Archives for May 2018

Gluten Free Chocolate Sheet Cake

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 25, 2018 | Posted In: Cakes, Desserts, Frosting/Icing

This rich, fudgy gluten free chocolate sheet cake is a simple one-bowl chocolate cake recipe with an easy, poured icing. It’s just the best ever cake for a potluck or birthday.

A piece of chocolate cake on a small plate with a fork

Is this a Texas sheet cake?

When I first published this recipe in 2012, it was adapted from a recipe (linked in the instructions below) for Texas sheet cake. I didn’t grow up eating that sort of cake, but readers kept asking for a gluten free chocolate sheet cake recipe (of the Texas variety, they said!) so I did some research.

Back then, to me, a “sheet cake” was a thick, bakery-style layer cake that was loaded with that amazingly delicious, who-knows-what’s-in-it, sugar-rush-style white frosting. A Texas sheet cake, it turned out was a thin cake baked in a jelly roll-style rimmed baking sheet with a poured icing. After the first try, I was in ❤.

I guess this is technically a Texas sheet cake, still. But if I don’t call it that, I don’t have to worry about being told that I’ve done something nontraditional like sprinkling the hot poured icing with pretty nonpareils.

A thin sheet cake like this one is so perfect for any sort of gathering, for a birthday or just a potluck. You know how adults often say, “I’ll just have a little slice”? Well, there’s no cake easier to customize in the size of slices than a thin sheet cake. And then when my youngest comes along and asks for the “biggest slice,” you can accommodate her too!

If you’re hoping for a different sort of chocolate cake, here are 10 gluten free chocolate cake recipes for everything you can imagine. My favorite is probably the classic one bowl gluten free chocolate cake. And of course, if you’re more of a vanilla-type person, there’s always the very best gluten free vanilla cake.

A close up of a chocolate sheet can in a tray.

How to make a gluten free chocolate sheet cake

I think the secret to making a sheet cake ultra rich and moist like this one, is to make it no more than one-inch thick in a jelly roll-style rimmed baking sheet. If you were to use this recipe and double it, then bake it in a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, the slices would likely fall apart as you tried to remove them from the pan.

Here, the pourable batter is made in one bowl, with melted butter, then smoothed out in a rimmed baking sheet. It’s baked just until the cake springs back when pressed gently.

A close up of a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting

It can be a bit challenging to spread the batter into a perfectly even layer in the pan, but not to worry. The poured icing covers all inconsistencies.

Be sure to pour the hot icing on the hot cake, and work spread out the icing quickly before it begins to set. The icing doesn’t harden, even when chilled, but it will set and wrinkle if you try to disturb it as it cools. The icing will likely have a few bubbles and lumps. They’ll even out as the cake cools, though.

A close up of a chocolate cake with a slice cut out

How to make a smaller sheet cake

When I originally published this recipe, the cake was made smaller and baked in a quarter sheet pan which measures 9 x 13 x 1-inch. Despite the relative suggestion of the names of the pans, a standard quarter sheet pan doesn’t have half the capacity of a half sheet pan.

If you’d like to make this cake in a quarter sheet pan, you’ll need to reduce the recipe by one-third. The easiest way to do that is to multiply each ingredient by 2/3. That’s a simple reduction for most ingredients, but requires some alterations for others.

For ease, here are the ingredient amounts for baking this chocolate cake in a quarter sheet pan (9 x 13 x 1-inch). Just follow the instructions below for the method, changing only the pan size. The baking time should be roughly the same:

For 2/3 of the cake: 1 cup (140 g) all purpose gluten free flour; 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it); 3 tablespoons (15 g) unsweetened cocoa powder; 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, melted; 1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) brewed coffee, at room temperature; 1/2 cup (112 g) sour cream or Greek yogurt, at room temperature; 1 egg (50 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature, beaten; 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For 2/3 of the icing: 2 cups (230 g) confectioners’ sugar; 3 tablespoons (15 g) unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt; 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, chopped; 3/8 cup (3 fluid ounces) milk, any kind; 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract; nonpareils, for sprinkling (optional)

A close up of a piece of cake on a plate with a bite taken

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: When I recently decided to make this cake again, thinking it would be perfect for the long holiday weekend coming up in the U.S., the first thing I did was make sure it worked with dairy-free substitutes. And I’m happy to report that it works perfectly!

In place of butter in the cake itself, I used half virgin coconut oil and half nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening (I use Spectrum brand). Both measurements are by weight.

In place of the sour cream or Greek yogurt, I used a plain, unsweetened nondairy yogurt. Since the yogurt I used wasn’t thick enough, I strained it until it was the consistency of Greek yogurt, and then measured the proper amount by weight. For milk, I used unsweetened almond milk.

