Triple Oak Bakery

Ok, I am a BAD blogger. Sorry guys. Life happens! I was visiting Keith’s family in Florida for Christmas, then came back and started selling Mary Kay in full swing! Side note: Mary Kay is awesome. Check out my website at http://www.marykay.com/rpantaleo if you are interested in ordering anything at all!

Hopefully this tidbit will redeem me in your foodie hearts, my lovely readers! My mom told me today that her friend Brooke runs a DEDICATED gluten free bakery in Sperryville, Virginia. It is called Triple Oak Bakery, and they specialize in “…gourmet desserts like Profiteroles (cream puffs), Mocha Dream Cake and our Signature Chocolate Torte as well as the best Carrot Cake around.”

Um, yes please. They don’t have regular store hours, but you can contact them by phone at (540) 987-9122 with questions or to schedule an order/appointment at (540) 675-3601. You can also email them if you would like at TripleOakBakery@gmail.com. Brooke Parkhurst is the owner (and a friend of my moms) and I can’t wait to go try her goodies!!

And side note: I have about 4 months worth of recipes that I will work on posting this weekend while I am snowed in. Don’t worry Homemade New England Clam Chowda, Ratatouille, and Gluten Free Challah are coming!

Triple Oak Bakery

Starfish Gluten Free Battered Fish

YUM YUM YUM!

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. Fish sticks…bluh.

Battered fish was nothing that I really loved before I went gluten free. Well, except in Ireland. But how the hell could you not eat fish and chips with malt vinegar and beer and …..ok, I must be stopped. I’m drooling.

But anyway, I saw these Starfish Brand battered fish filets in the freezer at Whole Foods and thought I’d try them just for something easy to throw in the toaster oven on a weeknight. It’s official, guys: I’m addicted. These are crispy and chewy and delicious! I ate them with a little Hellman’s Tartar Sauce (GLUTEN FREE!) and some broccoli and a salad and almost didn’t feel bad about my eating habits. Try them out, I highly recommend them!

“OMG, who made the Pumpkin Cheesecake?!”

I went to the party as a butterfly!

Amazingly, I normally do absolutely nothing for Halloween. Oh sure, I might buy a bag of candy corn and watch “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in my jammies, but I don’t normally party or get any trick or treaters. I know….I am a boring human. It’s hard when Halloween is on a weekday, as it has been for quite a while now. This year it was on a Saturday, so I had all day to worry about a costume! JOY!

My friends Katie S. and Katie S. (no seriously) threw a Halloween party together this year. This was exciting to me because I now live right down the street from the house and I was excited that I could make it without having to drive, if necessary. Stokely asked me if I would bake something for the party, which I was only too happy to do. I haven’t gotten to bake for gluten eaters much since I went gluten free for some reason, so this was a great opportunity to see if my stuff is really as good as I think it is

I decided to make a pumpkin cheesecake, something I had been meaning to make for ages but had just never had an occasion to do.  I thought about making up my own recipe for this since cheesecake is a pretty standard recipe, but instead slightly modified a recipe that I found at Fire and Salt, a new to me gluten free blog that I’ve really been enjoying. This recipe was a complete smash and got rave reviews from the party guests! I actually had multiple guests come up to me and ask if I was the one that made it, then proceed to gush about how awesome they thought it was. Keep in mind…none of these people knew that it was gluten free. And it disappeared too quickly to grab a picture of it! However, Fire and Salt has a lovely picture on their site and mine looked the same!

Although Libby’s canned pumpkin is generally used in holiday baking around this time of year, I couldn’t help thinking about how much better this recipe would taste if I used some fresh pumpkin. So I did! I found a small pie pumpkin, whacked it in half and took out the seeds, and roasted it at 400 degrees for about 45 minutes until it was extremely soft. I let it cool, scooped it out of the shell, and then pureed it. The texture of this cheesecake was amazing. Because the pumpkin puree is a little lighter than the canned packed pumpkin, the resulting cheesecake is the absolute perfect texture. Not too fluffy but not too heavy, with a light graham cracker crust. MMMMM. I highly recommend the fresh pumpkin route. Trust me, your guests will notice!

Fresh Pumpkin Cheesecake

Adapted from Fire and Salt

Crust:
2-1/2 cups gluten free graham cracker crumbs
2 tsp cinnamon
8 Tbs butter (1 stick softened)

Filling:
24 ounces cream cheese (3-8oz packages, softened)
1-3/4 cup pureed pumpkin
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
2 Tbs cornstarch
1-1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Topping:
2 cups sour cream (16oz, room temp)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1) Mix together the graham cracker crumbs, cinnamon, and melted butter. Press the mixture firmly in the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan. It is also helpful to line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper first.

2) Mix together the pumpkin puree and cream cheese. Add the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and evaporated milk. Next, add the cornstarch, cinnamon, and nutmeg; combine thoroughly.

3) Pour the filling in to the pan over the crust. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until the edges are set but the center moves slightly.

