Archives for May 2019

Yeast Free Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 31, 2019 | Posted In: Breads

These super soft yeast free gluten free dinner rolls are ready for baking in the oven in 10 minutes. Never buy rolls again!

This bread dough can be made nonfat if you like, but be sure to bake the rolls in a well-greased skillet and brush the tops with more butter. It helps the underside brown into a thick, buttery crust, and the top form a thin, slightly crispy layer.

If you’re like me and you’re tired of the nightly rotation of either rice or pasta as your dinnertime carb, these incredibly simple rolls are sure to quickly become a family favorite.

Why bake yeast-free?

My interest in developing yeast-free gluten free recipes began kicking into high gear around 2011, when I was writing my second cookbook, Gluten Free on a Shoestring Quick and Easy. Simply put, it takes time for yeast bread to rise!

I should say that, if you do have a bit more time, you can try our recipe for soft and squishy, yeasted gluten free dinner rolls. They’re worth the time if you have it.

Baking bread without yeast, though, turns out to be a pretty significant time saver. That made it perfect for a book of recipes that were quick (and easy). And no matter how much you enjoy cooking and baking, we all need a quick win in the kitchen from time to time.

These super soft yeast free gluten free dinner rolls are ready for baking in the oven in 10 minutes. Never buy rolls again!

What’s missing from yeast-free bread baking?

Yeast development does provide a certain flavor to bread, though. And I found that I really missed that in yeast-free bread recipes.

Then came the recent popularity of so-called “2-ingredient” Weight Watchers-style bread recipes (you know, the recipes that call for self-rising flour + plain nonfat Greek yogurt). The tang of plain yogurt in those recipes really helps to add depth of flavor to yeast-free bread.

These super soft yeast free gluten free dinner rolls are ready for baking in the oven in 10 minutes. Never buy rolls again!

How else can you save time baking bread?

Of course, if you can’t bake with yeast due to an allergy in your household, yeast-free bread recipes like these yeast free gluten free dinner rolls and our yeast free gluten free pizza are your best option. But if you’re just in it for the time savings because you’re in a rush, don’t like to cook or bake, or just haven’t planned ahead like you wish you had (?‍♀️), you might like to have a look at our no-rise gluten free yeast rolls.

No-rise yeast bread recipes don’t require you to give the bread dough time to rise before placing it in the oven as soon as it’s been shaped. The rise happens entirely in the oven, the moment the yeast in the dough comes into contact with the heat of the oven.

These super soft yeast free gluten free dinner rolls are ready for baking in the oven in 10 minutes. Never buy rolls again!

How to make these yeast free gluten free dinner rolls

You can make the bread dough for these rolls with nothing more than one bowl, a whisk, a spoon, and just a few basic ingredients, and (ideally a cast iron) skillet. The dry ingredients are just a version of our homemade gluten free pancake mix.

However, here we’re using a traditional all purpose gluten free flour blend rather than our 3-ingredient gum-free blend. The higher xanthan gum content of a more traditional all purpose gluten free flour is what gives these rolls their bready texture and chew.

To those simple dry ingredients, we add plain Greek-style yogurt and plain seltzer water. Using Greek-style yogurt, which has much less moisture than traditional yogurt, allows us to use more plain seltzer water, which helps give these rolls their fluffiness and lift.

The dough comes together very quickly, and you should shape and bake it immediately since the dough will not maintain its texture if it’s allowed to stand. Try to handle the dough with a light touch, and don’t add too much extra flour during shaping as that will make for tougher rolls.

These super soft yeast free gluten free dinner rolls are ready for baking in the oven in 10 minutes. Never buy rolls again!

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

There are two types of dairy in this recipe. One is easy to replace, and the other is more challenging.

The butter in this recipe is used to coat the skillet, and then to brush on top of the raw, shaped rolls right before baking. You can replace the butter with a combination of melted Earth Balance buttery sticks and olive oil.

The bread dough itself calls for plain Greek yogurt, which is only slightly more difficult to replace with a dairy-free alternative. Like in our Weight Watchers-style gluten free bagels recipe, you can try using plain nondairy yogurt, strained until the texture resembles that of Greek yogurt.

My favorite type of nondairy yogurt is coconut-based, as it seems to have the best texture and most neutral flavor.

Sugar

This recipe calls for 1 to 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. The sugar adds a bit of tenderness to the rolls, which is more important if you’re using nonfat Greek yogurt as both fat and sugar are tenderizers in baking.

You can use just one tablespoon of sugar, or omit it altogether. Using 2 tablespoons of sugar does add a slight hint of sweetness to the rolls. You cannot replace the granulated sugar with liquid sugar or coconut palm sugar.

No Bake Brownies (3 Ingredients)

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 29, 2019 | Posted In: Bars, Brownies, Desserts, No Bake

These rich no bake brownies are made with just 3 ingredients. Chocolate cookie crumbs may seem ordinary, but they can do some amazing things!

A hand taking a no bake brownie from a stack

If you have a batch of crispy chocolate wafer cookies and a can of sweetened condensed milk on hand, you’re just moments away from these no bake brownies. Unlike traditional brownies, they actually travel really well.

Pack them up to bring to your friend’s BBQ, or for a picnic at the beach. They won’t mind. Neither will you when you see how easy they are to put together.

These are not sink-your-teeth into them chewy or fudgy brownies, though. If you love the cookie crust of a no bake pudding pie, for example, think of these brownies as the bar equivalent. The perfect no bake summertime treat!

Overhead image of no bake brownies cut into squares

What cookie crumbs do you use?

Unlike most recipes on this blog, this can be made gluten free, just as written or gluten-filled by just switching out the cookies for crispy, conventional chocolate cookies. The one thing you don’t want to do, though, is to make this recipe with tender, chewy cookies.

As long as we’ve been making cookie crusts here on the blog (which is basically since the early, ugly photo years of 2009, 2010, 2011, and part of 2012), we’ve been making them with crunchy, crispy cookies. When you make a cookie crust, you typically make it by adding melted butter to dry cookie crumbs. And dry cookie crumbs come only from crispy cookies, which begin with much less moisture.

