A New Experiment Leads to Happy Tastebuds and Gluten Free Tummies!

I have to say I love it when a new gluten free cooking adventure/experiment goes right!  I have had many failures (which is why my website isn’t as much about actually cooking gluten free foods  but more around the lifestyle of cooking gluten free foods).   Those failures have (at times) been very defeating for me.  But this latest success has me boosted up and ready for the next big challenge at Thanksgiving!

Modified a gluteny recipe to make these gluten free pumpkin bars!

Gluten Free Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

First off let me ask…is EVERYTHING better with cream cheese frosting?  I swear I love that stuff.  I love pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, but I honestly have never made them before in my life.  So I wasn’t too sure how difficult it would be to make..turns out, it was pretty easy!

I didn’t have a recipe or anything.  So I searched online and found the recipe on bettycrocker.com.  But it wasn’t gluten free.  So I decided to free this recipe from gluten and make it!

I halved the recipe because I was low on eggs.  My flour was Bette Hagman’s mix:  In a big container I have 6 cups white rice flour, 2 cups potato starch, 1 cup tapioca starch.  But I also like some of the other whole grain flours like sorghum and brown rice flour…so I actually winged it a little.  I did 2/3 cup of the mix and then with the final 1/3 cup I used the rest of my (3 TBSP ) brown rice in the 1/3 measuring cup and then filled the rest of it with sorghum flour.  I also added about 3/4 tsp. of xanthan gum.  Otherwise I used all of the other ingredients besides the nuts and optional raisins.

You will want to make sure your other ingredients like vanilla, cream cheese and baking powder are all confirmed gluten free as well (I used McCormick Pure Vanilla Extract, Philadelphia Cream Cheese and Clabbergirl Baking Powder).

Anyway, the finished product was so tasty my non-gluten free husband was bragging about it on Facebook!  Nice!!

Gearing up for a Gluten Free Thanksgiving

Gluten free pumpkin pie

Now I need to start thinking about what I’m in charge of for my family’s gluten free Thanksgiving.  It always happens at my parents’ house and we have three gluten free eaters on that side of the family.  So there will be no gluten involved.

I am always in charge of pie, because the crust comes out so good!  Check out the pie crust recipe and some other essentials in another Thanksgiving post “Last-minute, Gotta-Get It Gluten Free Thanksgiving Supply Guide”.  I will be making pumpkin and an apple pie this year!  And maybe bring out the bars for good measure.

But now my mom has a new request of me.  Bread.

I have a great bread machine and make it fairly often, but my dad hates it.  It’s too….eggy…I guess.  So I need to search for a more “normal” gluten free bread recipe.  Do you think a mix is the way to go?  My preference is to make something fresh rather than purchase bread.  Thoughts?  This is where I now get nervous again about experimentation because I think bread is the single hardest thing to make that is gluten free.  And not only that, there is a very high disappointment ratio don’t you think??

So hear I go–8 days before Thanksgiving and back to experimenting with gluten free cooking and baking!  Do the experiments ever end??

For some more great tips on creating a gluten free Thanksgiving check out these articles from The Savvy Celiac:

Cooking Gluten Free for a Celiac Family Member, Please Read This First

Gluten Free Stuffing Contest Winner

Being Grateful at Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving’s Near, Are You Gluten Free Ready?

Tags: baking, celiac, cooking, gluten-free, recipe, substitutions, Thanksgiving