The Healthy Cooking Coach

Grain-Free Nut Butter Brownies

Do you love brownies or did you once love ‘em? Do you or any of your family members or friends avoid wheat, gluten, grains, dairy products, or refined sugar? Are you wondering how you can make delicious brownies without using those ingredients? It’s not impossible! I've made each of the brownie recipes that follow a few times. I recently made one batch for a friend's birthday. Be careful not to over-bake them or they'll be disappointingly dry!

Elana’s pantry
Heather Wolcott, one of best friends, tipped me off to a great recipe for flourless, almond butter brownies on Elana Amsterdam’s blog, Elana’s Pantry.  Heather raved about the brownies but I waited months to make them, thinking they might be a disappointment. Turns out I was wrong. They were great! Since then I’ve made them for friends’ birthdays, weekend treats, and gifts. (Recipe below).

Photo credit: Chef Rachel Albert © 2010

Who is Elana Amsterdam?
When Elana and her son were diagnosed with celiac disease, an inherited autoimmune disorder triggered by eating gluten, her family adopted a gluten-free diet Unwilling to cook two separate meals each night for my family, she set out to make gluten-free food that tasted like regular food. She threw herself into this culinary challenge and eventually developed a gluten-free repertoire that tastes delicious. Her friends and family members, and even people who don’t follow restricted diets, now ask for her recipes.

Eventually Elana created her blog and then wrote The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, published by Random House (July 2009), which features over 100 gluten-free recipes. You can read my review of her book here. I’ve made almost a dozen of her recipes and shared them with friends and acquaintances who’ve raved about them.

Can you make a lower carb, flourless brownie?
After I tried Elana’s brownie recipe, I found another version of the recipe that I also like on Kelly Brozyna’s blog, The Spunky Coconut. After discovering that her family was suffering from a variety of reactions to food, Kelly placed them on a gluten free diet. Next she removed dairy, and then refined sugars. One by one, their symptoms disappeared.

Photo credit: Chef Rachel Albert © 2010

Kelly’s brownie recipe uses a smaller pan (an 8-inch square one), makes half as many brownies, and contains fewer net carbs and sugar grams because it’s sweetened a mix of honey and stevia (my favorite way to sweeten desserts; see The Ice Dream Cookbook for more recipes, guidelines, and ideas for replacing sugar with a mixture of honey and stevia).

Flourless Chocolate Chip Brownies
Grain-free, gluten-free & dairy-free

Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking: 25 to 35 minutes        Yield: 24 brownies

I didn’t invent this recipe. On of my friends found on Elana Amsterdam’s blog: Elana’s Pantry.

Ingredients

• 1 (16) ounce jar salted, roasted, smooth, almond butter*
• 2 (medium to large) eggs
• 1 ¼  cup raw honey or agave nectar (I reduced it to 1 cup and used honey)
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon Celtic sea salt (double if using unsalted nut butter)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup dark chocolate 73% , coarsely chopped (you could sub gluten-free choc chips)
• Coconut oil to grease pan; palm shortening also works well

* If using unsalted nut butter, add 1 to 1 1/4 teaspoons finely ground unrefined sea salt. I like Celtic Sea Salt and Redmond Real Salt.

1. In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand blender. (You can use a whisk in a large bowl for entire recipe or a food processor fitted with a metal blade.)
2. Blend in eggs, then blend in honey and vanilla.
3. Blend in cocoa powder, salt and baking soda, then fold in chocolate chips
4. Grease a 9 x 13 Pyrex baking dish  with coconut oil. (I used palm shortening. To make it easier to remove the brownies from the pan, after greasing the pan, line the bottom with parchment paper cut to fit, then grease the top of the paper. The brownies will slip right out after you cut them.)
5. Pour batter into dish. Spread with a moistened spatula to level the top of the batter.
6. Bake at 325° for 35 to 40 minutes. (I find they dry out if baked that long. Test with a toothpick at 25 and 30 minutes, then bake a bit longer only if batter is very wet in the middle!)
7. If you bake this in two 8-inch square pans or make one half recipe in such a pan, bake for about 20 to 24 minutes.

Note: If you use chocolate chips or dark chocolate, they will invariably contain some sugar. The darker the chocolate the lower the sugar content. To eliminate all refined sugar from the recipe above, replace the chocolate with raisins, chopped, dried, fruit sweetened bing cherries, or cocoa nibs.

Flourless Nut Butter Brownies (Lower Carb Version)
Grain-free, gluten-free & dairy-free

Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking time: 20 to 24 minutes    Yield: 12 small brownies

Here’s a lower carb version of the recipe above. I found it on the The Spunky Coconut Blog. It makes half as many brownies as the recipe above. I like that it combines honey and stevia, which reduces the total amount of net carbs and sugar grams. I use that sweetener combination in most of the recipes in my Ice Dream Cookbook. It works well and many people who say they don’t like stevia change their minds after they try my recipes. Using two sweeteners together makes a big difference in flavor, texture, and mouth-feel compared to using only stevia in desserts.

Kelly Brozyna, the creator of this recipe says, “For those of you who like the combination of peanut butter and chocolate, but seek to avoid peanuts because they contain a fungus, this is the brownie for you. If you're not a peanut butter fan, make them without Sunbutter (made from roasted sunflower butter), for one of the best brownies ever! Add a little mint and you have mint chocolate brownies! So many delicious ways to make them!”

Chef Rachel’s note: You can make the brownies with roasted almond butter; I’ve done that a couple of times. I haven’t tried them with sunflower butter. Roasted cashew or hazelnut butter would probably be good too.

Chef Rachel’s notes about peanuts & fungus
Aflatoxins are produced by a fungus and they are one of the most carcinogenic substances identified by scientists. They can grow on and contaminate grain and leguminous crops before harvest or during storage. Exposure to high humidity and high temperatures stimulate the growth of this fungus; although drought conditions can also make crops susceptible to it.

According to Wikipedia, “Virtually all sources of commercial peanut butter in the United States contain minute quantities of aflatoxin, but it is usually far below the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) recommended safe level.”

“…the crops most often affected by aflatoxin include cereals (maize, sorghum, pearl millet, rice, wheat), oil seeds (peanut, soybean, sunflower, cotton), spices (chilli peppers, black pepper, coriander, turmeric, ginger), and tree nuts (almond, pistachio, walnut, coconut, brazil nut).”

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sunbutter (for a peanut-like taste)
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• (or 1 cup of almond butter and no sunbutter, if you don't want a peanut butter taste)
• 2 (medium to large) eggs
• 1/3 cup honey
• 2 droppers-full vanilla or vanilla creme liquid stevia*
• 1/2 teaspoon mint extract, optional
• 2 tablespoons water or almond milk; double if batter appears dry (as needed to moisten; I always add this)
• 1/4 teaspoon finely ground unrefined sea salt
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder (don’t add more  or the brownies will be bone dry!)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (not in her recipe but I think it improves them!)
• 1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (for people with allergies and/or celiac disease, I use Enjoy Life Chocoalte Chips) or coarsely chopped bittersweet dark chocolate (70 to 73% cocoa content)
• Virgin coconut oil or non-hydrogenated palm shortening to grease baking pan

*Chef notes: I rewrote Kelly’s instructions for clarity. If you don’t have vanilla stevia, substitute clear stevia extract liquid, then add 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F. Grease an 8x8x2-inch baking pan or 9-inch round cake pan  with coconut oil or palm shortening. (I use palm shortening. To make it easier to remove the brownies from the pan, after greasing the pan, line the bottom with parchment paper cut to fit, then grease the top of the paper. The brownies will slip right out after you cut them.)
2. In a medium size bowl, combine sunflower butter and almond butter. (Alternatively use 1 cup of almond butter.) Add the eggs, honey, vanilla stevia, optional mint extract, and 2 tablespoons water or nut milk. Beat with an electric mixer or mix briefly in a food processor fitted with a metal blade.
3. Combine the cocoa powder, sea salt, and baking soda. Add this to the wet ingredients and stir or blend to combine. Add 2 more tablespoons water or nut milk if batter appears stiff and mix again. Fold in 1/4 cup of chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate. (Kelly’s recipe calls for sprinkling them on top; I prefer to fold them in.
4. Pour and scrape batter into the prepared pan. Spread lightly with a damp spatula and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 20 to 24 minutes. Watch closely so they don’t dry out.

Notes: You can also double the recipe for a large rectangular (12x9x2 or 13x9x2) pan. The baking time will be the same.

If you use chocolate chips or dark chocolate, they will invariably contain some sugar. The darker the chocolate the lower the sugar content. To eliminate all refined sugar from the recipe above, replace the chocolate with raisins, chopped, dried, fruit sweetened bing cherries, or cocoa nibs.

Picazzo’s Organic Italian Kitchen

When I heard Picazzo’s Italian Kitchen had changed their name to Picazzo’s Organic Italian Kitchen, I wanted to check it out, especially their gluten-free appetizers, entrees, and side dishes. Their menu and website expressed a commitment to sustainable principles and practices, including membership Slow Food Movement and Local First Arizona. They recycle, purchase recycled products, support the Sustainable Forest Institute, and advertise that 90% of their ingredients are organically grown.

I made two trips to the Tempe, AZ, Picazzos over a two week period, once for lunch, once for dinner, each with different dining companions to get different perspectives on the food, atmosphere, service, and value. Both people have logged in many more meals out than I have in restaurants around the country and the world and they’re both passionate, discerning diners who like fresh, real food (with as many organic and locally grown ingredients as possible).

