It's Cobblerin' Time!

When I was in fifth grade, I joined my local Girl Scouts group. We did a lot of arts and crafts and cookie sales, but the one thing I explicitly remember about being a girl scout was the overnight camping trip. A night in the woods can be terrifying, as it’s darker than city life, and the unfamiliar sounds of nocturnal animals have you wondering whether or not you’re in a horror movie no one told you about. But a night in the woods can also be exciting, because it almost always means a good campfire and roasted marshmallows.

While marshmallows and weenies were placed on sticks, a girl scout’s dad did something a bit different. He made cherry cobbler on the grill. When it was ready, he placed a heaping spoonful of the dessert into drinking cups and passed it to everyone that wanted it. My brain had difficulty processing the concept of a smoked dessert. S’mores didn’t count. A burnt marshmallow was the only sort of marshmallow that existed in my mind. And although I wasn’t big on cherry desserts, the concept of cobbler on the grill remained deep in my subconscious until this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally.

Cobblers have an old history of being enjoyed in the United States. Some sources claim the cobbler’s origins in early British American colonies, and depending on what the people had on hand, the names changed. Thus, you have names like Cobbler, Crisp, Crumble, Brown Betty, Buckle, Grunt, Slump, Bird’s Nest Pudding, Sonker, and Pandowdy. It could be sweet or savory and served whenever the mood struck. The crust could resemble drop biscuits, pancake batter, or a piecrust. And the filling could be sweet or savory or a bit of both.

As I was thinking of what sort of cobbler to make, that memory of cherry cobbler around the campfire revealed itself. And what better way to make a summer cobbler than to do so on the grill? There is no exact science to the cooking process, other than to monitor the flame and watch for burnt filling along the edges. But at first bite, you feel like you are a wild man enjoying the sweeter side of wilderness. 

Cast Iron Fruit Cobbler on the Grill

For the filling:
46 small strawberries, halved
2 Rhubarb stalks, finely diced
52 cherries, pitted and halved
125 g Honey

For the crust:
75 g Brown rice flour
55 g Quick cooking CGF oats
25 g Corn flour
60 g Chilled salted butter, cut into small pieces
60 ml Whole milk
1/4 tsp. Baking soda

Preheat the grill (gas or charcoal) to moderate to high heat, and generously butter a 9-inch cast iron pan.
To make the filling, combine the strawberries, rhubarb, and cherries in the prepared dish and drizzle the honey on top.
To make the crust, in a mixing bowl, stir together the dry ingredients.
Scatter the butter on top and, using a stand mixer or doing so buy hand, cut the butter into the flour mixture until pea-size pieces form.
Gradually stir in the milk, mixing until the dough clings together.
Gather the dough into a ball and transfer to a cutting board lined with parchment paper.
With another piece of parchment paper, cover the dough and flatten it out into a 9-inch circle with a 1/4-inch thickness.
Lay the dough on top of the filling and drizzle additional honey on top of the crust. Place the cast iron pan on the grill, to bake for twenty minutes.*
When done, remove from the grill and let it cool slightly on the counter.
Serve warm or at room temperature, scooped from the pan, with yogurt or ice cream on top.

Makes 6 servings.

*You’re looking for filling bubbling along the sides of the pan and a golden brown crust. Depending on the heat, it may take fifteen minutes or twenty-five to thirty minutes. 

T.R. of No One Likes Crumbly Cookies was our amazing host this month.  We had a lovely selection of participants, so be sure to check out what other delicious recipes you can enjoy this summer! What am I saying... You can enjoy these delights all year long!

T.R.* | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Cherry Lime Cobbler   
Adina | Gluten Free Travelette    Date Night Berry Cobbler   
Morri (me!) | Meals with Morri    Cast Iron Fruit Cobbler on the Grill       
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Pineapple Cherry Dump Cake   
Brooke | B & the boy!    Apple-Cranberry Cobbler  

Teatime in Spring

Spring is here, my friends! Are you rejoicing in seeing the clear blue skies and fluffy white clouds? Are you running and playing barefoot in the green grass? Are you getting your hands dirty to plant seeds and anticipate their harvest in the coming seasons? Go on, take a deep breath; inhale the perfume wafting strongly off the flowers.

Ah… Wait a minute...

Ahhh...?

Ahhhhh… ACCCHHOOOOO!!! *sniffle* *grumble* So much for breathing in spring.

With spring's frivolity and warm weather, it also means the dreaded snot and sinus monsters have come out of hibernation. It means piles of crumpled tissues everywhere you walk. It means sneezing and coughing and probably nose spray and decongestants. It means tea… lots and lots of tea.

March was a bitter pill to swallow, but despite the annual allergies April is showing itself to be more productive and bountiful. The stress has become manageable (it’s amazing what sleeping a full eight hours can do for a person), and the semester is a shy couple of weeks away from being over. Even more exciting is that the GFRR seems to have come back stronger than ever!

I mean, who doesn’t love a good shortbread with their tea? The participants of this month's GFRR sure do.

Shortbread is considered a cookie in the United States. I don't know about anyone else, but when I think of a biscuit I think of the savory, fluffy kind. In Ruhlman’s (2009) book Ratio, the classic recipe for shortbread is the exact same as his cookie dough (p.37) ratio (1 part sugar, 2 parts fat, and 3 parts flour), while his biscuit ratio (p.33) contains no sugar at all and is 3 parts flour, 1 part fat, and 2 parts liquid. So this could be another reason why the U.S. views biscuits differently. It’s all about the ratio of the ingredients that differentiate the two.  

This delectable treat is so named because of its crumbly texture, the cause being to its relatively high fat content inhibiting the formation of long gluten strands. When you are gluten free, however, it’s not much of a problem to begin with. In fact, substituting sugar with honey was relatively easy to do as well.

Instead of baking it like Ruhlman suggests (as one would a typical cookie), I chose a lower temperature and a longer baking period. Shortbread is typically baked at a low temperature to avoid browning; and when done, it is nearly white, or a light golden brown. It may even be crumbly before cooled, but will become firmer after cooling. In other words, I had to not eat them all when coming right out of the oven if I wanted to know how they actually turned out. Like my tendency with gluten free bread, I needed to be patient and leave them be in order to enjoy them at their best.

And thank goodness I waited, because shortbread and tea were meant to be together.

Earl Grey Shortbread

60 g Honey
120 g Unsalted butter, soft but not melted
150 g Brown rice flour
30 g Coconut flour
Pinch of Sea salt
1 Bag (2 g) of Earl Grey tea leaves

Preheat the oven to 275°F.
Cream the butter with the honey until light and fluffy (either by hand or with an electric mixer/food processor), and add the tea leaves and sea salt.
Slowly add the flours into the mixture until completely incorporated.
Shape the dough into a ball (will be soft and buttery but should not stick to your hands) and roll out to about 1/2 an inch thick.*
Use cookie cutters or a knife to make them into the shapes you want, and transfer them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.**
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until the shortbread is lightly browned.
Leave them on a cake rack to cool, and store in a cool place in an airtight container.
Serve with hot Earl Grey tea during any time of the day throughout the year.

