I've been very excited about candycap mushrooms lately so I dragged out one of my great aunt's old-world mandelbrot recipes and then modified the living daylights out of it. My version is gluten-free, and can very easily be modified to be egg, grain, and sugar free (if you use a sugar substitute and optional sugar-free chocolate chips). I haven't tried to make this recipe nut-free, since I'm fine with nuts and love the flavor of almond (it is almond bread, after all!), though you certainly could try the recipe using tree nut-free flours such as sorghum, coconut, or cassava flour So without further ado....

Candycap Chocolate Chip Mandelbrot

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs or the equivalent in egg substitute (I use Just Egg as a substitute since I'm allergic to eggs, I'm not sure how well other substitutes would work, flax eggs might work ok)
• 3/4-1 cup sugar or your favorite sugar alternative (I've done the recipe subbing 1:1 with erythritol and it came out yummy)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup oil (see below for a note about the oil)
• 1/2 tsp candycap mushroom powder (it's super expensive, a tiny bit goes a long way, it stores well in the freezer, and it's entirely optional for this recipe: you can leave this out and your mandelbrot will still taste delicious)
• 3-3.5 cups flour (my aunt's recipe used white flour; I use 1.5 cup sorghum or gf oat flour, 1.5 cup almond meal, 1/2 cup tapioca starch, and 2 tbsp ground flax. If you were avoiding grains, you could use coconut or cassava flour instead of the sorghum and it should come out just fine)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Pinch salt
• Optional: 1 cup chocolate chips (I prefer mini chips) or sliced toasted almonds

Oil: This is an old Ashkenazi Jewish recipe and it's intended to be a parve dessert (meaning it has no dairy nor meat in it, so can be eaten with either), so traditionally the way my family made it, it wouldn't have been made with butter. You certainly could use butter, which would taste nice and work well texture-wise. My very favorite oil for this is a mix of food-grade raw cocoa butter (make sure it's intended for food and not just cosmetics, though!) and hazelnut or walnut oil. I chop the chunks of cocoa butter into small bits, measuring out about 1/2-3/4 cup, fill the rest of the measuring cup in with the liquid hazelnut or walnut oil, then put them in a microwave safe bowl and microwave it til it's melted. You can also melt the cocoa butter over a double burner (fill a small saucepan with a bit of water, put your glass/metal/ceramic bowl into the pot, and heat on a low flame til the cocoa butter is melted).

Candycap: I stir the candycap powder to the oil and heat gently for at least 5 minutes. It's ok to leave the mushroom powder in the oil, you don't have to strain it out. 1/4-1/2 tsp powder is more than enough to flavor that amount of oil. 

To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 350° F

If using cocoa butter and candycap, roughly chop the cocoa butter into bits and melt in microwave or over stovetop. Add in candycap powder and stir well (if using any other oil, heat the oil gently in a double boiler and add candycap mushroom powder). Let the candycap and warm oil sit for at least 5 minutes before incorporating into recipe. 

Add all ingredients except the chocolate chips/almond slices into a bowl one at a time, mixing after each new ingredient is added, and mix well with a spoon. Mix until it becomes a thick batter/sticky dough - the dough should be about thick enough to be able to shape it into a log and have it hold its shape, but will definitely be sticky. Fold optional chocolate chips/almonds into the dough/batter.

Separate the dough into 2 equal parts. Shape into 2 logs on a baking sheet covered in a silicone baking mat (these are the best, but you can use parchment paper if you don't have a silicone mat). It's best to wet your hands with cold water to shape the dough, so the dough doesn't stick to your hands. 

Bake 35-40 minutes, until slightly brown

Remove from oven and slice the logs into 1/4-1/2" slices. Lay the slices down on their sides. Return cookie sheet to oven and bake another 5-10 minutes. 

Remove from oven, flip the slices over, and bake for another 5-10 minutes.

Let cool and enjoy! These keep really well for at least a week unrefrigerated if they're kept in a sealed container. I love mandelbrot best dipped in sweet milky coffee or tea. 

Honest to Goodness Yeast Risen Bread

I am so excited about this recipe. I have played with it quite a lot to get it to be what I want out of a yeast-risen bread. Enjoy and let me know what you think! I got the original recipe from my friend Ana, though I've modified it a fair amount. Thank you for the original challah recipe, Ana!