Try to use chocolate cookies for this recipe for the richest chocolate flavor. But even if you use graham crackers, these will still be brownies since you’re mixing in melted dark chocolate.

You can, of course, crumble any cookie at all. I like to use a simple blender to crush cookies into the perfect crumbs, but of course, a food processor will work as well.

But if you crumble a chewy cookie like our chewy chocolate wafer cookies, your cookie crumbs will have the texture of fresh brown sugar. It’s a lovely texture, but just not right for this recipe.

This recipe relies upon having the sweetened condensed milk and melted chocolate provide most of the moisture. That way, everything combines perfectly and sets in a way that makes the brownie dough clump nicely.

No bake brownie dough unshaped

How to make no bake brownies

The most classic no bake chocolate oatmeal cookies rely upon cooking the coconut oil and sugar until they boil for 2 minutes before adding the mixture to the rest of the ingredients. The cooked sugar is what provides most of the stability for the cookies as they cool.

In this recipe, the cookie crumbs are held together with sweetened condensed milk (which has already been cooked and reduced) and melted chocolate. The melted dark chocolate really helps, since it is solid at room temperature. If you were to use milk chocolate, the brownies would not set as firmly, since milk chocolate is much softer at room temperature.

Be sure to prepare the pan properly before mixing the ingredients, since the mixture will begin to stiffen up quite quickly. You want to turn the mixture out into the prepared pan, scatter it evenly and then begin to apply as much pressure as you can.

I like to use a bench scraper or cake turner to apply even pressure in different places all over the top of the brownies. You could also place another quarter sheet pan on top of the parchment paper covering the brownies, and press down evenly on that as well.

A platter with cut no bake brownies.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: All three of the main ingredients in these no bake brownies either have dairy, by their nature or could have dairy, depending upon your source. But good news! I believe that you can make dairy-free substitutions for each.

I’ve successfully made our crispy chocolate wafer cookies dairy free by using vegan butter (see that post for more details and alternatives). If you’re using store-bought cookies, read the ingredients carefully or perhaps choose a brand like Enjoy Life that makes products that are all dairy-free.

For the sweetened condensed milk, you can make your own dairy-free sweetened condensed milk. Plus, I’ve actually seen canned dairy-free sweetened condensed milk in the natural foods section of my local grocery store made by the brand “Let’s Do Organic,” for one. The brownies may not set up quite as well with dairy-free condensed milk, but the recipe still works.

The melted chocolate you use will also have to be dairy-free (as will the optional chocolate chips, if you choose to use them). That should be relatively easy, though. Scharffen Berger bittersweet dark chocolate, for example, is gluten free and dairy free.

Egg-free: Although there are no eggs in this recipe as it’s written, if you need to be egg-free, be vigilant about the ingredients in the crispy cookies you use to make cookie crumbs.

Gluten Free Cheesecake Blondies

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 24, 2019 | Posted In: Bars

These chocolate chip gluten free cheesecake blondies have the chew of a blonde brownie with a hint of the creamy texture of a perfectly baked cheesecake. The perfect alternative to brownies!

A chocolate chip cheesecake blondie on a small plate

How to make cheesecake blondies

The ingredients in and process of making these layered blondies are simple, but there are two steps. The total baking time is nearly an hour, but most of it is inactive, just waiting for the bars to bake low (300°F) and slow (nearly an hour) in the oven.

Reading through the recipe once entirely before getting to work is a good idea for every recipe. But it’s especially important when you’re making a layered dessert that is essentially two recipes in one.

Overhead image of two chocolate chip cheesecake blondies on small plates

First, parbake the crust

The blondie layer is divided into two portions, one on the bottom that makes a crust, and one on top of the cheesecake filling. Since the blondie batter is thick and sticky, it is possible to place one raw blondie layer on the bottom, followed immediately by a cheesecake layer and the remaining blondie batter on top.

I’ve tried making this recipe just like that, without parbaking the crust by baking it alone for 10 minutes in a 325°F oven. But I find that the cheesecake layer bakes into nothing more than a swirl in all the blondie batter when the recipe is made that way. Plus, you have to bake the cheesecake longer to get it to set properly, so it’s less creamy.

When you parbake the crust, it’s a thin enough layer that it’s mostly set after 10 minutes. Allow it to cool a bit, so the pan is easier to handle, then top it with the cheesecake batter followed by the remaining blondie batter.

Since the blondie batter is relatively thick and sticky, it will combine a bit with the cheesecake batter as you spread it out. The three layers aren’t as distinct as they are in, say, rainbow cookies, but the textures are all just right this way.

If you’d like to make a single layer, more classic blondie, we have a separate recipe for that. Try our classic gluten free blondies—with or without the decadent maple butter, just like Applebees.

Crust baked in a square pan

Bake the bars low and slow (“water bath” optional)

One of the most common ways of baking a cheesecake evenly, without any cracks in the surface, is to bake it in a bain-marie, or a water bath. Placing the cake pan in a larger pan with water that climbs about halfway up the sides of the cake pan keeps the cake from baking too quickly on the outside and keeps the temperature surrounding the cheesecake constant.

I used to go through that sort of trouble baking cheesecakes and it was such a pain since cheesecake is typically baked in a springform pan, which isn’t watertight. I graduated to adding a pan of water to the oven positioned on the rack below the cheesecake and gave myself permission to shrug off any cracks.

Then, finally, I learned that the main cause of cracks in a classic cheesecake is overbeaten eggs. So now I beat the cream cheese, sugar, salt, and vanilla until very light and fluffy. But once I add the egg, the mixture is beaten only to combine, no more.

I do still recommend adding a separate pan of water to the oven. These gluten free cheesecake blondies are most tender and chewy when they bake in a moist environment.

