Cream Cheese Pastry - Gluten-Free

I love making savoury hand pies, and this is my go to recipe for that, and for any other type of pie.  I had a favourite multigrain pie crust recipe from my old copy of Ken Haedrich's Country Baking, but I changed it a lot.  Gluten free flours don't have the sticking-togetherness of wheat flours because they have no gluten.  To adjust for that, I have added cream cheese in addition to the butter.  Since gluten free flours also don't absorb as much fat, I played around with the amounts until it worked to my satisfaction, and this is the resulting recipe.  You'll note that I have the amounts in both volume, and by weight.  I recommend weighing because it is very easy to pack the gluten free flours when you are measuring by volume.  Any kitchen scale will do.

Cream Cheese Pastry - Gluten-Free

Makes enough pastry for one double crust 9" pie

Ingredients

• 7/8 cup (85 grams) Gluten-Free Oat Flour (I used Only Oats Brand)
• 7/8 cup (108 grams) Gluten-Free Masa Harina (not corn flour)
• 3/4 cup (73 grams) Potato Starch (this is different than potato flour)
• 12 ounces cold butter cut in 1/2" cubes
• 12 ounces cold cream cheese cut in 1/2" cubes
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 - 5 tablespoons cold water

Method 

• Weigh out the flour, or spoon it into a measuring cup.  Never scoop oat flour out of the package with a measuring cup.  It will compact, and you will get more flour than you need.  

• You can do this by hand, but I usually use a food processor for this part.  Put the flours, and potato starch into a food processor, and mix for about 30 seconds.  You want the flours well blended.
• Add cubed butter and cream cheese to the flour mix in the processor, and pulse until mixture resembles a coarse damp meal.  Largest pieces should be no larger than a split pea.
• At this point you could continue with the food processor, but I prefer to put the mixture in a bowl and add the rest by hand.
• Mix the egg yolk with 3 tablespoons of cold water, and sprinkle this over the mixture, using a fork tines to help press the the dough together.  If it is still dry, add another tablespoon of water, this time packing the dough with your hands.  
• When the dough pulls together in a damp ball, divide it in half, flatten each half into a disk, cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper, and chill for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.
• Use in any pastry recipe, but I recommend rolling the pastry between sheets of waxed paper. 

I use this recipe as a topping for my individual chicken pot pies.  Here's one that's baked:

Crispy Chewy Cherry Flax Pucks

This is another recipe from Power Hungry by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  I have fiddled with this recipe more than with the Double Chocolate Flax Pucks recipe - the main reason being that I like the texture of that one more than this.  Replacing part of the ground flax with cocoa gives it a bit more regular brownie body, whereas this is somewhat more chewy in a flaxy way.  I've found that substituting part of the dried fruit with unsweetened coconut helps.

Crispy Chewy Cherry Flax Pucks

Makes about 12


Ingredients

• 2/3 cup ground flax
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup dried sour cherries

Method

• Grease 12 muffin cups, and preheat oven to 325ºF
• Mix together ground flax, peanut butter, honey, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon until well combined.  Stir in raisins.
• Evenly distribute the batter into the 12 muffin cups
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until tops appear somewhat dry.
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack

Variations:

• You may substitute other nut butters, non dairy milks, etc.  
• I like to mix it up by substituting cut up dried prunes or apricots for the dried cherries.  
• I also often replace half of the dried fruit with unsweetened coconut.

This also makes a great coffee time snack.  I have come to prefer using other dried fruits instead of raisins in this recipe - especially dried apricots!

Double Chocolate Flax Pucks

I found the recipe for these in a fantastic book filled with energy bar recipes called Power Hungry, by Camilla V. Saulsbury.  It includes a variety of recipes, both baked, and unbaked, and what I really like about this book is that there are variations for different food issues in most of the recipes, so you can tailor it to suit your needs.

Double Chocolate Flax Pucks

Makes about 12


Ingredients

• 1/2 cup ground flax
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup quartered chocolate chunks, or semi sweet chocolate chips 

Method

• Grease 12 muffin cups, and preheat oven to 325ºF
• Mix together ground flax, cocoa powder, peanut butter, honey, milk, and vanilla until well combined.  Stir in chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
• Evenly distribute the batter into the 12 muffin cups
• Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until tops appear somewhat dry.
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack

Variations: You may substitute other nut butters, or non dairy milk but of course the results will vary.



I confess that these are my absolute favourite recipe in the book - could it possibly be the fact that they taste like chocolate brownies?  Perhaps.  :)  I love them for my afternoon coffee break, with a strawberry or raspberry milk kefir smoothie.  Yumm!

Hand Knotting Gemstone Beads

I've always loved the look of hand knotted pearl necklaces, something so classy about them, and I decided it was time to give the technique a try.  But I wanted to do it with gemstone beads instead of pearls.

Here's my first attempt.  Of course when you're learning something new, it's going to take practise to be get the technique down, which is why this one's for me.



I learned a lot doing it.  For one thing, it's good to have the proper thickness of silk thread (what I used to string the beads), and it turns out that I should have used a thicker thread for these beads.  It was difficult to make the knots tight against the bead without the knot disappearing into the bead hole.  There are also tricks to snugging the knot right against the bead, and I wasn't using the right tool.  Most of the videos I watched recommended a pointy tipped tweezers, which I didn't have.  I decided to stop for the day.