I use a stand mixer to make this, but you don't have to, you certainly can do this all in a large bowl with a sturdy wooden spoon. The dough is more like a batter, so I'd recommend using a bread mold or loaf pan, this recipe won't give you the option of fancy shaped breads unless you use a mold.

Ingredients:
1 packet dry yeast

1 tbsp honey

slightly less than 1 c warm water (preferably filtered/non-chlorinated)

2 eggs (or the equivalent of 2 eggs using egg substitute - I've used a product called VeganEgg successfully with this recipe)

1/4 c olive oil

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp xantham gum

2 c GF oat, teff, or sorghum flour

1/2 c tapioca or arrowroot starch (cornstarch would work too)

1/2 c almond or coconut flour (if allergic to nuts, you can also just use another 1/2 c of whatever flour you're using)

1/4 c ground flax
------------------------

Stir together yeast, 1 tbsp honey, and the warm water in the bowl of the mixer (or the bowl you're using). Let sit 5 min to proof the yeast. (I heat water until it feels hot but not painfully hot to the touch)

In a separate container, mix together the flour(s), flax, and xantham gum

If using stand mixer, start the mixer on medium speed and add the eggs/egg substitute, oil, honey, vinegar, and salt.into the yeast (if using a bowl, mix everything together, mixing well. You can use a whisk at this stage as well to combine your ingredients well)

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet, mixing thoroughly (if using a stand mixer, mix on high once all your flour is in the bowl until the batter is smooth and thick)

Pour the batter into a greased mold or loaf pan (I've even used a greased pie plate to make a round loaf). Put inside your oven or microwave with the oven turned off and allow to rise for 45-60 min 

Remove your pan and preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 75 min. Allow to cool for at least 10 min before slicing. Delicious!


Modifications:

You don't have to use nut flour in this recipe, though I think it gives the bread a nice texture and nutritional profile. If you want this bread to taste more like a traditional challah, use 1/4 c honey in the batter, and stick with oat flour (if you use oat flour, even though the bread is gluten free, it is considered halachically appropriate for saying motzi over and can be used for Jewish holidays calling for challah!). You can add sweet or savory elements into the bread if you're feeling inspired, such as olives and rosemary, raisins, nuts and seeds, herbs and granulated garlic or onions, even chocolate chips, but the bread is so lovely it doesn't need any of those things.

I've also used this recipe for making yeast risen pizza crusts. For pizza crust, I add 1 tbsp granulated onion and about 2 tbsp dried oregano. Rather than letting it rise in a bowl, I press the batter into a thin round pizza crust shape on a silicone baking mat placed on a baking sheet (you can put oil on your hands to help keep the batter from sticking to you), and then let it rise for about 30 min (the recipe should be enough for at least 2 good sized pizza crusts). I bake the crust at 425 degrees F for about 10 min, then remove it from the oven and put my pizza toppings on it, then bake for another 20-25 min (watch the color of the melting cheese, a proper mozzarella cheese pizza will have brown spots when it's about ready). 

A lovely and very modifiable quick bread recipe!

This is one of my favorites, in part because it's so modifiable and in part because it's so easy!  I've done so many variations of this recipe, and each has come out really nice. It makes a dense loaf that holds together nicely, making it ok for sandwiches or eaten in slices as something in the dense cake family. This can also be done savory or sweet, and is "vegan" and "paleo" for those of you who are concerned about such things. I'm just excited about it because I'm not allergic to it!

Ingredients:
1.5 cups almond or hazelnut flour
3/4 cup tapioca starch or arrowroot starch
1/2 cup ground flax meal
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup water or milk alternative (milk alternatives lend a nice flavor if doing a sweet bread)
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 tsp maple syrup

OPTIONAL:
For pumpernickel bread: add in 2 tbsp cocoa powder, 1 tsp granulated onion, and 1 tbsp ground caraway seed (ground in a coffee grinder)
For rosemary olive bread: add 1 tbsp fresh rosemary, 1/4 c sliced and pitted olives, 1/2 tsp granulated onion, and sprinkle coarse flaked salt and olive oil over the top before baking
For cinnamon raisin bread (so so yummy!): add 1/3 c sugar, 1/2 cup raisins, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cardamon
For apple bread: add 1-2 diced apples, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1.5 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cardamon

Any dried fruit can be added in at about 1/2 cup total of dried fruit. Fresh fruit can be added; you may need to increase baking time or decrease the water by a little bit. You can get creative with the spices as well, including ground or candied ginger, cloves, allspice, or nutmeg. For savory breads, any dried or fresh herbs can be added in as well.
---------------------------------------

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Mix together all dry ingredients
Whisk together all wet ingredients
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet, mix well
Batter will be thick and sticky
Scoop batter into a greased bread loaf pan
Bake 45 min or until toothpick comes out clean
Cool and serve!