A stack of cheesecake blondies pictured from the side

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

This is a tough one since I don’t know of any proper substitute for traditional cream cheese in cheesecake. You can try using your favorite nondairy cream cheese in place of the cream cheese, and possibly adding another egg white to help the cheesecake set up in the oven.

In place of the butter in the blondie layer, you can use Melt vegan butter (my favorite butter substitute) or half Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening + half Earth Balance buttery sticks. And be sure to use nondairy miniature chocolate chips.

Eggs

There are two whole eggs and one egg white in the blondie layer, and one whole egg in the cheesecake layer. I’m afraid that’s just too many eggs to expect to replace with egg substitutes.

Gluten Free Vanilla Cake Donuts

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 22, 2019 | Posted In: Cakes, Desserts, Donuts

These gluten free vanilla cake donuts are soft, moist and tender, and bake up in minutes. They’re basically the perfect vanilla donut.

This donut recipe is easy to mix in one bowl and has enough leaveners to bake perfectly light and tender in just 12 minutes in a 350°F oven. It’s sweet and flavorful enough to enjoy plain right out of the oven, or with a simple vanilla glaze or a sugar coating that crackles once it’s cool.

Vanilla cake donuts with white glaze stacked on a platter

What are cake donuts?

Cake donuts are a type of quick bread, made with chemical leaveners like baking powder and baking soda instead of yeast. They’re baked in the oven in a donut pan, but they aren’t exactly like cupcakes or muffins since they’re less chewy than cupcakes and lighter in texture than muffins.

Cake donuts aren’t exactly yeasted donuts, either, which are fried instead of baked. Proper yeasted donuts are light in the center, and crisp-tender on the outside since they’re deep-fried.

These gluten free vanilla cake donuts have quite a lot of chemical leaveners in them, but not so much that it affects the taste. Plus, they have 2 eggs in 12 standard-size donuts for extra rise and tenderness.

Instead of using milk in the batter, this recipe calls for plain yogurt. That adds flavor and a makes for a light, open crumb.

Cake donuts can be any flavor, really. These vanilla donuts are a lovely, basic donut. We also have at least 9 other recipes for perfect gluten free donuts here on the blog.

Vanilla cake donuts with a sugar glaze on a wire rack

Sugar-coating or glaze

These donuts are full of flavor all on their own, without any topping. Keep them plain, and it’s very easy to freeze them for serving later.

There are two topping options in the recipe below: a glaze and a sugar-coating. A simple confectioners’ sugar glaze is a classic choice for these simple vanilla donuts.

The donuts must cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before you invert them onto a wire rack to cool completely before glazing them. Otherwise, some of the glaze will melt into the donuts and the rest will run right off.

If you’d like these baked cake donuts to taste more like they’ve been fried, go for the sugar-coating. You’ll want to let the donuts cool in the pan for 5 minutes, invert them onto a wire rack, and work with them still warm.

Just dip them in some melted butter (nondairy butter works just fine here) and then in sugar. When the donuts are still warm, the sugar will harden into a light shell as the coating cools.

A half eaten vanilla cake donut with white glaze

How to prevent the donut hole from closing during baking

I have owned many, many donut pans over the years, in nearly every shape and size, from nearly every brand. I’ve found that the very best pan, the only pan that actually makes donuts with holes that don’t swell shut during baking, is the 6-well standard-size nonstick donut pan from Wilton (affiliate link—feel free to shop around).

The batter that you place in each well of the donut pan cannot extend above the center of each well of the pan. Otherwise, the donut hole will close up and not extend all the way through the donut once it’s baked.

If that center column doesn’t rise up at least two-thirds of the depth of each well, you will only be able to make flat, skinny donuts if you want the hole to extend all the way through. The Wilton brand nonstick pans are the only pans I’ve found that with a center column of the proper height.

I do have a trick for filling the wells a bit higher with batter while still preserving the donut hole…

Overhead image of hands shaping vanilla cake donut dough in donut pan

Just moisten the pointer finger of your dominant hand, and run it all around the center column of each well. That will force the batter away from the center and toward the edge of the pan.

Since the batter is thick, it won’t run back toward the center. As the donuts bake from the outside in, they’ll creep slowly toward the center without closing the hole.

A stack of three vanilla cake donuts with white glaze

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

In place of the butter in the recipe below (both in the batter and for the sugar coating), try using any of the following: Melt brand vegan butter, Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening, or Earth Balance buttery sticks.

In place of the plain yogurt, you can use dairy-free plain yogurt. So Delicious brand sells a good plain nondairy yogurt.

Eggs

In place of the eggs in this recipe, you can try using your favorite egg replacement. A boiled flax egg tends to work best, but it’s a lot of work. You can also try one “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel) for each egg.

Corn

In place of cornstarch, try using arrowroot powder or potato starch.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Yogurt Quick Bread

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 17, 2019 | Posted In: Cakes, Desserts, Quick Breads

This super simple recipe for gluten free chocolate chip yogurt quick bread always makes a perfectly moist and tender loaf!

A fallen over stack of 4 slices of chocolate chip yogurt bread

What’s a quick bread?

Quick breads are just like muffins, which rise with a combination of eggs and chemical leaveners like baking soda and baking powder (instead of yeast). But they’re baked in a loaf pan, like bread, and sliced thickly to serve.

You’re not going to make a sandwich on a loaf of quick bread (although my son never seems to tire of asking), but they still hold a special place in my heart. That’s probably why there are quite a few quick bread recipes here on the blog. They usually come together pretty quickly (ha ha). Even though they’re very similar to muffins, not just any muffin recipe can be successfully baked into a loaf.

A single slice of chocolate chip yogurt bread

What makes this gluten free yogurt quick bread special?

This quick bread is incredibly moist and tender, with a nice open crumb and a mild tang from the plain yogurt. You could also use flavored yogurt, but I never like to bake with flavored yogurts. I’d rather add the flavor separately so I can keep all the flavors bright and fresh-tasting.

