It’s Sunday afternoon and after a full day, hubby and I are ready to fire up the kettle and relax into a cuppa. But when we check the cupboard for a few sweet morsels to accompany our tea, there’s nothing to be found. It only takes us a few seconds to decide there’s no choice but to whip up a new batch of something sweet.
Decisions, decisions…. shall we mash up the ripe bananas and make muffins? Fancy some gooey chocolate brownies? Nope. After much deliberation, we agree on warm, crunchy biscuits.
Over the years I’ve made dozens and dozens of little treats like these (probably because we run out of biscuits often). Recently, the process has become even more enticing and rewarding through the exploration of gluten free ingredients. With options like amaranth flour and quinoa flakes at our fingertips, the gluten-free baking world is wide open with tasty, workable choices. All it takes is understanding a few baking basics — like finding the right balance of liquid and solid ingredients, and learning the ideal combination of sweet, salty and sour flavours — and you can easily conjure up a recipe to suit your personal taste and pantry supplies.
So just what are the basics?
The solid components of my baked goods generally come from combining some the following: wholegrain flours (brown rice, amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, sourghum, millet), finely and roughly ground nuts and seeds (aka: ‘meal’), rolled grain flakes (quinoa, amaranth, millet), dried fruit pieces or dark organic chocolate chunks, coconut flakes, organic coconut palm sugar, finely grated citrus zest, baking powder/soda and fine sea salt.
Liquid ingredients may involve: eggs, melted butter or coconut oil, silken tofu, mashed fresh fruit/stewed fruit, liquid natural sweeteners (maple syrup, raw dark agave nectar, pear or apple juice concentrate, honey, brown rice syrup) and sometimes a dash of milk (soy, almond, cow’s, or another favourite).
Most baking recipes have you separately blend wet and dry ingredients, then mix these together at the end. You get to know the ideal texture for a batter with time – biscuit dough and brownie batter are usually fairly thick, whereas muffin and cake batters have a touch more movement. If making up your own recipe, you might need to do some final tweaking (adding a dash of wet or dry ingredients) to get the right consistency.
The direction flavour takes in a recipe is often determined by the ingredients you choose to focus on. Today I’m keen to use some dried organic pears and lightly toasted almonds, so they are the feature which all other background components will support. Coconut is a lovely compliment, so I’ll not only use this oil, but I’ll throw in toasted flakes for extra texture. Finally, for a bit of zing some fine lemon zest is the perfect touch. The flour will be neutral (brown rice) so it doesn’t dominate the pears and almonds.
In any recipe, three flavours need to be represented (to some degree) in order to produce a good result: sweet, salty and sour. Some dominate (in this case sweet), while others are tiny highlights (sour-lemon rind) or undetectable additions (salt) that help the others stand out. In the end if you reach a good balance, everything will come together in delicious harmony. This is signified by the crying out of ‘yum!’ after the first mouthful.
There are a few ways you can incorporate the sour flavour. Some favourites are tossing in a bit of citrus zest or juice (sour) or using a sour-sweet dried fruit (cranberry or jujubes). With baking, salt is almost always incorporated in very tiny amounts – it might be hard to believe at first, but making food without it is like watching TV with the sound turned off. It helps make all the other flavours sing.
When it comes to sweetness, the possibilities are endless. Natural sweeteners are of high priority in nourishing wholefood cooking. It may be tempting to grab the stash of white or even raw brown refined sugar, but your body and taste buds will quickly notice the difference once you swap over to maple syrup, raw agave nectar, apple or pear juice concentrate and the like. Other ways to work sweetness into your treats is by making the most of nature’s sweetest produce — fruit. Raw or dried, they can both work. Sometimes I mash up ripe banana and add that to my biscuits, other times I want a strong hit of apricot or date, so I chop those dried fruits into tiny cubes and mix them through.
As with any food creation that comes from a wholesome kitchen, it’s important to consider which components of your recipe will provide nutritional fulfillment. Ingredients rich in protein and good quality fats will satisfy, while the empty calories of sugar and white rice or tapioca flour leave you unsatiated and craving more. So load up on the eggs, butter, coconut oil, wholegrain flours and flakes, nuts and seeds. In the end you’re more likely to stop after two pieces instead of a whole tray.
Above all, it is passion, determination and the course of time that help you become more skilled and successful in the kitchen. I also find that listening to inspiring music helps me get in the mood (and I can feel that energy infuse the food with great vibes). Mistakes are the best way to learn, and can often turn things in a direction that is surprisingly better than imagined. So let each cooking experience take you where it may…. who knows where you’ll end up! Finally, don’t be shy with trying new ingredients… read up on them and ask for advice where you can (my cookbook ‘Nourish’ is full of information), and then just go for it.
So here’s what my husband and I enjoyed on this sunny Sunday afternoon with our cups of tea. I hope you find it as tasty as we did!
Pear and almond biscuits
1 1/2 cups rolled quinoa, amaranth (can use oats if not gluten free)
1 cup almonds, lightly roasted
1 1/3 cups brown rice flour (or use a g/f flour blend)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup shredded coconut, lightly toasted (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 – 1 cup pear juice concentrate
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
3-4 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup dried pear, soaked in hot water to soften
Preheat an oven to 185 C.
1 cup almonds, lightly roasted
1 1/3 cups brown rice flour (or use a g/f flour blend)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 cup shredded coconut, lightly toasted (optional)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 – 1 cup pear juice concentrate
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
3-4 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
1/2 cup dried pear, soaked in hot water to soften
Preheat an oven to 185 C.
Using a food processor, grind 1/2 the rolled grains and all the almonds into a meal consistency (a coarse flour).
Now add in the remaining rolled grains, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and coconut. Pulse just a few times to combine (you don’t want to grind things down further). Set aside in a large mixing bowl.
Now add in the remaining rolled grains, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and coconut. Pulse just a few times to combine (you don’t want to grind things down further). Set aside in a large mixing bowl.
In the same processor (you don’t have to clean it from using with dry ingredients), blend the eggs, pear juice concentrate, brown rice syrup, oil, ginger and lemon rind – just until blended.
Prepare baking trays as appropriate – using baking paper or greasing the pans.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir until just combined. Drain the pears from the soaking water COMPLETELY, then fold into the mix. When it’s well combined, sit for a couple minutes so the liquid is soaked up by the dry ingredients and you can gauge the final consistency. If the mix is too runny, add more almond meal. If too dry, add a touch more oil and/or sweetener. Taste for flavour. When everything is balanced (the batter should be fairly thick – not easily moving off of a spoon), place tablespoons of the batter onto the trays and distribute evenly so there is a good 3 cm distance between each dollup.
Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden on top and bottom. Sit for 10 minutes before moving to a baking rack to cool. These store well in airtight containers or in the freezer.