Waffles and Pancakes!

Pancakes are actually pretty easy, and nearly every culture I can think of has some variation on a pan-cooked flat bread. Chewy, dense and satisfying, here's my personal variant on waffles and pancakes. This version is egg-free and gluten free, and it wouldn't be too hard to find a way to make them paleo if you needed to.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch (cornstarch would work too)

1/3 cup almond, hazelnut, or coconut flour

1/3 cup sorghum, teff, or other single-grain gluten free flour

1/4 cup ground flaxseed

2 tbsp granulated sugar/sweetener

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp oil (I like nut oils like walnut or hazelnut but you can use anything that works for you)

1/2 cup 1/2 and 1/2, milk, milk alternative, or water

Tools:

Measuring cups and spoons, mixing bowl, mixing spoon/spatula, waffle iron (if you're making waffles) or a frying pan (for pancakes)

Instructions:

1) Mix all dry ingredients together

2) Make a well in the dry; pour in the oil and milk/water

3) Mix well. Batter should be very thick, almost more like a sticky dough. If you want to make pancakes, add a little extra milk/water to thin the batter out just a little (though even for pancakes, the lack of gluten means the batter will work better if it's a little thicker)

4) If making waffles, scoop about 1/4 c of batter into each side of your waffle iron (mine is old enough that it helps if I spray it with some spray cooking oil first; yours may or may not need that).  If you've never used an old fashioned belgian waffle maker before, you'll want to plug it in and wait for it to heat up before using it; with most models there's a light that will turn on while it's heating and turn off when it reaches a steady temperature. Wait til the light turns off before adding batter; the light will turn back on as it starts cooking the waffles. The waffles should be ready when the light turns itself off again.

If making pancakes, heat a frying pan til water skittles across the top. Add a heat-appropriate oil. Pour in about 1/4 cup batter into as many circles as fit in your pan (with a full sized pan I usually make 3 pancakes at a time). Heat for at least 3 min or until the underside looks firm and browned. Flip and cook another couple minutes on the other side. Pancakes are an art; it takes a bit of finagling until you learn your pan, your correct amount and type of oil, your correct level of heat for your stove, and the ideal thickness of your batter, so experiment until you figure out what works best for you. 

Makes about 6 waffles

Nutrition Information (assuming tapioca, almond, sorghum, walnut oil and 1/2 & 1/2)

Calories per waffle: 175 cal

Carbohydrates:        22 grams

Sugars:                      4 grams

Fiber:                         3 grams

Proteins:                    4 grams

Fats:                          8 grams

Breakfast Cereal!

Breakfast Cereal

I am stress baking. This election cycle has been very hard for me and a whole bunch of folks in my extended community. When I am anxious, I start wanting to make sure *other* people are eating, so I will be posting recipes as I have the time.

 I am proud to report, I did it! I figured out how to make breakfast cereal!  I know that may not sound like much, but I haven't been able to eat breakfast cereal in a very long time. A friend on FaceBook had talked about making her own homemade grapenuts, and I got so inspired I found a few recipes and started playing with substitutions. And wow am I glad I did! It never even occurred to me that cereal was something I could *make*. So I got to work, and I'm very pleased with my results. Crunchy, tasty, and not too sweet, I'm loving this cereal mixed into yogurt with slivered almonds and fresh fruit, or just by the handful.  And again, totally toddler approved, the Bitty probably ate half of the cereal before I had a chance to put it away for my actual breakfast tomorrow.

