In addition to using rice with very low levels of arsenic, we also do our own testing for bacteria and mold after each production run.  The flour from each production run is tested and must be low enough to meet our high standards; if it is not below a specific value, the flour is rejected.

Your safety is extremely important to us and we take strong measures to keep all the flours and baking mixes we produce safe for consumption. 

We have been and will continue to monitor the situation regarding arsenic levels in California Rice along with the California Rice Council.  If you would like more information regarding this, please refer to the article here: http://www.realnatural.org/2012/02/17/arsenic-in-rice-unrelated-to-organic/

Best,
Steve Rice, Founder of Authentic Foods

To help make your Thanksgiving even tastier, here are a few great gluten free recipes that are perfect for your Thanksgiving celebration.

Corn Bread Stuffing	Potato Patties
Corn Bread	Pie Crust
Pumpkin Pie	Apple Crumb Pie
Sweet Potato Mash	Cranberry Upside Down Cake
Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars	Cranberry Nut Bread
Pumpkin Bread

Click Here to Download the full Halloween Recipe Booklet

Halloween Gluten Free Cake Pops (download printable version)

(Makes about 3 dozen Cake Pops)

Ingredients:

For the Cake
Authentic Foods Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Mix
2 large eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup warm water

For the Frosting (or use 12 oz from one can of store bought frosting):
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
1 box (3 – 4 cups) confectioner’s sugar, sifted
½ tsp Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder
½ tsp salt

For the Decoration:
***2 bags of Orange Candy Melts (14 oz each)
Lollipop sticks
Black icing
Candy Corn
Halloween Sprinkles
Styrofoam board or something else to hold the cake pops

Directions:

Making the Cake
1) Bake the cake as directed by the package instructions.

Making the Frosting
1) Cut the butter into pieces. Add the butter to a medium size bowl; begin beating with an electric mixer and slowly add the sifted confectioner’s sugar.

2) Then mix in the salt and vanilla powder.

Making the Cake Balls
1) Once the cake is cool to the touch, tear the cake into bread crumb size pieces.

2) Using your hands or a rubber spatula, mix the frosting with the cake crumbs until the cake crumbs have absorbed the frosting and until you can make a ball of cake that does not fall apart.

3) Using a small ice cream scoop or your hands, separate the cake and frosting mixture into about 36 balls (about 1” in diameter).
4) Place the balls in the freezer, covered, for at least one hour (up to 3 days).

Making the Cake Pops
1) Place 1.5 – 2 cups water in a sauce pan of a double boiler. Heat the water to a simmer. (If you don’t have a double boiler, heat the water in a small sauce pan. Then find a medium size bowl that can withstand heat and that can sit on top of the small sauce pan without touching the water.)

2) Place the orange candy melts in the bowl. Turn the heat to low. Then place the bowl over the sauce pan and whisk constantly until the melting chips are completely melted and until the mixture is extremely smooth.

3) While the heat is still on low, dip each lollipop stick into the candy melt mixture; then place each stick into a cake ball. Do this with all of the cake balls. Then place them in the freezer for a few minutes so that the lollipop stick becomes stuck inside the cake ball.

4) Then finish dipping the rest of the cake balls in the orange candy melt mixture and decorate. Once you have finished decorating each cake pop, place the cake pops in a Styrofoam board or something else to hold them in place.

Halloween Decoration Tips: For these cake pops, we used black icing for the face, the top of pumpkin candy corns for the stem, and the bottom of regular candy corns with a black bottom coating for the shoes. We used Halloween Sprinkles for the sprinkled cake pops.

***You can buy Wilton Candy Melts from your nearest craft store (Michaels), from Wilton.com or from Amazon.com

Salted Caramel Apple Cake (download printable version)

(Makes one 9 inch Cake)

Ingredients:
Authentic Foods Vanilla Bean Cake Mix
½ cup lukewarm milk
½ cup vegetable oil or light olive oil
3 eggs (at room temperature if possible)
2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 tbsp cold unsalted butter
1/4 tsp salt
½ cup Pecans
2 large Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled and thinly sliced

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 inch cake pan with vegetable oil or butter and a gluten free flour; set it aside.

