It’s so easy when I can feed gluten-free food to my gluten-free kid in my gluten-free kitchen, located in my gluten-free house. Where even the dogs are gluten-free.

In case they lick the children.

But when we hit the road and go past Gluten City, just up the road from Gluten Town, a stone’s throw from Glutenville?

Sometimes, not so easy.

So here’s the thing, Gluten World. It would be easier if you didn’t try, on a whim, to make him anything to eat. Gluten-free food can and should be (must be!) great-tasting food. Food to celebrate! And it’s not so hard to do. Not at all.

Unless you don’t know what you’re doing.

I’ll bring him lunch. And you won’t hear us complaining.

He might have a sandwich on these gluten-free hoagies, made mini from my recipe for Gluten-Free French Bread.

Or a turkey, prosciutto and gruyère sandwich on these Gluten-Free Pretzel Rolls, like the sandwich you see up top.

I’m working on even better gluten-free pizza, made with gluten-free bread flour. Gluten-free pizza is going to start at really, really good and go all the way up to killer. Just wait.

You’re throwing a birthday party, and you invited my son. It’s very kind of you to want to try your hand at gluten-free baking and make him some cupcakes with a boxed Gluten-Free mix you found at the market.

It’s just … you can’t dabble in gluten-free baking. Your plastic mixing bowl, wooden spoon and muffin tin? They’re all crazy gluten-contaminated. And since it’s his health we’re talking about, I won’t give him just one cupcake to be polite.

If you’re serving dinner, and you want to learn how to keep him safe, if it’s out of love, let’s talk. If you want to learn the basics, I want to teach you. If not, it’s really really really really okay.

You don’t have to do anything special for us. Nobody owes us anything, just because my son has celiac disease. I’ll make us some individual chicken pot pies, and bring them with me. I won’t mind if you won’t.

And if you do mind, then maybe we’ll just see you around. It’s my son. Keep your well-intentioned gluten-containing hands off of him. He’s only 8.

I can’t keep him in a food bubble forever, but I sure wish I could try. I don’t need your permission, and I don’t want your blessing. He was so sick when he was a baby, it would break your heart if you saw a picture.

For now, I just want to keep him safe.

Love,
Me

P.S. If you haven’t picked up a copy yet, My Cookbook is a good place to start cooking and baking gluten-free.

Having trouble figuring out how to bake fresh, from scratch gluten-free food for your family when you have plenty of other responsibilities outside the kitchen?

Yeah. I totally get that. And since it’s Thursday, that means I get to boss you around today. Welcome to Bossypants Thursdays.

The Problem

Maybe you work outside the home. Or maybe you work from home. Or at home. Maybe you work in a home. Or on your tan all day (still?) and that’s a full time job for you. It’s all the same to me, sister.

But here’s the truth, Ruth: With very minor exceptions, I don’t buy the too-busy excuse.

Like, “You have time to read a book? Lucky you. I’m busy all day until my head hits the pillow!”

However you spend your time, you’re choosing among alternatives.

And it’s all cool with me. Choose away. But recognize that you’re making a choice. Now, I’m not the baking police. And I’m not here to force your hand. I’m just here, hopefully, to educate and inform. After that, it’s up to you. And I love you no matter what. Even you come here just for the pictures. :)

5 Winning Strategies

Strategy #1: Start small.

You’ve either never baked before, never baked gluten-free before or never successfully baked gluten-free before. Why in the world would you start with yeast bread, when it scares the living daylights out of you?

Try a muffin for the love of Mike. The Coffee Cake Muffins at the top of this page are a great choice. They’re quick and easy, and if you follow the directions, you’re going to be successful. Blueberry Muffins are a personal favorite of mine, and they couldn’t be easier.

Work your way up to bread. Early success will motivate you. Early failure will make you cry, vow never to bake again and potentially put out a hit on me and my family. Start small, do well, and you’ll find yourself making time for it.