This one is gluten free, corn free, egg free, and rice free. It is not entirely paleo-friendly, as I used sorghum flour (not sure if that counts as a true grain or not these days according to the shifting paleo rules...). This recipe does use dairy, though substituting for it would be very easy. I used buttermilk; you could quite easily substitute coconut milk (I'd use the culinary kind, as it's a bit thicker), goat milk based kefir, soy kefir, or even a non-dairy yogurt blended up with a bit of water to thin it out to the consistency of buttermilk. This recipe also uses almond meal, so it's not ok for folks with nut reactions, though I think you could probably play with a variety of gluten free flour mixes and still make this recipe work. If you're going to substitute a pre-mixed, nut free GF flour, I would substitute all of the tapioca, almond, and sorghum listed in the recipe for an equal amount of GF flour mix (so, about 1 3/4 cups of total flour). If you try that, let me know how yours comes out!  If you wanted your cereal more like the consistency of grapenuts, you could also remove the squares at the 20-30 min mark, run them lightly through a food processor, then return the broken up bits to the oven and bake for another 20-40 min until it's a good crunchy consistency. I like squares, but play with it and see what you like.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup tapioca or arrowroot starch
1/2 cup almond meal
3/4 cup sorghum flour (teff or any other gluten free grain based flour should work just fine)
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup buttermilk (can substitute dairy free "milk" if it's a bit thicker, like culinary coconut milk, or kefir if it's a thick kefir as opposed to a water based one)
1/4 cup molasses or coconut nectar

Equipment:
Baking sheet
Silicone baking mat - helps to have 2. Parchment paper will work if you don't have silicone baking mats
Mixing bowl and spoon
Measuring cups and spoons
Oven or toaster oven (if using a large toaster oven, you will probably need to divide the dough in half and bake half a batch of cereal at a time)
Knife or pizza cutter
Rolling pin

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 300˚F
• Mix together all dry ingredients
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add in buttermilk and molasses. Mix until smooth and well combined. This will make a somewhat sticky dough.
• Roll out fairly thin on a silicone mat or parchment paper. I find it really helpful to press the dough down on one mat, cover with a second mat, then use a rolling pin to roll the dough flat between the two mats. I'd aim for about 1/4" thickness or thinner. Try and aim for even thickness throughout, as thinner bits will bake faster and are more likely to burn. If you need to (and your oven has room), you can always divide the dough in half and roll out onto two baking sheets. 
• Using a knife or pizza roller, cut your dough into tiny squares 

see how thin I got that? And there's my tiny squares!

• Bake for 30 min at 300˚F, though start checking on it at about 20 min to make sure it's not turning too brown.
• Take out of the oven, carefully flip the whole thing over if you can, and put it back in. Turn the oven down to about 250˚ and let bake for another 30 min. At this point, this will be entirely about the fussiness of your oven and how thin you managed to get your cereal. Check on it every 10-15 min until your cereal is slightly brown, and hard and crunchy. I found that because I'm baking in a toaster oven that doesn't heat things very evenly (my main oven is broken, I've been doing all this baking in the toaster!), I took small finished sections out and then needed to put other sections back in to bake further. My entire batch took something like an hour and a half, all things told. An oven with more even heating may not have this problem; periodically move the little squares around to keep the heating even if you need to.
• Break the squares up and let it cool before storing in an airtight container. It should last at least a few weeks, though these are so tasty I doubt they will last that long.

Taa daaaa! A big bowl of beautiful golden cereal! And between the cinnamon, molasses and buttermilk, my house smells so good right now... 

NUTRITION INFORMATION:

Servings per recipe: 6 (ish... serving sizes are weird, eat as much as you want in one sittting)

Serving size:     2/3 cup (sure, I need some amount so I can do the rest of the calculations)

Calories:           188

Carbohydrates: 32 g

Fiber:                2 g

Sugar:               10 g

Fat:                    6 g

Protein:             4 g

Sodium:            81 mg

Potassium:        340m g

*** note on serving sizes: This is a guestimate, based on a very loose understanding of how much a person might possibly eat in one sitting. The servings per recipe info allows me to have enough raw data to be able to generate numbers. The numbers are useful for folks who are trying to keep track of their diets according to any of several variables, and may or may not be useful information for you. Your diet plan may vary; add any of these foods in as you see fit or according to the recommendations of your healthcare providers. 

Bagels! And Pretzels!

Bagels! (And Pretzels too!)