Although Picazzo’s offers gluten-free pasta and bread, it was the pizza we were after. Heather has been there more times than she can count. I had been to their Scottsdale location four or five years ago for lunch; a couple times I had picked up their gluten-free dough to make pizza at home.

The first visit
On the first (recent) visit since they went green and organic, I met my friend, Heather. We sat indoors and shared a small spinach salad. It was just the right amount for two and had a wonderful mix of textures: a generous sprinkling of crunchy, toasted pine nuts nestled among crisp spinach leaves with sliced organic Roma tomatoes, thin slivers of red onion, creamy dollops of goat cheese (we had them use this in place of feta), enveloped in a creamy, smooth, slightly sweet organic balsamic dressing ($9.25).

Photos by Rachel Albert, copyright 2010©

Next we ordered one of their vegetarian, gluten-free pizzas, the Pesto and Artichoke Pizza on a gluten-free crust: a crispy crust covered with pesto, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, roasted garlic, pine nuts, chevre (goat cheese) and fresh basil. Neither of us eat much dairy and when we do have it, we usually ask our server to substitute goat cheese. Since the pizza already came with goat cheese, we asked them to replace mozzarella with extra pesto. Our server offered us dairy-free soy cheese, but neither of eat much soy and we’re not fond of fake cheese so we passed on that. Our pizza (6 generous slices) came to $20.50.

We liked the slightly dense, rice and tapioca-based crust, the flavor of pesto, which was very mild, the scattering of artichoke heart wedges, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, and basil, and the lightness of goat cheese. The crust was a bit crunchier around the edges than we would prefer, but still good. I think a lot of the flavors would have been obscured if it had been made with mozzarella. I thought the pizza was good, but not great. It was lacking something (maybe black olives?). We added more salt and black pepper. I didn’t get a photograph of the pizza; my camera broke before it arrived.

Our bill came to $33.52 before the tip, I pricier lunch than I"m accustomed to, but it was a splurge, and in this case, a business expense. Of the restaurants that offer GF pizza, Heather considers Picazzo’s the best in the Phoenix metro area. I prefer homemade GF pizza but I would go back.

Take two
For the dinner outing I took a fellow foodie with an extensive background in marketing strategies and plans, developing and launching new products, consumer research and packaging, a detail person I thought would be great at analyzing the menu, concepts, execution, and delivery. I wasn’t disappointed.

We sat outside on the comfortable, well decorated patio cooled by misters. We ordered a small Berry-licious Salad, described as a fresh blend of organic spring mixed greens and spinach, strawberries, (dry) French feta, crunchy glazed walnuts, and homemade organic berry-balsamic dressing topped with orange slices.

I was expecting a generous serving of berries; Richard was hoping for a light sprinkling. There were only two strawberries in the entire salad. We agreed that the salad needed more berries or a new name. I liked the crunch of the walnuts; they weren’t too sweet. We thought $9.75 was a lot for such simple and sparse ingredients. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t fabulous either. (Next time I would ask for goat cheese in place of feta.)

When Richard asked our server what the crust was made from he didn’t appear to know but answered something that we knew wasn't correct. We thought they needed to do a better job of training their wait staff. Richard’s take was this: “This is a destination restaurant, it has specific offerings that other restaurants don’t. If that’s your point of differentiation, you need to be an A+ at that. The part that the special needs customer is interested in, such as gluten free, is a part that everyone on the staff should be trained in. They should be able to accurately answer questions about the menu options and they shouldn’t hedge or give half answers. They should have a printout they can get from the kitchen that lists the ingredients in each dish and be able to serve people with special dietary needs.” For people with severe food allergies, incorrect answers could lead to serious health complications.

Our server offered us a sheet of paper with check boxes for ordering a custom pizza. We checked off the gluten-free crust, then marked off the toppings we wanted: tomato sauce, mushrooms, black olives, green onions, and chicken. We didn’t ask for nor did we check mark any of the cheeses. We expected only the toppings we asked for. When our pizza arrived covered in cheese, we were baffled and hugely disappointed. We didn’t order it that way. We were OK with a light sprinkling of cheese on our salad, but we wanted a cheese-less pizza for a variety of reasons.

Buyer’s remorse
I wish we’d sent the pizza back to have it remade without the cheese. After two and a half decades of avoiding fast food, conventional pizza, and many years of dairy-free dining, pizza slathered in cheese doesn't appeal to me or sit well with me. Turns out Richard would have liked to do the same. Unfortunately neither one of us took action when the pizza was delivered (we will next time...if the same situation arises). We ate the pizza and let our server know how surprised and disappointed we were at how it came. He said they put cheese on all the custom pizzas. If we’d only known!

We both thought the check list for ordering needed an overhaul. They had check marks for cheese and we specifically avoided checking them. I don’t think it makes sense to say “check off the topping YOU want on your pizza” and then add cheese automatically. 

Open to feedback
Our server brought us a comment card, which I filled out on the spot. The next week I called Picazzo’s corporate office to give some feedback and offer suggestions. The woman on the other end of the phone was gracious and open to what I had to say. I thanked her for being so receptive (not all restaurant staffers are open to hearing about customer disappointments, although I think they should be!) and she invited me to call anytime with comments. Very cool! That definitely makes me feel better about going back. I'll be much more careful about ordering and sending back anything that doesn't come as ordered. (Heather's had a few occasions where she specifically said, "no cheese" and her pizza came smothered in mozzarella. She immediately let them know and had them re-do her order and they brought her what she asked for.)

About the crust
Richard thought the crust tasted frozen. It was thin and it didn’t puff up. He’s from Chicago, so he knows pizza. We wondered if they received frozen dough and thawed it or if they used a dry mix. He wasn’t impressed. I would have liked a fluffier crust.  I know it's a challenge to create one without gluten, but I've done it. If you want to try GF pizza at home, try Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free Pizza Mix. I haven't tried it; my friend Richard has.

About the price and the value
Richard thought the pizza was overpriced; $23.50 for a medium pizza with five toppings. I agreed, although if someone has celiac disease s/he would probably consider it a worthy expense, especially for a special occasion.

Richard wondered why the menu said that 90% of their ingredients are organic, yet we didn’t see the word “organic”  in front of many items. Did they figure 90% organic by weight?  That might be accurate if they sell a lot of pasta, pizza, and bread.

When I reread the take away menu at home, I noticed the words “natural and organic” on the “create your own pizza” check list above the column of cheese options. Above the vegetable, fruit, and nut topping list on the same check list, I noticed the words, “fresh and organic.”

When I called their corporate office I found out that they originally put the word “organic” in front of all of the organic ingredients and some of their customers complained that it looked too busy, so they decided to only put the word at the beginning of certain menu offerings. The woman I spoke with assured me that 90 to 95% of their ingredients were indeed organic, including most of the vegetables and all of their cheeses. Maybe they would be better off putting an asterisk next to the non-organic ingredients, since there are apparently fewer of them, with a notation at the bottom that says "Depending upon season and availability, these ingredients may be non-organic."

The service
On both visits we were greeted and seated promptly. Heather and I found the service on the slow side after that (lunch rush). She said it’s been hit or miss on her previous visits. Richard and I thought the salad came fairly quickly but the pizza was slow to arrive and it was harder to get our server’s attention once he set the pizza on our table (again it was busy, dinner rush). So you may want to allow extra time if you go during peak dining hours.

Have you been here to eat? What was your experience? Did you enjoy the food? How would you rate the food,  service, and value on a scale from 1 to 5 with 5 being the best? Do you know of other gluten-free pizza places you would recommend? Do you have a favorite gluten-free pizza crust recipe, mix, or packed crust? I'd love to hear from you.

Locations
Picazzos has locations in Casa Grande, Flagstaff, Lake Havasu, Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Sedona, Surprise, Tempe, and Tucson. In June of 2010 they plan to open a new location in Phoenix in the Esplanade.

Eggless Coconut Macaroons

Some of my cooking students and clients have food allergies or intolerances. Eggs often show up on their food allergy lists. Although they very nutritious, they are also among the top 10 most allergenic foods as you can see from the chart below (excerpted from The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces, published by Planetary Press in 2008).

Photos right: Rachel Albert, Copyright 2008©

Top 10 Most Common Food Allergens

1. 1. Nuts
2. 2. Eggs
3. 3. Milk
4. 4. Soybeans
5. 5. Wheat
6. 6. Peanuts
7. 7. Chicken
8. 8. Fish
9. 9. Shellfish
10. 10. Mollusks

  91% percent of adverse reactions in children are triggered by four major foods:

1. 1.  Nuts (43%)
2. 2.  Eggs (21%)
3. 3.  Milk (18%)
4. 4.  Soy (9%)

Source: Life Span Nutrition––Conception Through Life by Sharon Rady Rolfes, Linda Kelly DeBruyne, and Eleanor Noss Whitney. St. Paul: West Publishing Company, 1990.

Replacing eggs
Nothing compares to the nutrition profile, versatility, and flavor of eggs. There’s no single substitution that works in all the ways eggs do. However there are alternatives that can work for some applications.For people who cannot eat eggs, Ener-G Foods Egg Replacer works in some (but not all) recipes. This product contains potato starch, tapioca starch flour, leavening (calcium lactate from dairy-free sources, calcium carbonate, and citric acid), cellulose gum, and carbohydrate gum.

