Gluten Free Magic Bars

The recipe for Magic Cookie Bars is on the little fold out pamphlet that comes with Eagle Brand® sweetened condensed milk. I've always wanted to make them gluten free but was stopped by the graham cracker crumbs. You just can't make a gluten free graham cracker. I considered trying the chocolate cookie crust that I use instead of Oreo cookie crust but decided that having chocolate on the bottom layer would be too much. Instead I modified a toffee bar recipe I found in my Betty Crocker cook book and used that as the bottom layer. It worked great, so below is the complete recipe.

First Layer

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

1/2 cup rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1/8 tsp salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Mix butter, brown sugar, vanilla and egg in medium bowl
3. Mix in flours, xanthan gum and salt.

4. Press into bottom of an un-greased rectangular pan, 13 x 9 x 2 inches.

5. Bake 10 minutes.

Other Layers

Ingredients
1 (14 oz) can Sweetened Condensed Milk

2 cups (12oz) chocolate chips

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Directions
1. Pour sweetened condensed milk over lower layer.
2. Spread coconut evenly over the top.
3. Layer chocolate chips on top and press down with a fork.

4. Bake 25 minutes (in 350 degree oven) or until lightly browned.

5. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

Gluten Free Stuffing

It's Thanksgiving time and I know several gluten free families that want to stuff a turkey. I am going to make 4 batches of only the dry ingredients (without the butter or chicken broth) and put them in freezer bags for each family. How you mix stuffing is different if you are baking it in a turkey or in the oven, so I have included directions for each option below. This recipe will stuff a large turkey (10-16 lb).

Stuffing

Dry Ingredients
3 1/2 cups GF bread cubes (See below)

3 1/2 cups GF corn bread dry cubes (See below)

3 stalks of celery sliced thinly

~1/2 cup sliced black olives

~1/2 cup diced yellow onion

1 teaspoon rubbed sage

1/2 teaspoon thyme

Salt to taste

Wet Ingredients

For stuffing a turkey:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted.

1/2 cup chicken broth (turkey broth would work as well)

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter cut into cubes

For baking in a casserole dish or crock-pot:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted

2 cups broth (chicken, turkey or vegetable broth will work)

Directions

For stuffing a turkey:

Mix melted butter and chicken broth with dry ingredients, the stuffing should be just damp, not soggy.
Stuff the turkey and put the cubes of butter on any stuffing that hangs out of the
turkey and bake in the turkey.

For a casserole dish or crock pot:

Mix melted butter and chicken broth with dry ingredients and put into pan.

In the oven cook ~ 1 hour or until brown on top.

In the crock pot cook on high for ~3 hours.

Another option is cooking a turkey breast or parts with the stuffing in the crock pot.

In this case prepare the stuffing for the crock pot and put the turkey in with it and cook on low ~ 5 hours (depending on how much meat you put in) then turn to high for 1 hour

GF Bread Cubes

I will use the 'Food for Life' brand Brown or White Rice Bread cut into cubes and dried for a few hours in a 200 degree oven but any semi-dry bread will work.

GF Cornbread

Ingredients
1 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/4 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup sorghum flour

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk

1 egg

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Grease 8x8 inch cake pan.

3. Mix dry ingredients in medium mixing bowl.

4. Combine oil, milk and egg in another bowl.

5. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir.

6. Pour batter into pan5. Bake ~ 25 minutes.

7. Cut into cubes and dry on baking sheet in 200 degree oven for 1-2 hours

Gluten Free Pancakes

Attempt 1

Gluten free pancakes are one of the first things I was able to make that was both gluten free and edible. At first I just substituted the flour for rice flour and added a tablespoon of peanut butter to enhance the texture. This worked fairly well but the batter was thick, hard to work with, and had the distinct flavor of peanut butter. If your kids like peanut butter then this is a good option.

Attempt 2

Later when I had more adjusted to gluten free cooking I tried the recipe in 1000 Gluten Free Recipes by Carol Fenster, Ph.D. While most of the recipes in that book have worked out really well I found that the batter, while having an excelent flavor, was too thick and hard to work with. I wanted a batter I could pour into nice circles and watch bubble up to see when they are done, just like regular pancakes.

Attempt 3

Next I tried the recipe in Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise G. Roberts, which doesn't use any xanthan gum. The batter was definitely easier to work with but the pancakes came out dry and crumbly.

Final Attempt

Finally I returned to my original idea and modified Betty Crocker's recipe by substituting the flour for a mix of rice, tapioca, and sorghum flours. I added a little bit of xanthan gum and increasing the liquid content. This worked remarkably well, the batter was just the right texture for pouring and bubbled nicely and my family loved the result. Below is the recipe I used.

Ingredients
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
~1 1/4 cups milk
Butter for the skillet

Directions
1. Whisk together dry ingredients including flours, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, and sugar in small bowl.

2. In separate bowl beat egg until fluffy

3. Stir oil and dry ingredients into the eggs

4. Add milk until the batter is a little wetter than usual pancake batter (the batter will thicken as it stands).

5. Heat skillet or griddle to ~ 375०F and butter generously.

6. For each pancake pour ~ 1/4 cup batter.

7. Cook until bubbles show on top and pancakes are dry around the edges.

8. Turn and cook other side until golden brown.