In the icing, I recommend using all virgin coconut oil in place of the butter. Shortening has almost no moisture, and the icing has a tendency to seize up and end up too thick to spread.

Egg-free: I haven’t tried making this recipe egg-free. The one egg could most likely be replaced by a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel), and the egg yolk by another tablespoon of virgin coconut oil, melted. For a naturally egg-free and dairy-free cake, try my crazy cake gluten free chocolate cake. You won’t believe how moist it still is!

Sugar-free: I haven’t tried making this cake with sugar alternatives, but I’m anxious to try. I’d recommend trying Lankato brand monkfruit granulated sugar substitute in place of the granulated sugar, by weight.

Watch the consistency of the cake batter, though. If it seems too thick, as sugar substitutes tend to be drying in baking, add more brewed coffee by the teaspoonful until it seems similar to the texture you see in the video.

In place of the confectioners’ sugar, Swerve has a confectioners’ sugar-style replacement that should work. Again, watch the consistency and add more liquid as seems necessary.

Coffee: Since the only chocolate in this recipe comes from cocoa powder, without any melted chocolate, the brewed coffee really helps to deepen the flavor. Caffeine isn’t at all necessary, though, so brewed decaffeinated coffee is just fine. You can replace the coffee with water, but you’ll sacrifice flavor.

Oat Substitute in Gluten Free Baking

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 23, 2018 | Posted In: Basics, Editorial

If you’re gluten free and still can’t (or won’t) eat oats, there’s an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n’oatmeal cookie!

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

Can I eat oatmeal if I’m gluten free?

In the U.S., oats are gluten free if they’re grown and processed in a contained, gluten free environment. This is a topic that has been very contentious over the years and continues to be so. Whenever I would post a recipe on this gluten free blog that contained oats, I’d have to steel myself for the inevitable debate.

That’s why I finally posted all of my thoughts on the subject in a post titled, well, “are oats gluten free.” My celiac son has never had a problem with certified gluten free oats, and my whole family loves them in so many different varieties of baked goods.

If you can eat oats without an issue, this post probably isn’t going to be of much interest to you. But you might still want to read on if you’re curious about the science of baking. ?

I know there are so many of you who either can’t or simply won’t eat oats. Since I aim to include everyone I can in my recipes, I’ve been working for a long time on an appropriate oat substitute in gluten free baking.

I would have some measure of success, and then a total failure. That was all until I finally realized that I needed a shift in perspective. In fact, a shift in perspective is almost always at the bottom of every thorny problem in my whole life, recipe development and otherwise.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

What can I substitute for oats, if I can’t have them?

It turns out that, just like replacing conventional wheat flour with a gluten free flour blend, one size does not fit every recipe. Some flour blends are good for some sorts of recipes, and some for others.

Likewise, sometimes a recipe calls for oats to provide texture, other times simply for bulk like in a no-bake recipe, and still other times the recipe calls for it to be ground into a flour. In that case, there’s a lot more chemistry involved. Yay! (if you’re me) Or boo! (if you’re a normal person) I do love the challenge.

There are three basic types of oat substitutes in gluten free baking. They are:

1. The most exciting substitution that I discovered for oats in baking is flattened rice (or perhaps flattened buckwheat, if you can find it). It’s useful when oats provide texture in baking.
2. The award for easiest oat substitute in gluten free baking goes to wide, flat coconut chips (not shredded coconut), and they’re useful when oats provide bulk in a no-bake recipe.
3. The most common suggestion for replacing oats in a recipe is usually quinoa flakes, and they’re typically used when oats are blended into flour.

When oats provide texture

When oats provide texture in baked goods, your oat substitution can’t dissolve into the recipe as it bakes. When I tried baking with coconut flakes or quinoa flakes in recipes like that, the result was a puddle of a cookie that didn’t hold its shape.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

The holy grail recipe, the one that got away, the Moby Dick of oat replacement tactics is the humble but magnificent gluten free oatmeal cookie. I tried coconut flakes, and it was a mess. I tried quinoa flakes, and no go.

The photo above of an oatmeal cookie was made with the oat substitute that I recommend when you’re baking something that keeps the oats whole. It looks, smells and even tastes like an oatmeal cookie. For real! I even made it using my favorite vegan butter substitute (Melt), and it turned out amazing.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

I started looking for other rolled grains that might hold their shape in baking like oats, but also would soften when added to other ingredients and baked in the oven. I hit the jackpot with beaten or flattened rice, which is simply rolled rice. It is often used to make “poha,” which is a savory West Indian dish.

At first, I searched for buckwheat flakes, which I still believe would work just as well as flattened rice. But it simply wasn’t available in the U.S. It does seem to be pretty widely available in Australia, though, and since no oats are considered gluten free there, I recommend that you give it a try.

