Gluten-Free Recipes

Gluten-Free Recipes for Dessert

Egg-Free Chocolate Cake

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

After asking a friend to share a new cake recipe, she pointed me to The Joy of Baking, and a chocolate cake that I could adapt to gluten-free, use butter or oil, make egg-free and didn’t use flaxseed meal, chia seeds, or any egg alternative. 

I’ve made this cake several times, it’s very quick and easy to make, everyday ingredients. Since gluten-free flours have little flavor compared to wheat flour I used light brown sugar rather than regular sugar. For laziness as well as to make it dairy-free, I have used both almond oil and avocado oil. Using melted butter would give more flavor. Interestingly if you Google this cake, there are quite a few recipes for it, many claiming authorship and changing quantities of ingredients. 

Gluten-Free and Egg-Free Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups King Arthur, all-purpose, gluten-free flour, no xanthan gum or baking powder. 
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup avocado oil, or almond oil
• 1 cup warm water 
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon pure coffee extract (optional), zest of orange, or different gluten-free extracts

Chocolate Ganache

• 1 c, 6 ounces, gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chips – I use Tollhouse
• 1 c, 8 fl oz heavy cream 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (180* C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter or spray an 8 or 9 inch (20 or 22cm) cake pan with a nonstick cooking spray, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, spray paper and dust pan with cocoa.
2. In a large bowl whisk or stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. Add the melted butter or oil, water, lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, vanilla extract, and coffee extract (if using). Beat all the ingredients together until well blended. Pour the wet batter into your pan and bake in preheated oven for about 28 – 30 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Don’t overcook it. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 – 15 minutes before removing the cake from the pan.

Chocolate Ganache: Heat cream in a microwave-safe jug for about 1 minute. Stir in the chocolate, and leave for a few minutes.  Stir until smooth.  I like to use an immersion blender to make the ganache totally smooth.  

Leave in the fridge for at least an hour so ganache thickens and then spread over top and sides of cake.

I also tried making this with ¾ cup milk and one egg rather than 1 c water.  The photo shows whole cake with ganache and chopped nuts. The cake rose more and was definitely moister.  Without the egg, I found edges of cake were a bit harder, not bad, just noticeable to me.  

Original recipes talk about putting dry ingredients in cake pan, adding wet ingredients, mixing and baking. I find it easier to mix in 4 c (1 ltr) pyrex jug and pour into cake pan.  Flour and cocoa tend to fly everywhere when mixed in shallow pan.

Note that unsweetened cocoa (Hershey’s regular) reacts with vinegar/lemon juice giving a reddish tinge, like red velvet cake.

Sweet Cookie Pizza

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

The base is a gluten-free sugar cookie I made from a Better Homes and Gardens wheat snickerdoodle cobbler recipe. When the cookie dough is cooked on its own cooking sheet, it cooks up thin and crispy. The original topping was 3 x 8 ounce packets of cream cheese. I used only 1×8 ounce and we liked that quantity the best. The original recipe added circles of kiwi fruit to look like pepperoni. I used circles of strawberries to look like pepperoni. I chopped fresh mango to imitate yellow bell peppers and drizzled chocolate sauce to imitate balsamic glaze. We also preferred just the sweetened cream cheese topping without the key lime juice and lime zest.

Gluten-Free Sweet Cookie Pizza

Ingredients:

Crust

• ¼ c (2oz, 56g) butter, softened
• ⅓ c (2+1/2 oz) sugar
• 2 teaspoon gluten-free baking powder
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• ½ c (2+1/2 oz, 70g) King Arthur all-purpose gluten-free flour – doesn’t contain baking powder or xanthan gum.
• 1/8 tsp xanthan gum

Topping

• 1 x 8oz packet cream cheese, softened.  I use stores own ‘lite’ which is also softer.
• ¼ c (60ml) powdered (icing) sugar or to your taste.
• 1 tbsp key lime juice – optional
• zest of ¼ lime – optional
• Fresh fruit

Chocolate sauce

• ¼ c (60ml) semi-sweet chocolate melted with ¼ c cream until smooth.
• Let cool so it thickens.