This recipe is even simpler than most quick breads, too, with a really easy ingredient list: flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, whisked together, then butter, yogurt, and eggs added before everything is combined with a mixer.

I made this one with miniature chocolate chips since just 3 ounces of miniature chocolate chips go a long, long way. You could just as easily make yours with some small dried fruit (I bet chopped dried apricots would be fabulous) or even chopped nuts (raw, chopped pistachios would be heaven).

This super simple recipe for chocolate chip yogurt gluten free quick bread always makes a perfectly moist and tender loaf!

If you would like a nice dome shape, just be sure to follow the shaping instructions in the recipe. It’s really easy with wet hands (a cook’s best tools!) and a wet spatula. Of course, it’s not really too important for the loaf to split right in the center during baking. It just makes for a pretty presentation.

A whole loaf of chocolate chip yogurt bread on white paper

How to get that nice, tender crumb in your bread

The batter is relatively thick, but not stiff, as long as you bring all of the ingredients to room temperature before baking. If your batter is too stiff, your loaf will bake up with a tighter crumb and may be dry and tough.

Be sure to measure all of your ingredients by weight, not volume (volume measurements are almost impossible to get just right), and don’t overmix the batter. Even though this is a gluten free loaf and there’s no wheat gluten to overwork, gluten free doughs and batters can still be overmixed and end up tough.

A closeup image of a chocolate chip yogurt bread slice

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: If you are eating dairy-free, you’ll have to replace both the butter and the plain yogurt in this recipe (and be sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips). The butter can probably be replaced effectively with half (3 tablespoons) Earth Balance buttery sticks and half (3 tablespoons) Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening.

The plain yogurt can probably be replaced with your favorite brand of plain nondairy yogurt. Watch the video carefully and pay attention to the consistency of the plain yogurt I use in this recipe. It should be a thickly pourable consistency.

Egg-free: There are two eggs in this recipe, so you should be able to replace each of them with a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). If you’re willing to cook and strain “flax eggs,” that might work even better.

Corn-free: In place of cornstarch, you can try using arrowroot powder or even potato starch.

Chocolate chips: I really like Enjoy Life brand miniature chocolate chips, since they actually taste, well, like chocolate. You can use any sort of miniature chips you like. You can also use full-sized chocolate chips, but they don’t scatter throughout the dough like the miniature variety.

There isn’t a ton of sugar in this recipe (just 3/4 of a cup of granulated sugar in the whole loaf), but it’s a very simple flavor profile so you’ll want your mix-in to offset the tender sweetness of the bread itself. Your mix-in should be something that doesn’t add moisture, like fresh or frozen berries.

If you’d like to make a blueberry quick bread, I recommend using my gluten free blueberry muffin bread recipe instead. It has a whole different moisture balance, and that recipe has everything taken care of for you already.

Gluten Free Cream Cheese Buttermilk Biscuits

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 15, 2019 | Posted In: Biscuits, Breakfast & Brunch, Pastry

Light, flaky and extra tender, this recipe for gluten free cream cheese buttermilk biscuits is the foolproof formula for soft biscuits you’ve been looking for.

Light, flaky and extra tender, this recipe for gluten free cream cheese buttermilk biscuits is the foolproof formula for biscuits you've been looking for.

How are cream cheese biscuits different?

Cream cheese buttermilk biscuits are, of course, similar to traditional flaky all-butter biscuits. Both types of biscuits are beautifully layered and flaky. But cream cheese biscuits are the impossibly tender biscuit you maybe didn’t even know you wanted.

The ingredients in butter biscuits and cream cheese biscuits are largely the same (flour, chemical leaveners, salt, butter, and buttermilk). Plus, in both types of biscuits, all of the ingredients must be kept cold so that the fats expand in the heat of the oven and create the flaky layers we love.

But when you add cream cheese to the mixture, it creates a tenderness inside each flaky layer that is hard to describe. Plus, the lightly tangy flavor from the mixture of butter, buttermilk, and cream cheese will have you hooked at the first bite.

Light, flaky and extra tender, this recipe for gluten free cream cheese buttermilk biscuits is the foolproof formula for biscuits you've been looking for.

How to make sure your biscuits are tender, not tough

Since traditional buttermilk biscuits are made with chemical leaveners (baking powder and baking soda), not yeast, it’s rare that biscuits simply don’t rise at all in the oven—assuming your leaveners are fresh. If you’ve had trouble in the past with baking biscuits, the, it’s most likely been a problem with texture.

When conventional, gluten-containing baked goods are tough when they’re meant to be tender, it’s usually a result of having overworked the dough, which overdevelops the gluten. But even though we’re using gluten free flours, our baked goods can still end up tough instead of tender.

The most common reasons for tough biscuits are: overworking the dough (yes, that’s still an issue with gluten free flours!), over measuring the flours (be sure to bake by weight, not volume), using the wrong flours which are gritty and unbalanced, or using too much flour in shaping the dough.

Of course, if you want the easiest biscuits ever, you can try our gluten free drop biscuits. They’re not flaky like these layered biscuits, but they’re ready in minutes with almost no handling at all.

Light, flaky and extra tender, this recipe for gluten free cream cheese buttermilk biscuits is the foolproof formula for biscuits you've been looking for.

Can you freeze these biscuits?

Yes! All of my gluten free biscuit recipes can be frozen, it’s just a matter of when you freeze them. These cream cheese buttermilk biscuits can be frozen raw, after they’re shaped and before the tops are brushed with milk.

Just freeze them fully on the baking sheet, and pile them into a freezer-safe container until you’re ready to bake them—then brush and bake from frozen. You’ll have to add a few minutes to the baking time, but it’ll be less added time than you think.

You can also freeze these biscuits after they’re baked and cooled. Keep in mind that it’s even more important to wrap each individual biscuit very tightly in a freezer-safe wrap. They’re more likely to take on freezer burn after they’re baked and cooled than when they’re frozen raw.