The brand of flattened rice that I purchased and used was Vedica Organics. (That’s an affiliate link but please feel free to shop around.) It worked great.

There are other brands of flattened rice available, though, and I do understand that there can be a huge variation in thickness of the product. I’m afraid I can’t speak to any other brands. If you can, please share in the comments!

When oats provide bulk in a no-bake recipe

The first success I had in substituting oats in any of my recipes here on the blog was when oats provide bulk in no-bake recipes. No chemical reaction was going to go on with the oat sub, so I had to (again) shift my perspective.

I had tried quinoa flakes in recipes like these oatmeal breakfast cookies, and it was a failure. The quinoa flakes just didn’t have enough structure. But a no-bake recipe was going to be different…

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

These cookies above are made using my recipe for no bake oatmeal cookies, but with coconut flakes in place of oats. Not to brag, but my recipe for no bake oatmeal cookies is made without peanut butter, which is what most recipes like this rely upon. So they’re pure chocolate-flavored goodness.

When you replace the old-fashioned rolled oats called for in the recipe by weight, in a 1 to 1 swap, they work amazingly well. There is a coconut flavor to them, of course, when made this way. I also typically use virgin coconut oil in that recipe, not butter, so clearly we’re good with coconut flavor.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

Coconut flakes are those wide, flat chips, not the shredded coconut that might be most familiar. If you want to add more coconut flavor when using these chips, try toasting them first in the oven before baking with them.

Just place the chips in a single, mostly even layer on a large rimmed baking sheet and bake at 325°F for about 10 minutes or until they’re all lovely and brown on the edges. To make sure that they toast evenly, you can stir the chips after about 5 minutes before returning them to the oven to finish baking.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

The very first success I had when replacing oats was in my homemade protein bar recipe. All I did was replace the rolled oats in the recipe by weight, one for one, with coconut chips. You can see the result pictured just above. Perfection!

I made them using the “nut butter variation,” but I’m confident that they would work just as well with the “medjool dates variation.” I published that recipe ages ago, and in it I promised that I was working on a grain free version. I’ve actually been working on it ever since, but it’s taken me this long to feel confident enough to share it with you!

When oats are blended into flour

The final oat substitute for gluten free baking we’ll discuss is for when oats are blended into a flour. For this application, you may actually have more latitude when deciding on a replacement. But quinoa flakes work perfectly well, so I really recommend you stick with those.

Quinoa flakes are basically produced when the quinoa seed is run through a rolling machine. They’re not nearly as hearty as actual oats, but when they’re blended into a flour, they behave like oats. There are a number of brands of quinoa flakes, and some of them are pretty widely available.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

Ancient Harvest brand quinoa flakes (affiliate link; feel free to shop around!) seems to be the most widely available brand of quinoa flakes. They’re great!

There is also I Heart Quinoa brand (affiliate link as well), and I find them to be a bit heartier which makes them more compatible with oat-focused recipes. Just be sure you’re buying the “unsweetened” variety of toasted quinoa flakes.

If you're gluten free and still can't (or won't) eat oats, there's an oat substitute in gluten free baking for every type of recipe. Now you can finally have a gluten free n'oatmeal cookie!

The recipe you see above is my banana oatmeal muffins, made with quinoa flakes as a one to one replacement for the rolled oats, by weight. I was a little afraid that they were going to taste a little earthy since I’m not a huge fan of the taste of quinoa.

But they were delicious. Lightly sweet, nutrition-packed whole grain muffins that are still the perfect way to start your morning—with no avenin in sight. :)

Flourless Peanut Butter Brownies

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 18, 2018 | Posted In: Brownies, Flourless Baking

These flourless peanut butter brownies are made with white beans and peanut butter, and just like black bean brownies, they don’t taste at all like beans. Really! They don’t even have any added oil or butter.

These flourless peanut butter brownies are made with white beans and peanut butter, and just like black bean brownies, they don't taste at all like beans. Really! They don't even have any added oil or butter.

Baking with beans

If you’re a longtime gluten free baker, you probably remember baking with garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour. Why did we do that? Chickpeas are delicious in a salad, lovely in hummus, but have no place in bread, cakes, and brownies.

But we’ve come a long, long way since then, and I was in no hurry to go back. So whoever was the first to develop a recipe for black bean brownies, I tip my hat to you! You went out on a limb, and it paid off.

My recipe for flourless black bean brownies is not only one of the most popular recipes on my blog, but it’s a true family favorite. It tastes absolutely nothing like beans of any kind (trust me—I take that taste very, very seriously in baked goods), and just makes a really good, healthier brownie.

(If you are looking to indulge, though, you have to try my classic fudgy flourless brownies. They have just a few ingredients, and they’re all the right/wrong ones everyone loves!)