Photo right: Rachel Albert, Copyright 2008©

The top photo is the eggless macaroon made with medium flaked coconut, potato starch and honey in late 2008. The next macaroon was made using a fine flaked coconut, arrowroot, and coconut nectar (recently). Recipe below. The size of the coconut shreds makes more of a difference in appearance than anything. The texture varies only slightly with the two starches and liquid sweeteners.

This product doesn’t work in all cases because eggs perform different functions depending upon what you’re making. For example, it doesn’t work in recipes where eggs serve as a main ingredient or provide a specific flavor, texture, or structure (e.g., scrambled eggs, omelets, quiches, meringues, macaroons, mayonnaise, angel food cake). In meringues, macaroons, and angel food cake beaten whites, which expand several times in volume, provide the structure egg-replacer can't match.

Eggless macaroon made using the recipe below. Photo right: Rachel Albert, Copyright 2008© >>

For more on using Ener-G Foods Egg-Replacer, refer to the package instructions or my most recent book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces).

Eggless macaroons: mission possible!
This required reworking the entire recipe, replacing the beaten egg whites with coconut milk and also adding starch to bind. When I write articles for Living Without, a magazine for people with food allergies and intolerences, if I include a recipe that requires eggs I am asked to offer an eggless variation. Although it usually requires multiple tests to produce good results, I find the challenge and the results rewarding. In the best case scenario, the eggless version is almost indistinguishable from the one with eggs. In the next best scenario, the eggless version is pretty close and my recipe tasters (still) devour the goodies, smile, and give it a thumbs up. The first macaroon was made with medium flaked coconut (2008); the second with fine flaked coconut (2010).

I’ve been a fan of macaroons for years. You’ll find low-sugar version of My Favorite Macaroon recipe here and in here and in both of my cookbooks,The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook and The Ice Dream Cookbook. My recipe uses a combination of honey and stevia so it contains less than half the sugar of the best health food store macaroons. Creating a satisfying eggless version was a great accomplishment. The recipe (below) first appeared in the February 2009 issue of Living Without Magazine. In the time since publication I’ve found I can get more cookies per batch (36 rather than 32).

Photo right: Rachel Albert, Copyright 2010©

Baking with coconut nectar
I made a batch of these macaroons last weekend replacing the honey with coconut nectar, a sweetener tapped from the blossoms of the coconut tree and evaporated at a low temperature. This syrup is both low-glycemic and low in fructose (unlike agave nectar, which has a high fructose content). You can read more about this sweetener in my recent post about it and on the Coconut Secret web site.

By combining honey or coconut nectar with stevia I was able to produce cookies that contain only 1/2 teaspoon of liquid sweetener apiece. That's much less than any store bought macaroon or conventional recipe I've seen. This is the third recipe I've made with coconut nectar, read more here. It's a relatively new product so I don't know where you can buy it but you can contact the company to find out.

Who should not use coconut nectar?
Coconut Nectar contains 1.5% fructose, 16% sucrose, with the remaining 82% of sugars in the form of FOS, a prebiotic inulin found in small amounts in some fruits and vegetables that may feeds the friendly flora in your intestines. Some people have a lower threshhold of FOS/inulin than others and are very sensitive to it (i.e., they experience gas, bloating, or loose stools after ingesting even small amounts). If this describes your experience or you follow the SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet), you should NOT use Coconut nectar. You can make recipe below the way I make most desserts, by combining honey and stevia. If you follow the SCD diet, you’ll want to make my coconut macaroons that rely on beaten egg whites and do not include arrowroot or cornstarch.

To read more about the downside of FOS and inulin click here and here.

Chocolate Dipped Eggless Macaroons 
Yield: 36 macaroons
               
Supermarkets rarely sell unsweetened, sulfite-free flaked coconut. Look for it on the baking aisle or in the bulk foods section of natural foods stores, or buy it over the Internet. Look for Let’s Do Organics, Tropical Traditions, Wilderness Family Naturals, Coconut Secret, Aloha Nu, Selina Naturally, or Bob’s Red Mill brand. If you get medium- or large-flaked coconut, pulse it in a blender or food processor to create a fine powder, fluff it up with a fork, then measure out what you need. This recipe can be doubled.  If you don’t want the chocolate coating, you can leave it out.

Ingredients:
Virgin-pressed coconut oil or palm shortening to grease baking sheets 
1 cup unsweetenened, preservative-free canned coconut milk (regular not lite)
1/3 cup honey (raw, unfiltered) or coconut nectar (Coconut Secret brand)
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract powder or clear stevia extract liquid (Nu Naturals or SweetLeaf; do not use Stevia PLUS or any other brand that contains fillers or starches)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract or alcohol-free vanilla flavoring
1/4 cup unmodified potato starch or arrowroot starch
3 cups unsweetened, sulfite-free, finely shredded coconut (Bob's Red Mill or other)
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened baker’s chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350˚ F. Liberally grease a large cookie sheet, line with unbleached parchment paper, or use a Silpat or Exopat nonstick bake liner.
2. In a medium size mixing bowl combine the coconut milk, honey or coconut nectar, stevia and vanilla. Whisk or beat until evenly mixed. Add the potato starch a little at a time, whisking or beating to combine. Fold in the coconut.
3. Drop batter by level tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet(s) at least 1/2 inch apart. Using your fingers or the back of 2 soup spoons, press each mound of batter upward into a cone-like shape.
4. Bake in the center of the oven until firm and lightly brown around edges, 20 to 24 minutes. Remove macaroons from the tray by slipping a thin metal spatula under the edge of each cookie and sawing back and forth. Cool on wire racks.
5. Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan over very low heat. When melted remove from heat. One at a time, spoon chocolate over half of each macaroon, dripping the excess back into the pan. Place each chocolate coated macaroon on a parchment lined plate or tray. Repeat with remaining macaroons. Refrigerate until set.
6. When cool, layer macaroons in a cookie tin or other container with a layer of parchment in between.

1 macaroon (36 per batch): I don’t have nutrition breakdowns for this. I do know each cookie contains only 1/2 teaspoon honey or coconut nectar.

Variations:

• Coconut Orange Macaroons: In step #4, replace vanilla with 1 1/4 teaspoons pure orange extract.

Source: Modified from The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy-Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-Free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces by Rachel Albert-Matesz (Planetary Press, 2008)

Gluten Free, Dairy Free Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

If you love or once loved pumpkin bread and muffins but you’re avoiding wheat, gluten, or grain, you’ll love this tasty remake of a classic recipe. I found a few recipes for Paleo Pumpkin Muffins on the PNW Fitness web site. They listed three versions of the muffins, two of which included agave nectar, which I’m not a fan of, and one that called for honey or maple syrup, which I do use in small amounts.

Muffin magic
The muffin pictures on their web site looked delicious. However, I noticed that one of them said that the muffin came out very soft and cakey but was improved by cutting it in half and tasting it. I read that as potentially too wet so I decided to add some arrowroot to the recipe even before trying their ratios. I made two test batches a couple of days apart just before Christmas, one with raisins and one without. I also made one batch with half as much honey and a little bit of stevia.

Time for an oil change
The key to turning out great muffins without using non-stick muffin pans is to liberally grease the tins with a semi saturated fat to grease the pan. Don’t even think about using vegetable oils. Why? Here’s and excerpt and answer from The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook (Chapter 5: Fat Primer), written by my co-author, Don Matesz, a licensed acupuncturist, herbalist, nutrition professor, blogger, and paleo diet expert based in Phoenix, AZ:

    “Polyunsaturated oils are highly susceptible to rancidity from exposure to heat, light, and oxygen. They must be extracted without being heated, then refrigerated in dark bottles to prevent formation of highly toxic, sticky lipid peroxides, which are a lot like plastic. This is why boiled linseed (flaxseed) oil is still used as a varnish. After the boiled oil is applied to wood it reacts with oxygen in the air to produce a thick plastic coat.”

    Side note: I can attest to the varnishing power of linseed (flax) oil. In seventh and eight grade I played field hockey. My mom purchased the requisite can of it from the hardware store and I set to work applying several coats of it to my hockey stick. It did a fabulous job of sealing the stick. I also unwittingly varnished several glass baking pans in my early 20s when I cooked and baked with corn, sunflower, and safflower oil as per the macrobiotic recipes I followed. I shudder to see that many people still cook and bake with those unstable oils.

    “In the industrial processes used to extract vegetable oils for sale in supermarkets, oils are exposed to enough heat, light, and oxygen to produce peroxides. These give the oils a bad taste and smell so they are bleached and deodorized before being put on the market or used to make synthetic fats (margarine and shortening).

    “Even if the oils were to survive industrial processing undamaged, they are typically packaged in clear bottles and stored in brightly lit groceries at room temperature. They are more or less rancid by the time someone takes them home. Then people at home usually store them at room temperature (why not, that’s what they do in the stores), and often use them for cooking. (If you want to see oil turn to plastic, brush a baking pan with safflower oil, then bake it at 350˚ F––you’ll have trouble getting the glue off the pan with any solvent).

    “Even if you get cold-pressed oils packaged in dark bottles and keep them refrigerated, as soon as you eat them conditions are correct for converting them to the pesky peroxides. Remember, your innards are always hot (98.6˚ F), and loaded with oxygen. What happens when peroxides get loose in your blood? Damage to arterial tissue and plaque.