Light, flaky and extra tender, this recipe for gluten free cream cheese buttermilk biscuits is the foolproof formula for biscuits you've been looking for.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: Making cream cheese buttermilk biscuits without dairy is a tall order, but good news! I think it’s possible. In place of the butter, I recommend using half (4 tablespoons) Earth Balance buttery sticks and half (4 tablespoons) Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening. Both fats should be chilled, but you can’t chill the shortening too much or it will become rock solid.

Light, flaky and extra tender, this recipe for gluten free cream cheese buttermilk biscuits is the foolproof formula for biscuits you've been looking for.

In place of the cream cheese, if you have a favorite nondairy cream cheese alternative, try using that. You may have to use less moisture (from the buttermilk; more on that in a moment) since nondairy cream cheese tends to be softer.

In place of buttermilk, try using plain nondairy yogurt for half of the volume and unsweetened nondairy milk for the other half. Add the liquid slowly, though, since your buttermilk may be thinner than the original.

Corn-free: In place of cornstarch, you can try using arrowroot powder. Potato starch is also a pretty good substitute for cornstarch, although it’s even lighter.

Sugar-free: Just leave out the granulated sugar, and you’ll have a sugar-free biscuit. It just helps round out the flavor of the biscuits, but it’s not necessary for structure or even tenderness of the biscuits.

Whipped JELLO-Style Gelatin

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 10, 2019 | Posted In: No Bake, Snacks

This easy whipped JELLO-style gelatin recipe with a mousse-like texture and fresh fruit flavor is the perfect no-bake easy, light dessert for warmer months.

Whipped gelatin is so easy to make, and it tastes like a fruit-based strawberry mousse (if you choose that flavor, as I did). It’s so light and refreshing and can be made as sweet or as tart as you like. Try stirring some fresh fruit slices into the mixture after whipping it with cream and you’ve got a 4-ingredient showstopper of a dessert.

Is JELLO gluten free?

JELLO brand treats are made by Kraft Heinz company, which practices “truth in labeling.” That means that, if there’s an allergen present in their products, they will disclose that allergen in their ingredient labeling.

There are currently no gluten-containing ingredients in JELLO gelatin (always check individual product labels for the most current information). However, the mixes are not certified gluten free. It’s up to you and your family to decide whether it’s safe to enjoy JELLO products on a gluten free diet.

This easy whipped JELLO-style gelatin recipe with a mousse-like texture and fresh fruit flavor is the perfect no-bake easy, light dessert for warmer months.

What is JELLO-style gelatin made of?

Each flavor of JELLO gelatin, of course, has its own list of ingredients. But the main components of any JELLO gelatin mix are sugar, gelatin, flavorings, coloring, and preservatives.

It’s so incredibly easy to make your own classic JELLO-style fruit gelatin, though. The gelatin is rehydrated in water, then mixed into a hot liquid to melt, mixed together and then cooled until set.

You can make it any flavor you like, and even just use fruit juice and powdered unflavored gelatin without additional fruit purees or flavorings. My favorite base juice to use in making gelatin is apple juice since it’s very neutral-tasting.

Pineapple juice also makes great gelatin, with another flavor added or not. Be careful about adding fresh fruit to your gelatin before it sets, though, since fresh pineapple, kiwi, mango, papaya, or mango will make it difficult for your gelatin to set properly.

How to make whipped JELLO-style gelatin

Whipped gelatin can be made from a packaged JELLO gelatin mix, but here we’re making it entirely from scratch. The only real difference in making it from scratch is that you need your own flavoring and your own powdered gelatin.

For flavoring, I like to use freeze-dried fruit that I’ve ground into a fine powder in a simple blender. Nearly every type of fruit is now sold in freeze-dried form, and it allows me to add plenty of natural color and flavoring to the gelatin.

When I first made this recipe, I used apple juice instead of water. Even when I used less granulated sugar in the recipe, the final whipped gelatin was overly sweet. I really prefer to use water, and then control the sweetness with granulated sugar. But feel free to tweak the recipe to your preference.

Like regular homemade gelatin, to make whipped gelatin, simply rehydrate unflavored powdered gelatin in a bit of liquid and allow it to swell. Heat most of the remaining water in a saucepan until simmering, then add the sugar and freeze-dried fruit powder. Next, add the swelled gelatin and melt it in the hot liquid.

Transfer the hot mixture to a mixing bowl, and add a bit more cold water to help cool everything down. Chill the gelatin until it begins to set. The mixture will move slowly and begin to cling to the sides of the bowl.

Then, whip the gelatin until it lightens in color and begins to increase in volume. Add some cream and whip again, then just transfer to serving dishes and refrigerate until fully set.

This easy whipped JELLO-style gelatin recipe with a mousse-like texture and fresh fruit flavor is the perfect no-bake easy, light dessert for warmer months.

Ingredients and substitutions

Freeze-dried fruit: I usually buy freeze-dried fruit in packets from my local Trader Joe’s. They have lots of types of fruit, and it’s at a pretty good price. Then, I grind it in my blender until it’s a fine powder.

You can also buy freeze-dried fruit from other brands, both in grocery stores and online. You can even purchase freeze-dried fruit already in powdered form on nuts.com, but it’s super expensive. I’d rather grind my own.

If you’d prefer to make this recipe without freeze-dried fruit, you certainly can. Just follow the instructions for making homemade JELLO-style gelatin here, and allow it to begin to set and follow the rest of this recipe as written.

Cream: If you’d like to make this recipe dairy-free, that should be easy enough. Just replace the heavy-whipping cream with chilled canned coconut cream.

You can either buy coconut cream alone in a can or buy full-fat coconut milk and chill the can in the refrigerator overnight. The cream will separate from the liquid and you can scoop off some cream to use in this recipe.

Sugar: If you’d like to avoid using refined, granulated sugar in this recipe, you can make your JELLO-style gelatin base using a naturally sweetened fruit juice. You can also replace the granulated sugar with an equal amount, by volume, of honey.