4) While the cheesecake is baking, combine sour cream, sugar, and vanilla for the topping. After the cheesecake has baked for 55-60 minutes, remove it from the oven and spread the topping on evenly. Return the cheesecake to the oven for 5 more minutes to set the topping. Remove and cool on a rack for at least 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, place the cheesecake in the refrigerator and chill for several hours or overnight to help set the filling.

Gluten-Free Cranberry Bars

Uh oh…new blog obsession. I’m salivating over Katie Goodman’s blog goodLife {eats}. Her photography is wonderful and she makes simple yet amazing recipes that are easily adapted. She is not a gluten free baker, but I was able to adapt her recent recipe for Cranberry Crumb Bars with no problem at all! Please take a second to go click around on her site and check out her other recipes, I am incredibly impressed with her clear writing style and wonderful photography.

On another note…these cranberry bars are DELISH. I seriously ate half a pan this morning after they were cooled. Even Keith, who is not particularly fond of fruit in desserts liked this one, especially the sweet cinnamony cake! I actually halved the batch (on my first try! I know, I know…I’m a daredevil!) and they turned out great, I just baked them in an 8×8 glass pan and they turned out perfectly.

Gluten Free Cranberry Bars
Adapted from goodLife {eats}

Ingredients

1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cup flour*
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup almond meal
1 cup cold butter
1 egg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
juice of 1/2 orange
4 cups fresh cranberries
2/3 cups white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbs cornstarch

1) Preheat to 375 F. Butter a 9×13 baking dish.

2) Mix 1 cup sugar, flour, almond meal, salt, xanthan gum and baking powder. Cut in butter and egg with a fork or pastry cutter until incorporated and texture is crumbly. Pat half of dough evenly into pan.

3) Stir together sugar, cornstarch, vanilla and orange juice in a separate bowl. Mix in berries and toss until evenly coated. Spread evenly over dough.

4) Add cinnamon to remaining dough, then crumble dough over berries. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until brown on top. Chill completely before eating.

* I used the flour blend linked above to make these because it’s a really nice crumbly shortbread-esque blend. It was perfect if a little TOO cohesive because of the xanthan gum that I added. Next time I would try it without the additional xanthan gum and just use the blend as is.

Autumn Pear Clafouti

I know when people think about fall, they normally think about apple orchards, cider, woodsmoke and pumpkins. I do too, but I also think about pears.

Have you ever taken a really good look at how many pear varieties there are in the grocery store or at the farmer’s market? Tons. They’re all so different too. Bright green Bartlett’s with a blush of pink and yellow, dusty Bosc’s, squat burgundy Seckel’s and round yellow Asian pears. They’re all beautiful, delicate, and completely different in taste. And I will probably eat at least one of each at least once this fall!

I was wandering around Whole Foods the other day when I saw an awesome deal on a bag of small Bartlett pears. They were tiny and adorable and I need more fruit in my diet. Sold. So all week I’ve been thinking about ways I could use up all these darn pears, and I started thinking about Bea at La Tartine Gourmande. She makes clafouti, a baked custard-like fruit dessert, like nobody’s business, and best of all she does it gluten free! Also, her pictures are amazing and beautiful and if you’ve never checked out her blog, I highly suggest you do!

Anyway, pear clafouti got into my head, so I found a recipe by Ina Garten of The Barefoot Contessa that sounded doable due to a very very small amount of flour. Yay! I adapted it and am completely addicted. I’m a sucker for a custard based dessert, and this one is particularly delicious, especially spiked with booze as it is! Try this out and savor the tastes of fall, ya’ll.

Pear Clafouti
Adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1/3 c. + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
6 tablespoons gluten free flour mix (I used this one)
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
2 tablespoons gluten free vanilla
1 tsp. lemon zest
1/4 kosher salt
2 tablespoons Calvados (apple brandy)
2-3 firm pears
Confectioners sugar
Creme fraiche

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2) Butter a 10×3x1.5 inch baking dish (I used a porcelain tart pan)and dust with granulated sugar

3) Beat eggs and 1/3 cup sugar in stand mixer for about 4 minutes or until fluffy.

4) On low speed, mix in flour, cream, vanilla, lemon zest, salt, and Calvados. Set aside for 10 minutes.

5) Peel, quarter, core and slice pears. Arrange slices in a single layer, fanned out, in the baking dish. Pour batter over fruit and bake until top is firm and golden, about 35-40 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature with creme fraiche and powdered sugar.

Buttermilk & Brown Sugar French Toast

Rain rain rain. I’ve watched all of my friends update their Facebook statuses (stati?) this morning, sad about the cold rain and gray skies that we are experiencing this week. I have to say to my friends, with respect: I don’t mind at all.

Rainy days give me the excuse I need to make comfort food. What might be too fattening or decadent on a warm sunny fall day all of a sudden becomes acceptable and preferred nosh. “Oh, 8 cups of hot chocolate and marshmallows? 10 pieces of cinnamon sugar toast dripping with butter? A whole bowl of spaghetti and homemade meatballs to myself? Done.”