When I bake treats that are lower in fat and calories, I generally stick to smooth applesauce as a substitute for fat. It has a really neutral flavor and adds some structure and plenty of moisture.

I haven’t tried baking with white beans like the great northern white beans in this recipe as a substitute for fat in any of my other recipes. But I’ve been super curious about whether white beans could be paired with peanut butter to make a blonder version of my flourless black bean brownies. I’m happy to report that it was a total success! ?

Let’s talk about the texture

Whenever someone asks me to make brownies for an occasion (it happens a lot!), I always ask them “what kind?” They look at me like I’m crazy, but brownies come in a million different textures: cakey, fudgy, chewy, you name it.

Since these brownies have no added fat beyond the egg yolks and the peanut butters, and they’re made with white beans, the texture is cakey. If you’d like a truly fudgy peanut butter brownie, and you’re fine baking with gluten free flour blends, I’d definitely go for my more traditional peanut butter brownies recipe.

How guilt-free are these brownies?

Well, generally I feel like if you’re going to eat a treat, just eat a treat. I’m not looking to my brownies for nutrition. But if you can take a favorite treat and make it a little more virtuous so you can, say, eat it more often, then I’m all for that!

If you’re following Weight Watchers and you plug this recipe into the calculator, you’ll find that each of 12 brownies has 4 SmartPoints—if you use just 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips. More chips, more points.

I haven’t calculated the nutrition information, but I suspect they’re much higher in fiber (thank you, beans!) than pretty much any other brownie you’ll find (except for perhaps my black bean brownies). And they really don’t have a ton of sugar, with just over 100 grams in the entire batch.

Ingredients and substitutions

These flourless peanut butter brownies are already dairy-free, but they do rely upon peanut butter (of course), eggs, white beans and some sugar. Let’s talk about those ingredients.

Peanut-free: The peanut butter could be replaced with almost any other nut butter, I’m sure. But the powdered peanut butter is another story, and I don’t know of a replacement for it.

From the comments to my peanut butter gluten free banana bread recipe, though, it seems that peanut butter powder is pretty available outside the U.S. So that’s good news!

Egg-free: There are two eggs in this recipe, which you might be able to replace with two “chia eggs” (for each, use 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mix and allow to gel). You also could try one “chia egg” along with 50 grams of smooth applesauce. I haven’t tried either, though, so you’ll have to experiment.

White beans: I selected great northern white beans for this recipe because they have a relatively neutral flavor profile. They also tend to be slightly larger than other beans, with a thin skin. That makes them ideal for pureeing very smooth.

If you have another favorite type of white bean, try that. I don’t recommend using black beans, as they will alter the color of the brownies. Plus, the other competing flavors (mostly peanut butter) aren’t necessarily strong enough to overpower the taste of black beans.

Sugar-free: When you use only 1 cup of light brown sugar in this recipe, the brownies really aren’t very sweet. They’re very tender and moist, though. If you’d like to replace the brown sugar with an unrefined sugar, coconut palm sugar should work great as a 1:1 replacement.

If you’d like to make these brownies entirely sugar-free, you’ll need to use a sugar-free peanut butter (be sure it’s not the kind that separates, though). In place of the light brown sugar, you can try using your favorite brown sugar substitute. I tend to like Swerve brand non-sugar granulated sweeteners.

And you can leave out the chocolate chips, or use a sugar-free chocolate chip. I’ve heard good things about Lilly’s brand, although I haven’t tried them myself.

Colombian Empanadas | with shredded chicken

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 16, 2018 | Posted In: Chicken, Cinco de Mayo, Dinner

These easy Colombian empanadas are made with just a few simple ingredients and are naturally gluten free. Fill them with shredded chicken like my 2-ingredient Instant Pot chicken, or really anything you like.

What is empanada dough made from?

Empanar is a Spanish word that means either to coat or to cover in some sort of starchy dough. Like anything you make at home, you really can make it from anything you like. Any handheld filled pastry can be called an empanada.

Most of the empanadas that are most familiar to us are made with a pastry dough (typically made with wheat flour). I’ve made many variations of gluten free empanadas over the years, using a gluten free flour blend in place of wheat flour. They’ve all been light and flaky and delicious.

But I absolutely love the idea of essentially taking a naturally gluten free fresh corn tortilla and using it to empanar, or wrap, a filling like shredded chicken. That’s the Colombian style of making empanadas.

Colombian-style empanada dough is made from masa harina corn flour, which is precooked cornmeal that’s dried, treated with limewater (also known as slaked lime or calcium hydroxide), then dried again. For a more complete discussion of what it is in general, please see my recipe for pupusas.

Cooking the empanadas

Colombian empanadas are typically shallow fried until crisp-tender and delicious. But shallow frying is perhaps one of the messiest and least healthful ways of preparing pretty much anything.