    “That’s right––unsaturated oils are a large part of the plaque that blocks coronary arteries. Lipid expert Dr. Mary Enig, Ph.D., president of the Maryland Nutritionists Association says “The major fatty acids in the cholesterol esters in the atheroma blockages are unsaturated (74 percent of total fatty acids). Proportionally, there are, by far, many more polyunsaturates (41 percent) than saturates (26 percent) in these lesions.”
 
To learn more about healthy and unhealthy fats and oils and the myths we’ve been force fed by the processed food industries, pick up a copy of our book, The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook. If you order it from our web site, you’ll receive a sample month of shopping lists to go with the sample weeks of recipes in the book.

Best for baking
I find I get best results with ghee (the Indian version of clarified butter) or palm shortening (look for Spectrum Shortening in natural foods stores or the health food section of Frys or Safeway stores or palm shortening online from Tropical Traditions). It's an ideal fat for replacing butter (if you’re lactose or casein intolerant), margarine (the health food store brands are still hazardous since they’re rich in polyunsaturated oils), conventional shortening (such as Crisco), and polyunsaturated vegetable oils.
Although I like cooking and baking with virgin coconut oil, I find palm shortening is better and keeping baked goods from sticking to pans.

And now for the recipe you've been waiting for
I made this recipe a third time using leftover mashed sweet potato. You can use a red garnet or jewel yam, a creamy white sweet potato, or beauregard sweet potato. They all belong to the same botanical family and are all sweet potatoes. The muffins taste great served at room temp or warmed in a toaster oven. Try them plain or with a spread of real, preferably pasture-raised butter, virgin coconut oil, or raw coconut butter.

Shopping for nut flour
Nut flours vary widely in quality and degree of milling. If you pulverize raw nuts in a Vita Mix or food processor, you’ll end up with a relatively coarse meal that will produce inconsistent and sometimes undesirable results in baked goods.

Picking the best brand of almond flour
Elana Amsterdam, author of The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook, recommends against the Bob’s Red Mill brand almond flour (you can read about the recipes I tried from her book here). She also recommends against almond flour made from whole raw almonds.  It has a more coarse texture and the bitter skins it contains can add an unpleasant aftertaste; it also includes anti nutrients that can interfere with digestion and assimilation of the nutrients in the nuts.

Look for blanched almond flour
I think blanched almond flour has a better flavor and texture and the blanching process can help make it easier to digest the nut flour and assimilate more of the nutrients from it. Buying blanched almond flour in 5-pound bags online you will get a better price per pound than you would if you purchased it in 1- or 2-pound bags in natural foods stores or supermarkets. Nuts on Line is one of Elana’s favorite brands and one I’ve experimented with. I like about the freshness, flavor, and the fine consistency.

Chill it
Nut flours need to be stored in the refrigerator or freezer, something few natural foods stores have the shelf space to do. That means you may get rancid flour if you buy it in a store. However, if you buy from a company that grinds it fresh and keeps it stored in a cool or cold place, you will get a product that retains all the goodness and flavor you’re after.

Go Nuts On Line
Nuts On Line doesn’t use any chemicalories treatments in the process of transforming almonds into almond flour. The only process that occurs, other than milling, is a hot water bath used in the blanching process to remove the skins from the almonds. Besides almond flour, they also sell cashew flour, hazelnut flour, peanut flour, coconut flour, and a large assortment of other gluten free flours. They also sell a huge assortment of nuts, dried fruits, teas, coffees, chocolate, leavening and thickening agents, and other cooking and baking essentials. They offer prompt delivery. I’ve been happy with the products I’ve ordered from them. I've used it to make a handful of recipes from Elana's book, The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook. I plan to experiment with their cashew flour next.

Paleo Pumpkin Muffins

Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking: 25 minutes        Yield: 8 muffins

Blogger and Caveman Food Master Elizabeth created this recipe that I found on the PNW Fitness web site. Use maple syrup in the recipe if you prefer less sweetness; use honey if you want it more sweet.

Ingredients:
1½ cup – almond flour (613 calories); I used Nuts On Line Blanched Almond Flour
1/3 cup arrowroot; this was my addition; tapioca starch might work (152 calories)
1 teaspoon – non aluminum baking powder
1 teaspoon – baking soda
1½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice (5 calories)
1/8 teaspoon – salt; I used finely ground Redmond Real Salt
1/2 cup raisins, optional; this was my substitution for chopped cranberries (246 calories)

3 large – whole eggs (215 calories)
3/4 cup – canned pumpkin; I used mashed, baked butternut squash (60 calories)
1/4 to 1/3 cup maple syrup or honey depending upon your sweet tooth (208 to 240 calories)

1. Liberally grease 8 muffin tins with ghee, palm shortening, or virgin coconut oil. If you have empty muffin tins you will need to fill them half way up the sides with water to prevent warping during baking. Be careful when removing the pan from the oven to avoid getting burned by the hot water!
2. Combine the almond flour, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, spice, sea salt, and optional raisins in a medium bowl. Whisk the eggs in another bowl or the workbowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade or in a blender. Add the pumpkin or squash and maple syrup or honey. Mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Pour mix into the 6 tins.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes on the middle rack in the oven until muffins pull away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then run a knife around the sides and invert over a cooling rack. When cool, cover and store at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for longer storage. They also freeze well.My note: To moisten and bring back that fresh made taste, you can wrap a muffin in a white cotton or linen towel. Place it on a steamer basket or rack over boiling water, cover the pot, and steam for 3 minutes, then serve.

Calories for entire recipe: 1499          Calories per muffin: 187

Note: Maple syrup has a lower carb and calorie count per tablespoon compared to honey.

The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook

Do you have food allergies, gluten intolerance, Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder, digestive problems, leaky gut? Do you have a child with ADD, ADHD, autism or Asperger’s Syndrome? Do you follow GF/CF Diet (gluten-free, casein-free diet), SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet), (SCD), paleo diet, or primal diet, or generally limit or avoid grains?

The gluten-free baker's challenge
Have you tried gluten-free bake mixes, commercial gluten-free baked goods, gluten-free flour blends, or tried modifying your favorite recipes to make them gluten-free? If so, you know the challenge of creating the flavor, texture, appearance, and mouth feel you’ve come to expect in recipes.

Gluten-free chemistry
No single grain-based flour can replicate the texture or flavor of flour made from wheat. Most gluten-free cookies, cakes, pie crusts, breads, and crackers required a fairly exacting combination of at least three different gluten-free flours to get the right consistency and texture. Even then a recipe might require multiple tests to come out just right.

Elana Amsterdam to the rescue
I found visited Elana Amsterdam’s blog, Elana's Pantry sometime in 2008. I perused it, book marked it, and eventually made a fabulous almond butter brownie recipe from it that my friend Heather raved about. When Elana’s new book came out, The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook, I knew I wanted to review it.

A new way to bake
What makes her book different from other gluten-free books is that the recipes don’t contain any grains or beans. They don’t rely on rice flour, sorghum flour, tapioca, potato starch, quinoa, amaranth, soy, garbanzo, fava, or any other grain or bean flours. Instead they rely on blanched almond flour (not the same as almond meal, trust me and the author). Made from 100% pure blanched almonds with no additional ingredients added, this flour is higher in protein and lower in carbs than grain-based flours and lends an exceptional texture to baked goods.

Fabulous features
Before I tell you about how to choose the best brand of almond flour, let me tell you more about this amazing book and then how you can enter win a copy of it (below).

This 7x8-inch soft cover book is populated inside and out with stunning, mouth-watering photographs, engaging head notes featuring appetizing descriptions, serving tips,and notes about ingredients. It contains clear and concise directions and a diverse collection of recipes from breakfast dishes, breads, and crackers to entrees and savory pies, and from pastries, pie crusts, and cakes to cupcakes, cookies, and bars. In the final section you’ll find toppings. including a gorgeous fluffy, marshmallowy frosting that looks like something you’d find in gourmet magazines, plus syrups, and sauces.

The small trim size makes it easy to work with in the kitchen, propped open in an acrylic book holder. You could even take it shopping with you. It answers the basic questions you’re likely to have about working with almond flour and the other ingredients called for in the recipes.

Another unique feature of The Almond Flour Cookbook is the notation by each dessert about the sweetness, ranking it LOW, MEDIUM, OR HIGH. I like this because many dessert recipes I find in books, magazines, and on line use far more sweetener than I like to use and taste too intensely sweet for me. With coded recipes readers can select recipes that fit their preferences. If you plan to bake for people who tend toward super sweet treats, you can select recipes rated HIGH on the sweetness scale.

I like that The Almond Flour Cookbook contains more than just desserts. Recipes for fish, poultry, eggs, and vegetables make for an interesting and intriguing read and enough recipes to keep you from getting tired of almond flour. Many of the recipes are dairy free. Some contain goat cheese rather than cow's milk cheese.

Almond inspiration
I’ve never been wild about eggplant and yet the photo and description of Elana’s Eggplant Parmesan made me want to give the recipe a try. I quickly made a list of no less than 16 recipes I wanted to make from the book. So far I've made seven of them, which is more than I usually make from a book I review and I'm not done yet!