Sometimes taking a break helps you work through a problem, and after a good night's sleep it occurred to me that I had a pointy tipped jewelry pliers with flat jaws.  They worked perfectly!  I also had two sizes of silk cord, and was able to use the proper size for the beads I used the next day, so my success was greater.  I am using french wire (a coiled metal tube) to protect the silk thread as it passes through the clasp end.  I prefer the way it looks rather than a bead cap.



I got a few more necklaces worth of knotting done, although I'm going to need to fix the last one.  I had difficulty with the french wire on it, and then the needle of the silk thread broke off as I was trying to finish it off.  SIGH!  I'm going to have to take it apart and redo it.  But that's part of the learning process, too.  And I really love the way the hand knotting looks with the gemstone beads.

Seed Crackers

This is my favourite gluten free cracker.  The flavour reminds me of eating salted sunflower or pumpkin seeds in the shell.  It's very easy to make, but you do have to plan for the soaking time.  I usually start soaking the seeds right before I go to bed, and they are ready to go the next morning.

Seed Crackers

Makes enough to fill 2 cookie sheets

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup each of sunflower seeds, and (shelled) pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup whole flax seed
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• water

Method

• Place sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a large bowl and cover with filtered water - should be a couple of inches extra water.  
• Put the flax seed in another container, and stir in 1 cup of filtered water.
• Cover, and let both containers sit at room temperature for 6 hours, or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 325ºF.
• Put the sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a sieve to drain them, and rinse them.  Put the rinsed seeds back in a large bowl.
• Pour the flax seed, with the water, into the bowl with the other seeds.  By this time, most of the water in the flax seed container will have turned to a gel - that is what binds these crackers together.  
• Add the sea salt to the seeds, and mix well.
• Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Divide the seed mixture evenly between the two baking sheets, and spread until quite thin.

• If desired, grind some flavoured salt over the seed mixture on the two sheets.
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes.
• Score the crackers, and flip them.  (I confess, I often don't flip them, but they do look nicer when you do)
• Bake for about 35 more minutes or until golden brown, and desired crispness.  
• Remove from oven, and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Variations:

1. Feel free to substitute other seeds.  I have tried nuts, but don't think they work as well in this cracker.  
2. Don't eliminate the flax seed - you need the gel.  You can substitute chia seed for flax, as they also make a gel.
3. Try adding various dried herbs, or other seasonings.  Maybe chopped green onion, etc,

You can make them crispy or chewy by varying the length of time you bake them - I'm a fan of crispy myself!  I love to eat them with salad for lunch, or a snack for coffee break.  But they would be good with toppings as party snacks.  Everyone I've served them to scarfs them down.

Crafty Birthday Gift!

For my birthday, my Sister gave me a gift card from Knit Picks, home of the lovely wooden interchangeable knitting needle set that I got as a Christmas gift last year.

I am on their list for receiving periodic flyer/catalogues with which they tempt me to buy more of their lovely yarns and accessories.  And earlier this year, I succumbed to the temptation to buy some sock yarn, and enough yarn for a sweater.  Alas, the poor exchange rate at the moment made it not as great a deal as it seemed, and it was a bit of a shock when I got my credit card statement.  So I am not tempted to buy anymore yarn from them for the forseeable future.

So, what to buy with the lovely gift card burning a hole in my wallet?  I had been eyeing their wooden crochet hooks, since I love their wooden knitting needles, but discovered from reviews that the sizes were not written on the hooks.  That seems like a big problem to me.  Instead, I opted for a set of metal hooks with a larger rubberized handle.



And for the remainder, I went for the Knit Picks zippered case made for their interchangeable wooden knitting needles.  The needles come in a fancy gift box that would last for a long time, and protect them well, but it's always nice to have something more portable.



I was really excited to discover that the case has much more space than it appeared from the picture.  Not only does it have places to put the needles, there are more slots on the back of this same piece where I could store more knitting needles, or some crochet hooks!



And there is a zipper pocket on each side where I can store accessories



and other things like my set of wooden dp needles.  These don't have the sizes on them, so I need to keep them in the plastic sleeve they came in, but that fit perfectly in the pocket...



So how cool is that?  Loving it!!!

Making Pumpkin Puree

I do love pumpkin pie, and it's easy to find pumpkins to buy in fall, but then you have to cook the pumpkin to use it in pies and other recipes.  I've tried various ways of doing this, including chopping, peeling, and boiling them, but that's kind of a pain.  It's so much work, and I found the puree pretty watery, even though I drained the boiled pumpkin.  Here's what I do now, and it is super simple.

• Wash the outside of the pumpkin
• Cut the pumpkin in half.
• Remove the seeds and stringy stuff in the middle.  I find it helpful to use a small paring knife to cut the stringiness around the edges.  A spoon doesn't really scrape it out effectively.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and place the pumpkin halves upside down on it.

• Bake the pumpkin at 350º F for about 1 hour or so.  My 8" pumpkins took 1 hour and 15 minutes.  You'll know they are done when soft to the touch, and moisture is leaking out around the bottom.

• Turn the halves over and let them cool a bit.  You can see the steam rising off this one!

• Using a spoon, scoop the cooked pumpkin out of the shell, and put in a bowl.
• Puree the pumpkin right in the same bowl using a stick blender.  Or you could use a regular blender.

• Place the pumpkin puree in jars, and freeze.  Make sure to allow enough head room for expansion.  I froze them in 1 cup portions - makes it easy to know how much to take out for any particular recipe.

And here is my pretty pumpkin puree, ready to use in any recipe that calls for canned pumpkin.  I got about 4 cups of puree from each 8" pumpkin.