Makes 13 servings.

   

*I found it was easier to roll out and flatten by covering the dough with parchment paper on both sides and using a rolling pin (less of a mess too).

**You can make any shape you want, or you can cut into squares or rectangles and prick the tops with a fork in two parallel lines as it is traditionally formed.

I was beyond ecstatic to see so many participants for this month’s challenge! Meaghan (i.e., “The Vegan”) of The Wicked Good Vegan was our lovely hostess. She is thorough, hysterically honest, and a wonderful person in general. And how awesome is she to make gin and tonic shortbread cookies? I’ll drink (tea) to that!

Here is the complete list of those who participated. Welcome back!

*Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan    Gin and tonic cookies: Lime shortbread cookies with juniper berry glaze    

Rebecca | Salts Kitchen    Rosemary, Lemon, and Toasted Pecan Shortbread and Espresso and Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

Mary Fran | FrannyCakes    Gluten-Free Jammie Dodgers   

Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie    Lemon Bars with Lemon Shortbread Crust   

Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Buckwheat Shortbread Cookies with lemon curd

Jonathan | The Canary Files    Black Sesame Teff Shortbread Cookies   

Morri (me!) | Meals with Morri     Earl Grey Shortbread   

Keeping it Simple

The year 2013 has had a rocky start. We’ve survived the 2012 “End of the World”, not to mention healing from natural disasters, human tragedies, and individual paradigm shifts. Everyone seems to have removed themselves from their normal routines, lives spinning sporadically away from old patterns. 

The GFRR has been around since the start of 2011. The movement brought together a group of innovative bloggers to show how working with the ratio of a recipe makes being gluten-free a whole lot easier. Every first Wednesday of the month I was inspired by the recipes they came up with: the flours they used, additional ingredients and flavors they incorporated, and the stories they told with their recipes. The participants are found all over the world, and their posts are viewed all over the world. For the first time, I felt camaraderie and acceptance in my trials for a healthier life, and I learned so much from the bloggers who have been part of the healthy eating movement years before Meals with Morri was created.

But life happens and people happily or grudgingly move on wherever life takes them. Be it school, work, children, a crisis, or all of the above, many people within the GFRR have been dealing with a lot lately. Less and less of us have been able to post our recipes, simply because other things have taken priority. I know, because school and my health have been of utmost importance to me since graduate school started. Meals with Morri is still a passion of mine, but at the moment it sits on the back burner, simmering and waiting for its time to shine.

I admit that I don’t post as much as I like, because I’ve started monitoring the relevance of my posting. I’d really like to talk more about health (not just concerning the thyroid), how rock climbing is bringing positive change to my outlooks on life, on food security/justice and how it drives my ultimate goal in becoming a conflict resolution practitioner, and traveling around to show the world the newest innovations of sustainable development and environmental change. It has nothing to do with the gluten free movement as such, but it has everything to do with a healthier outlook for the world and healing.

There are days I’ll look back at old posts and shake my head, asking myself “why in the world did I post this recipe?” The photos were crap. The concept of the recipe was complicated and overtly complex. I didn’t know much about healing, and changed on a dime to new possibilities of wellness. In short, the majority of my blogging has been one huge trial and error phenomenon. And I have loved every minute of it.

I’m not the only one, though. The food bloggers I’ve come to know on my adventures have lives to lead and are dealing with the exact same things I am. We’re transforming how we perceive wellness and our place in the movement, and it usually means being away from the computer to do other things and be with the people who matter most to us. We’ve started picking and choosing what to focus on right now, and what can be dropped or worked on later. Sadly, and although I completely understand and have done the same thing, it appears the GFRR has currently been put on hold.

People are simplifying their lives, blogging less or going another direction entirely in their blogging. And I’ve noticed that, since starting my new healing regimen, I want to simplify my life… starting with the recipes I post.

February’s challenge was all about waffles, and I was the host. I had a late start to getting the challenge out there, but in the end, my recipe and the other participant (Heather of Discovering the Extraordinary) have two recipes for your enjoyment.

Whenever the GFRR rolled around, I thought how I could make my recipe stand out and be different, mostly before I even grasped the concept of the basic ratio. I desired to be creative and different, to use ingredients not commonly used. But I started to think about how some people may not have access to certain ingredients, or becoming overwhelmed with all the different components I used. I want Meals with Morri recipes to be more user-friendly, and I felt waffles would be the perfect place to start.

For one, I’ve noticed there are numerous ways to make a waffle. There are different recipes and waffle irons from all around the globe. In the U.S. the most prevalent waffle types are:

The American Waffle: recipes “vary significantly, but are often made from a batter leavened with baking powder and may be round, square, or rectangular in shape. They are usually served as a sweet breakfast food, topped with butter and maple syrup, bacon, and other fruit syrups, honey, or powdered sugar.” (source)

The Belgian Waffle: “a type of waffle popular in North America identified by its larger size, lighter batter and higher grid pattern which forms deep pockets and has larger squares than the standard American waffle… It is somewhat similar to the Brussels waffle, but Brussels waffles are hard and crispy on the outside. As opposed to a traditional North American waffle, the Belgian waffle traditionally uses yeast instead of baking powder, although contemporary Belgian waffles are often made with baking powder. In North America, they are often eaten as a breakfast food; toppings vary from whipped cream, confectioners sugar, soft fruit, chocolate spread, to syrup and butter or margarine. Alternatively, they are served with vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit (such as strawberries) as a dessert.” (source)

As a kid, I didn’t have waffles or pancakes on a regular basis. I just wasn’t a fan of some breaded thing drowning in syrup as this huge soggy mass of sweetness. So I ate what other kids did when they wanted waffles: the frozen, toastable kind.

The waffle iron wasn’t used often, mostly because I felt it wasn’t my iron of choice. It didn’t have a crunchy exterior to pocket the toppings in the little squares. It was simply a pancake in waffle form. But then I was gifted with a Belgian waffle iron; and with this new-found desire to keep things simple and uncomplicated, I haven’t looked back since.