Quick sidenote: I have FINALLY gotten moved into my new apartment. I am happily ensconced on the 11th floor of a highrise, right down the street from:
Whole Foods
Williams Sonoma
Crate and Barrell
Pottery Barn
Barnes and Noble
And about 85 other amazing ways to waste money. I can walk and save gas money and parking fees though, right?

Anyway, I’m unpacking my kitchen, which is proving to be a bit of a challenge because of a lack of storage for pots and pans along with my gargantuan amount of gluten free cooking supplies (ie, flours). I wanted to share with you all a recipe that I made before I packed up the last of my things at the old place for Buttermilk & Brown Sugar French Toast with Cherry Compote. MM. This was your basic “what I had in the pantry/fridge” recipe. I was out of regular milk, had 4 pieces of gluten free bread to use up, and needed to use up a bag of frozen cherries. TA DA. I wish that I had enough of my stuff unpacked to actually make this recipe today. Maybe Saturday…

Nom nom nom.

Buttermilk Brown Sugar French Toast with Cherry Compote
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs
4 pieces of gluten free bread (I used Whole Foods sandwich bread, but I also think this would be awesome with the cinnamon raisin kind)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
dash of salt
Unsalted butter

For the Cherry Compote:
1/2 bag frozen cherries
splash of orange juice
sprinkle of sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1) Beat together buttermilk, eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a shallow bowl.
2) Soak bread in liquid until most/all is absorbed, about 3-5 minutes. Melt butter on griddle while you are waiting for the bread.
3) Fry bread slices in butter over medium heat until golden brown on both sides, approximately 3-4 minutes per side.
4) While you are frying, heat frozen cherries in a saucepan with juice, sugar, and cinnamon until they are warm, soft, and have released their juices.
5) Top the french toast with the cherries and juice. Feel as though living is a gift and luxuriate in the moment.

Kinni-what?

I don’t know if you guys have missed Oreo’s since going gluten free, but I surely have!

Oreo’s used to be my go to snack when I was cranky, or PMS-ing or just getting home from school. I loved the smooth creamy centers and the crumbly chocolate cookies. SIGH. I actually had to give my parents two whole packages of them when I did my Great Gluten Cabinet Purge last year. About killed me to get rid of them, but I did and now I feel all the better for it.

There is a recipe for an faux-Oreo cookie in Elizabeth Barbonne’s baking book, but sometimes you don’t feel like expending all that effort just for a darn sandwich cookie you know?? That’s why I’m glad that Keith introduced me to K-Toos (actually called Kinnitoos, but I’m not sure that anyone calls them that). These are essentially gluten-free Oreos and they’re extremely tasty! A wonderful cookie to dunk in milk and munch after work or school. Don’t get carried away and eat the whole pack though, they’re a bit expensive for that. Oh heck….go ahead.

In Northern VA, you can find these at the Whole Foods in Clarendon and at Healthways in Fairfax. Anyone else love K-Toos?

Why why….oh WHY does the news media insist on calling gluten intolerance a gluten ALLERGY? That is not what it is, even though most peeps with gluten intolerance call it that out at restaurants. Restaurant staff respond better to the word “allergy” than they do to “celiac disease” or “intolerance” or “autoimmune disorder”, because “allergy” brings images of swollen airways, anaphylactic shock, and emergency rooms to mind.
This is still a good article, but I hate when writers call it an allergy.  Not an allergy.  AUTOIMMUNE DISORDER.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090915/hl_afp/healthdiseasefoodceliac

Mellow Sunday

Today was the most mellow, lazy, ridiculously slow day E-V-E-R. I was pooped from working on Saturday, and woke up this morning feeling unmotivated. Sometime around 3 PM, I started thinking about feeding myself, but all I had the energy for was a fabulous cocktail that I am for SURE going to make again. Here it is, my friends.

The Mellow Sunday

Juice from 1 1/2 lemons

Ice

Simple Syrup*

Grappa/Vodka

1) Squeeze lemons and set juice aside.

2) Make simple syrup by boiling 1 cup of water with 1 cup of raw sugar until sugar is dissolved. This drink only tastes like it’s supposed to if you use raw sugar, not white. Otherwise it’s just, you know, lemonade with vodka

3) Allow simple syrup to cool until it’s room temp. I threw mine in the fridge in the pot for about 10 minutes.

4) Put ice in glass. Pour in lemon juice, then simple syrup, then a shot of grappa or vodka. YUM.

Enjoy the mellowest of all days of the week.

OH Cake. I love cake.

Check out NBC Washington’s website today for an article that I wrote about Occasionally Cake, a new bakery in Alexandria, VA that also has (GASP) gluten free cupcakes! Their grand opening is tonight at 6 PM, come on out.

Occasionally Cakes, Alexandria VA