Here’s what I’ve made and shared with friends so far. I marked my favorites with an asterisk:

• Olive-Rosemary Bread (made twice)*
• Cod Picata Paprika*
• Cheddar Cheese Crackers*
• Ginger Macadamia Brownies (made twice)*
• Sesame Crackers
• Savory Vegetable Quiche
• Pear Crisp (made twice; once with pears, once with apples)

Almond meal is not the same as almond flour
In the front of the book the author explains the difference between meal or flour made from whole almonds and flour made from blanched almonds. She says her recipes will not work with unblanched almond flour, in fact, they will be miserable failures, so I do not recommend even trying unblanched. Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2010

I got the distinction but thought I could save money by making my own blanched almond flour using blanched almonds. Bob’s Red Mill blanched almond flour cost $15 a pound at a natural foods store near me and $10.50 a bag at a supermarket near by but blanched almonds only cost $5.49 a pound.

Oh nuts!
I gave the blanched almonds a whirl in the food processor (I think the Vita Mix would have worked better). I think it clumped up too much and that’s where I ran into difficulty. The first time I made Elana’s Ginger Macadamia Brownies, the lumps of nut meal failed to get evenly distributed in the bowl when mixed with a wire whisk (I think the food processor would have worked better for mixing the batter). The batter never thickened. Instead it overflowed the pan and remained horribly under baked (and indeible) except for the burnt edges. My mistake! The first time I made her Pear Crisp using my homemade blanched almond flour, it took longer to bake than the suggested time, never really crisped up, and didn’t look like the version in the picture. Another oops! (Yes I do have them.)

Back to the book
After a little more reading I found out that if I purchased blanched almond flour on line I could get it for half or less than half of the retail price including shipping. It’s still expensive compared to grain-based flour, but it’s packed with protein and flavor and free of common allergens so I think it’s worth the cost. When I remade the brownies with one of  the brands of almond flour Elana recommended, they came out great and everyone I shared them with was impressed and amazed to hear that they didn’t contain any grain.

Picking the best brand of almond flour
Elana recommends buying blanched almond flour on-line, where you get a better price per pound
buying it in 5-pound bags. She recommends the following brands: Honeyville, Nuts online, and Lucy’s Kitchen Shop. I’ve tried Honeyville and Nuts on Line and love the freshness, flavor, and consistency of their products. The companies offered prompt delivery. Their almond flours do not go through any chemical treatments. The only process that occurs, other than milling is a hot water bath used in the blanching process to remove the skins from the almonds. Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2010 What not to buy
Elana recommends against using the blanched almond flour made Bob’s Red Mill. She says it yields poor, runny results when used in her recipes and that compared to other almond flours it has a very coarse texture. (It sounds comparable to my experiments making my own blanched almond flour.)

My results
The Savory Vegetable Quiche came our gorgeous and delicious even with my homemade blanched almond flour. Will try another time with store bought almond flour thought.

Sesame Crackers were a huge hit with everyone I shared them with. One of my taste testers is still talking about those crackers a month later! I made the Cheddar Cheese Crackers late last week and haven’t had a chance to share them with friends. I thought they went well with both soup and salad.

Olive-Rosemary Bread has got to be my favorite so far. It challenged me the first time around because I didn’t have the unusual 7x3-inch bread pan size she calls for. I poured the batter into one 3 1/2 x6-inch mini loaf pan, placed it a larger baking tray to catch any drips (a good thing since and it overflowed the pan!). Still it tasted fantastic, even the odd shaped part that rippled over the edge, and it sliced beautifully without crumbling.The second time I used two mini loaf pans. If you do this, cut bak on the baking time and check the bread at 20, 25, and 30 minutes to avoid over cooking.

Ginger Macadamia Brownies, when made with store bought blanched almond flour instead of homemade, came out great and the people I shared them with wanted more. Photo right: Rachel Albert Matesz © 2010

Pear Crisp, which I made with apples the second time, didn’t look as pretty as the picture in the book and didn't win any wows among the people I shared it with even though I followed the recipe to a T, except that I replaced agave nectar with honey and grapeseed oil with extra-virgin coconut oil. (I did that for all of the recipes I tried from her cookbook and blog.) Changing the type of liquid sweetener and oil shouldn’t make a difference in the texture. I’ve done that in countless recipes without any problem.

One of my friends agreed with me that the nutmeg flavor was too strong and bitter. If you make that recipe, I suggest replacing nutmeg with apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice, or cinnamon, which I did the second time.

The Cod Picata Paprika, also featured on Elana’s blog, had a marvelous mix of flavors and textures. I loved the combination of almond meal, sea salt, and smoke paprika in the crust paired with the lemon, olive, parsley, and chicken stock sauce utilizing the crispy scrapings from the skillet. I served it over a crisp green salad. Photo right: Rachel Albert-Matesz ©2010

Thumbs up
I think this book provides a great introduction to gluten-free and grain-free cooking and baking. You don’t need to buy as many specialty ingredients to make the recipes either. You probably have many of the ingredients already: baking soda, baking powder, sea salt, olive oil, roasted almond butter, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla.

Modifications
If you follow a Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD), you’ll want to replace agave nectar with honey (you can do that even if you don’t follow that diet) and avoid recipes that call for arrowroot, a starch that’s off limits on that particular healing diet.

In recipes that calls for grapeseed oil, I recommend using unrefined or extra-virgin avocado oil, extra-virgin coconut oil, butter or melted butter, or palm shortening to avoid excess omega 6 polyunsaturated oils. Although grade seed oil is touted as having a high smoke point it is much higher in PUFAs than olive oil, which has a low smoke point. From all I have read, to reduce inflammation in your body and diseases associated with it, it’s wise to limit or avoid all oils high in PUFAs. Occasional use of grape seed oil won’t kill you but the other fat and oils sources I’ve listed are more stable at room temp, when heated, and when metabolized in the body.

To learn about why I think honey is preferable to agave nectar, click here for my recent blog post.

To enter to win a copy of The Almond Flour Cookbook, check back in a couple of days when I post the rules and requirements for rules and requirements. If you haven't already subscribed to receive updates on my blog, click the button  for that halfway down this page on the left side.

Olive-Rosemary Bread       

Makes 1 loaf (about 12 slices)

To make a great base for hors d’oeuvres, cut this loaf into thin slices, spread on a baking sheet, and toast in the oven at 350°F for 5 to 10 minutes. The resulting crackers are great with goat cheese, drizzled with a good cold-pressed olive oil, or spread with fig tapenade (find the recipe on my blog).

• 3/4 cup creamy roasted almond butter, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon agave nectar (I suggest using honey)
• 1/4 cup blanched almond flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (finely ground) sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary*

* Note: I used 1 teaspoon dried rosemary powdered in a spice-dedicated coffee grinder. I get fresh rosemary from friends and cooking students, air dry it, then powder it and it's fresher and brighter green than anything I've seenin stores. Click  here for drying and storage tips.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 7 by 3-inch loaf pan with grapeseed oil (I use coconut oil, ghee, or palm shortening) and dust with almond flour.
2.  In a large bowl, mix the almond butter and olive oil with a handheld mixer until smooth, then blend in the eggs and agave nectar (or honey).
3. In a medium bowl, combine the almond flour, arrowroot powder, salt, and baking soda. Blend the almond flour mixture into the wet ingredients until thoroughly combined, then fold in the olives and rosemary. Pour the batter into the loaf pan.
4. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven, until a knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 1 hour, then serve. 
5. Note: Reduce baking time if using two 3 1/2 x6-inch mini loaf pans. Check bread at 20, 25, and 30 minutes.

“Reprinted with permission from The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook: Breakfasts, Entrées, and More. Copyright © 2009 by Elana Amsterdam, Celestial Arts, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, Berkeley, CA. Photo credit: Annabelle Breakey.”

Another Look at Agave Nectar

People often ask me about agave nectar. They wonder if I use it, if I like it, and what I think of it. If they see me use honey in cooking classes, they wonder why I’m not using agave nectar. If they’ve seen my Ice Dream Cookbook they notice that the recipes list both honey and agave nectar as options. This usually leads to more questions.

Then vs. now
In the first edition of The Ice Dream Cookbook, I included agave nectar as an optional sweetener. Based on information that has since come to light, I can no longer endorse its use in my recipes.

Vendors tout agave nectar as a low-glycemic sweetener leading consumers to believe that it can be used freely without side effects. People like that agave syrup dissolves readily into hot and cold liquids and that it doesn’t crystallize over time (like honey), making it easier to pour and measure. Some people prefer the bland, indistinct, consistent flavor of agave compared to the more pronounced flavor of honey.

I was aware that agave’s low-glycemic index came from its high fructose (82%), low glucose (8%) composition and that consuming large amounts of any free (unbound) fructose isolated from its whole food components was undesirable. Still, I decided to suggest it as an alternative to honey for strict vegans who avoid honey because it is an animal (bee) product.

The glycemic index in context
The glycemic index measures how fast the sugars from a given food enter the blood stream. Agave nectar has been advertised as having a glycemic index between 11 and 32, depending on whether glucose or white bread is used as the standard. Honey usually has a glycemic index of 55 or 83, depending upon the reference used. However, the glycemic index of a sweetener has less relevance than the type and total load of carbohydrate you ingest. Agave’s high fructose content gives it a low glycemic index, but at a cost.

The new sweetener on the block
Like many people, I didn’t know enough about agave. It was relatively new and there wasn’t much third party information available about how it was made and how it differed from the rustic agave juice traditionally harvested on a small scale in Mexico.