You can also increase or decrease the sweetness of this recipe as you like. The gelatin is what sets the mixture, not the sugar. You could even make this recipe without any sweetener at all (although I don’t think it would taste very good!).

Gluten Free Parmesan Crackers

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 8, 2019 | Posted In: Appetizers, Crackers, Holidays, Snacks, Super Bowl

These super crisp gluten free parmesan crackers, made with Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and cornmeal, are perfect for snacking, packing in lunches, or serving as an appetizer.

A close up of a glass jar of gluten free Parmesan crackers

Of all the crackers I’ve made, the most requested are the buttery Ritz-style gluten free crackers since they are truly perfect. These Parmesan crackers are much crunchier and have a deeper, richer flavor, though.

I made them rather small, but you can make them bigger and serve them with wine and cheese. Or even use a pastry cutter, pizza wheel, or even a bench scraper to cut the dough into squares or rectangles, which would be a much faster way to go.

The Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese helps give them a true depth of flavor, and the cornmeal gives them that bite. They have a surprisingly small amount of butter, but the extra butter brushed on top before sprinkling plenty of coarse salt really helps them taste buttery.

Don’t forget to poke some holes on top of the crackers before baking, since that helps them to crisp as they bake. Get those nice, round holes in the dough by poking a toothpick in straight and then moving it around in tiny circles to widen the hole.

Overhead image of gluten free Parmesan crackers in a large jar

What are your favorite packaged gluten free crackers?

There are so many brands of packaged gluten free crackers available today. Even Nabisco makes a gluten free variety called “Good Thins,” so you know we’ve really gone mainstream.

(If you’re missing the taste of Wheat Thins, by the way, we’ve got a recipe for homemade gluten free “Wheat Thins.”)

I’d like to do a round-up product review post of the very best packaged gluten free crackers since I don’t make my own crackers from scratch every time we feel like having a cracker. (I’m a normal person, after all, even though I do spend all day every day in the kitchen!).

So far, I really like the Nabisco Good Thins, but also Lance brand crackers (my kids love the peanut butter sandwich crackers), and we love nearly everything that Schar makes. I really don’t care for Mary’s Gone Crackers brand, but that’s just personal preference.

What’s your favorite brand of packaged gluten free cracker? I’d love to know what else I should try. I also have about 10 different brands of packaged gluten free pretzels to share with you soon. As always, I will purchase the products with my own cash money, as I don’t accept any free product from anyone (much to my children’s confusion).

Overhead image of a hand holding a pastry brush and brushing raw cracker dough

Buttermilk powder

In this recipe, I use a brand of buttermilk powder called Saco. In my experience, it’s readily available in most larger grocery stores. It’s the canister with the jolly chef on it. I bet you’ve seen it before.

Buttermilk powder really adds richness to these crackers without adding any moisture which can keep them from crisping up in the oven. Despite the instructions on the canister of buttermilk powder, though, I don’t find that it makes a good substitute for liquid buttermilk when that’s called for in a recipe like our gluten free birthday cake.

I use buttermilk powder exclusively in its powder form as an addition to the dry ingredients in a recipe like this one, where I’m trying to add complexity to the flavor. In place of buttermilk powder, you can use an equal amount (by weight) nonfat dry milk powder.

Overhead image of gluten free Parmesan crackers baked on a tray

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: These crackers have a few different forms of dairy, and some are harder to replace than others. In place of butter, you can try using Earth Balance buttery sticks (for the butter in the crackers, and the brushed butter on top).

For a dairy-free replacement for buttermilk or dry milk powder, try using coconut milk powder. I really like Native Forest brand, although I haven’t tried it in this particular recipe. The liquid cow’s milk can be replaced with your favorite brand of unsweetened nondairy milk. The hardest form of dairy to replace is Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. These are Parmesan Crackers, after all.

I have a sneaking suspicion that you could replace the finely grated cheese with nutritional yeast which does tend to have a cheesy flavor. Pay careful attention to the moisture content of the mixture, though, if you do use nutritional yeast. You may have to add more milk.

Corn-free: There is almost exactly as much yellow cornmeal here as there is all purpose gluten free flour, so it’s a major component of the recipe. I like coarsely ground cornmeal here the best since it really adds great texture and chew.

If you’d like to replace the cornmeal, you can try using millet flour, which has a similar texture. I’m afraid I haven’t tried anything like that, though, so I can’t be sure.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies | Made with Gluten Free Flour

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 3, 2019 | Posted In: Cookies, Desserts

These incredibly easy gluten free peanut butter cookies with gluten free flour are made simply with plenty of peanut butter and brown sugar for the thick and chewy cookie you’ll make again and again.

These thick and chewy gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are made with plenty of peanut butter and brown sugar.

A classic gf peanut butter cookie

This isn’t a recipe for naturally gluten free cookies, made flourless or with ground oats. These are thick and chewy gluten free peanut butter cookies, crisp around the edges and chewy in the center.

They taste homemade, and aren’t made to mimic a packaged cookie. In fact, they’re the type of cookie you’d make if you were new to gluten free baking, but were ready to bake with an all purpose gluten free flour blend.

Be sure to follow the link in the recipe below to the page linked in the all purpose gluten free flour ingredient. There are many flour blends available on to buy, but they aren’t all created equal.

In fact, many of the most common blends, like King Arthur Flour blend and Bob’s Red Mill blend, have gritty rice flours and unbalanced ingredients. They won’t create that classic gluten free peanut butter cookie you miss.

These thick and chewy gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are made with plenty of peanut butter and brown sugar.

Peanut butter cookies made with gluten free flour

If you’ve ever made any gluten free baked goods before, unless they were flourless, they most likely called for an all purpose gluten free flour. These gluten free peanut butter cookies are made with gluten free flour, which is a blend of different flours that mimics the function of conventional all purpose flour.