Blueberry Waffles

96 g Buckwheat flour
84 g Quinoa flour
60 g Brown rice flour
420 ml Whole milk
14 g Unsweetened applesauce
2 Large eggs, separated
60 ml Melted butter (unsalted)
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar
1/8 tsp. Sea salt
300 g Fresh blueberries*

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours, milk, and applesauce to sit on the counter overnight.
Preheat the waffle iron according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
Add the egg yolks, leavening agents, sea salt, and blueberries to the batter and set aside.
Either with a hand mixer or by hand, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and fold them into the batter.
When the waffle iron is hot pour enough batter for one waffle (roughly 1 U.S. cup for mine) evenly over the grid, easing it toward, but not into, the corners and edges with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
Close the waffle iron and cook until it opens easily (or as the manufacturer’s instructions suggests), which is usually about four minutes or until the waffles are a golden brown color.
Keep warm (a preheated oven on 200°F will do nicely) while you repeat with the remaining batter, greasing the iron as needed.
When all the waffles are cooked, serve warm.

Makes 6 waffles.

*Fresh blueberries in a Belgian waffle iron may not be the best idea (it tended to stick), so I'd recommend using dried fruit if desired. They were still delicious, though...

Why I Blog (about Souffle)

Do you ever wonder what bloggers do aside from blogging? I think about it often. I remember being blown away and instantly awed when I realized Cheryl of Harris Whole Health, a person who I know in the "real world", was also the mastermind behind Gluten Free Goodness. I also find it amazing how I am able to talk to people time zones away and learn about their cultures through the food they eat and the stories they tell. Technology is truly an amazing phenomenon these days.

In reality, bloggers do in fact have lives away from the computer screen. Even with the possibility of money earned from their website and the networking brilliance blogging provides, they go out and do non-blogging things. Some have nine to five jobs, while others are at school full time. Some are raising families, and there are others trying to make sense of their place in the world. We create an identity on the Internet and share things that matter to us. We write about things we are passionate about, and we publish things to see if anyone actually reads our stuff (for giggles mostly).

I’ve written on this blog that I am not perfect, and I do my darnedest to remind people and myself of that. I make mistakes and I can mess up royally (with food or with situations). I don’t have all the answers, and I’m still figuring out what I want to do with my life. What’s more, dear readers, is a statement I thought I would never write: Meals with Morri is not the center of my world.

This is both a joyous and rather sobering thing to say. I love writing on Meals with Morri and coming up with recipes to share with the world. I love getting emails with questions about food and requests to make something gluten free. But there are other things that rank in higher priority than blogging, such as school, work, health, family and friends. And surprisingly enough… I’m okay with that. Blogging isn’t everything, but it’s still a fun way to connect with people.

I mention this because the GFRR didn’t do anything for December (trust me, we tried), which was originally to be posted the first Wednesday in January this year. And when it looked like January (this particular challenge) would follow suit, we adapted and moved it to this week.

Today, actually.

In an effort to make an epic soufflé recipe by the original deadline, I scrambled to get it into the oven right as I was literally walking out the door to do other things. Contrary to popular belief, despite in my frantic state, the soufflé is a lot heartier than stereotypically perceived. As long as you take care to follow the steps and not breathe too loudly (I’m kidding), you will have a puffy, fluffy, delicious soufflé on your plate.

Although I call this recipe the “Pepperoni Pizza Soufflé”, it is simply a cheese soufflé with layers of pepperoni in it. I replaced the cheddar cheese with mozzarella, and added a heaping tablespoon of Italian seasoning to make the flavors pop.

(For some reason, Italy has been on my mind lately…)

Pepperoni Pizza Soufflé  (inspired by this recipe)

240 ml Whole milk
30 g Brown Rice flour
60 g Unsalted butter, plus more for greasing the baking pan
6 Large eggs, separated
175 g Mozzarella, shredded
1 tbsp. Italian seasoning
5 tbsp. (60 g) Grated Parmesan cheese
36 slices of pepperoni*
Sea salt and cracked pepper, to taste**

Separate the egg yolks from the white, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Pour the milk into a saucepan and warm gently over a low heat, then sift the flour into the milk and mix well.
Cook on a moderate heat until the mixture is thick and there are no lumps.
Remove from the heat and beat in the butter, followed by slowly adding the egg yolks into the batter, followed by the mozzarella and Italian seasoning. (You may need to sporadically put it over a burner on low heat to melt the cheese completely.)
Grease the deep-dish baking pan with softened butter and coat the insides with the grated Parmesan.
Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until you have firm peaks (our immersion hand blender worked beautifully).
Carefully fold the egg whites into the cheese sauce, taking care not to deflate them.
Pour in a third of the mixture into the pan followed by a single layer of 12 pepperoni slices.
Repeat this step two more times and then place in the oven to bake for 35 minutes.
Serve immediately from the oven, taking care to mind the temperature.

Makes 4 – 6 servings.

*If you are not partial to pepperoni, think of adding your favorite pizza toppings instead.
**I didn’t need to use any salt or pepper because the cheese and seasonings made the soufflé extremely flavorful.

TR was our wonderful host for the soufflé challenge, and has a wonderful recipe just in time to impress your S.O. for Valentine’s Day!

TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Chocolate Souffle   

Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Mini Artichoke-Spinach-Parmesan Souffles   

 Pete Bronski | No Gluten, No Problem    Amaretto Souffle

Morri | Meals with Morri    Pepperoni Pizza Souffle  

Getting Ready for the Holidays

So many things are happening today. Today is the last official day of the semester for attending classes. Today is the first official day I start my final paper(s). Today is the day I start setting up the tree and decorating my home. Today is also the Gluten Free Ratio Rally. 

That’s a lot going on in a Wednesday.

Despite the weird weather, the Yuletide spirit has found a place in my heart to stay for the winter months to come. I’ve winterized my blog and am craving hot cocoa (chocolate in general) like it was going out of style. Recipes are dancing around in my head like little sugarplums, as well as Christmas gift ideas and holiday traveling coming up. December is the month of slowing down and keeping warm, either with scarves, in the arms of loved ones, or eating something straight from the oven.

Focaccia on a December morning can be just as satisfying as a gingerbread man with warm milk. As I am partial to flatbreads in general, particularly because they don’t usually need or require yeast, so participating in this month's GFRR seemed like the perfect start to a wonderful winter. 

Like many breads, focaccia is a fairly old concept. Taken from an interesting article titled “A Short History of Focaccia Bread”:

Most historians believe that Focaccia originated with either the Etruscans of North Central Italy prior to the Roman Empire or in Ancient Greece at the beginning of the first millennium BC. Although flat unleavened bread has been made throughout the Middle East extending to Persia for this long as well and identifying a specific culture behind the first focaccia loaves is almost impossible. Focaccia bread is slightly different because the loaf rises slightly so it’s not traditionally unleavened bread and the focaccia recipe is mostly unknown in the Middle East, yet it has a history of being prepared in Turkey, Italy, Greece, Spain and France.

This is why I love learning about foods from other countries: you can find similarities in many cultures yet appreciate the regional differences that make certain dishes unique. This can be seen in the herbs they use, the way they bake it, the way they eat it, and additional ingredients seen nowhere else but there in particular. You’ll never get the same bread twice.

