recipes – Bucket List Journey

November 11, 2012

I LOVE THAT MASTER MIX: Sugar Free/Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

As soon as those biscuits were a hit, I knew I needed to try the recipe for the cookies using the master mix. They looked good going into the oven, they looked good coming out of them, but boy, can I just say: HOLY SMOKES. They were so good. So sweet, so non-wheaty. I haven’t had a good cookie in 10 months! I’ve tried to make a few but they’ve all just been busts.

These are wins! Major wins. My husband loved them, too, which is a really big win. Now I’m scheming for Christmas aka How Many Baked Goods Can You Eat In One Week And Not Die?

It’s basically all I can do to not eat the entire batch in one sitting, which is especially hard when you know you’ll get no sugar rush because there’s zero glycemic index impact!

Thanks to Ginger Lemon Girl for these recipes.

Ingredients

2 ¾ cups MASTER MIX
½ cup palm shortening, Crisco, or butter (I used Crisco)
1/2 c more fiber stevia
1/3 c Erythritol
2 eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla
2-4 tablespoons water
dark chocolate chips to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 350.
Cream sugar with shortening/butter.
Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in master mix.
If needed, add 2-4 tablespoons of water until you get a stiff (not crumbly) batter.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet. Flatten cookies slightly with the bottom of a glass or the palm of your hand, as they will not spread.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen 1″ cookies.

November 9, 2012

Gluten free biscuit/master-mix recipe.

I haven’t had any pastry-like item for 10 months. Nothing but gluten-free or wheat-free bread or cookies. No flaky chocolatines, no biscuits, no buns, and definitely no baguettes. Every time we’ve been to a restaurant and they bring that warm bread before the meal I die a little inside. And salivate a lot.

Today, I decided to try a biscuit recipe using a gluten-free version of fake bisquick that I found online. I was pleased because I happened to have all (or almost all) the ingredients already, and just adapted the others. This master mix apparently can be used for cookies, and a bunch of other things too.

I’m thrilled. I had a biscuit with my soup tonight. It was smothered in butter and it was all kinds of awesome. So yummy I didn’t take a picture. This one is from the original recipe website.

I made a few adjustments based on what I had on hand. It turned out great, except had a slight coconut taste from the coconut oil, which would be yummy if it were in a cookie. I halved the recipe for the master mix.

Anyways.

Recipe

Source: Ginger Lemon Girl

1 1/2 cups brown rice flour (I used white)
1 cup sorghum flour -or- millet flour (I used millet)
3/4 cups arrowroot starch -or- tapioca starch (I used 1 c of cornstarch replacing both starches)
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tablespoons brown rice protein powder -or- almond flour (I used almond meal)
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (optional – great for a whole grain texture & extra fiber! — I did this)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup coconut oil or spectrum palm shortening (I used coconut oil)

Whisk all dry ingredients together thoroughly. Cut in shortening, until it is thoroughly mixed into the dry ingredients and looks like tiny peas. Store in a tightly-sealed container in fridge or pantry.

Can’t wait to make my Red Lobster Biscuits again. GLORY BE!

October 7, 2012

Managing recipes on Evernote

Thanksgiving has gotten me thinking about how I manage my culinary life using Evernote. This post did a good job of prompting that.

For recipes I often start by pinning recipes on Pinterest as an inbox of sorts, then once I want to use the recipe, I use the web clipper to save it into my Recipes folder. This helps me sort through recipes I want to make and ones I have already made. Often I will pin multiple recipes of a similar genre (pumpkin pies, pumpkin spice lattes etc) in order to see what is the similar ingredients/ratios and adapt accordingly. I do this especially when I’m figuring out how to replace the sugar.

When I cook with Evernote, I used to either use my iPhone, or stick my laptop on my island as I worked. Now I have a bit easier with my iPad on the go.

I always record how I change recipes so I can edit or re-do them later. I really like the ease of which I can share a recipe, a whole notebook etc.

The most useful thing in storing my recipes on Evernote is when I go shopping. I have my grocery lists and meal plan on Evernote, too, which means I have a record of what we eat when. This might seem super anal, and it probably is, but I try to save my mental energy for what’s important. Remembering what we eat isn’t important, but it is helpful to know I’m not forgetting and feeding my husband the same meal every week. We like more variety than that but I don’t want to rely on my brain to recall that info.

Getting back to shopping. I always have my recipes on me in Evernote, which means that if I get suddenly inspired by something I see in the grocery store (which happens often), I can pull up a recipe I have in Evernote (or Pinterest, for that matter) and buy the other ingredients I need.

Simple pimple!

How about you? Do you have a system to manage recipes to help you be more productive?