Make the cake batter as directed by the package instructions; except add the cinnamon to the batter at the same time that you add the Authentic Foods Vanilla Bean Cake Mix.

Using a pastry blender or fork, cut the butter into the brown sugar and salt until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add this mixture to the bottom of the 9 inch cake pan. Then add the pecans, followed by the apple slices on top of the brown sugar mixture, in your favorite design. Pour the cake batter on top of the apples and spread it evenly throughout the pan. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out cleaned when poked into the middle of the cake.

Let the cake cool for at least 20 minutes. Use a knife to loosen up the sides of the cake. Then flip it over on to a plate. Serve it warm with some vanilla ice cream on the side.

(Makes 12 Spiderweb Cupcakes)

Ingredients:
Authentic Foods Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened (12 oz)
6 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted (1.5 lbs)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder
3 tbsp Milk or Water
Orange Food coloring
Plastic ziploc bag or piping bag with tips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside.

Prepare the Authentic Foods Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Mix batter as directed on the package. Using an ice cream scoop or large spoon, spoon the batter into the cupcake liners (about 2/3 full). Bake in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into a cupcake. Let the cupcakes rest for at least an hour, until they are completely cool.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is fluffy, about 2 minutes. Then add in the salt and the Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder. Slowly mix in the confectioner’s sugar, cup at a time, waiting until the sugar is completely mixed in before adding more. Scrape the bowl a few times with a spatula to make sure everything has been incorporated well. Then add the milk or water.

Reserve about one cup of the frosting for piping the spiderwebs on to the cupcake. Add a few drops of orange food coloring to the rest of the frosting. Mix until the color is completely incorporated. If necessary, add more orange food coloring to get your desired color.

Using a spatula or piping bag, spread the orange frosting on to each cupcake. Then fill a Ziploc bag or piping bag with the reserved white frosting. If you are using a Ziploc bag, cut a small hole at the corner of the bag for piping the frosting. Then draw 3 – 5 concentric circles ton each cupcake. Using a knife or toothpick, pull the toothpick from the center to the edge of the cupcake. Do this 5 – 8 times, going around the cupcake. Then, use the piping bag with the white frosting to pipe a line on top of each line you made with the toothpick, starting from the edge of the cupcake up to the center.

(Makes 16 – 24 bars)

Ingredients:

Authentic Foods Pie Crust Mix
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 large egg yolk
2 tbsp cream or non-dairy substitute
4 oz unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

2 8oz packages cream cheese
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sour cream
1 cup pumpkin

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan; set it aside.

Make the pie crust dough as directed by the back of the Authentic Foods Pie Crust Mix package; but add the pumpkin pie spice to the mix. Spread the pie dough on the bottom of the pan, evenly. Use a fork, to poke holes throughout the dough to allow steam to escape and to keep the dough from puffing up. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is slightly firm.

While the crust is baking, use the whisk on an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and sugar until the mixture is very smooth. Continue beating, and add one egg at a time. Make sure to scrape down the sides every so often to make sure everything has been incorporated.

Then add in the lemon juice, Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon. Beat until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Then add in the sour cream, followed by the pumpkin. Before adding the cheesecake mixture to the pan, scrape the sides of the bowl and make sure all the ingredients have been well incorporated.

Pour the pumpkin cheesecake mixture on top of the crust. On the bottom rack of the oven, place a pan with about an inch of hot water. Then place the pumpkin cheesecake bar pan in the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked into the center. Cool for at least an hour. Then cover the bars with plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

Click Here to Download the full Halloween Recipe Booklet

Here’s a list of the products we now have in Brentwood:

Brown Rice Flour Superfine

Blueberry Muffins

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Chocolate Chip Muffin Mix

Pie Crust Mix

Falafel Mix

Lemon Cake

Almond Meal

Pancake and Baking Mix

Xanthan Gum

Vanilla Powder

 If you’d like to see another one of our products in the Brentwood store, please order it through customer service.   Also, if they run out of your favorite product, ask for more. 

As always, we like to remind our customers that the best way to get products in your area is to go into the store and ask your grocery buyer to order our products.  Then keep on asking them until you see us on their shelves!

Written by Meg Haworth for Authentic Foods – Dedicated to manufacturing gluten free flours and baking mixes.  “Where it’s not just gluten free, it’s better!”        