Every time I partake in the GFRR, I’m reminded how creative we get to be once a ratio is established. Instead of worrying how to modify a recipe's basic equation, I get to think of variations, flavors, and techniques. I get to think how I’m going to make it, if I need supplementary ingredients or not, and in what way I’m going to enjoy it. Sure, my focaccia dough was similar in consistency with a thick brownie batter (and looked like it too), but the final product was definitely focaccia. It was chewy yet moist, textured yet smooth, and easily sliced to make a small peanut butter sandwich when put to the “Is this sandwich bread material?” test.   

The ratio I used for the focaccia came from my Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home (2010) cookbook: 3 parts flour to 2 parts liquid, with a little oil and leavening agents added to the mix. Since certain yeast strands affect my body negatively, I used baking soda and unrefined apple cider vinegar for the slight rising affect I wanted. I also brushed coconut oil on top at various stages of the cooking process, resulting in a chewy exterior that I oh so love in a flatbread.

I also went a different route in this month's GFRR, a sweeter route. This is definitely a bread pudding, French toast, fruit crisp topping, and sweet sandwich base to enjoy, especially as the days (hopefully) get colder.

Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Focaccia Bread

100 g CGF Rolled oats
100 g Short grain brown rice
100 g Quinoa (I used a combination of white, black, and red)
100 g Garbanzo bean flour
25 g Raw cacao powder (cocoa powder is fine)
25 g Flaxseed meal
300 ml Filtered water
1 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Baking soda
1/2 tsp. Unrefined apple cider vinegar
320 g Thompson raisins

 Soak the whole grains (oats, rice, and quinoa) in filtered water with whey or apple cider vinegar overnight to twenty-four hours.
Preheat the oven to 400°F
Drain the excess water from the grains and put it through the food processor/blender with half of the water (it may leak if you use all of it at once).
Once blended, pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients excluding for the coconut oil (the dough will appear like a thicker version of quick bread batter).
Transfer the dough to an 8” x 12” baking pan lined with parchment paper and brush the top with coconut oil.
Bake for 30 minutes, continuing to brush the crust with oil at ten-minute increments.
Remove from the oven to cool for fifteen minutes before cutting.
Serve warm.

Makes 8 – 12 servings.

Before I give you all the links to other participants’ entries, I want to give a quick shout out to the person behind this month’s GFRR. Heather of Discovering the Extraordinary is a blogger who is an inspiration to many. After being diagnosed with gluten sensitivity in October 2011, she set out to create delicious foods her body would enjoy regardless of her “restrictions” (Sound familiar?). She encourages her readers to play with their food, to have fun while experimenting in the kitchen, and to discover the extraordinary. Thank you, Heather, for giving us a challenge that made the season even brighter.

*Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    Rosemary and Garlic Focaccia Bread   
Carol | Goodness Gluten Free    Gluten Free Garlic and Parmesean Focaccia   
Morri (Me!) | Meals with Morri    Sweet Cinnamon Raisin Focaccia Bread    
mary fran | frannycakes    Gluten Free Sage Foccacia    

Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R) | Honey from Flinty Rocks    Focaccia Bread   
Silvana | Silvana's Kitchen    Sun-Dried Tomato and Olive Focaccia  
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Gluten Free Cheesy Herb Focaccia      

Hearts and Tarts

  The Queen of Hearts

    She made some tarts,

        All on a summer's day;

    The Knave of Hearts

    He stole those tarts,

        And took them clean away.

    The King of Hearts

    Called for the tarts,

        And beat the knave full sore;

    The Knave of Hearts

    Brought back the tarts,

        And vowed he'd steal no more.

~ Anonymous (1782)

W. W. Denslow (1901)

With the exception of reading this poem in Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, I never considered the gastronomic pleasures of the tart. In some cases, the words “pie” and “tart” overlap and blur: if it is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry with an open top, it can be either without people batting an eyelash.

Ah, the beauty of food terminology.

I’ve made a few pies to share on Meals with Morri, the majority of which could be equally considered a tart; though in my upbringing "pie" is the more common term in the United States. So when the Gluten Free Ratio Rally was challenged to make tarts knaves and kings alike would want with their afternoon tea, I felt it was high time to make the distinction.

 It’s all about the crust, really. Pie crust, at least on MWM, falls in the flaky category, the one Michael Ruhlman wrote about in Ratio and Alton Brown gave awesome tips and tricks in making on Good Eats. There are literally clumps and bumps of fat left whole to create this amazing crunchy yet tender texture that beautifully pairs with the filling it holds. The tart crust, as I have come to understand, is usually a shortcrust pastry, similar in taste and texture to the shortbread cookie (Coincidence? I think not!). The binders (fat and liquid, and sometimes egg) are brought to room temperature, and care is given to make sure each and every flour granule is coated with fat. The result is a light and crumbly crust.

The one I chose to make was the pâte à foncer, a shortcrust pastry that includes egg. I wanted a flat crust that took center stage with a savory filling that was moist but not too wet. What I got was a crust that may have just become my go-to pastry for future tarts and pies. It crumbled, yes, but it didn't fall apart... VICTORY!

The ratio is quite simple (and rounded up): 5 parts flour, 3.75 parts fat, 1 part liquid, 1 egg yoke, and a little sugar (honey, in this instance).

Grain-free Pâte à foncer (ratio from Michel Suas's Advanced Bread and Pastry: A Professional Approach as discovered on The Second Lunch)

195 g Coconut flour
100 g Garbanzo bean flour
100 g Quinoa flour
148 g Salted butter, room temperature
148 g Coconut oil, room temperature
79 g Milk (I used Goat milk), room temperature
1 (16 g) Large egg yoke
6 g Honey

Allow butter, coconut oil, milk, and egg yolks to come up to room temperature. (Butter should be almost mayonnaise consistency.)
Soften the butter and mix with the paddle attachment on the electric mixer's medium-high speed.
Add the honey, yolk, and milk, and then slowly incorporate the flour.
Mix until just incorporated, and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes to an hour.*

And now... the tart part!