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl beat all crust ingredients together for 2-3 minutes until soft and fluffy. This is a very soft mix, not stiff cookie dough.
2. Draw a 9” circle (measure a dinner plate and use that for circle size) on parchment paper on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan (unless you’re confident that cooked cookie will release without sticking from your pan).
3. I use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop. Make outer circle of dough blobs on parchment paper, about 1 inch apart, and then space out the rest of the dough inside the circle. Wet your fingers and flatten slightly.
4. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for about 18-20 minutes. Every oven differs and cookies will cook faster if over flattened. Cookies should merge together as a complete ‘pizza’ base and be a golden color, but not dark and just under ½ inch deep. Remove from oven, let cool and then remove from parchment paper and lift onto serving dish. Don’t worry if it cracks, cream cheese and fruit will hide cracks. Cookies will soften if left out, from humidity and from the topping.
5. Beat cream cheese and sugar together, and spread carefully on cooled base.
6. Decorate with strawberry slices, fruit, and chocolate sauce.

You can find Chef Oonagh Williams at Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh on FB, LinkedIn or her website. Chef Oonagh has a culinary arts degree, celiac disease and other food allergies. Remember most real food is naturally gluten-free until manufacturers ‘mess’ around with it and only baking really needs changing.

Impossibly Easy Cheesecake

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

I found the original wheat flour version of this cheesecake recipe on the Bisquick website and made it with gluten-free King Arthur flour. 

Impossibly Easy Gluten-Free Cheesecake
makes at least 8 servings, over an inch deep

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup milk, I used 2% Lactaid
• 2 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1 tsp gluten-free almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 x 8 oz packets of cream cheese, soft, room temperature, cut into cubes
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup King Arthur gluten-free, all-purpose flour—no xanthan gum, no baking powder
• ½ tsp gluten-free baking powder
• pinch of salt

Topping:

• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey
• 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
• Fruit

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9” glass pie plate
2. Put milk, vanilla, almond, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and salt in food processor. Blend on high speed for 15 seconds.
3. Add cubed cream cheese and blend for 2 more minutes until no blobs of cream cheese remain. Scrape down the sides. If you don’t have a food processor, put cream cheese in 8 cup bowl, add milk, extracts and dry ingredients and beat until smooth. Then beat in eggs.
4. Put the pie plate on jelly roll pan, pour in cream cheese mix, it fills the pie plate but doesn’t overflow. Bake in preheated oven for about 40 minutes.  Usually, for a cheesecake or custard, I will insert a knife halfway between edge and center and see if the custard is sticking to knife rather than runny as it stiffens on cooling and isn’t overcooked. With this recipe, I find I have to cook it until center is set or it still tastes floury. Roughly an inch around outside will look golden brown, center of cheesecake can have some cracks, it will have risen and will deflate on cooling. Cool completely.  I prefer it refrigerated overnight and then removed from the fridge about one hour before serving so texture softens.
5. For the topping: mix the sour cream, honey/sugar, and vanilla extract together. 
6. Spread sour cream mix on top. Serve with fresh fruit, drizzle with chocolate ganache, lemon curd mixed with whipped cream, strawberry or raspberry sauce.

Don’t expect a crust like a regular pie crust, but it does form an outer layer. 

Lazy Boston Cream Pie

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Yes I know, I normally cook from scratch but I also get tired of dirty dishes. This was an easy dessert to make with the kids for Mother’s Day. It’s a simple recipe with ingredients that many already have at home.

I used half of King Arthur 22 oz gluten-free gold cake mix—substitute your favorite packet mix cake, vanilla, chocolate, or a from-scratch recipe that makes 2 x 8 or 9” thin layers.

I only used half a packet of cake mix and made 2 layers per packet instructions (reducing quantities of eggs etc) in my lined and greased Wilton maxi whoopie pie pan.

I filled with Jell-O instant vanilla pudding made up with whole milk or cream. I used less milk to powder (1+3/4c) so it was firmer. For the first cake, I used a half packet of jello but next time preferred to use whole packet for creamy indulgence.

Topped with your favorite chocolate glaze—homemade chocolate frosting, chocolate ganache or store-bought chocolate frosting.  I melted 2 oz, half stick of butter, added 1 cup (6oz) Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips and 2 tbsp corn syrup, microwaved and stirred until lovely and smooth. Don’t overheat as chocolate will scorch.  Let cool slightly then gently spoon onto the top of the cake. If still warm, chocolate drips down the sides, if cool, chocolate stays on top. This is a very fudgy textured topping.

Enjoy!

Upside Down Apple Tart

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

This recipe makes enough for 2 pies with one top crust. Wrap and freeze half the dough. 