They didn’t need much convincing.  They knew the level of fantastic quality that the products here at Authentic Foods have achieved.  Our reputation has certainly preceded us.  The only thing we needed to do there was the necessary paper work and footwork that it takes to get into their stores.

So, we are proud to announce that we are going into a new Henry’s Farmers Market store that will be opening in Elk Grove, California (in the Sacramento area) on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 8:00am.  In fact, for their grand opening celebration, they are giving out a grocery bag of pre selected products to the first 200 people that come through their doors.  So get there early, get some free groceries and get your Authentic Foods products.

Here is a list of what Henry’s Farmers Market in Elk Grove will be carrying:

Brown Rice Flour Superfine

White Rice Flour Superfine

Sweet Rice Flour

Sorghum Flour

Tapioca Flour

Gluten Free Classical Blend

Multi-Blend Gluten Free Flour

Almond Meal

Blueberry Muffin Mix

Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix

Lemon Cake Mix

Pancake & Baking Mix

Devil’s Food Chocolate Cake Mix

Falafel Mix

Vanilla Bean Cake Mix

Xanthan Gum

Guar Gum

Vanilla Powder

Keep checking this blog to see which Henry’s Farmers Markets we are getting into next.  We are very excited here at Authentic Foods to be a part of these fantastic health food stores.

Written by Meg Haworth for Authentic Foods – Dedicated to manufacturing gluten free flours and baking mixes. Where it’s not just gluten free, it’s better!            

One day, a woman from a local bakery told him of a flour company that had what she believed to be the best gluten free flours she had ever tried.  So, the baker called Authentic Foods and shared his pie crust  story with Steven  Rice, the owner. 

Steven Rice, who has a biochemistry background,  confidently told him he could solve the issue using his flours.  On the first try, it was a huge success!  The pie crust was flaky and so delicious even he could hardly believe that it was gluten free.

Afterwards,  Steven Rice decided to use his various blends to determine which one works best in terms of flakiness, taste and all those other features we look for in an outstanding pastry – gluten free or not.

Of course we can’t and won’t reveal the recipe – that’s proprietary information that belongs to the baker.  However, we do want to share the ride we went on here as we tested and worked with the various possibilities that Steve had in mind.

In the next blog, look for our first installment of “Test Kitchen Capers” in which we share stories from our test kitchen here at Authentic Foods.  We’ll tell you what happened when we tested our various flour blends with this fantastically flaky pie crust recipe.   

For now, go ahead and post your comments and thoughts here.  We’d love to know if you have compared our flours to gluten free flours from other companies.  What results did you get?

Written by Meg Haworth for Authentic Foods – Dedicated to manufacturing gluten free flours and baking mixes. Where it’s not just gluten free, it’s better!            

We immediately hit it off, laughing and discussing our philosophies for making delicious gluten free foods.  We quickly found that we had some differences but that these were good. Steven’s number one goal is to create high quality gluten free flours and mixes that taste better than what we gluten free folks were used to – while also providing nutrition in the process. 

My goal is to help the many severely food allergic and celiacs as they recover right after diagnosis and have to eliminate ten different ingredients.  I’ve been there and know how hard it is to find things the body will accept that still taste good.  We often have to eliminate many foods at the outset and narrow our diets down to a few ingredients we can digest.  That can mean that cake and cookies will have to wait a while – or at least be seriously altered.  I know it had to for me and for hundreds of people I have worked with. 

Over the next year, Steve and I would talk from time to time and run into each other at conferences.  In May, at the Celiac Disease Foundation Conference, we saw each other again.  When I asked him how business was, he said it was great and he needed help.  I was in a position to do that so he brought me on board as the Vice President of Marketing.

What a great fit.  With sixteen years living a gluten free life, a cookbook and guide for going gluten and dairy free, private chef jobs for celebrities in Los Angeles, teaching cooking classes at Whole Foods Market and owning a gluten free bed and breakfast behind me – yes.  This is a great thing for all concerned. 

