Thanks to My
Friends and Family
I am very fortunate
to have wonderful friends and family who make it a point to have some
gluten-free choices when I dine at their homes. During the past year I recall
several remarkable dinners: there's my former co-worker and dear friend who
prepared an absolutely delicious and very elegant gluten-free holiday dinner
and she even baked my gluten-free Sandwich bread from Wheat-Free Recipes
& Menus!!! Then there's my sister-in-law who always bakes my Cheese Bread
Balls from Gluten-Free 101 for our holiday get-togethers. Other friends
always provide rice crackers with appetizers. And just the
other night, a dear friend make a gluten-free meal, complete with Glutino's Corn
Bread. It means so much when these wonderful hostesses help me dine safely, yet
enjoyably. Thanks to all of you!
The Right Pans for Baking
You've heard me say
time and again that I prefer the gray (not black), nonstick pans for gluten-free baking. A
well-known food magazine found that the gray, nonstick is by far the best for
baking breads and cakes. And, it doesn't have to be an expensive brand either.
The less expensive grocery store brands such as Baker's Secret (a cake pan or 8x 4-loaf pan is
only $3.99 ) perform quite well and that's what I use in my kitchen.
The only time I
avoid the gray, nonstick pans is for baking cookies. I forgot that rule over the
holidays. I should have used the
light-colored, shiny aluminum sheet pans to avoid overbrowning the cookie
bottoms. Even when lined with parchment paper, the gray, nonstick pans tended to
brown the bottom of the cookies before the tops were fully cooked. So, the rule
is gray (not black) nonstick pans, except for cookies.
Making Chocolate
Taste Better
Like you, I ate my
fair share of chocolate goodies over the holidays. And I knew about dissolving
the cocoa powder in hot water before adding it to the cake batter (heat the
recipe's water amount to 120 degrees) to boost the chocolate flavor. But I just learned that if you
also add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar to the cocoa-water blend, the chocolate
flavor is boosted even further. This 1/2 cup of sugar should be part of the
overall sugar in the recipe, not extra sugar. To boost the chocolate flavor even
further, choose recipes that use both cocoa powder AND unsweetened chocolate
bars and dissolve both in the hot water and sugar before adding to the chocolate
batter. Your reward will be a much
richer chocolate flavor. Be sure to cool the mixture to room temperature before
baking with it.
Helpful Guides for Dining
Out
Check
out the Essential
Gluten-Free Restaurant Guide
from Triumph Dining---a book
which is a great help in
figuring out where to dine
safely. Also, their dining cards are getting many favorable
reviews, too. (www.triumphdining.com)
Small Pizzas for the
Kids
I found that the bottoms of
my springform cake pans make
perfect small pizza pans.
You probably use these pans
for cheesecakes because the
bottoms are removeable, but
these bottoms work great as
pizza pans. I have several
sizes, but for individual
pizzas you might use two 8
or 9-inch springform bottoms
to make two smaller pizzas
rather than one 12-inch
pizza.
Or the little 3 to 4-inch springform pans make perfect
child-size pizzas.
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