Unlike deep frying, where the hot oil seals the outside almost immediately allowing the heat of the oil to cook the inside gently, shallow frying allows the food to absorb a ton of oil. I’ll be honest, though: it’s the mess more than anything that kept me from cooking these empanadas that way!

In this recipe, I explain how to bake the empanadas until they’re crispy on the edges and warm and gooey inside. But I’ve also made them in the air fryer, and they’ve been even better. I know that not everyone has an air fryer, though!

If you do decide to make them in an air fryer, skip the egg wash and spray them generously with cooking oil spray. Cook them in the air fryer at 380°F for about 12 minutes, flipping halfway through and spraying again with cooking oil spray. They’ll get plenty of golden brown color and be crispy and delicious.

What sort of filling works best in empanadas?

Perhaps the best part about this handheld street food-style meal is that you can fill it with whatever you like. When I was first playing with this recipe, I filled it really simple with just shredded salsa chicken.

I honestly didn’t think that my family would like it that much since it had a grand total of 4 ingredients in the entire dish—wrapper, filling and all. But they loved it, so I knew I was on to something good! That convinced me that you really don’t need any sort of cheese in empanadas.

In this recipe, I’ve included shredded cheese since it adds a bit of complexity to the texture and flavor. But it’s truly unnecessary.

You could use cooked ground beef, beans and cheese (or even just beans!), a simpler shredded chicken like we used in taquitos, or the salsa chicken that I made here. I’ve included that amazingly simple recipe below—and that chicken is served every single week in my house in a million different forms.

Do you need special equipment to make empanadas?

The short answer is no! You don’t need any special equipment at all. Just a rolling pin, a quart-sized plastic bag for rolling, a bowl, a spoon and a baking sheet. But I do use a tortilla press and a cake cutter, so we should talk about those a bit.

In most of the tortilla recipes here on the blog, I’ve avoided using a tortilla press. I don’t want anyone to feel like they need a press. But without fail, a few readers ask if they can use one.

I have a tortilla press made by Vasconia that I got at a local kitchen supply store, and I use it from time to time—but certainly not every time I make tortillas. This tortilla press from Norpro gets really good reviews on Amazon (that’s an affiliate link feel free to shop around).

I find using a tortilla press to be somewhat frustrating. It never presses the dough thin enough, even when I want it not to be paper thin, like with these empanadas. So I always have to use a rolling pin to further press the dough.

When I make tortillas, I do like to use a 6-inch or 8-inch (affiliate link:) cake cutter to get clean edges all around the dough. I find that the dough is easier to work with that way, and they also look soooo much better that way.

But you don’t need a cake cutter, either, to make tortillas of any kind. You could even use the lid of a pot to do the job of cutting clean edges.

Make-ahead option

Since my family is always on the go, any sort of handheld complete meal is a win. That’s probably why we have a deep and abiding love for any sort of street food!

Be advised, though, that the empanada dough should be shaped, filled and baked right away. When I tried to shape the dough but not fill it, and then use it even 30 minutes later, it crumbled during shaping. Ditto for when I tried to shape and fill it, then wrap it in plastic to bake later.

If you’d like to make the empanadas ahead of time, you must make the entire recipe through cooking or baking. Just allow the empanadas to cool completely, and they can be wrapped and refrigerated to serve later. Just unwrap and warm them in the toaster oven or microwave.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: To make this recipe dairy-free, just use dairy-free shredded cheese in place of the dairy cheese. I used Daiya brand vegan cheese in the dairy-free empanadas I made and my daughter loved them. You can also just make the recipe without any cheese at all.

Corn-free: I’m afraid there’s just no way to make this exact recipe without corn. Masa harina is necessarily made from corn and the empanada dough is essentially rehydrated masa.

You might be able to make a variation of these empanadas with my recipe for low carb almond flour tortillas, which have the extra bonus of being Paleo. The dough has a few more ingredients, but it’s soft and pliable.

Pineapple Gluten Free Angel Food Cake

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 11, 2018 | Posted In: Cakes, Mother's Day, Weight Watchers-Friendly

This heavenly pineapple gluten free angel food cake is made from scratch, but it’s still so easy. And it only has 4 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per generous slice!

This heavenly pineapple gluten free angel food cake is made from scratch, but it's still so easy. And it only has 4 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per generous slice!

Do you remember the pineapple angel food cakes of the fat-free 90’s? Well, although I do remember the low-fat Cool Whip strawberry yogurt pie of my youth, somehow I missed the light, tender and flavorful pineapple angel food cake. But now I’m making up for lost time!

I only learned of even the idea of a pineapple gluten free angel food cake when one very special reader named Michelle. Michelle is one of the amazing moderators of the Everything GFOAS Facebook group. She’s been with me since, well, forever, and she introduced me to the concept and asked me to help her out.