This pastry is a cross between pie crust and cookie dough, soft, rises due to baking powder, very rich. 

Making a one crust tart is less calories and less money.  I made this apple tart all the time in wheat flour days, using my rich French sweet pastry recipe.  Baking tart with pastry on top, makes a far crisper, not soggy pastry. 

Gluten-Free Upside Down, One Crust Apple Tart

Ingredients:

• 5 oz (1 cup less 1 tbsp, 140g) King Arthur gluten free all purpose flour – no baking powder or xanthan gum. Available in 24 oz box in grocery store. Cheapest at NE Market Basket’s $5+
• 3 oz (¾ c, 84 g) almond flour -note finely ground almond flour (white) is less volume than more coarsely ground almond flour or almond meal (freckly), that’s why I weigh. Too much or too little by volume will alter recipe. Not all measuring cups are accurate.
• ¼ c (1 oz, 28 g) powdered (icing)  sugar
• ¾ stick (3 oz, 84 g)  cold butter 
• 2 tsp (10ml)  gluten-free baking powder 
• pinch of salt
• ½ tsp (3 ml) xanthan gum, ¼ tsp xg crumbled too much even when cold. 
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp (5 ml) gluten-free vanilla extract, almond if doing more almond filling.
• ¼ c (60ml, 2oz)- 1/3 c cream.  

Filling

• 2 tbsp butter (1oz, 30 ml)
• 2 Tbsp (30 ml) maple syrup
• 2 Tbsp (30ml) packed light brown sugar
• (make 50% more butter mix and then add 1 tbsp gluten-free bourbon to one third of sauce to drizzle over dessert on serving.)
• 2-4 large Gala, Fuji, Braeburn apples, peeled, cored, halved and sliced or a mix of your favorite apples for baking – you might need more depending on size of apples – I like to use Gala apples as they are naturally sweet for the finished tart. Granny Smith needs more sugar.
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 400*. Melt butter, sugar and maple syrup in the microwave in microwave safe pan, until butter melts.    Cool slightly (so glass or ceramic dish doesn’t crack from thermal shock) and then pour into base of 9” pie plate – not loose bottomed or you will lose all the tasty syrup.
2. Mix gluten-free flour, almond flour, sugar, xg, baking powder and salt together until resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Mix egg, milk and extract together and whisk with a fork to blend egg.
4. You can add liquid mix to dry mix in food processor and pulse to combine. Gently knead a few times with white rice flour.
5. Put plastic wrap on counter/12 x 18 chopping board, dust with rice flour. Put half of lump of dough on top, dust with rice flour, cover with another piece of plastic wrap and roll out  between 2 sheets of saran wrap to make a circle big enough to fit the inside edge of a 9” pie plate. This can be measured by turning the pie plate upside down on pastry to check for size.  Don’t worry if the pastry circle doesn’t look beautiful as it will become the bottom hidden by apples.

Apples

6. Put apples into pie plate on top of butter mix.  Remember apples will collapse down so I like a thick layer. 
7. Mix together cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on top of apple layers.  If you put cinnamon next to the butter layer then the tart would have a speckly appearance from the cinnamon.
8. Take off top piece of saran wrap.  Put your hand under the bottom piece of saran wrap and use it to lift up the dough and flip it on top of apples.  Don’t worry if it cracks a bit just patch it together as it won’t be visible for serving.  Tuck any extra dough down the inside edge of the pie plate not on the top edge or over the outside edge. Remove second piece of saran wrap.
9. Place on baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is a deep brown without being burnt.  Cover with foil if browning too fast.  If your oven cooks fast, then dig the tip of a sharp knife into the middle of the dough to see how well cooked it is.  The pastry should be light and crispy throughout with no raw doughiness.
10. Remove from oven, let stand for about 10 minutes so the juices solidify slightly.  Don’t leave for longer before you turn the tart out or the caramel will harden. Warm slightly in oven or microwave if that happens. Turn out onto a plate with edges so juices don’t spill.  
11. Serve with ice cream and an extra drizzle of the butter, maple syrup mix (plus bourbon) and Indulge!

Turtle Bars

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Peace, love and health to all.

As we head into more time with Coronavirus, I thank parents who are home schooling and honestly am thankful that my son is a single adult with a job.   Many are worrying about kids falling behind, but everyone, worldwide, will be doing catch up. Locally there are many people making cloth masks and people donating fabric, elastic, ribbon.  Another friend is co ordinating collection of single size snacks, drinks etc for local hospitals.  Meals donated to first responders.   I still post recipes on FB and my encore ABC WMUR cooking presentations.

