I’m dipping my toe a little more into gluten-free baking because my seven-year-old is really missing baked goods. I found this recipe in The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen. Sorry, I haven’t found an online link to this recipe, so you’ll have to take a look at the book—-maybe try it from the library first.
We all enjoyed the muffins, gluties and nons, though I do have a few notes.
At the last minute, I ran out of my GF flour blend (thought I had plenty) and needed something to fill out the last 1/4 to 1/3 cup. I grabbed my Trader Joe’s gluten free oats, leveled off the last measuring cup with them, and forged ahead. I also substituted coconut oil for the butter (all three times I’ve made them) and that worked fine.
The amount of millet is not that much, but it gives a nice little crunch.
The first batch was too sweet by more than half for me. I don’t like sweets all that much, so this is a personal taste thing, but I will tell you that when I cut the sugar from 3/4 cup to a scant 1/3 cup, my children didn’t even notice. I was much happier with that level of sweetness.
The first batch was with cherries and almond extract, following the recipe, but the kids didn’t care for the almond flavor. If I was just making them for myself, I’d probably cut the almond extract a teensy bit since even I have to admit it was a little strong. In the 2nd and 3rd batches, I used blueberries and a little vanilla instead.
I kept making the second and third batches with the little bit of oatmeal and continued to get good results. These are great first thing out of the oven. They’re also good the next day though will be a little drier. I wouldn’t let them stick around longer than that (not that you’ll be able to) as I think they will just continue to get pretty stale.
One thing I did to make the later batches easier was to pre-assemble the dry ingredients. Since GF recipes often have a lot of ingredients, I think I’ll start doing this on a regular basis to make the whole baking thing a little less daunting.
There have been some criticisms about this book being too “white bread” and dairy heavy. It’s true, and I do wish there was more of an emphasis on whole grains. However, sometimes we DO want some white-bread-type recipes, and I totally appreciate the extensive research ATK has done. The texture we’ve gotten with their recipes is really impressive.
I heard that the authors of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day have recently come out with a gluten-free book, and I can’t wait to try it. Back before we had figured out our gluten problems, I’d made the “five minutes a day” bread several times with fantastic results. It’s crusty like a good German bread. Anyway, I’m betting their new book has some yummy recipes, hopefully some with whole grains.
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Emily Smith Pearce 