So this blog is changing.  It is becoming a place where recipes, stories, product information and test kitchen capers come from us to you.  It is a place where you get to share who you are – our precious customers – without whom we would not exist.  You get to come along this ride with us.  We will be asking you to submit your stories, recipes, challenges, requests and kitchen triumphs with us.  We will also be running contests with free products from us to you as prizes.

So, keep checking our website for new blogs.  Get on Facebook and Twitter with us and join the daily fun as it happens.  We would love to have you be a part of our online community.  We love our customers and recognize what you have to go through each day.  Staying gluten free is not an easy task but, we aim to help make it that way.  Let’s band together and keep on learning, growing and eating well.

Written by Meg Haworth – V.P. Marketing for Authentic Foods – dedicated to producing top quality gluten free flours and baking mixes that are not just gluten free, they’re better!           

It is hard to come up with the perfect recipe. Cooks Illustrated/America’s Test Kitchen claims to do this with their recipes; although, I have tried some of their recipes and have not been impressed with them all. The last recipe I tried was their “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie” recipe. It was good. The chocolate chip cookies had the sugar and butter flavor that you would look for in a chocolate chip cookie. But all in all, they were just another version of your typical chocolate chip cookie, nothing stupendous. I was fine with just one cookie. I think the best sign of a good cookie is when the combination of the taste and texture is so desirable that one is nowhere near enough. The cookie should create a craving for more cookies because they’re just THAT good.

This past weekend, I really wanted chocolate, but something really worthwhile eating. So I decided to create “the Best” Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe that just happened to be gluten free.

Last week, I was browsing the LA Times website and came across a recipe for a double chocolate cookie imitation from the restaurant, Milk, in Los Angeles. I figured the recipe had to be good since their ice cream and milkshakes are pretty decent.

I’ve put together other gluten free chocolate cookie recipes before, but none came even close to this one in taste or texture. What makes the cookies so different is the combination of the three types of chocolate added to the cookie: unsweetened chocolate, cocoa powder and semisweet chocolate. It creates a soft, chewy decadent double chocolate chip cookie like no other. If you eat the cookies 5 minutes or so out of the oven, it is like eating a chocolate soufflé. If you wait to eat the cookies a few hours later, the cookie is soft in the inside but has just a bit of a crunch from the combination of the mini chocolate chips and the soft crust around the cookie. If you like chocolate, you will not just like these, you will love ‘em!

These are the type of cookies to start a bakery with.

Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Cookies

Makes 24 Cookies
Prep time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 10 – 20 minutes

Ingredients:
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 pound semisweet mini or regular size chocolate chips**

**If you don’t have this flour on hand, here’s the recipe to make it on your own. You can use this flour as a substitute for wheat flour in any recipe as long as it doesn’t contain yeast. Just substitute 3/4 cups of the Multi-Blend Flour for 1 cup of wheat flour and double the baking powder/soda. You will never know there is no wheat in there.
*This may seem like a lot, but it’s totally worth adding them all!

Directions:
In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the unsweetened chocolate and unsalted butter together. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine the Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour, cocoa powder, Authentic Foods Vanilla Powder, baking powder and salt together. In a larger bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together. Then whisk in the melted chocolate, followed by the flour mixture. Finally, pour in all of the chocolate chips and mix until the chocolate chips are evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough.

Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place parchment paper over enough cookie sheets to hold 24 cookies spaced about 2 inches apart. Divide the cookie dough into 24 cookies using a spoon or ice cream scoop and place them on the parchment paper about 2 inches apart. Flatten them just slightly before baking.

Place the cookies in the center of the oven (1 tray at a time). Bake for 9 to 10 minutes. Wait about 5 minutes and then place cookies on a wire rack to cool.

This post is an Authentic Foods Customer Spotlight.  It was written by Michie the GF Chef.  Michie is an Authentic Foods customer and gluten free baker.  She grew up in Eugene, OR.  She, her mom and her brother have all been gluten free since 1995.   Michie has loved to cook since she was little and has ambitions to one day open a gluten free coffee shop.

 Michie’s mom, Karen, found Authentic Foods Multi-Blend flour when they were still looking for a premixed flour that was versatile.  That was over 5 years ago and they haven’t looked back.

I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease 14 years ago which led to the diagnosis for my mom and brother as well. We vowed that we would not let CD keep us away from the foods we love and for the most part it hasn’t. With patience and a lot of trial and error I truly feel that we never truly missed out on anything.