The company my husband works for, makes the thermal imaging thermometers that are used worldwide, so he is even busier working from home than in office.  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thermal-imaging-cameras-coronavirus.    

Be kind to others, be kind to yourself, we are all in this together and will get through it. Stay Safe.

At this time, a special offer to help this month, 50% discount on my downloadable e-cookbook, full color photos, lots of advice plus recipes.  Go to www.glutenfreecookingwithoonagh.com and click on gluten-free cookbook on menu or picture of cookbook. Scroll to bottom of screen to order with PayPal or Credit Card.  In the ‘description’ of purchase box, type CV19, in price box, type 10. That’s it.

This is a mix of a number of different recipes until I came up with the thickness of base and caramel filling that I personally preferred.  One of my English recipes has a cake base with a caramel filling based on condensed milk.  I am finding that for me personally some condensed milk recipes are just too sweet and catch at the back of the throat.  Locally, Milford NH High School has a Culinary Arts program that I’m involved with, with a public restaurant during the school year. They had made this dessert, called it Turtle Bars and put pecans in the from scratch caramel filling (all my previous recipes never used nuts and were a Twix lookalike).  So I tried making my dessert with added nuts and used their name for it as well as using bought caramel sauce for ease.

Gluten-Free & Egg-Free Turtle Bars
made in an 8×8 pan

Ingredients:

Shortbread base: If you have a favorite sugar cookie recipe or bought sugar cookie mix or tube, you can substitute that. My base is quite thick and uses 14 oz ingredients. Look at your recipe/bought mix and do the math to substitute. 

• 1 c (4 oz, 112g ) my rice free,  gluten-free flour mix, ingredients at end of this recipe – to substitute, you have to weigh, (approx ¾ c KAF all purpose gluten-free flour with no baking powder or xanthan gum.)
• ½ c (2 oz, 56 g) gluten-free almond flour (ground almonds in UK), Trader Joe’s, Costco, BRM and KAF all sell almond flour (white) labeled gluten-free and some have almond meal (freckly with skin) also labeled gluten-free. Varying prices. 
• ½ c (2 oz, 56 g) powdered sugar (Icing sugar in UK)
• 1+1/2 sticks (6 oz, 168g) butter (or substitute) hard from the fridge and cut into 1 tablespoon slices
• ¾ tsp (4 ml) xanthan gum

Filling:

• 1+1/4 to 1+1/2 cups (10-12 fl oz, 300-360 ml) thick caramel sauce (I have used a 10 oz jar of Trader Joe’s caramel sauce labeled gluten free or 13 oz can of Nestle dulce de leche which is caramelized condensed milk.  Your own homemade caramel sauce.  Most ice cream caramel sauces don’t seem to be gluten free and possibly runnier)
• 1 +1/2 cups (6oz, 168 g) coarsely chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, cashews, macadamias) cooked in 350* oven (unless labeled roasted already) for 10 minutes.  Once you smell them cooking they could be burning, watch carefully. If you like salted caramel, you could use chopped salted nuts.  If you only have salted nuts and don’t want the salt, rinse salt off in warm water and then crisp nuts in oven. 
• Additional 2 tablespoons milk, cream to thin dulce de leche.
• 1 tsp (5 ml) gluten-free vanilla extract.  I’ve also added zest of 1 or 2 oranges.

Topping

• I use semi sweet chocolate, with kids you might want to use milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (6oz, 168g- I use Nestle Tollhouse)
• 4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick – 2 oz, 60 ml)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F (180*C) Put flours, sugar and xanthan gum in food processor.  Add hard butter and run food processor until mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.  If you make this with soft butter, it will turn into a paste you have to spread in dish rather than sprinkle like breadcrumbs.  Make it easier on yourself.
2. Grease 8×8 (20×20 cm) baking pan. If you use a glass pan, then stand it on a metal sheet in the oven, so base cooks better.  Sprinkle in shortbread mix, spread evenly and press down.
3. Bake in preheated oven for about 30-40 minutes.  You do want the base to be light golden brown all over now or it tastes raw later, with darker brown edges.  This is the only cooking base will get so you want to be sure it is cooked through.  There is nothing worse than a raw base. Remove from oven.  Base will probably have fine cracks throughout.
4. Open jar of caramel sauce, remove lid and warm in microwave to easier pouring consistency.  For can of dulce de leche, scrape into microwave safe bowl, warm, add some milk.
5. Add nuts and vanilla, mix well and pour on top of crust in brownie pan, allow to cool.
6. Melt chocolate chips and butter until smooth.  I give chocolate mix about 44 seconds in microwave, stop and stir.  Continue to microwave in 11 second increments if necessary. Spread over cooled caramel filling, allow to set and then cut into very tiny squares. Don’t try to cut while warm as it will crumble. My husband likes this cold from the fridge when caramel and chocolate are hard.  I like it at a warm room temperature when filling is very creamy.  It is easier to cut the bars while the caramel and chocolate are hard and then serve them hard or soft. Cut by using a sharp knife repeatedly dipped in very hot water to easily glide through chocolate topping. Transfer to storage container.