Strategy #2: Bake in stages.

Plenty of dishes, like this Deep Dish Chicago-Style Pizza, can be assembled ahead of time, then covered and placed in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake them in the oven. Better yet, assemble and freeze on the weekend, defrost in the refrigerator all day and bake at night.

Done.

Strategy #3: Piggyback.

Piggybacking is making the most of one or two basic recipes, and building other recipes on their back. It saves time, since now you have economies of scale. And it saves money, because you can buy ingredients in bulk. Never heard of piggybacking? I talk about it in my book.

Here’s an example:

Take this Maple Almond Granola recipe above. Make a big batch of it. Oh, just do it (Bossypants Thursdays have their perks).

Then use it to make some Chocolate Vegan Granola Bars that you can serve to your kids for breakfast all week long. That’s what I do. And I know that they’re getting tons of protein and energy that keeps them going all morning long.

Then, stash some of that granola and use it to make Granola Muffins on Saturday morning. See how that works? Like a charm, friend. Like a charm.

Another one of my favorite piggybacking recipes…

Brown-butter Cornbread. I make a double batch, and serve one fresh the same day with a simple vegetarian chili. I leave the other cornbread on the counter overnight, and use it to make stuffing the next day. Do that, and you’re a rock star. Plain and simple.

Strategy #4: Stock some basics on the weekend.

Puff Pastry is incredibly versatile. It certainly takes some time to make, but it makes the perfect topping for chicken pot pie, and you can even throw together a quick weeknight dessert with a few rounds of it baked at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, and topped with whatever fresh fruit you have on hand.

Strategy #5 Pick an unfussy recipe.

You’re making cupcakes to celebrate a birthday, and you don’t have a lot of time to fuss with frosting you have to pipe just so with a pastry bag? These Coconut Cupcakes call for a super easy, messy frosting. And they look just as beautiful as those fancy Rolo Cupcakes you’ve been eyeing.

One more mini-strategy, for the road: Don’t scoff at repetition. You may feel bad that you’re making pizza again for dinner, but your family sure won’t.

Love,
Me

P.S. Guess what? My new book that’s coming out this October is called Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Quick & Easy. It’s allllllll about getting it done right, and getting it done fast. I’ll get you in the saddle. Just you wait. It’s available now for preorder, but it’s currently naked without a cover. I’m hoping to have a cover to show you soon soon soon.

P.P.S. Good news! My First Cookbook is available for now-order. It comes with a certified copy of my gratitude, love and affection. And if you wanted to send it to me for me to sign it, I bet we could arrange that somehow, too. Couldn’t we?

Making gluten-free cereal has become a bit of a habit of mine. I can’t seem to make heads or tails out of that one, but I’m fairly certain it’s an omen of sorts. Or a bellwether. Or it means absolutely nothing. Not sure just yet.

But, with that in mind, it wasn’t much of a stretch to take my recipe for Gluten-Free ‘Nilla Wafers, and make them into little cookie cereals.

I’m wild about things mini. I wonder if that’s how I ended up with 3 children. Here, mini served a maxi purpose: There had to be some way to finish up this flour test without dying of boredom. And one way or another, we did it.

The Gluten-Free Flour Test is dead. Long live the Gluten-Free Flour Test!

In the way beginning of the test, a number of readers asked me if I was planning to create a master chart of all of the flour test results. At that time, I had no plans of that sort. Now, these 8 weeks later, as I put this test to bed … I still have no plans in that direction. I’ve decided to leave that task to those of you who simply cannot—will not— live without Excel. It’s an executive decision, really. I asked a random executive to make it for me.

Remember Cookie Crisp cereal? Although the concept of luring children into eating breakfast by giving them … cookies … is more than a little disturbing, I have absolutely zero plans to give this to my children as cereal.

It’s for me.

