Flax Egg

For all of my baking, instead of using eggs, I use a special mixture to give it the light and fluffy texture, with out adding allergens.

Here is my recipe for the Flax Egg (Use this to substitute 1 egg. Double or triple for more eggs in the recipe.)
*Disclaimer* This is something that needs time and patience, because it doesn't ALWAYS work for me.

1 Tbsp Groun Flax Seed (aka Flax meal)
3 Tbsp Boiling water

Combine and let sit for ~ 5 minutes, then add to the wet ingredients of whatever you are making.

Leave comments with the types of stuff you have used this for. I would love to know what works and what doesn't!




...Amelia...

Master Baking Mix FLOP

Okay, so I tried using Carrie's Master Baking Mix Recipe for a starting point on a new cookie, and it totally didn't work. I don't know if she called for an egg, and I used flaxegg, or because I used xylitol and she used regular white sugar, but I do know that after eating 4, my stomach was in an uproar.

So here is the baking mix I used:

1/2 c. brown rice flour
1 c. sorghum flour
3/4 c. arrowroot starch
1/4 c. potato starch
1/8 c. almond flour
1/8 c. flax seed
2tsp xanthan gum
1tsp salt
4.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 c. coconut oil.

What I did was:
Mixed all flours, then whisked them to add air. Slowly stirred in the coconut oil, until it looked a little bit like the almond flour texture: grainy and a bit thicker than just regular flours.

This supposedly can be used for biscuits, pancakes, cookies...etc. BUT, since the egg seems to be a necessary thing, I don't know about all of that. We shall see.

chocolate chip coconut flop :(

I did a recipe that was not so great, again. Frustrated, no. Sicker than a dog, yes...

I don't know what I did but these cookies (after eating about 4) made my stomach bind up and sore, all night long. Never again eating 4 cookies in one sitting.

I was going to post a recipe, pics, blah blah blah. But, I don't think I will waste my time.

Banana coconut carob chip cookies

One of my favorite blogs told me if I want to reach my goals, then I need to show up for them every day. Today, I did just that. I am going to try to make a new batch of cookies every day, either a new recipe, a tweak on an old one, or a total make over for something that didn't go very well. Here is what I did today.  They were inspired by this blog post, which had a good starting point, but I changed it up quite a bit.

*Disclaimer* I am not promoting that you make this recipe...It's not perfected and needs tweaking. I want to just keep a blog of my recipes, so that I can grow and learn from my "mistakes". Although, I do not think that this recipe was bad, just not GREAT. Yet. :)

Banana Coconut Carob Chip Cookies

1.) I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

2.) I gathered the ingredients:

Ingredients

Dry
1c. brown rice flour
2/3c. sweet white sorghum flour
1/3c. potato starch
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthum gum
8 Tbsp. carob chips
1/3 c. coconut flakes

Wet
1 mashed, ripe banana
3 TBsp. agave nectar

Step 3. Dry ingredients

3 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup melted coconut oil

3.) I combined all of the dry ingredients and whisked them together, except the carob chips and coconut flakes.

4.) I mashed the banana and added it to the wet ingredients in my mixing bowl. I mixed them on hi for 2 minutes, until it was smooth.

Step 4. Mixing the wet ingredients

5.) I slowly added the dry to the wet in the mixer, and mixed on hi until a nice textured ball formed. Then I added the carob chips and the coconut flakes. This is what it looked like.

Step 5. The combined wet and dry ingredients.

6.) On parchment paper, I made the dough into a long log, and then wrapped it up, and covered it with saran wrap. I put it into the freezer for 15 minutes to cool.

6.) The wrapped cookie log, ready to be cooled.

7.) After it was cool enough to slice, I unwrapped it, and began slicing it. I got around 32, half dollar sized cookies.

7.a) Unwrapping the cooled cookie log.

7b.) The uncooked cookies.

8.) Baked them for 8 minutes at 350. No longer, or else they would burn.

8.) Baked cookies, which look similar to the unbaked ones.

9.) I let them cool, then we all enjoyed them!

9.) The cooled, ready to eat, cookies.

My son and mom trying the cookies. He loves them.

 Thoughts and Reflections:

Okay, so I will admit, I found this recipe this morning, while still waking up for the day, so it was a bit of an impulsive endeavor. I had two over ripe bananas, so I wanted to use them up.

In the original post, she uses almond flour, with no starch, baking powder or xantham gum, but I couldn't find my almond flour, so I used what I had, adding the BP and XG because I know the brown rice flour needs a little bit extra to make it "cookie texture".