My gluten-free mix: I use for one cup of gluten-free mix. Rice-free. I have slowly been remaking my gluten-free recipes with arrowroot instead of potato starch for nightshade problems for lots of people. It’s basically trial and error, some recipes arrowroot just isn’t a good enough substitute as it’s more floury, but still tasty. 

• ½ cup potato starch or arrowroot starch for those with nightshade problems. BRM sell a bag of arrowroot, but it is more expensive than potato starch.
• ¼ c tapioca starch – note there is a difference in tapioca starch from different brands.
• 2 tbsp amaranth or millet flour: Bob’s Red Mill (millet is roughly one third the price of amaranth, is not so nutritious, but is more readily available.) 
• 2 tbsp sorghum flour: Bob’s Red Mill.  

Larger quantity
Making about 7 cups total of mix

• 1 x 14 oz bag potato starch, which is 3+1/2 cups – that’s the size I can buy. Or 14 oz arrowroot by weight. 
• 1+3/4 c of Tapioca Starch is 7 oz
• Just under 1 cup of Amaranth or Millet (actually ¾ c plus 2 Tbsps is 4 oz)
• Just under 1 cup of Sorghum (actually ¾ c plus 2 Tbsps is 4 oz) 

Note that I buy potato starch and tapioca starch from local Asian market, and brands that online say they are gluten-free.

Almond Macaroons

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

You can use different nut flours for this recipe. Different brands and fineness of the almond flour/almond meal change the macaroon. My friend uses Trader Joe’s almond meal (meaning ground with skin left on so ‘freckly’) and I use Costco’s own almond flour (blanched, white colored as without skin, aka ground almonds in England) both labeled gluten free. I kept decreasing the amount of almond flour to get the chewiness I wanted, similar to ones my friend made.  When I used her cup measures with almond flour, they were dense and not chewy. This is a very simple recipe, quick to make, and a small enough quantity to find out if you like them.

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup (2+1/2 oz) almond flour (or 1 cup Trader Joe’s almond meal) 
• 1/3 cup (2+1/2 oz) sugar 
• ½ tsp gluten-free almond extract for extra almond flavor 
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup chopped, flaked almonds 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350* and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix almond flour and sugar in a 4 cup bowl.
3. Break up egg with a fork, add egg and almond extract to flour mix, and stir until mix forms a soft, moist paste.
4. I use a #60 / one tablespoon cookie scoop (number should be engraved on inside metal ring that releases cookie dough)
5. Put chopped almonds in a cereal bowl. Scrape cookie scoop against side of bowl to cut off excess mix. Drop a scoop of dough into almonds and shake the bowl to cover the ball in almonds.  It’s easier to do one at a time. Lift soft ball onto cookie sheet leaving about one inch between balls.  I have tried just covering the top of the ball in almonds, but the macaroons tend to stick to parchment paper without chopped almonds on bottom.  Flatten all balls slightly.

6. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes, macaroons should be lightly golden brown, firm but still soft. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Drizzle with chocolate, sandwich with chocolate ganache or buttercream and raspberry jam. Bake until harder and use it as a substitute for Amaretti cookies in recipes.

Lemon Snowballs

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh

No, this isn’t a Girl Scout cookie lookalike recipe. These lemon snowballs actually came from a 1997 Lithuanian Heritage magazine. They were originally made with wheat, and I made them gluten-free. These are delicious and easy to make!

