours for it and giving it a few trials.

The ratio I used for the Joy of Cooking conversion is 9 parts flour: 4 parts liquid: 2 parts egg: 1 part fat. For this recipe, I've halved the ingredients of the original. I also greatly reduced the amount of yeast. They tasted more yeasty right out of the oven but some of that left after cooling.

(Printable Recipe)

4 ounces (half cup) scalded milk

1 ounce (2 tbsp.) butter

1/2 Tbsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. kosher salt

1/2 tsp. plus 1/16 tsp. active dry yeast

2 ounces egg (1 large egg), beaten

1 ounce (28 grams) tapioca starch

1 ounce (28 grams) potato starch

1 ounce (28 grams) arrowroot starch

2 ounces (56 grams) brown rice flour

2 ounces (56 grams) sorghum flour

1.5 ounces (41 grams) millet flour

.5 ounces (13 grams) teff flour

1/2 tsp. ground chia seed

Boiling water with 1 Tbsp. sugar added to it.

Egg white, for egg wash, if desired

Combine hot milk with butter, sugar and salt in large saucepan or bowl. When mixture is cooled to 115 degrees, add yeast and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

Sift flours together with ground chia seed.

Blend in egg and flour with wooden spoon and continue to beat with hand for a couple of minutes until everything is mixed well.

Cover with damp cloth and let rise in warm place for an hour and a half to two hours, until dough has doubled.

Bring water and sugar to simmer in large, deep skillet or saucepan.

Punch down dough and form into equal pieces (I did nine smaller bagels that fit nicely in the palm of my hand after all the rising, poaching and baking. You could do larger ones.) Roll into balls and slightly flatten in hands and make a small hole in the center with finger.

Let rest for 15-25 minutes or until nearly doubled. While your water is coming to a simmer/low boil, preheat oven to 375 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place each bagel into simmering to boiling water for one to one and a half minutes on each side. I'll tell you that I played around with this: I did some for 30 seconds on each side and they fell the most during baking. All of the bagels fell somewhat either during baking or during cooling, but the ones I poached the least amount of time flattened the most. The ones that went for nearly a total of three minutes seemed to do the best.

Remove from water with slotted spatula and drain a couple of seconds before placing on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. If desired, brush tops with an egg white wash.

Bake 20-25 minutes (top rack if gas oven), or until done and not doughy inside. You may want to flip them over to even the browning out a little the last four to five minutes of baking.

These taste best fresh and with some cream cheese slathered on. Enjoy! 

Don't forget to check out Morri's host post of blueberry oat bagels, as well as the other amazing bagel recipes baked up for you this month! Thanks again, Morri!

And I do have one photo of beauty for you today. I just couldn't resist the beauty of the desert bird of paradise tree in our front yard against the backdrop of a gorgeous sunset. I hope you're finding beauty in your day today! (Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html.)

Hot Cross Buns

Do you have a tradition of eating hot cross buns on Good Friday like we do in our family? Every Good Friday I can remember as a child included eating delicious hot cross buns my mother had made that day.

Smooth, round rolls of sweet bread dotted with raisins and crossed with a delicious glaze on top. They made the house smell good and I couldn't wait to eat them. We'd sing the "Hot Cross Buns" song and talk about what the cross represented on the buns that special day.

My mom is currently living in England, so she's getting the authentic treat right now and says the bakery windows are filled with these yummies.

I've made different recipes of gluten-free hot cross buns over the last couple of years and I think this year I finally came as close to recreating Mom's originals from the Joy of Cooking recipe as I will probably get. Last year I played around with different flours but didn't get anything with a decent texture. They were more like bread-type cookies.

This year I used the some of the same flours I use in my yeast bread recipe and had success. For these photos, I placed the dough in muffin tins to be sure they came out round. When I make these again on Friday, I'll attempt them on baking sheets in what will hopefully bake into nice round rolls (I'll try a tester first and use muffin tins again if they don't turn out). They don't look quite the same as my mom's, but the taste is definitely there. And it's definitely good!

Another thing I like about this recipe is I used just a saucepan and wooden spoon. No mixer required!

Projected time, start to finish including rise: About 2 1/2 hours
(Printable Recipe)

1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup organic pure cane sugar
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Pinch of ground nutmeg
1/4 cup raisins
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon zest or 1/2 tsp. dried lemon zest
2 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 Tbsp. very warm water
1 large egg
2 cups Pamela's bread mix and flour blend (not the baking mix)
2/3 cup millet flour

Icing for cross:
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/8 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 tsp. milk

In a large saucepan, heat milk until hot but not boiling.

Add butter, sugar and salt, stirring until dissolved. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins and lemon zest. Let cool to warm. (You want it just warm enough to not cook the egg.)

In a small bowl combine warm water and yeast, let sit for a few minutes. Stir into milk mixture.

Beat egg into milk mixture.

Sift flours together and pour a small amount into the milk mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon. Continue adding a little at a time, beating with the wooden spoon, until it's all mixed. Continue to beat with wooden spoon for about a minute or so, until everything is combined well and a nice dough has formed.

Place in a large greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Set in a warm place to rise, about an hour, until doubled.

Doubled ...

If using muffin tins, grease them first and then place 18 equal portions into the tins. If you want to try shaping the buns yourself, grease baking sheets and round 18 balls to place on the sheets.

Cover again and let rise in warm place until nearly doubled again, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375. You'll want to use the top rack if you are using a gas oven. (I'm playing with it here. The original recipe called for 425 degrees and I started with 400. They were baking too fast so I lowered it to 375 and baked for less time. I'm giving you an estimate on the full time at 375 until I make them again.)

Bake approximately 15-20 minutes or until done.

Let cool completely and then make crosses on top with the icing.

To make the icing, in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir well to combine. If it's not thick enough to hold a line to form the cross, add a little more sugar at a time until it is.

Enjoy!

For my photo of beauty, I'm sharing another flower photo. We have wildflowers blooming for spring - not as many as I'd like with the drought going on but enough to enjoy their beauty. I love the vibrant red and orange in the Indian paintbrushes. I hope you have a beautiful weekend, and Happy Easter!

Why I'm sharing this: http://mamameglutenfree.blogspot.com/2012/02/beauty-in-eye-of-beholder.html