Another name for high fructose corn syrup
It turns out that agave nectar (code name for agave syrup—nectar sounds so much more natural, doesn’t it?) and high-fructose corn syrup are made in a similar fashion. Agave syrup is produced from the starch of the agave plant just as high-fructose corn syrup is manufactured from the starch of corn. When the agave plant is 7 to 10 years old, the leaves are cut off revealing the core of the plant which is called the “pina”. When harvested, the pina resembles a giant pineapple and can weigh 50 to 100 pounds. To make nectar, the sap is extracted from the pina; it is filtered and then heated at a low temperature along with enzymes that reduce the carbohydrates into simple sugars—mostly fructose with a small amount of glucose.

The dark side of free fructose
The human body is unable to readily use isolated fructose for energy, so it rapidly transforms the fructose into triglycerides (fat in the blood). Consuming large amounts of isolated fructose can lead to high triglycerides and/or excess body fat. Modern agave nectar (syrup) contains higher levels of free synthetic fructose than most varieties of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

The downside of agave
Although agave nectar does not stimulate the pancrease to release insulin, over time, due it its high fructose content, it can lead to the same problems that a high carbohydrate and/or high sugar diet creates: insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, increased triglycerides, systemic inflammation, heart disease, obesity, and other diseases  of modern civilization.

Sweet revision
In revising The Ice Dream Cookbook in preparation for creating an e-book vand a reprint of the hard copy sometime in 2010, I have removed agave nectar from the recipes. If you follow a strict vegan diet, consider using sorghum syrup (lighter sorghum has a milder flavor than dark, molasses-flavored sorghum) or slightly more maple syrup. Sorghum syrup is widely available in the midwest. If you don’t live there, you’ll probably have to order it on line.

To learn more about agave's drawbacks
To read more about the problems with agave nectar, refer to an article on the The Weston A Price Website entitled “Worse Than We Thought: The Lowdown on High Fructose Corn Syrup and Agave ‘Nectar’”.

Special thanks
My editor, Marilyn Glidewell, and my dear friend, Don Matesz, helped me with the revisions of the agave text in preparation for the revised edition of my book and the forthcoming e-book.

Replacing agave with honey is easy
If a recipe calls for 1 cup of agave nectar, you can replace it with an equal amount ofmild flavor, use a light colored honey rather than a dark brown honey. Clover, citrus, and cat’s claw honey will taste more mild than buckwheat or mesquite honey.

In some recipes I cut the sweetener back for a less sugary, less sweet flavor. For example, in this amazing gluten-free, grain-free, flourless Chocolate Chip Brownie recipe from Elana’s pantry, the recipe called for 1 1/4 cups honey or agave nectar. My friend Heather sent me the recipe and said she made it using only 1 cup honey and it came out fabulous. I followed her suggestion, loved it, and have since made it a few times and shared it with people into natural foods, people into paleo diet, the Zone diet, and people accustomed to conventional brownies made with sugar and white flour and they all enjoyed the recipe.

Why I use two sweeteners together
My preference with most desserts is to use a combination of honey and stevia or honey, stevia, and dried dates to reduce the total amount of sugar calories. Although I think honey is preferable to and healthier than agave nectar, high fructose corn syrup, cane juice or refined sugar, it still provides calories without significant amounts of macro or micronutrients; so I strive to use as little of it as possible while still creating a pleasant flavor, texture, and eating experience.

You can see a similar but lower sugar grain-free, gluten-free Flourless Brownie recipe from The Spunky Coconut blog that uses honey combined with stevia (the ideal). I made this recipe and thought it came out great! You’ll see dozens of examples of how to do this in my Ice Dream Cookbook along with the chart in the front of the book that walks you through converting recipes from sugar to stevia and from other liquid sweeteners to a mix of honey and stevia.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

As a child I hated peanut butter. I don’t know why. I avoided peanut butter sandwiches, peanut butter on celery or crackers, and peanut butter cookies. I don’t even know when I first tasted peanut butter. My favorite sandwiches growing up included egg salad, tuna salad, cream cheese, bagels with lox and cream cheese, and grilled cheese.

A second chance
In college I finally gave peanut butter another try. I cautiously spread a thin layer across a slice of sprouted whole grain bread. I didn’t mind it. The second try wasn’t bad. By the third try II actually liked it. Fast forward 15 years and my favorite mini-meal was peanut butter slathered on fresh or frozen (over-ripe) bananas.

The cookie test
Recipes for gluten free cookies abound, but recipes for grain-free, starch-free, flourless cookies are far less common. Recently I set out to test a gluten-free, grain-free, flourless peanut butter cookie seven ways. I started with Bette Hagmen’s Flourless Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, which I’ve seen published on multiple web sites.

I tried the recipe with almond butter one weekend, peanut butter the next. I tried it with two sugar-free, zero-carb sweeteners (Erythritol and Lakanto), with a low carb, sugar alternative for baking (Nu Naturals More Fiber Baking Blend), with xylitol (40% fewer calories than sugar), and with coconut palm sugar (a low glycemic sweetener with the same calories value as sugar).

Open to experiment
I usually sweeten desserts with stevia, dried fruit, a combination of honey or maple syrup with stevia, or all three of these. Honey I can buy from farmers and stores that support local bee keepers. Pure maple syrup I can buy almost anywhere. Stevia allows me to cut the amount of caloric sweetener I use (honey or maple syrup).

Xylitol, erythritol, and Lakanto are made in a laboratory, although they mimic sweeteners naturally found in vegetables and fruits. You can’t make them or grow them at home. Still, they may help people who want and need to reduce or eliminate sugar and want sweeteners they can use cup for cup to replace sugar in recipes.  More Fiber baking blend contains a variety of fibers and too much fiber can be irritating to some people.You'll have to experiment to see how you do with these sweeteners.

Like I said, this was an experiment. I’m not endorsing any of these alternative sweeteners. I think they’re all safe but I’m not sure how much I will use them in my classes and recipes. (Stevia I’m sold on and have used for years with no digestive distress or other ill-effects.) I want to see what more people think of the flavor and texture of recipes made from them and whether many people experience gas, bloating,or loose stools from the indigestible carbohydrates contained in xylitol, erythritol, and Lakanto, and from the fibers in the baking blend.

About xylitol
Xylitol is a low-glycemic sweetener metabolized without insulin. It’s slowly absorbed and does not cause the sharp increase in blood sugar or the insulin response that usually follows consumption of other carbohydrates. It’s safe for diabetics and anyone else who wants to reduce his/her sugar intake. It has been clinically proven to fight tooth decay and other infections in the mouth.

Note: the dried apricot in the recipe on the right was used to mark one of the cookie tray so I would know which batch contained the xylitol when baking against another batch with a similar sweetener.

Xylitol is a naturally-occurring sweetener (scientists classify it as a polyol) found in many fruits and vegetables. It can be produced by the human body during normal glucose metabolism. It tastes as sweet as sucrose and has no after-taste. It has a slightly cooling taste on the tongue. Its safety has been proven in long-term clinical studies worldwide. Nevertheless, as with other polyols, large quantities may have a laxative or gas producing effect. The amount tolerated varies with individual susceptibility and body weight. Most adults can tolerate at least 40 grams per day.

About erythritol
Erythritol a naturally-occurring sweetener found in many fruits and vegetables. It is three fourths as sweet as sucrose, has no after-taste, and is safe for diabetics. It is a zero-glycemic sweetener that does not stimulate an insulin response. It’s safe for diabetics and anyone else seeking a safer alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners. The safety of Erythritol has been proven in long-term clinical studies and has been confirmed by all the major regulatory bodies worldwide. Unlike other polyols, it does not produce a laxative effect. I used Nut Naturals Sweet Health brand erythritol for my tests.

About Lakanto
The founder of the Body Ecology Diet, Donna Gates, developed a sugar substitute that tastes a lot like sugar (not 100%) without sugar's adverse health effects. This zero calorie, zero glycemic index sweetener is is made from fermented erythritol and the extract of Luo Han Guo, an antioxidant-rich fruit used in Asian. Where as xylitol and erythritol are white, like sugar, Latanto has a beige color like demurara or castor sugar. The main disadvantage to Lakanto is it’s high price tag. It costs more than any of the alternative sweeteners I tried.

About More Fiber Baking Blend
More Fiber Baking Blend contains NuStevia, Maltodextrin, Dextrin, Oat Fiber, Acacia Gum, Tapioca Flour, Guar Gum & Xanthan Gum. Because the stevia is mixed with fibers and starches you can measure this one for one (tablespoon for tablespoon or cup for cup) to replace sugar in cookies, cakes, and muffins.
NOTE: If you have celiac disease, do not use this product because it contains oat fiber. 

About coconut palm sugar
Made from the sweet nectar of the coconut palm tree, coconut palm sugar is a pure and simple low-glycemic cane sugar alternative. that provides the energy and nutrition your body needs for a healthy lifestyle.  If the product you buy contains pure palm sugar and is not mixed with sucrose, it contains more potassium, magnesium, zinc and iron as well as trace amounts of vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6 and C than other forms of sugar. It contains roughly the same amount of carbohydrates and calories as sugar. I used palm sugar from EnerHealth Botanicals.

Healthy Chocolate
This unusual dark chocolate is organic, sugar-free, lactose-free, sweetened with xylitol, and made with a proprietary blend of herbs, such as Momordica (to help control blood sugar), Bioperin (to increase absorption of nutrients), Noni (an immune system modulator that contains a lot of antioxidants), Febnol (reduces sugar absorptionin the intestines), Green Tea Extract (a strong antioxdiant and antibacterial), and Ellagic acid (an antioxicant, antimicrobial, and liver detoxifier). I received samples of it and wanted to try it in some recipes to see how it performs.