The recipe was originally made as a two ingredient-style cake mix recipe, by adding a can of crushed pineapple to a box of angel food cake mix. I tried converting my gluten free angel food cake recipe to a mix using powdered egg whites and adding a can of crushed pineapple. It was a dense and gummy mess.

After considerable hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth, I had to admit that the recipe simply wouldn’t work without actual freshly whipped egg whites. Without the separately whipped egg whites, the cake just doesn’t have any lift.

And any boxed gluten free angel food cake mixes that are for sale call for the addition of fresh egg whites. That’s just silly. So we’re making this recipe from scratch. But unlike the original angel food cake recipe, for which you must sift the dry ingredients, there’s no need to do that here.

If you’re already familiar with this cake (good on you!), you really don’t have to invert it while it cools like you do with a traditional angel food cake. I tried doing that, and the cake kind of fell out of the pan and got an unattractive crater in the fall.

This heavenly pineapple gluten free angel food cake is made from scratch, but it's still so easy. And it only has 4 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per generous slice!

Whipping egg whites

Are you intimidated by the idea of whipping all these egg whites to fold into this angel food cake batter? Don’t be! There are a few tips I can share with you, and there are even a few shortcuts.

My first (and best) tip relates to temperature. When you’re separating eggs, it’s significantly easier to separate the white from the yolk without any yolk contaminating the white if you start with cold eggs, straight from the refrigerator.

The membrane around the yolk is fully intact when the egg is cold, so it won’t leak out into the white. So I recommend cracking and separating your eggs cold. But then, allow them to warm to room temperature before whipping them, as room temperature egg whites whip much more easily.

This heavenly pineapple gluten free angel food cake is made from scratch, but it's still so easy. And it only has 4 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per generous slice!

My second tip is to use a mixer (handheld is fine). I really don’t recommend trying to whip them by hand, although I’ve done it and it is of course possible. It’s just a lot of work, and I find that the whipped whites are less stable when made by hand.

Like the first tip, my third is about separating the eggs. Since egg whites will not whip if there is any fat at all in the bowl or on the mixer, and accidental yolk contamination does happen, crack each individual egg into one small bowl, then transfer the white to the large bowl. That way, if one yolk runs, it doesn’t ruin all 8.

My fourth and final tip is more a shortcut than a tip: you can use up to half egg whites in the carton. When I’ve tried using a full 200 grams of egg whites from the carton, they haven’t achieved enough volume in whipping, and the cake ends up dense.

This heavenly pineapple gluten free angel food cake is made from scratch, but it's still so easy. And it only has 4 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per generous slice!

About the Weight Watchers Points

Weight Watchers hates sugar, and it hates fat. Keep them both in moderation, fill in with things like eggs and fruit, and you’ve usually got yourself a Weight Watchers-friendly recipe.

In this recipe, the vast majority of the SmartPoints comes from the confectioners’ sugar. There isn’t a ton of flour (not even one whole cup), and the crushed pineapple and egg whites make up most of the recipe.

As it is, if you cut the cake into 9 slices, each has 4 Weight Watchers points. Sugar just does that—but have you ever tried calculating the points in a slice of “regular” cake? Let’s take the 4 points and be happy. :)

I’ve tried using less than one cup of confectioners’ sugar in the recipe. Even the amount I’ve used here is a reduction from my original gluten free angel food cake recipe. The cake was much flatter and the texture was just off. Since there’s no fat in the recipe, you need the sugar to tenderize.

But if you follow the suggestions below to make the recipe sugar-free and it works, then you win the Internet! And please be sure to let us know about it the comments. We might want to win, too.

This heavenly pineapple gluten free angel food cake is made from scratch, but it's still so easy. And it only has 4 Weight Watchers SmartPoints per generous slice!

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: This cake recipe is dairy-free as written, but the fat-free whipped topping contains dairy. It’s also awful for you, filled with chemicals and other unhealthy things. But it’s delicious. You can of course just leave it off your slice and you’ll spare yourself the extra calories—and the chemicals and dairy.

Egg-free: This is a rough one! The only possible hope of making this recipe egg-free would be to use aquafaba in place of egg whites. I have not tried that, and it’s a whole lot of egg whites.

But if you’re feeling adventuresome, I’d recommend making half of the recipe in case it’s a flop. You’ll need a small pan—and a lot of cans of chickpeas.

Corn-free: The cornstarch can be replaced with tapioca starch or arrowroot. Most confectioners’ sugar also has corn in it, though, so be careful you’re using a corn-free brand if you have to avoid corn.

Sugar-free: I haven’t made this recipe sugar-free, but Swerve’s confectioners’ sugar substitute should work just fine. In my experience, Swerve and other sugar substitutes have a tendency to be drying so you might need to add a bit more pineapple juice to the mixture.