Gluten-Free Lemon Snowballs
Makes 20

Ingredients:

• ¼ c powdered/icing/confectioner’s sugar
• 1/2 cup soft butter
• 1 tsp gluten-free vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp gluten-free cornstarch in one cup measure, add
• 5 oz (140 g) King Arthur all-purpose gluten-free flour blend to fill one cup. (this blend doesn’t contain xanthan gum or baking powder. Adding cornstarch is a way of softening the flour blend, more melt in the mouth and tender, and a substitute for cake flour.)
• ½ c finely chopped, toasted almonds, pecans or walnuts. Bake nuts for 10-15 minutes in 350 oven, watch they don’t burn. Let them cool before you add them to dough. 
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ – ½ tsp xanthan gum. 
• powdered sugar to finish
• Zest or orange or lemon for flavor, optional

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350*F.
2. Beat 1/4 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla (and zest) together until light and fluffy.
3. Add flour with cornstarch, xanthan gum, chopped nuts and salt and gently mix until soft dough forms.
4. Shape into 1 inch balls.  I use small pampered chef cookie scoop about 1+1/4 inch diameter, 1 Tbsp quantity.  Number 60 should be carved onto circle that cleans cookie dough from scoop. Scoop, clean against side of bowl and drop cookie onto ungreased cookie sheet, two inches apart. I like to line cookie sheet with parchment paper.   I don’t bother to roll cookie into ball shape. They flatten slightly on baking, refrigerating before baking doesn’t keep the ball shape.
5. Bake in preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes until light golden brown on the outside, still almost white in the body of the cookie but set to the touch.  Don’t cook until brown all over, tastes disgusting. This is meant to be like a melt in your mouth shortbread.
6. Remove from oven, remove from cookie sheets, cool slightly and heavily dust with sieved powdered sugar. I find when hot they are far too fragile to pick up. Cool completely.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh

Over Christmas, we had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. The menu had a flourless chocolate cake with macerated strawberries (sliced strawberries with sugar and liqueur usually) plus strawberry sauce and whipped cream. The waitress confirmed it was gluten-free, but don’t just trust a description of flourless to mean it’s safely gluten-free. We bought one to bring home and share. The cake part was a bit bigger than standard cupcake size but only tasted of bitter cocoa. Just cocoa doesn’t meet my criteria for a chocolate cake. So I made this version instead to satisfy our craving…

Gluten-Free Flourless Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 2 oz soft butter or melted coconut oil 
• 2 oz gluten-free, semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 4 oz sugar 
• 4 oz gluten-free almond flour
• 3 large eggs 
• 2 tbsp gluten-free cocoa 
• 1 tsp gluten-free almond extract 
• 1 tsp gluten-free baking powder 
• pinch of salt 

Directions:

1. Cake: Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 1 x 9” springform pan, line base with parchment paper and dust with cocoa. For individual portions, use either regular cupcake liners in cupcake pan or larger Texas muffins for indulgence. Melt chocolate and butter/coconut oil together until the chocolate is totally smooth.
2. Put rest of cake ingredients in 8 cup bowl, add melted chocolate mix and beat for 2-3 minutes until fluffy. 
3. Spread mix in springform pan or divide up between cupcake liners. Bake in 350 oven for about 30 minutes for cake, 18-20 for cupcakes depending on the size chosen. Cake will still be soft but a knife in the middle of the cake will be clean.
4. Remove from oven, let cake cool for about 10 minutes then turn onto a cooling rack. Allow cupcakes to cool completely then when ready to serve, remove from paper liners.

Strawberry topping and liquor sauce:

Wash and slice strawberries, sprinkle with sugar and leave for a few hours for sugar to produce juices. You can add 1-2 tbsp brandy, rum, amaretto, orange liqueur to strawberries. 

1 cup of cream with 2 tbsp sugar and 1-2 Tbsp liqueur, whipped until stiff.

For individual cakes, I spoon some of the strawberries on top of upside-down cake per plate, pour off some of the juices from strawberries in tub and puree remaining strawberries and juice.  You can add back in juice if sauce is too thick, but you can’t easily add to a thin sauce. Puddle the cake with pureed sauce and pipe with cream. (see photo). Also try fresh raspberries with frozen raspberry and raspberry jam sauce, canned peaches. 

For after Christmas neighborhood party, I made 9-inch cake, cut into wedges.  I added water, brown sugar and rum to can of cut up sliced pineapple and thickened slightly.  I poured sauce into bowl in center of plate of sliced cake. (see photo).