This year I decided to make gingerbread cookies for the first time since going gluten free. While I have experimented with all sorts of other cookies and cakes, I have not had gingerbread cookies since before I was 14. I was really nervous about making them. Most of the recipes I use are ones that I have been using since before going gluten free so I know the recipe and what I need to change to make it work. For the gingerbread cookies I had to find a new recipe and figure out how to roll out the dough since I really wanted the gingerbread person shape. The one thing I felt confident about is that so far I have found that with the Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour and some soy sour cream, I can make any cookie or cake.

I looked at recipes for gingerbread cookies both online and in the many cookbooks on my shelves. I looked at regular recipes, gluten free recipes, vegan recipes. The recipe I chose was the simplest of them all. I figured if anything went wrong with it, there would be that much less for me to try adjusting. It turned out to be such a wonderful recipe that even though I made a mistake each time I made the recipe (maybe I shouldn’t have the TV on while cooking), the cookies still came out perfectly. The following recipe is not exactly what I found in the book; I have made several changes both to make it work as a gluten free recipe and to make it my own.

GF Chef’s Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:
2 ½ Cups Pre-Sifted Authentic Foods Multi-Blend Flour
4 Teaspoons Ginger
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
½ Teaspoon Cloves
½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
½ Cup Butter
½ Cup Molasses
2 Heaping Tablespoons (1/8 of a cup) Dark Brown Sugar
6 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar
2 Heaping Teaspoons Soy Sour Cream
¼ Cup Hot Water
½ Teaspoon Baking Soda

Directions:
Sift together flour and spices (yes, the flour gets sifted twice- once before measuring and once after measuring) into a bowl and set aside. Melt the butter in a medium to large sauce pan over low heat. When butter is melted, remove pan from heat and add molasses, brown sugar and granulated sugar stirring until completely blended. Add baking soda to the hot water. Add soy sour cream to butter mix. Alternately add flour mix and baking soda water to butter mix beginning and ending with flour mix stirring and as you add the ingredients. When the dough is thoroughly mixed, put it in a plastic bag or saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. At the same time, place your marble slab* in the freezer.

When you are ready to roll out the dough, preheat the oven to 350° F before taking the marble slab out of the freezer and wrapping wax paper around it once. You can lightly dust the wax paper with flour, but that will make the excess cookie dough harder when you reroll it. Take the dough out of the refrigerator, pull off a small chunk and place the rest of the dough back in the refrigerator. Roll the dough to between ¼ and 1/8 of an inch thick. Start by cutting out all of the shapes without picking up any of the dough. Once the shapes have all been cut peel away the excess dough, roll it into a ball and stick it back in the refrigerator right away. Then slowly peel the shapes off of the wax paper and place them in a greased pan. When you go to take more cookie dough out of the refrigerator, do not take the dough that you just placed in there- give that time to chill and keep adding the excess dough to it as you go along. The warmer the dough is, the harder it is to work with. When you have filled the pan with shapes, place it in the preheated oven for 13-18 minutes.

Allow the cookies to cool for at least one hour before decorating.

*I bought 2 slabs of marble at our local hardware store for about $12 each. They work great as pizza stones or for rolling out dough. It was my mom who discovered that having a cold working surface makes it a lot easier to roll out pie crusts. Having the cold surface definitely makes a difference with the cookies because it keeps them cold longer.

This post was written by Karen Robertson.  Karen Robertson began her journey into the gluten-free world when her children were first diagnosed with celiac disease in 1997.   In addition to working with celebrity chefs to write and publish this book she has taught gluten-free cooking classes at PCC Natural Food Markets in Seattle and at national patient conferences for the Gluten Intolerance Group, Children’s Hospital Celiac Conference in Columbus, Ohio, and the Canadian Celiac Association. She has appeared for book signings at conferences for Stanford University, the Celiac Disease Foundation, and the Gluten Intolerance Group. Karen was an Associate Food Editor at Living Without magazine, and a camp cook and board member for the Gluten Intolerance Group. She won the 2003 Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for excellence in publishing (determined by top buyers at Barnes & Noble, editors, large and small publishers, booksellers, etc.)