Watch the video and be careful to match the texture of the batter in the original recipe. If you do make this recipe sugar-free, each slice of cake is reduced to 1 SmartPoint, and you win! ?

Peanut Butter Gluten Free Banana Bread

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 9, 2018 | Posted In: Quick Breads

This easy recipe for peanut butter gluten free banana bread is moist, tender, and packed with banana and peanut butter flavor. Don’t forget the chocolate chips!

This easy recipe for peanut butter gluten free banana bread is moist, tender, and packed with banana and peanut butter flavor. Don't forget the chocolate chips!

Baking with peanut butter

Do you bake with peanut butter often? All of my children love peanut butter, and it’s saved us many times when we were low on other sandwich fillings. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches are a favorite.

Making no-bake bites with peanut butter is a snap, as there’s no chemical reaction. The stickiness and flavor of the peanut butter work just as you might expect. That is to say, perfectly! But baking with peanut butter is a whole different story.

Peanut butter, unlike actual dairy butter (or even nondairy kinds of butter), has a tendency to make baked goods dry. Even though I do sometimes toy with the idea of going back to school yet again (after a law degree and a master’s in social work, I think I’m done!), I’m not a food scientist so I don’t really know exactly why that is.

I still love baking with peanut butter, and it can be a great way of baking flourless goodies. In fact, my recipe for flourless peanut butter cookies is one of my absolute favorites of all time.

But there’s something about adding peanut butter to a recipe with flour, especially, that can be tricky. So you just need the right balance of ingredients in the recipe.

This easy recipe for peanut butter gluten free banana bread is moist, tender, and packed with banana and peanut butter flavor. Don't forget the chocolate chips!

Powdered peanut butter

Years ago, we stumbled upon powdered peanut butter, which is made from peanuts that have been pressed to remove most of their oil. The peanuts are then ground into a fine powder. At the time, the only brand we knew of was PB2 and we had to order it online.

These days, powdered peanut butter is made by lots of companies, and is available in most larger grocery stores. We still generally buy PB2 brand, and I love using it in Weight Watchers-friendly recipes since it’s much lower in fat but still has lots of protein and fiber. But using PB2 brand is mostly a matter of habit.

In this peanut butter banana bread recipe, the powdered peanut butter is a great way to add more peanut flavor without adding more peanut butter, since baking with peanut butter is so tricky. I’m afraid I really don’t know if powdered peanut butter is readily available outside the U.S. If you know of a non-U.S. source, would you let everyone know in the comments?

This easy recipe for peanut butter gluten free banana bread is moist, tender, and packed with banana and peanut butter flavor. Don't forget the chocolate chips!

Baking with bananas

Most people love bananas, but I do know that some of you just hate them. If you hate bananas, then I’d really recommend skipping this recipe rather than trying to substitute them for something like applesauce!

I love just-ripe-almost-green bananas for eating, but the moment they get spotted I’ll pass. But the brown ones are the ones you want for baking, and having a favorite banana bread recipe is essential for such an occasion.

Since you can’t stop a banana on your kitchen counter from ripening, though, those ripening bananas should be frozen. Just peel and chip them into large chunks, place them on a baking sheet and put them in the freezer. Once they’re frozen solid, pile them into a zip-top bag and store them in the freezer.

If you’re looking to make a smoothie, you’ll use the bananas frozen. If you’re baking with them, just allow them to thaw on the countertop or pop them in the microwave for a few seconds to thaw out. Once they’re frozen, you really can’t divide them so it’s best to chop them before freezing.

This easy recipe for peanut butter gluten free banana bread is moist, tender, and packed with banana and peanut butter flavor. Don't forget the chocolate chips!

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: As one of my children is dairy-free, whenever possible I test new dairy-containing recipes with dairy-free replacements. In place of the butter, I used melted and cooled virgin coconut oil.

In place of the sour cream or plain yogurt, I used plain nondairy yogurt. It wasn’t Greek-style, so I strained it to remove some of the moisture. Just be sure you’re using dairy-free chocolate chips, though. I like Enjoy Life brand.

Egg-free: Since there is only one egg in this recipe, I think you could probably replace it with one “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). I haven’t tried that, though, so you’ll have to experiment.

Peanut-free: If you can’t have peanuts, then try my recipe for one bowl gluten free banana bread. For a fun spin on banana bread, try my cinnamon swirl gluten free banana bread recipe.

If you wanted to make a peanut-free version of this recipe, the peanut butter itself should be relatively easy to replace with almond or cashew butter. But the powdered peanut butter is another story entirely. I’m afraid I don’t know of a peanut-free version of it.

Chocolate chips: If you don’t want to use chocolate chips, you could replace them with any other sort of chip you like. I think that peanut butter chips would be overkill (personal preference!), but white chocolate or butterscotch chips would be amazing.