Savory Onion Tart Squares with Pâte à foncer crust

28 g Salted butter
1 Large yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
20 ml White wine, adding more as needed
6 g Dried parsley
1 tsp. Dried tarragon
1 tsp. Dried thyme
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper
122 g Pumpkin puree
1 Egg, yoke and white separated
Filtered water, for the egg wash
Prepared Pâte à foncer

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
In a large cast iron skillet on medium heat, melt the butter and stir in the wine.
When the mixture begins to brown slightly and become aromatic, add in the onion and garlic to cook for 25 – 30 minutes until caramelized (adding more white wine if it starts to stick at the bottom).
Stir in the spices and cook on low heat for another 5 minutes before turning off the heat and setting aside.
In a small bowl, combine the pumpkin puree and egg yoke and set aside.
On a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, roll out and flatten the dough into a rectangular shape with a thickness between 1/8 and 1/4 inches (remember: the thicker the crust, the wetter you will want a filling).**
Spread the pumpkin until it is about an inch from the edge of the crust, and then top it with the onion (at this point, if you want to add cheese such as Ricotta, Parmesan, Gruyere, or Swiss, go right ahead).
Combine the egg white and equal parts water for the egg wash and coat the edges using a pastry brush.
Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until the crust has browned slightly.
Remove from the oven and let it cool five minutes before cutting into squares.
Serve warm with a sauce accompaniment or as a side to a soup/stew.

Makes 9 – 16 servings.

*I found that chilling the dough over an hour made it difficult to spread out and rather dry. The next time I use this shortcrust recipe (and I will), I'm simply going to go from mixer to pan and see how it fares.
**I also want to use a wetter filling next time (maybe twice as much pumpkin or incorporate ricotta in this particular recipe). I do think this would be delicious with cooked apples with a caramel sauce, though.

Now, I wasn’t the only one who took on the challenge to make a gluten free tart. Charissa of the Zest Bakery was our marvelous host this month. As the name suggests, the Zest Bakery is "a passionate (and zesty!) bakery that strives to provide delicious, gluten-free foods and desserts in the Bay Area. To ensure there are no gluten-containing products present in the bakery or on our equipment, we built our bakery from scratch.”

That is devotion right there, with people who are sincere and passionate about the welfare of others. I now have a delicious reason to visit the Bay Area, if only to be inspired by what they do.

But really, the GFRR always inspires me. See for yourself why…

Charissa | Zest Bakery    Cheddar Apple Tart   
Karen | Cooking Gluten Free!    Plum Tart (dairy and egg free)   
Paula | Gapey's Grub    Sugar Free Pear Tart   
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies    Pumpkin Tart   
Sihi | Wandering Ladle    Banana-Pomogranate in Gluten Free Vegan Chocolate Tart Shells   
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary    No-Bake Mini Pumpkin Tarts (grain free)   
Pete and Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem    Spiced Cider-Poached Cinnamon Apple Tart   
Jonathan | The Canary Files    Vegan Cardamom Cashew Cream & Fig Tartlettes   
Mary Fran | FrannyCakes    Savory Sweet Potato tart  
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free    Pecan Tollhouse Tarts   
Morri (me!) | Meals with Morri    Savory Onion Tart Squares with Pâte à foncer crust (grain free) 
Jean Layton | Gluten Free Doctor    Nectarine Rose Tart (dairy-free crust)     

Claire Berman | This Gluten-Free Life    Fresh Summer Sweet Tomato Tart  

Pass the Bread

Almost any gluten-freer will tell you that they first thing they ever tried baking gluten free was bread. Sometimes they bought a gluten free bread mix, while others attempted to make it themselves. And then, if they were desperate, they bought it from the store.

Don’t misunderstand me; commercial gluten free bread has come a long way since then. Gluten free flours were coarser, made to fill the void of this staple food rather than make something substantial. The bread loaves were dense, only edible when toasted. There were times I recall taking a bite and found myself needing a glass of water just to swallow. And let us not forget the creativity in which ingredients were combined. In most cases, we see a higher percentage of starch in place of wholegrain flours, or multiple gums and a higher sugar content to make it moist and palatable (though the use of all three in moderation is perfectly fine). Everywhere I looked, gluten free bread were simply fillers for an otherwise breadless lifestyle as I knew it, with chemically things I couldn't even pronounce.

I didn’t want fillers. I wanted substance. I wanted bread: minimal ingredients for a good slice of deliciousness.

Toasted and ready for dippin'!

I will be honest, however, when I say that gluten free bread is different… you know, besides the gluten free part. Gluten free grains have been used to make bread for thousands of years before gf became a lifestyle, such as the cornbreads of the Americas and injera in North Africa. Gluten free flours milled from buckwheat, rice, hemp, nuts, seeds, and sorghum have been used alongside wheat, barley, and rye for just as long. The reason why gluteny grains were so popular in the first place was the gluten protein that enabled bread to rise, to be sturdy and soft at the same time, and its reaction to yeast.

Here’s the thing, though: you don’t need gluten for a good piece of bread, as the participants of this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally will tell you. It takes effort, yes, and definitely experimenting with different flour combinations and additional ingredients, but it is possible to enjoy gluten free bread with wholesome ingredients made at home.

For my entry, I had this idea to make a grain free loaf with sun-dried tomatoes and basil. I used the ratio of five parts flour to three parts water and tried Jim Lahey’s no-knead method for a hearty loaf. And I got a hearty loaf all right. A few hundred more and I could have made quite an eco-friendly brick wall that would intoxicate many a bird or squirrel.

So I strayed away from my first idea and thought what went wrong. Clearly it was missing something, and I definitely needed to use a certain amount of yeast for a certain amount of time. Two bread flops later, I found what had been missing (eggs) and realized something about yeast.

Yeast and I have a finicky relationship. I love how it is alive before the baking process, how it completely changes a loaf of bread and the almost tinny taste it provides. It is a beautiful ingredient, both for baked goods and brewing. But as I said before, sometimes we just don’t get along.

Savory French Toast

So I hope the GFRR can forgive me for making a hybrid, as I used eggs and leavening agents synonymous to quick bread making, though it does not contain fat or dairy in the dough. And you know what? My entry is quite an amazing flatbread, and I will happily tell you why.

This bread is highly adaptable. I’ve toasted it, dipped it in chili, eaten it straight from the refrigerator, and made savory French toast. It is the perfect component for an open or closed face sandwich, and ever so tasty with a smear of soft cheese or nut butter and honey. Have it for any meal or just when you want a quick snack on the go. But believe me when I tell you, this is a great bread to have on hand.

And it didn’t need gluten (or yeast) to be delicious.

No-knead Sun Dried Tomato and Basil Flatbread

200 g Garbanzo bean flour
200 g Quinoa flour*
95 g Blanched almond flour
2 tsp. Sea salt
480 ml Lukewarm to hot water (a little on the hotter side)
2 Large eggs (about 125 g), lightly beaten
2 tsp. Baking soda
10 ml Unrefined apple cider vinegar
85 g Sun dried tomatoes
5 g Dried basil
1/2 tsp. Rosemary powder
Olive oil, for greasing the pan

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours and salt with the water and let it sit on the counter until lukewarm.
Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Stir in the eggs and the leavening agents and leave the dough to rise for ten to fifteen minutes (this dough will look and act much like a thick batter).
Fold in the tomatoes and spices, and then pour into a 12 x 16 cookie sheet coated in olive oil (if you’re worried about sticking, line it with parchment paper and use the olive oil as flavor), and cook for 25 to 30 minutes until browned.
Let it cool for fifteen minutes, and then slice into 16 squares for your enjoyment.
For later use, place in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator or freezer.