Not for nothing, but Tom killed it with these cookies.  Batter I have made with Tom has tended to be thin and almost runny, which made it really easy to pipe these cookies into super small cuteness. I was moving along at quite a nice little clip when I made these babies. So fun. Way more fun than Excel.

I didn’t even bother smoothing down the tops, just to see what happened. The batter was soft enough that the little tails just melted into the rest of the circles. They look kinda like a cookie version of those bizarre sheets of register tape with little button candies on them. What’s that all about anyway?

I made some of them regular-sized ones, too, in case anyone gets her panties in a bunch about the integrity of the flour test. We’re in the home stretch! No reason to compromise our integrity now, I always say (what? I have too said it).

Oh, and the taste of these Tom’s Nillas was spot on. They browned really well, so they were at their crispity crunchity best in my mouth. Really, really nice.

For the record, I really did take this test very, very seriously. I followed the recipe to the letter each and every time, and was rooting for each flour to succeed in each round, each and every time. I may be kinda married to Better Batter, but we’re really progressive. It’s wide open for me. I calls it like I sees it, and that’s a fact. Here’s how I saw it this round:

That’s my final flour test table. I will summarize my overall findings next week. But in words. That’s enough numbers for me for now. Unless that random executive changes her mind. *fingers crossed*

Love,
Me

P.S. I’m totally bossing you around tomorrow, but with l-o-v-e. Bossypants Thursdays are all about tough love.

P.P.S. If you buy my book, I’ll totally be your best friend. I would hug you. I hug. Some people don’t hug, but I hug. And not one of those tap-tap hugs. I’m a hug-squeezer.

Is cheesecake really just a socially acceptable way to eat cream cheese when you don’t have a bagel handy, or is it just me?

This is the last round in the Gluten-Free Flour Test, and the second-to-last entry. Only one more to go!  And it’s a good thing. ‘Cause I’m totally sick of saying “gluten-free flour test.”

Not to get all sappy on you, but I am grateful to this test. It has given me a brand new lease on blog life. And to you, I am also grateful. For wading through all these recipe categories and flour blends. I have even allowed myself to believe that I am doing a wee bit of good here—so we know what products suit us best. And what we can demand from manufacturers.

But all good things must end (by the way, is that absolutely true?). Or I’d get, like, totally bored.

Oh, and in case you’re new (welcome!), here’s my recipe for Gluten-Free ‘Nilla Wafers. Now let’s see how Jules did today with these babies.

I didn’t have buy-cherry-pie-in-the-sky hopes for Jules in these cookies. I was kind of worried about the raw batter, since Jules has all that Expandex which really clumps. But I found it was really quite easy to pipe onto the baking sheets. Bonus!

You best work quickly, though, since the batter will thicken considerably soon after you combine the wet and dry ingredients. So make haste!

Then I smoothed out the little darlins.

Are you ready for the bad news? The cookies were pretty pale. I had one heck of a time getting them to brown on top. And forget about getting them crispy like they’re meant to be. These above were soft.

And when I baked them longer at a low temp, just to see if they’d brown? They blackened on the bottom. Bummer.

But I made mini cheesecakes! Back to happy. Phew.

If you’d like to make your own mini cheesecakes with a single ‘Nilla Wafer cookie as a crust, they’re super easy.

Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, and drop a cookie in the bottom of each liner. Pour in cheesecake filling, and bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes. To make this simple cheesecake, I blended 8 ounces room temperature cream cheese (leave it out overnight) with 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar, and then added a dash of kosher salt and 1 beaten extra-large egg. Blend until perfectly smooth. Mix in some mini chocolate chips if you like before pouring in the filling.

Love,
Me

P.S. I’ve been all bossypants on Thursdays for a few weeks now. Like last Thursday when I got all up in your business and told you about common baking mistakes. I think it suits me. So, you know, I’ll be bossy on Thursdays from here on out.

P.P.S. This blog has changed my life for the better. You buy My Cookbook, and you tell your friends, and you change my life for the better. Thank you. I think I’ll buy you flowers for Mother’s Day.