Here's the thing: I am a Jew from NY. Bagels are a way of life for me. Before a variation of this recipe came my way, I hadn't eaten a bagel in *years*. THIS IS A TRAGEDY DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT A TRAGEDY THIS IS?  But I still had to modify the recipe a bunch before I could make it safe for me to eat. This recipe is the result of my playing in the kitchen.

These bagels are chewy, dense and satisfying. Even my toddler likes them, which is high praise indeed! They are definitely not the bagels of my childhood, but they are delicious and totally work with veggie cream cheese and lox, with smoked whitefish salad and thinly sliced cucumbers, with any of the things a person would actually want to eat on a bagel. These beauties are paleo friendly, gluten-free, high fiber, and vegan, though will not work for folks with tree nut allergies. And with a very mild adjustment, this recipe magically becomes a soft pretzel recipe. Read on!

Ingredients:
1.5 c tapioca or arrowroot starch
2/3 c almond or hazelnut flour
1/2 c coconut flour
2 tbsp ground flaxseed
2 tbsp coconut sugar or other granulated sweetener
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 c oil (I usually use olive but have also done this recipe with hazelnut and several others)
1/2 + 1/3 cup water (I know the amount is weird; it's because I've substituted "flax eggs" for actual eggs, but pre-mixing the flax and water to make "flax eggs" doesn't need to be done as a separate step, it just means the amounts are weird looking. I promise, it works)

Optional: sesame, poppy, or caraway seeds, garlic or onion granules or flakes, and/or Kosher salt (to sprinkle on top or mix into dough), or 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 cup raisins added to the dry ingredients

Separately:
Large pot with 1.5 quarts (6 cups) water, 2 tbsp coconut sugar or other granulated sweetener, 1 tsp salt

Equipment needed:

• One good sized pot, large enough to comfortably hold 1.5 quarts of water
• A stove top or burner to heat the pot of water
• An oven (I frequently make these bagels in my large toaster oven, and I find it works out just fine!)
• A baking sheet
• A silicone baking mat or parchment paper (I like silicone baking mats best)
• A slotted spoon
• A bowl for flour, measuring spoons and cups, a spoon or spatula to mix the dough

Instructions:

• Put the pot of water with sugar and salt on to boil while you prep other ingredients. Bring to a rolling boil
• Preheat oven to 425˚
• Mix all dry ingredients together
• Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the water and oil
• Mix and knead well. The dough should be soft and should hold together, not too sticky and not too crumbly
• Divide up the dough into 6-8 small balls. Shape them into bagels (flatten balls slightly and poke a hole through the center with your finger)
• Boil the bagels in the salted, sugared water, 3-4 bagels at a time, for about 10 seconds. Gently flip and let boil another 5 seconds (don't over-boil! they'll disintegrate!)
• Remove the bagels from the water and arrange on silicone baking mat on the baking sheet. Bagels won't rise much, so it's ok to place them fairly close together though make sure they're not touching.
• Bake 25 min
• Remove from oven and cool at least 10-15 min before eating

If you want to add variation to the bagels, you can add any kind of bagel-appropriate seed after the bagels have been boiled but before they're put in to bake. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, onion or garlic flakes, or coarse kosher salt are all traditional! You can also mix any of these seeds into the dough, or add about 1/2 cup raisins and a teaspoon of cinnamon for cinnamon raisin bagels! The sky is the limit! These bagels keep great for up to a week in the fridge, and taste great if you cut them in half and then toast them before serving.

TO MAGICALLY TRANSFORM THIS RECIPE INTO A SOFT PRETZEL RECIPE:

- Instead of adding the salt and sugar to the 6 cups of boiling water, instead add 1/4 cup baking soda. Proceed with the rest of the recipe as above

- Shape the dough into something vaguely pretzel shaped. Long, thin cylindars work fine as well. This dough is more crumbly and way less elastic than pretzel dough, so have patience and get creative with your shapes.

- Boil the pretzels for about 30 seconds before scooping gently out of the boiling water and placing on your baking tray

- Sprinkle on kosher salt and optionally sesame seeds. Bake as above. Poof! Soft Pretzels!

NUTRITION INFORMATION:
Serving size:            1 bagel
Servings per recipe: 6 bagels
Calories:                  300
Fat:                          17 g
Sodium:                   160 mg
Potassium:               251 mg
Carbs:                      35 g
Fiber:                       3 g
Sugar:                      6 g
Protein:                    5 g