Unlike our flourless peanut butter cookies, this recipe makes a your standard thick and chewy cookie, much like a chocolate chip cookies—but with a deep peanut flavor. It’s slightly crisp on the very edges, and you taste the peanut butter, brown sugar, vanilla, and chocolate chips the most.

The all purpose gluten free flour blend is made mostly with rice flour, and it has no real taste or obvious texture. That rice flour blend behaves just like all purpose wheat flour would in a similar recipe.

These thick and chewy gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are made with plenty of peanut butter and brown sugar.

Baking gluten free with peanut butter

What is “no stir” peanut butter?

This recipe, like nearly all of my recipes for baking with peanut butter, calls for a “no stir” smooth peanut butter. “No stir” just refers to the kind of jarred peanut butter that doesn’t require you to stir it to reincorporate the peanut oils that have separated from the rest of the nut butter.

Most conventional brands of peanut butter are no-stir unless they’re truly “natural” peanut butter that is made with nothing more than peanuts and salt. That kind tastes great but behaves very differently in baking.

peanut butter cookie dough in an ice cream scooper

Is peanut butter gluten free?

As we discussed in detail in our recipe for plain flourless peanut butter cookies, most brands of commerical peanut butter are naturally gluten free. Some brands, like Jif, will label its peanut butter (and other products) “gluten free” if it fit the U.S. definition of “gluten free,” but may have been prepared on manufacturing equipment that has been shared with gluten-containing products.

Most types of Skippy peanut butter are gluten free, except for those that contain other ingredients. That’s the brand that I buy the most.

The safest peanut butter brands only make gluten free varieties, like Peanut Butter & Co., but they’re pricey. I don’t recommend making your own peanut butter for baking, since the oils in homemade peanut butter tend to separate.

Peanut butter cookie dough balls on tray

Can you replace peanut butter with Nutella?

You can’t replace peanut butter with Nutella in a baking recipe (or Nutella with peanut butter). I’ve tried! But I’ve been doing some switching back and forth between baking with peanut butter and baking with Nutella and I think I’ve cracked the code.

Nutella is nut butter, but it has lots more sugar in it than even any commercial peanut butter (part of its charm, no doubt). We made 3 ingredient Nutella brownies, and they were a complete failure when I attempted to replace Nutella with peanut butter. The oil from the peanut butter separated during baking and the result went right into the compost heap.

I bet you could do something similar in this recipe by reducing the brown sugar in this recipe by at least half and replacing the peanut butter with about 3/4 cup of Nutella. It would take some experimentation, but I think it would be worth it!

These thick and chewy gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies are made with plenty of peanut butter and brown sugar.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

The only real dairy in these cookies is the butter. If you’d like to replace the butter, try using half (4 tablespoons) Earth Balance buttery sticks and half (4 tablespoons) Spectrum brand nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening.

In my experience, that combination mimics the behavior of butter in cooking-baking best. Be sure to use dairy-free chocolate chips, too.

Eggs

There are two eggs in this recipe, which is the upper limit for replacing eggs with “chia eggs” (each “chia egg” is 1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds mixed with 1 tablespoon water and allowed to gel). I haven’t tried that substitute here, though, so I’m not sure how well it would work.

Corn

The cornstarch in this recipe is used to lighten up the all purpose gluten free flour blend and make chewier cookies. In place of cornstarch, you can try using arrowroot powder.

Another note about cornstarch: If you’re already using a higher-starch all purpose gluten free flour blend like Cup4Cup, replace the cornstarch with additional all purpose gluten free flour.

Peanut butter

If you need to make this recipe peanut-free, you can replace the peanut butter with an equal amount of smooth, no-stir smooth almond butter (Barney Butter is a favorite brand) or cashew butter.

Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies on white paper on a blue tray

Classic Gluten Free Birthday Cake

By Nicole Hunn | Published: May 1, 2019 | Posted In: Cakes, Frosting/Icing

This classic gluten free birthday cake is a funfetti vanilla layer cake filled with chocolate sour cream frosting and topped with chocolate icing. It’s your new go-to birthday cake.

This classic gluten free birthday cake is a funfetti vanilla layer cake filled with chocolate sour cream frosting and topped with chocolate icing. It's your new go-to birthday cake.

This is my go-to birthday cake combination

My oldest child just turned 17 this week, and she’s as indecisive as she was at 7. She loves any and all cakes, especially chocolate. But she’s also mindful that not everyone loves a deep, rich chocolate cake.

So when we were planning her the sweetest low-key, home-based birthday party, she simply couldn’t decide on what sort of birthday cake she wanted me to make. I went with my go-to combination which I finally decided to share it with you here: a Funfetti-style vanilla cake with sour cream chocolate frosting and a richer chocolate icing.

The yellow cake is adapted very slightly from my very best gluten free vanilla cake, which has long been one of the most popular recipes on this blog. It’s incredibly moist and tender, and even though you do have to sift some flours, it is as easy as can be.

The edible confetti that makes the cake into “Funfetti” has no real taste (although I’m sure it’s mostly sugar), but it make everything more fun. It’s like dressing like normal on your birthday but wearing a party hat. You’re instantly festive. ?

For what it’s worth, when our 17-year-old party guests saw me cut into this birthday cake at my daughter’s party, there was an audible gasp over my left shoulder. And an “ooooh Funfetti!” exclamation. See? Fun.

This classic gluten free birthday cake is a funfetti vanilla layer cake filled with chocolate sour cream frosting and topped with chocolate icing. It's your new go-to birthday cake.

How to make a gluten free layer cake

I’ve made so many gluten free cakes with you on the blog. Generally, I figure that you’ll find your basic buttercream frosting recipes elsewhere and don’t come to me for my cake-decorating skillz. I’m no cake decorator.

But I’ve decorated enough cakes over the years that I can certainly do a passable job. I thought you might like to see how I make my layer cakes since I have no shortage of opinions.

Bigger isn’t always better

I prefer to make 8-inch round cakes instead of 9-inch cakes or larger. I never make a square or rectangular cake for a birthday celebration.