The taste was a bit doughy and almost like a biscuit. There were hints of sweet, but not enough for an avid cookie lover. I will redo this recipe tomorrow, and use the almond flour to see how it turns out. I think I might also add more agave and some natural applesauce. Everything else seems right, but I think that the brown rice flour makes it a bit heavy, and therefore more oil would be needed. I want to avoid adding any more oil, so I will use the apple sauce instead, I think.

I have numerous cookies leftover (It made 32...c'mon, I can't eat all of these), so let me know if you would like to try one. I will be toting them in my car, so I can always stop by and drop one off. Plus, I would like the feedback on how the taste, texture and quality are.

Nutritional remarks:

each cookie has: 81 calories, with 1g of fiber, 1 gram of protein 8 grams of natural sugar and 10 grams of healthy fats.
*Disclaimer- I was shocked that these were the values. Honestly, I am not okay with the amount of calories, but the amount of fat was what really made me mad. I know that coconut oil is a healthier fat than butter, margarine, canola or vegetable oil, but it might defray some people. Only 2 grams of saturated fat, and that comes purely from the coconut oil. Medium Chain Triglycerides are the fatty acids in the coconut oil, and any baker, chef and nutrition savvy joe would tell you that this is a GOOD fat and that your body NEEDS it. If you read the link that I tagged for MCT, it will tell you the benefits.

Comments are always welcome :)


...Amelia...

Hello, Gluten Free bakery friends!

Well, greetings, my friends. It's almost 10p.m., so I must make this quick, or at least just a start..I can always add more later, right?

I shall tell you how I thought of this, and my inspirations and aspirations for the future.

The beginning of 2012 brought on a big goal for me: Lose the 50lbs of baby weight that I was still carrying from giving birth in July of 2011. I had heard from Dr. Joel Fuhrlman that food sensitivity was one of thie biggest causes of weight and mood related issues, so I turned to my diet and examined what could be removed.

In many of my other blogs about food, diet and nutrition, I have mentioned hat there are 8 main allergens, and they are: Soy, Corn, Eggs, Wheat, Dairy, Shellfish, Tree nuts, and peanuts.

I have successfully cut out Soy, Corn, Egg, Wheat, Peanuts and Dairy. I am a vegan (most of the time), so shellfish is not an issue. I am in love with all types of nuts: cashews, almonds, walnuts, pecans...etc. so I am not there yet with those, but as long as I am strong about keeping the other things out of my diet, then a little inflammation, here and there, from the tree nuts seems to do me just fine. Plus, being vegan, it's hard to cut out nuts, because that is where I get a lot of my protein from. To combat any inflammation, I arm myself with 10 grams daily of vitamin C. The results: I've lost 30lbs in 6 months, merely from diet and moderate exercise.

The dilemma I was facing, though, was the sweet tooth that would crop up from time to time. Not to mention my love affair with bread! To remedy this, I began buying store bought GF (gluten free) items, but many of them still contain egg, so that was a no go. I had to find a way to make tasty treats, at home, for less money that I could pay for at the store. WELL, FOLKS, I'VE DONE IT!!!

Here is where my obsession with gluten free baking comes in. I should really say vegan baking, because I don't use egg or dairy, either, but people get scared when they see the word vegan, like it's the plague or something. Those of you who are vegan, congrats--and thanks for having my back.

Today was the second day that I have gone to Uptown Cafe, and I decided to try a menu item. I chose to have a salad, but was dismayed that there were no options without meat. Then I looked to the sandwiches and saw a gluten free bread option, so my interest was peaked. The manager, who was standing right there, also told me she had GF pizza dough, so I decided to try one. Without the cheese, of course. It was good, but I could tell it was packaged. She told me she used Udi's for the bread, but I don't know where the dough came from for the pizza.

After sitting back down, I was inclined to find out if she had any other GF items, and sadly she said no. Long story short, I told her that I had submitted an AP, and that I was interested in bringing in samples of my GF baked goods, to see if she would be interested in selling them. She said YES, so I am now on a mission to make the top ten best GF (vegan) cookies to *HOPEFULLY* be sold there. Wouldn't that ROCK?!?!?!?! Yes, it would.

So, here is my list so far:

oatmeal raisin with and with out walnuts
oatmeal chocolate chip
banana, walnut, chocolate chip
ginger lemon
chocolate chip, oatmeal, date
pumpkin spice with pumpkin seeds
dark chocolate coffee almond
double chocolate mint with coconut
sesame, cashew and honey
cashew/almond butter

If you have any suggestions, or additions, or just general comments, PLEASE leave them. I never get comments :(

Okay, well I will post the recipes/pics/progress as it happens. WISH ME LUCK.

...Amelia...