Coffee Walnut Cake

From Chef Oonagh Williams of Gluten-Free Cooking with Oonagh

This is the same almond flour base I made in wheat flour days. Almond flour cakes are very common in Europe and naturally gluten-free. 

Gluten-Free Cake with Coffee & Walnuts

• Cake – single 8″ cake layer about 3/4 inch deep, with coffee butter frosting. 
• 6 tbsp (3 oz, 84g) very soft butter or coconut oil. I use coconut oil as my butter substitute in baking and prefer it to margarine style subs.
• 1+1/4 cup (4oz, 112g)  almond flour – almonds ground without skin (Trader Joe’s on line state that their almond flour -white – and almond meal – freckly – are gluten free and only $4.99/lb compared to other national brands except for Costco $4/lb for 3 lb bag, labeled gluten-free)
• 1/3 c (2oz, 56 g) toasted, chopped walnuts. I toast contents of a bag of chopped walnuts in 350 oven for about 10 minutes and then store them, ready to use. Toasting nuts really does make a difference, just don’t let them burn.
• 3/4 c, (6 oz, 180 g) sugar  
• 2 Tbsp (30 ml) instant coffee powder dissolved in 1 tbsp (15ml) water – regular Folger’s
• pinch of salt
• 1+1/2 tsp (8 ml) gluten-free baking powder 
• no xanthan gum needed
• 3 eggs  
• Frosting/Buttercream:
• 1/2 cup/1 stick (4 oz, 112g) soft butter or butter substitute you like
• 1 tsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 tsp water. 
• 2 c (8 oz, 224g) powdered (icing, confectioners) sugar

More toasted walnuts to sprinkle on top of frosting. 

1. Preheat oven to 350*F/170*C. Lightly grease and bottom line 8”  pan with parchment paper circle, dust with rice flour. 
2. Place all the cake ingredients in a 4 cup, 1-litre bowl and beat for 1-2 minutes until smooth and creamy. Color will lighten slightly but will still be coffee-colored.
3. Spoon raw batter into prepared pan and smooth out. 
4. Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes until cake has risen, softly firm is dark golden brown  If you use almond meal/natural almond flour (almonds ground with skin still on) then cake will be even darker.
5. Remove from oven, cool in pan for about 3 minutes, then turn out onto cake serving plate, remove paper lining and then turn right side up.

Frosting/Buttercream:

6. I like to sieve the powdered sugar as it is often lumpy and it’s easier to sift first then try and beat little white lumps out of frosting.
7. Slowly add powdered sugar to very soft butter and coffee. Be careful, the sugar has a tendency to explode up. Once all sugar is added, beat well for 1-2 minutes to make fluffy.
8. This quantity of frosting is enough to generously top cake and pipe around edges. Then sprinkle with more toasted walnuts.

Variations:

1. Whipped Cream. Whip 1 cup of cream with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar and 2 tablespoons of Kahlua or rum until stiff.  This can be used to frost cake instead of buttercream frosting. Or just serve on the side.
2. Regular chocolate ganache with Kahlua or rum added. 

1 c (8 oz, 240 ml) heavy or whipping cream

1 c (6oz, 168g)) Nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips -labeled gluten-free.

2-4 tbsp (30-60ml)  Kahlua or rum. Depending on the alcohol content of the chosen liqueur, this can taste quite strong.

Heat 1 cup of whipping or heavy cream to nearly boiling, add chocolate chips and stir. Let stand for a few minutes, then stir and microwave more if necessary until a totally smooth sauce is formed (looks like thick chocolate syrup). You can also use an immersion blender to make the sauce totally smooth.

Add alcohol and refrigerate for several hours until stiffer than set jello pudding.

I like to lightly whisk half of chilled ganache and gently persuade over top of cake and it will start drizzling down the sides. Then whisk remaining ganache and pipe on top of cake. Ganache is very soft if served immediately, piped chocolate will set up stiffer with refrigeration.  

3. Fruit. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter with 2 tablespoons of light brown sugar, add slices of fresh or canned pineapple and gently fry until starting to brown on edges.  Pour 2 tablespoons of rum into a measuring cup, then pour into skillet, allow to heat for about 20 seconds and use gas grill lighter to ignite the alcohol fumes. Make sure there are no children or animals around.  Do not lean over pan, keep hair out of the way. Allow flames to die down and serve on side of cake. In the summer just grill some pineapple slices.