Holiday traditions are an important part of our lives. As children we look forward to each special activity and baked good. Since traditions are such an important part of our childhood we continue many of them for our own children or do we do it for ourselves? I know I do!

We celebrate Christmas. We depend upon the wonderful pine smell of the tree, decorating cookies with our kids, and the smell of something delicious in the oven, all of which gives us that special feeling of home, belonging, and love. The food we prepare each year around a special holiday is expected and if somehow forgotten… greatly missed by at least someone in the family. Some traditions are long standing while others happen unexpectedly one year and become a part of all future holidays.

One holiday tradition I have (or maybe it is just an old habit) is dragging my feet between Thanksgiving and Christmas delaying the inevitable workload. This has the added benefit of giving me a break. While I watch other families get their tree the weekend after Thanksgiving, I am so glad no one in my family is pressuring me to start the Christmas routine too soon. My tradition is to wait until at least the second week of December before I begin decorating.

Each year we cut down our tree with another family we have known for over 20 years. We found a fantastic farm one year by accident and each year since we have tried to remember where it is –but that farm remains elusive. We always find someplace new—some years we get to play in the snow, one year the kids got to see animals mating “Papa what is that pot belly pig doing????” and another year we went with a huge group of families that brought along adult beverages and it took us 2 hours to find just the perfect tree.

Thankfully our long time friends now have a college student and we must wait until mid-December for her to return from college before we can schedule our tree farm weekend…I say thankfully because it plays right into my plan of giving some space between the holidays.

Part of the fun of this tradition revolves around food. We make a tailgate brunch including hot cocoa, coffee, hot apple cider, fruit, crackers, salami, turkey and cheeses (we really don’t put much effort into it). Years ago I decided to bake a gluten-free sour cream coffee cake for this outing. I figured that since I had perfected the recipe they’d never notice the difference. As it turns out they all loved it and their kids request it each year.

One year we had to drive through several miles of deep snow to reach a tree farm. It continued to snow the whole time we were there. The snow was heavy and wet. Our friend Dan the Man was prepared; he brought along a 10 x 10 “pop up” shelter and proceeded to set it up to cover the back end of his truck tail gate. The owners of the farm were a bit worried that we were moving in for too long of a stay, they were hoping we would just buy the trees and move on. They had nothing to worry about since we are not a rowdy bunch (at least not that year).

Our family recipe for this sour cream coffee cake is part of another holiday tradition. My husband’s family always makes one for Christmas Day breakfast. I bet you are feeling sorry for us now (two coffee cakes within a 10-day period) but with enough people around we actually need more!

For Christmas morning we make some homemade cappuccinos, scrambled eggs, orange juice, and serve it all up with this coffee cake. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

My husband discovered a secret ingredient for dense cakes. If he is adapting a regular recipe to GF he doubles the amount of baking powder and has success every time. And of course you must use the Multi-Blend Gluten-Free Flour Mix for the best results.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Reprinted with permission from Cooking Gluten-Free! A Food Lover’s Collection of Chef and Family Recipes Without Gluten or Wheat by Karen Robertson now on CD-ROM at http://www.cookingglutenfree.com/
 

Makes one 10-inch cake 

Ingredients:
9 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups brown sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1½ cups chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)
½ cup organic shortening
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 cups Multi Blend Gluten-Free flour mix
½ teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1¼ cups gluten-free sour cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 10-inch tube pan, then line with parchment cut to cover the bottom and sides. Butter inner surface of parchment. Using a pastry blender or a fork, combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat shortening and sugar until pale in color and light in texture. Add vanilla, then add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour, guar gum, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl. Add sifted mix to creamed mixture alternately with sour cream, blending after each addition. Spread half the batter in prepared tube pan. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture over the batter, then cover nut mixture with remaining batter. Sprinkle remaining nut mixture on top.

Bake for 50-55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean with a few crumbs clinging to it. Allow cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Invert cake and place on a cooling rack. Let cake cool completely before slicing.

Notes:

If using a standard gluten-free flour blend, add ½ teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum to the dry ingredients.

You may substitute regular shortening for organic shortening, although the latter is strongly recommended as it is healthier.