Makes 16 slices, or 8 – 16 servings.

*I ground whole grain quinoa in a spice grinder and had a medium-coarse "polenta" consistency (hence the slightly hotter than lukewarm water). But finely ground quinoa flour would work just as deliciously.

Karen of Cooking Gluten Free was our generous host for this month’s challenge. What I love most about her (and her awesome site) is this very true statement in her About Page: "Through all the years that I have been a part of the gluten free world, I am continually impressed with the giving nature of every person that has started a business to help the gluten intolerant." She personifies her “gluten free, giving back” philosophy, as I believe all of the GFRR participants strive to do with their blogs, businesses, cookbooks, and recipes.

So thank you, Karen, for paying it forward.

Here are the beautiful bread entries from this month’s challenge (all of which look AMAZING):

Adina | Gluten Free Travelette  Seedy Sandwich Bread
Angela | Angela’s Kitchen  Our Family’s Basic Gluten Free Dairy Free Bread
Aunt Mae (aka ~Mrs. R) | Honey From Flinty Rocks  Chia Millet Bread
Brooke | B & the boy!  Buckwheat-Oat Bread
Charissa | Zest Bakery  Cherry Pecan Pot Bread, Gluten Free 
Claire | This Gluten-Free Life  German Vollkornbrot (Seeded Bread)
Erin | The Sensitive Epicure English Sandwich Bread (gluten-free & egg-free)  
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine  Gluten Free Boule
Jonathan | The Canary Files Gluten-Free, Vegan Mediterranean Soda Bread
*Karen | Cooking Gluten Free!  Gluten Free Sandwich Bread/Gluten Free Naan
Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan  Vegan Gluten-Free Bread
Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie  Ciabatta (gluten-free, egg-free/vegan)
Monika | Chew on This!  amaranth skillet flatbreads, amaranth mini pita rounds
Morri | Meals with Morri No Knead Sun-dried Tomato & Basil Flatbread (yeast free/grain free)
Pete & Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem  Gluten-Free Challah
Rachel | The Crispy Cook  Gluten Free Chickpea Sandwich Bread
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies  Gluten Free White Bread
Tara | A Baking Life  Gluten-Free Sandwich Bread & Boule

Calling All Bagels!

When I first became gluten free, I essentially focused on eating “whole grain” foods such as rice, potatoes, corn, and quinoa. I bought a block of brown rice bread to make toast, both the toaster and French kind, and swore by rice crackers to anyone who would listen. As far as I was concerned, that was all I needed.

Transitioning to the gluten free lifestyle in 2008 was the perfect time to be gluten free. Cookbooks and baking mixes and labeling were showing up everywhere and in abundance. I started to do research, buying mixes and cookbooks, and became interested in food like I never was in my BGF days. While I was rather obsessed in a less than healthy way about what I considered to be healthy food and eating, I never thought how much I would change simply because I took wheat/gluten out of my diet.

When I was finally diagnosed with hypothyroidism in April of last year, I felt it was the perfect opportunity to unveil my idea for Meals with Morri. The blog itself had been sitting dormant for almost a year, and I still had no idea what my focus what going to be (aside from the gluten free lifestyle, of course). After the diagnosis, however, I became enthralled with how to live a happier and healthier life, and for some reason it was extremely food-oriented. It took another year before I started really looking into understanding how diet and other lifestyle choices affected a person with hypothyroidism, and how I could help the world by providing recipes, storytelling, and current events (the third being a relatively new concept on this blog). Meals with Morri has been viewed by people from all over the world, and I am so humbled to see how far it has come in a year. And although I consider myself still a novice with big dreams, I will never forget where it all started.

It all started with bagels.

Bagels were the epitome of my childhood. There were nights where Mama Dazz and I couldn’t sleep and we’d have late-night bagel parties in the kitchen. When I attended Catholic school and sang in the choir, we went to Einstein’s Bagels after the one Sunday a month I was required to sing for a sermon. (I always got lox on an "everything" bagel. Best. Combination. EVER.) Whenever we went on vacation and had to drive somewhere, like Virginia Beach, New York, or North Carolina, I ordered a McDonald’s breakfast sandwich as, you guessed it, a bagel.

Bagels were my favorite baked good, and I loved it with cream cheese, jam, peanut butter, honey, butter, etc. When I became gluten free, I was not impressed with the options I had, so I did the most logical thing I could think of: I made them myself.

My 2010 Bagel success.

My “I have no idea on the fundamentals of gluten free baking so I’m going to wing it” experience with bagels were simple enough: gf baking mix + gf bagel recipe = gf bagels. But then I started playing around with flours and gums, mainly rice flour, glutinous rice flour, tapioca starch, and xanthan gum, and I liked the results much better. For some reason, though, I stopped trying to perfect bagels even before Meals with Morri was a sparkle in my eye.

Soon after, the Gluten Free Ratio Rally rekindled my desire for a delicious bagel.

What I love the most about this movement is the joint effort of showing the world that, if you have a ratio for a recipe, you can use just about anything to make it. Whatever the types of flours, liquids, sweeteners, or binders you use, having a ratio makes it possible. Measuring ingredients by weight is fundamental for this process, even for those not living the gluten free lifestyle. Cake flour does not have the same properties as whole-wheat flour, so we should not assume garbanzo bean flour is the same as buckwheat flour. True, many flours can be and are interchangeable, but having a scale makes it significantly easier to experiment with different ingredients and flour combinations. What the GFRR has done is bring a lot of passionate people from all over cyber space, many with additional dietary restrictions to consider, and turn a ratio into a recipe that can be enjoyed by many who have to work around the same allergies, intolerances, and health issues. It is a movement to show how empowering it is to embrace your so-called dietary/health “restrictions”.

If you have a ratio, i.e. a foundation for a recipe, you can make/do anything.

When the spaces for the 2012 months needed to be filled, I enthusiastically exclaimed that April would be all about bagels and that I’d love to host the process. Despite my getting sick for the majority of the month, I made many batches of bagels. After all, I was hosting. With Udi’s making a bagel that looked and acted like one (never ate one personally, but I’ve heard positive reviews), I felt there was this expectation to making The Perfect Bagel, especially since I was hosting. And despite my learning that I should keep it simple before dressing up the recipe, I went ahead and dressed it up anyway.

I had in mind to create a sweet potato bagel, but I started getting frustrated with the trials. That, and we were running out of sweet potatoes.