You dream of baking gluten-free and doing it well. Your kid’s 10th birthday is coming up, and all she wants is a vanilla layer cake. You have such good intentions!

So why aren’t things going your way, Baker Lady?

Mistake #1. You followed the recipe – but in your own special way.

I cannot begin to tell you how many readers have wanted to kill me because of my recipe for Gluten-Free Pancakes.

My recipe has detailed instructions, plus extra tips and tricks. If you follow them to the letter, you will have those pancakes, remarkably like the picture. If you don’t, you might not.

The most important thing? Don’t try to kill me. I can totally take you. I’m like a ninja.

Mistake #2. You didn’t measure your flour by weight.

There have been studies (people who aren’t me totally study this stuff) where home bakers have been asked to measure 1 cup of flour by volume. The results were dramatically different – everywhere from 4 ounces (112 grams) to 6 ounces (168 grams). That’s a difference of 56 grams – almost one half cup!

Don’t make me cite chapter and verse of those stats. Get a scale, and measure by weight, not volume, and nobody gets hurt.

Mistake #3. You threw together “some flours” since you read somewhere that, as long as your blend has the right weight, it doesn’t really matter what’s in there.

It matters. A lot.

Take a relatively simple recipe like these Gluten-Free Animal Crackers. Roll-out cookies need the right balance. Use the wrong flours, and they’re either going to be too wet and sticky to cut out shapes, or too dry and brittle to cut out shapes (the dough will shatter).

And remember, if all that mattered was the total weight of your flour blend, not the individual components, wouldn’t my Gluten-Free Flour Test have turned up exactly the same results no matter the blend & no matter the recipe being tested?

Mistake #4. Your ingredients weren’t at room temperature. Or your dough wasn’t the right temperature before baking.

Having eggs, butter and milk at room temperature really really matters (unless you’re making pastry or whipped cream, which call for cold ingredients). If not, they won’t incorporate well into the batter. That can leave you with pockets of certain ingredients in higher concentration, and pockets that are missing something imoprtant.

Think about it. When you’re making a cake and your butter is room temperature (yay!), but you drop a cold egg in the batter, what happens? The fat in the butter clumps. That’s, like, the total opposite of mixing.

Cookie ingredients should be room temperature when you’re making the dough. The dough, on the other hand, should be really cold before baking. The recipe told you to do that. Why didn’t you do it?

Mistake #5. You made substitutions your first time making a recipe.

I won’t belabor the point, since we’ve already had this chat. Just don’t monkey around with the recipe the first time you make it. You need to know what to expect before you put your signature on the recipe.

Mistake #6.  You used a multi-ingredient baking mix like Pamela’s as an all-purpose gluten-free flour.

Pamela’s Baking Mix is a multi-ingredient baking mix, with baking powder, baking soda, salt and other additional ingredients in it. Just because it’s worked like a charm for you in the past doesn’t mean it will continue to. You got lucky. I guarantee your luck will run out.

Gluten-free yeast bread will get you every time, by the way. And when it does, take that sorry excuse for bread and pulse it in your food processor. Fresh gluten-free breadcrumbs are a real treat.

Mistake #7. You didn’t use an oven thermometer (or didn’t preheat your oven).

Oven temperature matters a whole heap. And most ovens are off by about 50 degrees F. Mine is off by 75 degrees F! I ignore the dial, and go by my oven thermometer exclusively. That one little switch could be the different between the thrill of victory—and the agony of defeat.

When you do ruin something like bread and you’re wondering what to do with those panko-style breadcrumbs, try some Chicken Fingers for a super easy dinner. Or make Apple Brown Betty, the easiest dessert you’ll ever make. I’ll show you how in my new cookbook, out this October.

Love,
Me

P.S. Already have My Cookbook? Thank you! Your support means the world to me. If not, no time like the present.