Just check labels to make sure they’re gluten free, as not all fancy chips like that are GF. You could also use chopped walnuts or roasted peanuts, or a mixture of whatever you like. Don’t use too many, though, or they can overpower the other flavors in the bread.

One Point Healthy Pancake Recipe

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 2, 2018 | Posted In: Breakfast & Brunch, Pancakes, Weight Watchers-Friendly

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you’re on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you're on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

Weight Watchers Zero Point Ingredients

I love baking Weight Watchers-style recipes with ingredients like eggs, applesauce, and nonfat plain yogurt. They’re mostly neutral-tasting ingredients, have a “zero points value” on Weight Watchers, and add moisture, structure, and even some pleasant tanginess.

In fact, in our Weight Watchers Bagels, the tanginess of the yogurt even provides some of the depth of flavor that I love in yeasted bagels. Even better, though, since you don’t have to go through the trouble of allowing them to rise or the fussiness of working with yeast.

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you're on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

I tend to avoid using mashed bananas, unless I’m making something banana-flavored, though, as bananas have a very obvious, pronounced flavor. Applesauce tends to work the same in most baking applications, but with a more neutral flavor profile.

And I don’t care what anyone says, those 2-ingredient flourless pancakes made with banana and eggs? They taste like eggs, but not like you’re eating an omelet. They’re just all kinds of wrong.

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you're on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

Be sure to use a cooking oil spray on the griddle or skillet before you cook the pancakes. It’s so light that it doesn’t add any points or take away from the health-focus of the pancakes, but the spray is the only way you’re going to get those golden brown edges and spots on your pancakes. And the edges are even a bit crunchy.

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you're on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

Method and Tips

As much as store-bought baking mixes used to mystify me, I do understand their beauty now. That’s why I love to provide make-your-own mix recipes like my DIY gluten free pancake mix and my DIY gluten free cupcake mixes.

But pancakes in general are just so easy to make, and they all follow essentially the same method. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking powder) and whisk them together. Then add the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Even with a gluten free recipe like this, don’t mix the ingredients too much if you want fluffier pancakes. But whisking the dry ingredients, adding the wet and mixing are really all it takes. But there are a few tips for cooking pancakes like a pro.

First, make sure the batter is the proper thickly pourable consistency. This batter doesn’t have any xanthan gum so it doesn’t tend to thicken as it sits. Once you reach the proper batter texture, you shouldn’t have to mess with it.

But don’t be afraid to add a teaspoonful of lukewarm water if the batter seems too thick. If it seems too thin, add another teaspoonful of either the gum-free gluten free flour, or even just of cornstarch.

The second tip is to be sure to use cooking oil spray and a hot skillet—but not too hot. If your skillet is dry (even if it’s nonstick), you won’t get those lovely brown edges on your pancakes. If the skillet is way too hot, the outside will cook too quickly and you won’t get a fluffy middle.

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you're on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

Ingredients and substitutions

I haven’t tried this recipe with every substitution, but I’ve tried some. Here’s the benefit of my experience and best-educated guesses:

Dairy-free: I always use unsweetened almond milk in this recipe, and as long as your milk is dairy-free, you’re halfway there to dairy-free pancakes. The sticking point is the yogurt.

Much as I did in our Weight Watchers bagels recipe, I was able to substitute SoDelicious brand plain dairy-free yogurt for the 0% plain Greek-style yogurt in this recipe. It’s quite a lot thinner than Greek-style yogurt, but rather than draining it to thicken it, instead, I just mix all of the ingredients as described below, but leave out the milk. I then only add as much as necessary to achieve the proper thickly pourable consistency of the batter.

The issue, though, with using dairy-free plain yogurt is that I don’t know of any nonfat varieties. That means that the dairy-free version of these pancakes will have more than 1 SmartPoint each. It will still be healthy, just not as Weight Watchers-friendly. If they ever make a nonfat dairy-free plain yogurt, Greek-style or not, I’ll be sure to let you know!

This healthy pancake recipe is going to become a family favorite, whether you're on Weight Watchers or not. Each fluffy pancake has just one SmartPoint—and no banana!

Egg-free: Since there are only 2 eggs in this recipe, you should be able to replace them with 2 “chia eggs” (each 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). I haven’t tried that, so you’ll have to experiment.

And if Weight Watchers is important to you, be sure to recalculate the SmartPoints value to ensure that it hasn’t changed. Two tablespoons of ground chia seeds shouldn’t alter the stats, but you never know.

Applesauce: I haven’t tried this recipe without applesauce, and it’s a great way to add pectin for structure, moisture and a bit of WW-friendly sweetness. But you should be able to replace it with mashed banana by weight if applesauce is a no-go. You don’t taste the applesauce, but you will taste the mashed banana.