Round is festive. Rectangles are, well, square (as in boring). This is, of course, my opinion, but I assume you came here for that? If not, just scroll down to the recipe. ☺️

This classic gluten free birthday cake is a funfetti vanilla layer cake filled with chocolate sour cream frosting and topped with chocolate icing. It's your new go-to birthday cake.

Edible confetti is way better than rainbow sprinkles or nonpareils

In the past, I’ve bought edible confetti made by AmeriColor brand on Amazon. A small container lasts me quite a while. Rainbow is the best. ?

I’ve been having some trouble finding AmeriColor sprinkles lately, but I’ve found a few shops on Etsy that sell gluten free rainbow confetti. Rather than my posting links for those shops here, since Etsy links tend to expire often, I recommend searching for “edible gluten free confetti”; “edible gluten free quins”; or “edible gluten free sequins” on Etsy.

Sweetapolita’s Sprinkle Shop is an online shop run by a food blogger that has carried edible rainbow sequins that are gluten free. I had linked to her edible gluten free confetti, and then the link expired. I say just visit her site (Sweetapolita.com) and see if she has any edible gluten free rainbow confetti (also called “quins”).

Rainbow confetti colors tend to be super vibrant, and they don’t bleed. Classic sprinkles (“jimmies, if you’re from Philly!) or nonpareils will begin to bleed nearly the moment you mix them into the cake batter. You don’t want your vanilla cake to look like a clown crime scene. ??

This classic gluten free birthday cake is a funfetti vanilla layer cake filled with chocolate sour cream frosting and topped with chocolate icing. It's your new go-to birthday cake.

How to frost and decorate a beautiful birthday cake

I really like to use a sour cream chocolate frosting for a filler and a crumb coat (the thin layer of frosting all around a layer cake that seals in the crumbs so they don’t speckle your frosting). It’s sweet and chocolatey without being too rich, so it doesn’t overwhelm your vanilla-cake-only people.

You can then, of course, finish the cake with a second layer of the same sour cream chocolate frosting. I prefer to finish the cake with a richer, chocolate icing.

It’s easier to make a smooth finish on the cake with the chocolate icing, and the additional confetti sprinkled on top of the cake stands out a bit more on the icing than on the frosting. The icing also adds a bit of richness.

You do not have to be a professional to ice a birthday cake. The tricks to frosting and/or icing a cake smoothly are twofold.

First, your frostings must be super smooth and everything must be at the proper temperature. The sour cream chocolate frosting here must be at room temperature. If you’ve refrigerated it, you’ll have to leave it out at room temperature for hours so that it comes to temperature evenly.

The chocolate icing must be scoopable, and you can err on the side of chilled. The cakes should be at room temperature, but can also be chilled.

Second, you need a flat edge for smoothing the frosting. I’ve used everything from a tool made specifically for cake decorating to a plastic bowl scraper and even a bench scraper. A spinning cake turntable is nice, but not essential.

And always remember that strategically-placed decorations can hide a multitude of mistakes!

This classic gluten free birthday cake is a funfetti vanilla layer cake filled with chocolate sour cream frosting and topped with chocolate icing. It's your new go-to birthday cake.

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy-free: There is dairy in every aspect of this cake, I’m afraid. The cake itself calls for unsalted butter, which I think should be able to be replaced with a vegan butter like Miyoko’s Kitchen brand or Melt brand vegan butter. I do not recommend Earth Balance buttery sticks because of the high salt and moisture content.

In place of buttermilk in the cake recipe, try using half unsweetened nondairy milk and half plain nondairy yogurt. I find that to be the closest approximation of buttermilk, dairy-containing or dairy-free when you can’t use buttermilk or just don’t have it on hand.

In the frosting and icing recipes, you can try replacing the butter with Spectrum nonhydrogenated vegetable shortening, butter flavor. The sour cream can probably be replaced in each case with nondairy sour cream, but the icing may not set up properly.

Egg-free: I’m afraid I don’t think you can make this recipe dairy-free. I’m tempted to suggest aquafaba (the brine from a can of chickpeas) in place of the egg whites, but I understand from many of you that that hasn’t been very successful in baking.

Cornstarch: If you are using a higher starch all purpose gluten free flour blend like Cup4Cup (or my mock Cup4Cup), replace the cornstarch in this recipe with an additional 54 grams of your flour blend. If you can’t have corn, you can use arrowroot powder in its place.

Archives for May 2019

Why bake yeast-free?

What’s missing from yeast-free bread baking?

How else can you save time baking bread?

How to make these yeast free gluten free dinner rolls

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

Sugar

What cookie crumbs do you use?

How to make no bake brownies

Ingredients and substitutions

How to make cheesecake blondies

First, parbake the crust

Bake the bars low and slow (“water bath” optional)

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

Eggs

What are cake donuts?

Sugar-coating or glaze

How to prevent the donut hole from closing during baking

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

Eggs

Corn

What’s a quick bread?

What makes this gluten free yogurt quick bread special?

How to get that nice, tender crumb in your bread

Ingredients and substitutions

How are cream cheese biscuits different?

How to make sure your biscuits are tender, not tough

Can you freeze these biscuits?

Ingredients and substitutions

Is JELLO gluten free?

What is JELLO-style gelatin made of?

How to make whipped JELLO-style gelatin

Ingredients and substitutions

What are your favorite packaged gluten free crackers?

Buttermilk powder

Ingredients and substitutions

A classic gf peanut butter cookie

Peanut butter cookies made with gluten free flour

Baking gluten free with peanut butter

What is “no stir” peanut butter?

Is peanut butter gluten free?

Can you replace peanut butter with Nutella?

Ingredients and substitutions

Dairy

Eggs

Corn

Peanut butter

This is my go-to birthday cake combination

How to make a gluten free layer cake

Bigger isn’t always better

Edible confetti is way better than rainbow sprinkles or nonpareils

How to frost and decorate a beautiful birthday cake

Ingredients and substitutions

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