Note: You cannot bake with this xylitol sweetened chocolate because it burns above 108 degrees F. I chopped and added it to some of the cookie dough as chips and they burned. The company confirmed this and suggested using it in sauces (coarsely chopped and melted with other liquids in a recipe) or melted and spooned over baked goods once they have cooled. That turned out great!

My team of tasters
I didn’t want to overdose on cookies, so I made half batches of each recipe variations I wanted to try. I also recruited 10 friends, three children and five adults (ages 2 to 50-something). The kids were great taste testers with no expectations.

My test results
The recipe was easy to assemble. All of the granular sweeteners produced a cookie with the look and texture you’d expect. The cookies made with erythritol, Lakanto, and xylitol had a cooler taste on the tongue and a difficult to describe flavor that’s different from sugar, but not unpleasant. The cookies made with coconut palm sugar had a softer, moister texture and slightly les sweet taste than the other. None of the alternatives produced a cookie that tasted exactly like a sugar-sweetened cookie, but I think you (or I) could get used to the taste of the alternative sweeteners and cookies.

The verdict

My tasters preferred the cookies made with the More Fiber stevia baking blend followed by the erythritol and Lakanto, followed by the batch made with xylitol. The coconut palm sugar batch was rated “ok” but not great. I agreed with them.

Everyone liked the cookies topped with melted xylitol-sweetened sugar, especially the three kids who tried them and asked for seconds. One of my friends, who tried the cookies with and without xylitol and the xylitol-sweetened chocolate on different weekends said he noticed intestinal gas from the xylitol-sweetened cookies and the ones topped with xylitol-sweetened chocolate. I thought I noticed some but I'll have to work with it more to know for sure. We both have sensitive digestion. Some people use xylitol regularly and say they don't notice any negative effects. You be the judge. Let me know if you try the recipe, what sweetener you use, and what you and your family think of the results.

Surprisingly, the peanut butter cookies didn't taste that peanut buttery. I'm not sure why, but the peanut taste was very slight. Ditto for the almond taste in the almond. Of the two, I liked the peanut butter version best and so did most of my taste testers.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep: 20 minutes    Cooking time: 8 to 10 minutes        Yield: about 24 cookies

I found several different version of this recipe, originally created by the late Bette Hagman and published in her book, The Gluten Free Gourmet. It has a wonderful cookie texture without any flour or starch. The recipe called for white sugar. I tested it with a variety of alternative sweeteners. You can use any of the granulated sweeteners listed below. NOTE: If you have celiac disease, do not use the Nu Naturals More Fiber Baking Blend because it contains oat fiber. 

Ingredients
1 cup unsweetened, non-hydrogenated peanut butter
1 cup xylitol, erythritol, Latanto, Nu Naturals More Fiber Baking Blend, or Palm Sugar
2 medium to large eggs
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract, optional

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper for ease of clean up.
2. Cream the peanut butter and sugar alternative in a bowl with a sturdy wooden spoon or  the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Mix in the eggs, baking powder, and optional vanilla. Mix until only enough to thoroughly combine.
3. The dough will be sticky. Place a bowl of water next to you. Scoop the dough out by rounded tablespoons. With moist hands, roll into  balls, about 1-inch in size.
4. Place the dough on prepared pan(s) about 3 inches apart. Flatten each cookie slightly with the tines of a fork pressed first in one direction, then in the other. Dip the fork in water periodically to keep the dough from sticking. Leave about 1/2-inch of space between each cookie.
5. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden on the top and bottom. Let cookies cool on the baking tray for at least 5 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. They will harden as they cool.

Variations:

• Replace peanut butter with roasted almond, cashew, or cashew macacamia nut butter above.
• Sugar Dipped Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies: Before flattening each ball of dough, roll it in a bowl of xylitol, erythritol, Lakanto, or coconut palm sugar, then flatten and bake as directed above.
• Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chips: Add 1/2 to 1 cup of bittersweet dark chocolate or chocolate chips to the cookie dough before shaping and baking. For a sugar-free chip alternative, try cocoa nibs. They’re not sweet, so you may need additional sweetener in the recipe.
• Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate: Coarsely chop 2 to 4 ounces of xylitol sweetened Healthy Chocolate from The Healthy Chocolate Company using a serrated knife. Melt in a double boiler or in a saucepan over very low heat. When cookies have cooled, spoon melted chocolate over each one and spread with the back of a spoon. Allow to cool at room temp or refrigerate to harden the chocolate more quickly.

Chebe Pizza

Wow! Last week I had a fantastic grain-free, gluten free pizza. I didn’t go out to eat. I made the pizza from frozen dough and baked it in my toaster oven. My friend Heather came over for lunch and helped me assemble and eat the two single-serving pizzas.

Skepticism aside
We started with Chebe (pronounced chee-bee) oven-ready frozen pizza dough. I’ll admit that I was skeptical about frozen, ready to bake dough. It’s been decades since I’ve eaten any ready-to-bake and eat bread products. For years I made bread from scratch using baker’s years or a traditional sourdough starter and for many years I rarely ever ate bread.

Chebe Frozen Dough for Pizza Crust On-The Go
Now I wasn’t in a hurry to go anywhere, but I was hungry for lunch after an 18 hour fast. The simplicity of this product appealed to me and to Heather. The 11-ounce package contained two 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 by 1/4-inch rectangles of dough made from manioc flour, milk, cheese (milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes), egg (with citric acid), modified manioc starch (100% manioc), canola oil, iodine-free salt, dried oregano, onion, and garlic.

Caveats
Canola is not my favorite oil! In fact, I don’t buy it or cook with it and I rarely consume it. Similarly I would not buy iodine-free salt. I presume they chose this salt to meet the needs of people who are sensitive to iodine. And the cheese? Well, it’s not something I eat on a daily basis, but I do eat it as a treat, which is what I considered this pizza meal.

What is Chebe? (pronounced chee-bee)
In case you didn’t read my blog post about Chebe bread a few weeks ago. Here’s the scoop: Baked Chebe looks like white bread and has a crispy crust and a chewy interior. It’s grain-free, gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free, yeast-free, potato-free, and also free of peanuts and tree nuts. If you’re following a paleo or primal diets or simply looking for a less inflammatory bread-like treat, try Chebe.

Chebe Frozen Bread Sticks (baked) + salmon bellies & salad. Photo by Chef Rachel© 2009

Chebe comes from a root vegetable (aka cassava, manioc, tapioca) used extensively for thousands of years around the globe, cultivated about 10,000 years ago. Read more about cassava on Wikipedia.

Safety concerns about cassava?
A couple of my readers emailed me with questions about the safety of manioc root (aka cassava or tapioca). They'd read on-line that cassava root contains a toxic compound that has to be processed to neutralize these substances and prevent problems. Since tapioca is a common food used in dozens of commercial products, I figured the companies that process it know about this issue and how to properly prepare it, just as native people did.

The company that makes and markets Chebe bread mixes buys the tapioca flour and tapioca starch from a company that supplies dozens of other companies. Here's that they say: "Proper processing, water soaking (making a slurry) and heating will eliminate the cyanide out of the cassava. These steps are historically well known processing steps in Asia and Africa. "It [I assume they mean the testing] is a control point during the processing step of tapioca starch. No raised levels were ever found in the EU, so no regulations are made for tapioca starch."

Is it dairy-free? What about eggs?
Some of the Chebe mixes and frozen ready-to-bake breads contain milk, cheese, and eggs, so if you are allergic or intolerant to any of these, you’ll want to focus on the five lactose free, casein free bread mixes they offer. The instructions call for eggs because they help the dough hold together and rise, but you could try making the mixes without eggs; I haven’t done that yet. All of their products are produced by a 100% gluten-free manufacturer in a dedicated gluten free facility, so they’re celiac-safe.

Baking the dough
The package instructions said to preheat the oven to 375˚F and place the frozen pizza crusts on a non-greased baking pan, keeping 1/2-inch of space between each crust. We had a little bit of sticking, but not a lot. Next time I would oil it.

Baked Chebe crust right>>>

I used a 10x12-inch toaster oven tray and my trusty Cuisinart Convection Toaster Oven, which is very energy efficient. I can’t see turning on a full size oven for a small tray of food. To keep the baking time close to what was listed in the instructions I used regular rather than convection mode. You could use any toaster oven, although I'm partial to Cuisinart because I've found their products so reliable and durable.

I inadvertently left the dough on the baking tray for 20 to 25 minutes before popping it in the toaster oven. I actually think thawing the dough before baking gave it more loft and a crispier crust, which I like. I don't like it to be very dough inside. After baking for the allotted 20 minutes, until lightly browned, I removed the pan of pizza from the oven and we added our toppings.

We spread a thin layer of sun dried tomato pesto on one pizza then a generous layer of caramelized red onions that Heather made the night before, then slices of herbed goat cheese from Trader Joe’s.

We topped the second pizza with a traditional basil-based pesto (store bought), strips of roasted red bell peppers that Heather also made, pine nuts, and slices of soft herbed goat cheese. We popped the tray back in the toaster oven and baked it for another 5 to 7 minutes to warm the toppings.