The first thing you must realize when making bagels is: do not use the entire yeast packet. Bruce Ezzell’s bagels called for 3 g of yeast to his 1.9:1 flour:water ratio (or 2.25:1 sponge:flour ratio if you prefer), and for some reason I was surprised how yeasty and “spongey” the dough was when I put seven times the amount of yeast in it. It tasted sour and I had to add over 100 g of additional flour to compensate.

The second trial, in addition to correcting the yeast amount, focused on changing how I used the sweet potato. For the first trial, I used it as part of the flour ratio, which probably made the dough wetter than it should have been. So I used it as the “liquid”, making it dry and having to balance that issue with additional liquid, going from too dry to too wet in seconds. Instead of putting in flour, however, I put in whole CGF rolled oats. I still wasn’t content with the bagels, but the oats did something to the flavor and the texture that reminded me of a hearty bagel.

To be honest, the sweet potato bagel was not my first bagel idea. My original idea was to make a blueberry bagel, but not in the traditional sense. With my CGF oats, both whole and powdered, my mad scientist tendencies were flaring up and I was inspired to try out my blueberry idea. So what did I do? I bought freeze-dried blueberries, powdered the dickens out of them, and incorporated that blueberry flavor (and purplish color) throughout the entire bagel.

As hostess, I stuck with Ezzell’s ratio as best as I could, though I think I would have liked the recipe better made with other binders like egg. But I followed the directions and used the ratio that was given to me, even making it vegan-friendly. I halved the recipe due to the overabundance of bagels on the kitchen counter, and it will make a week’s worth of bagels you can eat for breakfast each morning with a smear of nut butter or cream cheese.

Will I try again? Definitely. Will I compare the difference between the “traditional” bagel versus the ones made with eggs and oil? Oh, yes.

For now, I give you my recipe for this month’s GFRR, and it was such an honor to host it.

Blueberry Oat Bagels

For the sponge: to be made 4 to 12 hours before baking, but any longer will result in a very yeasty (and admittedly sour) bagel.

100 g Quinoa flour
100 g Garbanzo bean flour
50 g Flaxseed meal
250 ml Warm water
3 g Dry active yeast

Combine the ingredients in the bowl of a standing mixer and mix with a spoon till the ingredients are combined.
Set aside at room temperature for at least 4 hours. (To get the blooming process going, I put the bowl on the stovetop in the back while the oven was preheated on the warm setting for an hour or so.)

To make the bagels:

100 g CGF oat flour
93 g CGF rolled oats
1 1/2 – 2 tsp. Sea salt
18 g Maple syrup
30 g Freeze-dried blueberries, powdered

Baking soda (1/2 tbsp. for every 2 liters or 1/2 gallon of water)

Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
Add the salt, maple syrup, blueberry powder, oat flour, and oats to the sponger, and attach dough hooks to your mixer and mix at low speed for a few minutes until thoroughly combined. (This can also be done by hand.)
Once the dough is mixed, remove it to your counter and cover with a cloth to let it rest for 5-10 minutes.
While the dough is resting, place a wide, fairly deep pot filled with water on the stove to heat (measure the water so you know how much baking soda to use).
Once the water comes to a simmer add the baking soda.
Divide the dough into 6 - 7 pieces, and round each piece and set aside to rest for a few more minutes, covered.
To shape take each ball of dough, flatten out slightly using the palm of the hand, making a disc approximately 3.5 inches wide.
Make a hole in each using your thumb and place back on the counter, covered, to rise.
After 10 minutes flip each bagel over so the bottom is now facing up. (When this side begins to get slightly puffy and rounded it is time to boil.)
While the bagels are in their final rise bring your water to a simmer, then add the baking soda.
Drop the bagels 3 – 4 at a time into the simmering water (depending on how large your pot is).
They bagels will drop to the bottom and slowly begin to rise. (When this happens, flip the bagels, either with a spatula or flattened spoon, and let them simmer for another minute.)
Remove from the water using a skimmer or large spoon, and place them on a half-sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 6 – 7 bagels.

So, who else participated in this month’s GFRR? Continue on to find out!

Brooke | B & the boy    Peanut Butter & Jelly Bagels
Jenn | Jenn Cuisine     Sun-dried Tomato Parmesan Bagels
Mary Fran | FrannyCakes     Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
Adina | Gluten Free Travelette     Garlic Egg Bagels
Heather | Discovering the Extraordinary     Gluten-Free Bagels, with variations
gretchen | kumquat     Cinnamon Raisin Teff Bagels
Jean Layton | GF Doctor Recipes Gluten-Free     Sourdough Bagels
Meaghan | The Wicked Good Vegan     Vegan Gluten-Free Bagels
Meg | Gluten-Free Boulangerie     Classic Poppyseed Bagels (Vegan/Food Allergy-Safe)
*Morri (Me!) | Meals with Morri     Blueberry Oat Bagels
TR | No One Likes Crumbley Cookies     Classic Gluten-Free Bagels
Angela | Angela's Kitchen     Gluten Free Bagels with variations
Caleigh | Gluten Free[k]     Orange and Caraway Bagels
Caneel | Mama Me Gluten Free     Just Plain Bagels
Pete and Kelli | No Gluten, No Problem     Faux Pumpernickel Bagels

Baking Brownies for Springtime

I can’t believe it has almost been a year since Meals with Morri made its debut. Only, instead of pancakes, I have the pleasure to join a number of amazing gluten free bloggers in this month’s Gluten Free Ratio Rally… 

… making brownies.

So much can happen over the course of twelve months, and I am always surprised how time quickly passed me by. Twelve months of recipes, life experiences, mistakes, laughter, sorrow, and change. Twelve months of coming into myself, and still learning something new every day.

And I couldn’t have done it without you all.

Spring is such a fascinating season, and a perfect time to reflect the past year. You think about all the things that stressed you out and left you in a tizzy, most of which don’t exist anymore. You look at all the experiences you had and the lessons you learned, some of them less than pleasant and a pain in the butt to deal with, and then you realize that you survived it. You made it to now, and that’s quite an achievement.

Like my very first post, I have found myself sleep-deprived because of hunger, eating an apple with almond butter and an AB & J socca pancake at two-thirty in the morning because my stomach won’t settle for less. So there I was, half asleep and staring blankly into the skillet, watching the bubbles pop on the surface of the huge pancake I made before I put it under the broiler to escape flipping my monstrous creation. I think of the dreams I woke up from, dreams of pouring muffin batter into a non-greased tin before realizing my mistake, of my camera lens chipping, of talking to an old friend like the conflict with their family never happened. Even without sleeping more than four to five hours at a time, even with the week of sniffles and coughing and delirious tendencies, I still went to work and exercised (when I felt I could), two things I know will bring me crashing sooner rather than later.

Springtime brings change and perspective just as bluntly as it brings pollen and allergies. It brings you finicky weather and it brings you a new season of plants to garden, harvest, and eat. Most importantly, at least I think so anyway, it shows you just how bountiful this new year is going to be for you.

