My dear husband, as do many of us, considers crisp cut out cookies with royal icing, to be the quintessential Christmas treat.
Now, I've been baking GF long enough to know that without the tension of gluten, (which, he refers to as the re-bar of the baking world) the fantasy of little stars, flowers, bells and stockings, lightly browned on the edges, golden in the middle, remains just that, a fantasy.
Here's what happened, while he was at work, on Saturday, I was spending what he was making...
Armed with my list and budget, I was determined to stay on track, no impulse shopping for me.
But then I found myself in a local craft store and there was a cookie press. I knew it wouldn't work for GF, but I thought it would be a fun way for our daughter to achieve uniform size and shape, take a break from the ice cream scoop method... and it was on sale... Surely I can deviate $6.
This led to another deviation. The box had a recipe on it, for classic Spritz cookies.
LIghtly sweet, buttery, Spritz.
I tossed the groceries into the fridge and cabinets, and pulled out my jars and bowls, washed the press, creamed some butter, after gasping at the amount required...nearly a pound!
I didn't even bother to cross my fingers, I just gleefully clicked out shapes onto the unlined sheet ( another 1st for me, being a parchment addict), the shapes were so lovely, little trees first, then wreathes, flowers, hearts. I was a little sad to think of them spreading and oozing in the oven, but I popped them in, and sat at the oven door, watching for the melt down (hey, it's cold, and we have no tv) nothing happened.
I got up, started filling the next sheet up with more hearts and mini 'milano' shapes, all the while keeping a bewildered eye on the first little gems.
The timer went off, and behold, perfectly golden little pressed cookies, every detail was perfect.
Maybe hypoglycemia had taken hold, maybe it is just the general holiday stress that got to me, I teared right up.
I like to think it was just the simple joy of a culinary miracle. I pulled hundreds of them from the oven before realizing I should share the joy with hubby. I set the whole project aside, and set about tidying up.
Now, the other request, from our littlest, who's now a tweener, GIngerbread People...no way, all that work, rolling, cutting, transferring without dismemberment or decapitation, just to watch science-fictionesque carnage.
It was all too gruesome, so, it has sat at procrastination station for, eeww, since last Christmas... Sorry, dear little Y...
Yesterday, she was going to be heading home, after a weekend across the river, and I thought, she'll never know if I blew it, I'll just cut the shapes out after I've baked a sheet, I crumble the evidence and make it a crust for pumpkin cheesecake, I'll, I'll...
I'll try!
I boiled the molasses, blended the dries, added a little fresh black pepper, to spice up the vintage Fanny Farmer recipe, and with a swirl of futility and child like optimism slugging it out in my head, I cut out five medium sized Gingerpeople, apologized, crossed my fingers and popped them in the oven.
This time I could not watch, but I did peek now and then.
They began to gloss, they began to puff, the sugar on them began to gleam, but they never lost their shape. I could hardly wait to get them onto the cooling wrack. Perfect little GIngerpeople, bigs, and littles. Gorgeous. Tender centers, crisp edges, how can this be?
I need to barter with a photographer, it really isn't fair to you, or these cookies, to simply describe them, you've got to see them!
In the meantime, let me tell you this,
The fam was wowed. I had filled their requests, complete with crunchy royal icing!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, December 16, 2010
This may be the answer
Hello all,
Whew!
It's been so long. There is just too much to catch up on all at once.
It would just end up sounding like the 12 days of Christmas!
Time for good news bad news:
Bad news first...
Dana B is no business woman. The baking and creating was so much fun, until I was doing it 14 hours a day. All of a sudden, I was acutely aware of every candle on the cake, so to speak.
The good news...
You're going to love what I have been working on! Really.
Ever tried something gluten free, and it was so good, you had to double check, make sure the baker really understood what gluten free meant?
The question I have gotten more than any other, is this,
"What flours do you use?"
Going GF has never been simpler. I've been giving out samples of my exclusive flour blend, mostly to GF newbies, and traditional bakers.
The reviews are in.
"Better than traditional pancakes, far better, they consistently come out fluffy and light, excellent!"
Finally, be gluten free, and free of adding binders and gums, just replace DB's GF exclusive blend, cup for cup in nearly any favorite recipe.
Here is just a partial list of things we've tried in our home kitchen,
Classic Pecan Pie
Apple Pie
Pumpkin Pie
Old Fashioned Toll House Cookies
Muffins, Muffins, Muffins!
Double Chocolate Mint Cupcakes
Shortbreads
Scones
Our Own Famous Scon Bons ( teeny scones, drizzled with layers of chocolate, cinnamon, peppermint, etc)
Spiced Oatmeal Cookies
Would you believe...
Donuts?
Even
Authentic Eclairs! ( a personal must have )
Hamburger buns
Pizza Crust
Bread Sticks
Cheese Crackers ( Oh, how we missed those little golden fishes!)
Fried Chicken, yup!
Seriously, I am working my way through a vintage Fanny Farmer cook book, that's the only cook book we even own!
No more special cook books, no more hit or miss figuring with gums and binders, it's time to enjoy being Gluten Free!
Don't Just get Gluten Free,
Get truly Free!
To find out how you can receive your sample of either 1 Sunday Best Pancake Mix, or a two cup sample of our exclusive flour blend ( I like to refer to it as my 'bouquet of flours') please send your request to Danabsglutenfree@hotmail.com.
This is limited to the first 100 requests... don't be left out!
This is limited to the first 100 requests... don't be left out!
John 8:36
| If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. |
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