Photo right by Rachel Albert Matesz, 2009

The verdict?
Fabulous. We cut each of the pizzas in half so we could each have a serving of each of the two pizzas served with a colorful green salad with a little bit of leftover baked salmon bellies. We loved the flavor and texture of the crust---slightly crunchy on the outside and a little chewy on the inside, a nice cross between thick and thin-crusted pizza. The lightness of the toppings allowed us to really taste the crust.

Photo right by Rachel Albert Matesz, 2009>>>

Would we make it again?
Absolutely! Both Heather and I agreed that this was worth making again. If you live alone, you could thaw a single crust for a single meal. If you’re cooking for two, you can make the whole package. You might need to figure 2 crusts per person if you’re serving an athlete or someone with a big appetite (remember each crust measures 4 1/2 x 7 1/2 by 1/4-inchesm which doubles in thickness as it bakes).

My tips
Defrost the dough for 20 to 30 minutes before baking even though the instructions don’t say to do that. Oil the baking pan or at least the bottom of the baking pan, or at least the place where the dough sits. I would use ghee, clarified butter, olive, avocado, palm, or coconut oil.

Keep checking back!
I plan to test and review more Chebe products. Let me know if you try them and what you think.

Where to find Chebe products
If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, you can buy Chebe bread mixes at Gluten Free Creations Bakery, 2940 E Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016-8035. Or look for Chebe products in natural foods stores, such as Whole Foods Market. I'm not sure if Whole Foods sells the frozen Chebe Pizza Dough. I got mine directly from the company.

If you can’t find Chebe at a local store local retailer, you can order it on line from Amazon by clicking here or the links below or directly from the company, or ask the manager or grocery buyer of your favorite store to stock the product.

Chebe web letter
You can sign up for the Chebe Webletter, an email newsletter the company sends out about once a month. It contains news & announcements, online coupons, and spotlights a recipe using Chebe Bread Products. To view past webletters, or to subscribe, click here and then click the Webletter drop down menu.

Chebe Bread

I first heard of Chebe (pronounced chee-bee) Bread® when I led a cooking class for Lynn Rae’s Ries’ Gluten Free Cooking Club shortly after I moved to Phoenix, AZ, in December of 2004. I noticed people enthusiastically talking about the product but at the time I didn’t check it out.

Photo right Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009

Fast forward to April of 2009. I had a table at a gluten-free food fair sampling Ice Dream (dairy free coconut milk frozen desserts), Chocolate Chip Blondies, and Apple Apricot Compote from my latest book, The Ice Dream Cookbook: Dairy- Free Ice Cream Alternatives with Gluten-free Cookies, Compotes & Sauces. Someone was there sampling Chebe bread sticks. I picked up a few packages of their mixes, stashed them in my pantry, and didn’t do anything with them for a several months. When I started testing them, I was glad I did. I don't eat a lot of bready or starchy foods and they made a great weekend treat, several weekends running.

Before I tell you what I like about them and which flavors I’ve tried so far, let me tell you what Chebe is and why you want to get excited about it!

What is Chebe?
Chebe® Bread is based on the Brazilian "pao de queijo" (Brazilian cheese bread). It’s quick and easy to prepare and delicious. Millions of Brazilians enjoy it daily. If you visit Brazil, you will see it in the airport as you arrive, on the street cafés of any town, in fancy restaurants,  grocery stores, and in people's homes. It looks like white bread an

Chebeis free of common food allergens, such as wheat, gluten, corn, soy, yeast, potato, rice, peanuts, and tree nuts. It’s also grain-free, making it suitable for people who follow a paleo or primal diet! If you follow a special diet that eliminates any of the foods listed above, you’ll want to try this product.

Photo right: Blanched Veggies, Steak Tartare, Angeled Eggs & Chebe Rolls by Rachel Albert Matesz ©200)

Old fangled food
Chebe is not a new fangled food. It's an old food with a long history of use in the human diet. The main ingredient in Chebe bread is manioc (a.k.a. Cassava, a woody shrub from the spurge family) that’s native to South America where it’s been used extensively for thousands of years. Anthropologists and botanists believe that wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia were the progenitors of domesticated cassava.  West-central Brazil is the most likely place for the first domesticated of the plant 10,000 years ago. You can read more about the history of this root plant on Wikipedia. Unprocessed Casava root photo from Wikipedia>>>>

Cassava root
Cassava produces an edible starchy tuberous root that serves as a major source of carbohydrates for many of the world’s people. According to Wikipedia, “Cassava is the third largest source of carbohydrates for human food in the world.” It’s a staple food in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This traditional food has a long history of use by hunter gatherers as well as primitive and modern agriculturalists. Flour made from the cassava root is called tapioca. It can be used to replace wheat flour in baked goods. The root itself can be baked, boiled, fried, mashed, and used in many of the same ways we use potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams.

Allergy friendly bread alternative
Although you could tinker with tapioca flour to try to make breads, crackers, pizza, and other baked goods, it’s a lot easier to just pick up a package or two of Chebe bread mix.

Chebe products include gluten-free, oven-ready frozen dough and bread mixes. All of the products are corn free, peanut free, and tree nut free, soy free, potato free, and rice free (whew!) Five of the bread mixes are also lactose free and casein free. The products are produced by a 100% gluten-free manufacturer in a gluten free facility, so they're celiac-safe.

Photo right Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009>>>

Quick, easy, and versatile Chebe Dry Mixes
Just add eggs, oil, cheese (optional: I’ve made batches with and without) and either water or dairy or non-dairy milk, then mix, form, and bake! I used my handy, dandy 14-cup Cuisinart Food Processor with the metal blade for super fast and easy mixing. This model even has a bread kneading mode, which is particularly handy. You don’t absolutely need a food processor but it certainly speeds up the process. A bread mixer would work as would mixing with your hands to produce a smooth dough.

What can you do with Chebe?
You can use Chebe Bread mixes to make dinner rolls, breadsticks, focaccia, pizza crust, sandwich or burger buns, cinnamon rolls, calzones, crackers, tortillas, desserts, and much more! You can add your favorite herbs and spices to their Original or All-Purpose mixes or try their flavored mixes, such as Garlic-Onion Breadsticks Mix, Pizza Crust Mix, Focaccia Italian Flatbread Mix, or Cinnamon Rollup Mix.

Chebe Frozen Dough-Freezer To Oven Easy!
Chebe is also sold as Oven-Ready Frozen product, that can go from the freezer to the oven. You can buy Chebe Rolls, Original or Tomato-Basil Breadsticks, Pizza Crusts, or Sandwich Buns.

What I tried
First I tried the Chebe Focaccia Flatbread Mix. I followed the recipe on the package, except that I added 3 more tablespoons of (nut) milk to the mix; chalk it up to living in the desert. I studded the dough with olives half way baking (optiona). The instructions were clear and easy to follow. I liked the bread best right out of the oven although I think I would either roll it thinner the next time, bake it longer, or crank up the heat during the last 5 to 10 minutes of baking for a crispier crust. I will definitely make this again. I might even try to make it like Indian Naan.

Photo right by Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009>>

Then I tried the Chebe Bread Mix to which I added the optional Parmesan Cheese and the additional water listed. I shaped the dough into small balls (picture right and also above) and baked. I thought these were pretty good but next time I would use a different kind of cheese (cheddar or mozzarella) or omit the cheese altogether; I found the Parmesan overpowering. I don’t eat a lot of cheese and prefer milder flavored and moister varieties when I do eat it.

Next I tried the Garlic & Onion Chebe Breadstick Mix. I omitted the optional Parmesan Cheese. I added another 3 to 4 tablespoons of water along with the optional teaspoon of baking powder then shaped the dough into oblong mini garlic rolls. It didn’t taste particularly garlicky to me, still this was my favorite shape and texture! The baking powder added loft, which I like in bread.

Photo right by Rachel Albert Matesz ©2009

I allowed space between each roll for even browning, and after the baking time had elapsed I cut open the rolls my friend and I planned to serve and stuck them under the broiler briefly to crisp the tops and spread them with butter at the table.

I plan to try adding baking powder to the other mixes and also trying a batch with baker’s yeast, even though the latter will require a longer wait before baking. I used to make traditional sourdough breads so I’m curious to see how much of a rise I can get with the Chebe and a slow rising yeast process.

The last experiment (so far; I still have more frozen product to test) involved frozen Chebe Bread Sticks. Not only was the dough already mixed it was shaped into 16 thin sticks. The directions say to place the frozen bread sticks on a non-greased baking pan, keeping 1/2-inch space between them. If your freezer is as cold as mine, you will need to let the frozen dough thaw, at least partially, on the counter so you can separate the frozen sticks, otherwise the pieces that stick together will be doughy even after the baking time has elapsed. I stored the leftover breadsticks in the original package at room temp, and heated some of them the next day. Really nice.

Keep checking back!
I plan to test and review more Chebe products. Let me know if you try these products and what you think.

Where to find Chebe products
If you live in Phoenix, Arizona, you can buy Chebe bread mixes at Gluten Free Creations Bakery, 2940 E Thomas Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016-8035. You can find in many natural foods stores, such as Whole Foods Market, on the baking aisle. If you can’t find Chebe at a local store local retailer, you can order it on line from Amazon using these links or directly from the company or ask the manager or grocery buyer of your favorite store to stock the product.

Chebe webletter
You can sign up for the Chebe Webletter, an email newsletter the company sends out about once a month. It contains news & announcements, online coupons, and spotlights a recipe using Chebe Bread Products. To view past webletters, or to subscribe, click here and then click the Webletter drop down menu.

To order Chebe products from Amazon, click the links below.