Tag: gluten-free baking

Double Banana Caramel Espresso Tart

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

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I was on  a bit of a pie kick a few weeks ago. As you will recall, I posted a recipe for a Chocolate Cherry Pie <——– click link here to get it. Well, as I was making this beautiful pie, another recipe came to mind. I should put bananas in the crust. My wonderful husband loves banana. He also really liked a banoffee pie I made once for the frat house. So let’s put some caramel in there somehow. Some chocolate. Maybe add some espresso for fun. Add more bananas. More caramel. And some whipped cream to keep it refreshing.

This was DELICIOUS. The caramel cream is where it’s at. And the espresso in the chocolate was enough that you are wondering about all the flavors you’re getting. It was a big hit and my husband loved them, which is the most important thing. Said they were one of the best things and although he is complimentary, he is also honest with my baking because he worked in a kitchen for 15 years and knows to be truthful so I can make the food better.

Stick around tomorrow I will be posting something savory: Taco Meatloaf, which has been a hit a few times around here.

20180522_135505[63] Continue reading “Double Banana Caramel Espresso Tart” →

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Gluten-Free Lime Eclairs

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

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Last éclair recipe (for now at least). Remember Monday when I posted that recipe for choux pastry? Well, click the link and review it first and for a back story into my slight obsession and intrigue into choux.

Today, though, I will keep it short and sweet. Wednesday I shared my first filling, Blackberry. Today I will share the second filling and topping I did, which was a lime curd with toasted meringue topping.

I have already confessed I liked the blackberry most for its refreshing taste, however, I did love the flavor of the lime curd and meringue. I just couldn’t eat as much and it had a completely different thing going on.

This could be fun to replace the lime with other citrus, like orange or grapefruit or lemon or blood orange. Just play and experiment. I’ve made lots of curds the last year: rhubarb, cherry, mango, and more. I’ve seen a pineapple one I really want to try, maybe a little toasted coconut on that one. It would be nice to mix the curd with a pastry cream potentially as well, but I have expressed my fondness for lime or lemon curd on its own and that I can just nibble on bites of it.

Gluten-Free Lime Meringue Eclairs Continue reading “Gluten-Free Lime Eclairs” →

Gluten-Free Blackberry Eclairs

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

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Happy Wednesday you All! Pretty proud as this is my second post of the week! And I plan on scheduling tomorrow’s right after this. It has been a moment since I posted three recipes in a week. I have a lot to share, though. Plus I can’t keep telling people at the market to check out my website, that I post loads of recipes, and then have a void of recent recipes the last 4 months. So I am making better on my commitment to share recipes, as well as baked goods.

As you will recall, Monday I posted a recipe for choux pastry (click the link to check it out). That is pretty much a fancy word for éclair shells, although you can make other things with it, like cream puffs. Today I share with you one of the ways I filled them: Blackberry with a Fresh Whipped Topping.

I will confess this was my favorite filling. The one I will posting tomorrow is for a lime curd with toasted meringue. It was good. Tangy. Rich. But this blackberry one was refreshing and I wanted to eat them all (but I didn’t).

As I typically point out, you can customize these. Swap the blackberries for raspberries or strawberries or cherries, etc. Add some pistachios to the raspberries. Or maybe be daring and add some lavender to the blackberry. There are loads of ways to interpret and design your own.

Blackberry Topping: Continue reading “Gluten-Free Blackberry Eclairs” →

Gluten-Free Choux Pastry

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

 

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Have I mentioned my love (maybe slight obsession) with the British Baking Show. Ever since I first watched it, I have been hooked on the choux pastry-eclairs. I don’t know why I gravitated towards them so strongly. But I just HAD to make them. My mind raced with all kinds of flavor profiles.

But then some doubt set in, which kept me from making them for so long. I’ve never even made a regular eclair, actually I’ve never even eaten one. I had no reference point, even if I made them, if they are any good. Plus I have never made a pastry that you cook on the stove top. And I gave a half-hearted attempt at making it in the Fall.

So I left it alone for a few months. Then last month I was feeling it. I wasn’t even planning on making choux pastry, but I just knew it was the day to fully dive in!

I was pleasantly surprised. I filled them two separate ways (which I will be sharing later this week), one blackberry and another lime meringue. So good. The pastry had a nice crunch on the outside.

The blackberry was hands-down my favorite, the berry and homemade whip were so refreshing and good. The lime was tasty, and although I like torching meringue, I don’t like eating it as much (although it is steadily growing on me). The lime curd, though is some other level deliciousness. I currently have some chilling in my fridge from some pie pops I made, and the other day I may have just eaten a small spoonful of just curd. It is that good.

The wonderful thing about this, is that there are so many ways to enjoy them. You can also make them into cream puffs, same dough. You’ve got to eat them quickly though, while the dough still has that outer layer crunch.