For my Grandpa B, that means chickens.

For my household, that means a new compost heap. (Thank you, guys. I love it.)

For my job at the community center, that means awesome “Where the Wild Things Are” themed trips during Spring Break.

For my blog, that means posting recipes, insights, and facts about living a healthy gluten free (among other things) life, loving myself, working around having a thyroid condition, and looking towards sustainable development to help the world community.

And finally, for this post, that means brownies.

I learned something this time around, and it has finally sank in: simple is hard to do. I wanted to do some pretty crazy ingredient combinations and themes for this month’s GFRR, ranging from nut butter marble and vegan bite-sized brownies to strawberry shortcake and piña colada blondies. Really though, the fact you participate at all is something of a feat. Many (if not all) of the participants will congratulate you on a job well done, cheering on the sidelines as I do for them.

In the end, I decided on making a brownie inspired by all that I learned in my Mesoamerican anthropology class. I was particularly fascinated by the cuisine and the plants and animals that were domesticated. But what really got me excited for this month's GFRR was because of the Aztec’s most revered chocolate drink, the Xocolātl.

The result was a fudgy cake-like brownie. It was moist and sweet and just spicy enough to make them “strangely addicting”, as Mama Dazz called them.

Thus, the Oaxacan (WAH-HAWK-CAN) brownie (I named for the Zapotec/Mixtec state found in southern Mexico. It was ruled by the Aztec for a few decades until the arrival of the Spanish.) was created.

Trial 2: Essentially a fudge recipe with an identity crisis

Now, I want to let you know where I goofed up these delectable desserts. 

As I looked at my original recipe and compared it with the ratio while typing this post, I realized why my brownies turned out the way they did. For inspiration, I looked at another person's recipe that called for sweet potato, so naturally she didn’t use the amount of sugar as is usually called for.

That, and I think being sleep deprived played a crucial role in this too.

But just so you know, while I still stand by my brownies, I am glad I made both of them again using 250 g of honey/maple syrup. Another thing you must consider is the creaming method with the eggs and the sugar you choose, because the fat in mine were particularly testy when I didn't. That, and putting cold applesauce on the butters coagulated the fat content and turned my first batch into an epic flop of all Flopdom.

So, if you have walked away and learned anything from making brownies, I sincerely hope it's the creaming method and the importance of bringing ingredients to the right temperature before using.

The ratio is similar to what was offered to the GFRR: 2 parts chocolate, 3 parts butter, 3 parts eggs, 6 parts sugar, and 2 parts flour.

Trial 3: Ding, ding, ding!!! We have a Winner!

Oaxacan Brownies

57 g Unsweetened chocolate
32 g Unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
113 g Butter
165 g Honey
85 g Unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
2 Large eggs, room temperature
62 g Quinoa flour
1/4 tsp. Chipotle powder
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
Dash of cayenne pepper
Stevia, optional
Cocoa nibs, as garnish

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Melt the chocolate and butter together on very low heat, and then set aside to cool.
Mix the eggs with the honey and applesauce until well blended and add to the melted chocolate.
Sift the flour and cayenne and fold in the chocolate mixture.
Pour the batter into a greased 8x8” (or smaller for a thick and dense cake-like brownie) oven-safe pan, and bake for 35 - 40 minutes until done.

Makes 1 batch, or 8 squares.

As you can see, the brownies were cakey and rich, with a moist crumb that the applesauce helped to provide. On the other hand, the blondies were like gooey snickerdoodles of epic blonde brownie proportions. The mesquite played beautifully with the cacao butter and maple syrup.

The modified recipe for the MCB's still needs a little tweaking, a little too wet for my preference, but the taste is out of this world yummy. 

And just to be different, I baked it in a pie pan.

Photo of 1st Blondie batch with updated recipe below

Mesquite Cacao Blondies

85 g Unsweetened applesauce, room temperature
113 g Cacao butter
165 g Maple syrup
2 Large eggs, room temperature
31 g Mesquite flour
31 g Garbanzo bean flour
1/4 tsp. Sea salt
1 tsp. Bourbon vanilla

Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
Melt the cacao butter and maple syrup together in a double broiler on medium heat, and then set aside to cool.
Mix the eggs with the applesauce and vanilla until well blended and add to the melted cacao butter.
Sift the flour and salt and fold in the wet ingredients.
Pour the batter into a greased 9” pie pan, and bake for 45 minutes until done.

Makes 1 batch, or 8 slices.

I think it's time you head on over and see what the other GFRR participants made, don't you think? Trust me when I say that you won't be disappointed in the least! Our host for brownies was the great Mary Fran of FrannyCakes, a woman who keeps it real with amazing recipes, uses food for healing, and makes my mouth water from the photos she takes for all of us who love good-for-you food.

Oh yes, hear her (us) roar.

Adina from Gluten Free Travelette made Chocolate Brownie Pie with Orange Zest
Angela from Angela's Kitchen made Gluten & Dairy Free Cream Egg Brownies
Brooke from B & the boy! made Triple Chocolate Brownies
Caitlin from {Gluten Free} Nom Nom Nom made Peppermint Brownie Bars
Caleigh from Gluten Free[k] made White chocolate and marshmallow brownies
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Triple chocolate brownies
Charissa Luke from Zest Bakery made Slutty gluten-free brownies
Claire from My Gluten Free Home made PB&J Brownie Whoopee Pies
Claire from This Gluten-Free Life made St. Patty's Day Marshmallow Swirl Brownies
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure made Mexican Cocoa Brownies with an Almond & Pepitas Crust
gretchen from kumquat made salted caramel brownies
Heather from Discovering the Extraordinary made Nutmeg Blondies
Irvin from Eat the Love made Blueberry Citrus Marble Brownies
Jean from Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes made Blue Ribbon Brownies
Jenn from Jenn Cuisine made Grain free brownies with no-bake ricotta cheesecake cream
Jonathan from The Canary Files made Vegan Marbled Banana Walnut Brownies
Karen from Cooking Gluten Free! made GF Chewy Crackled Top Brownies with Raspberry Puree
Mary Fran from FrannyCakes made Gluten-Free Hazelnut (Nutella) Brownies
Morri (Me!) from Meals with Morri made Oaxacan Brownies & Mesquite Cacao Blondies
Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks made Black Bean S'More Brownies
Pete and Kelli from No Gluten, No Problem made Caramel Mexican Chocolate Mesquite Brownies
Rachel from The Crispy Cook made Co-Co Nut-Nut Blondies
Shauna from Gluten-Free Girl made Gluten-Free Brownies
Tara from A Baking Life  made Chocolate Flourless (Mint) Brownies
TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Gluten Free Berry Fudge Brownies