Some flavor combos I had running through my mind: Sweet Potato Cream with Pralined Pecans and a Toasted Marshmallow Top, Pistachio Paste with Rose Topping, Cherry Pie Filling with Chocolate Ganache Topping, Lemon Curd with fresh Blueberry and a White Chocolate Glaze, Triple Chocolate, Boston Cream, Coconutty, Lavender Blueberry with a Chocolate Ganache, and a take on Carrot Cake with a beautiful Cream Cheese swirly top! Just a few ideas, which is the fun part. And you can plug in your favorite flavors: pumpkin, plums, apple, caramel, etc Continue reading “Gluten-Free Choux Pastry” →

Gluten-Free Bacon Asparagus Quiche

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

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Hello Wednesday! Hope you are all having a bright and blessed day. I tell you what, it is getting hard to choose what recipes to share. I have a stock pile of ones to share with you all and I can’t decide on an order. Do I post savory? Do I post sweet? Decisions. Decisions.

Today I opted for savory. I was prepping food a couple of weeks ago (something I’ve done a lot of lately, I’ve already spent at least 5 hours this week prepping meals to just bake or veggies to just cook) and I was staring at some asparagus. What am I going to do with this asparagus. Quiche. It just popped in my mind. It seemed so natural and sounded incredibly delicious.

As I was making the crust, I was further prompted, add Parmesan. I am not going to argue with that! Granted, I was slightly worried about adding another fat, how that may effect the crust and bake. I was so geeked when the crust turned out beautiful. What a great flavor it had. I actually filled a whole pie pan and I have 3 mini tart shells in my freezer waiting on me to fill as well. Spinach pies? That is my current mood for them potentially.

I had plenty of taste-testers on this one. Our roofer friends agreed to share in the quiche with us one afternoon. They had never eaten quiche, let alone a gluten-free one. They praised the taste. I get a lot that many would never know my pie crust is gluten-free if I didn’t tell them. Which to me is a huge compliment. A few weeks ago when I took tarts to Bible Study, they said the same thing. That is my goal always, to make something gluten-free that tastes as good as the real thing (or better, that is an even bigger goal).

As always, that beauty of a quiche is that you can fill it however YOU like. This week I made another quiche (with a shredded sweet potato crust) with spinach, mushroom and bacon. On this Parmesan one, I put asparagus, garlic, and bacon. You can do butternut and goat cheese. Broccoli. Peppers. This list is ongoing. Have fun and be creative with it.

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Gluten-Free Blackberry Ricotta Tarts

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

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Cheesecakes are probably my favorite dessert to eat. Pies are my favorite to make, but if I could eat any dessert, it would be cheesecake. In fact, for my birthdays growing up my granny would make me cherry cheesecake instead of cake (another truth- I hate cake and cherries are my ALL time favorite food).

I do like to play around sometimes, though. Sometimes I like to swap out the cream cheese. One of my favorite tarts (things) I’ve ever made, was a Blueberry Basil Goat Cheese Tart (click for the link for the recipe). Last week, however, I wanted to replace the cream cheese with a ricotta cheese.

I like ricotta cheese. I remember about a decade ago one of our clients came to our family with a ricotta pudding recipe. It was the first time I had ever had ricotta. It was delicious. Last month I got some ricotta to make a spinach lasagna (click the link for the recipe). Since then I kind of kept some in the fridge. Last week while baking tarts, it just came to me to make a ricotta tart. I had some blackberries, why not add those?

These were delicious! I made like 4  different tarts/pies and these were hands down my favorite. The ricotta layer on the bottom had a lovely texture and not-to-sweet flavor. And the blackberry toppings added a nice freshness to the tart. Plus they were beautiful. I also had some extra egg-whites, so why not add in some little meringue cookies?

Blackberry Ricotta Gluten-Free Tarts

  • Gluten-Free Pie Dough

Continue reading “Gluten-Free Blackberry Ricotta Tarts” →

Gluten-Free Raspberry Pistachio Frangipane Tarts

by bepaulin, posted in Uncategorized

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As I’ve mentioned, I have a bit of a British Baking Show problem (is it a problem though if it leads to delicious food, high creativity, and beautiful treats?). It has inspired me A LOT lately. Choux. I’ve got an upcoming eclair recipe. I really wanted to try that one.

I also like pastry week. Some may know, pies and tarts are kind of my all-time favorite thing to bake (hence my company being called P3: Polifroni PIES and Pizzas). I was really intrigued with the frangipane. It’s not something you see a lot here in the Midwest, actually I have never seen one offered anywhere. No restaurants. No bakeries (which there are a lack of actual bakeries in my town-not the premade and just-bake. Those do not count). So my experience with frangipane only comes from TV and then searching for it on Pinterest.

Last summer I made my first frangipane for a market. It had a lovely rhubarb lattice on top (pictured below). The feedback was a success. Most gave me a clueless look when I said there was frangipane underneath the rhubarb. But they were all pleasantly surprised that they liked the flavor.

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