hello dollies- revisited!

Remember Hello Dollies? The wonderful cavity-maker layer bars with chocolate chips, graham cracker crust and coconut?
My friend Mary makes me some every Christmas, and they are definitely favorites! Well, yesterday I had the hankering for some cookies, but my oven has been acting up, so I needed a sweet recipe to do in our trusty toaster oven (I love my toaster oven).
I settled on Hello Dollies, but one problem- what to substitute for the graham cracker crumbs? A little searching on the web revealed some great suggestions: substitute gluten free cookies ( any kind); use a flour mixture with butter and sugar... well, I did a bit of a hybrid!
I often use GF cereal in place of breadcrumbs for breading meats, so I usually have some on hand. I also recently picked up some organic coconut flour, which I have been meaning to experiment with.

My Graham Cracker Base Substitution:
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/3 cup crushed cereal ( I used Nature's Path Mesa Sunrise: Flakes of flax, corn, and amaranth.)
(place cereal in small ziplock bag and crush with rolling pin or jar)
1/4 cup tapioca flour
2 Tb brown sugar
3 Tb melted butter

This becomes the base of the bar.
Combine ingredients ( mix dry well before adding butter), and press into bottom of greased 9 x 9 pan. ( I use silicon- highly recommended!!)
The rest is oh so easy!
Ingredients:
1 pkg chocolate chips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 bag dessicated or shredded coconut
(you can also add white choc chips, Skor bar bits, etc or nuts if you like. I prefer to leave the nuts out)
Simply layer the ingredients over the base . Chocolate chips, coconut, (nuts), condensed milk, and place in pre-heated 325* oven (or toaster oven!)
They will take about 25-30 minutes. If doing in toaster oven, rotate halfway through, and you may need to put some tin foil loosely on top if it gets too brown. Let these cool at least 15- 20 minutes before trying to cut- they will need to set.
Enjoy these outrageously sinful bars! Even my kids who "don't like coconut" LOVED these! Happy baking!

GF Products

VH Soy Sauce: No Wheat!
Rizopia Brown rice pasta: Great texture, delicious!!

Tortilla Update

Made a new batch adding 1/2 cup of finely chopped parsley- really good, and so pretty!
You could add it to the water and put in the blender to make "green" tortillas, but I added the parsley directly to the flour, and then added the warm water. Also, increase the water to 1 1/2 cups, adding extra as needed.
If using a tortilla press (as I do) make sure not to press so thin that the edges become papery, else they will be hard to remove from the plastic ziploc bag (which works best).

I just had to tell someone...

I bought my husband a Rubiks Cube for Christmas- I know, I know, big spender huh?- and proceeded to become obsessed with it myself!

I am happy to announce that:

I SOLVED RUBIKS CUBE!!!!

(the question of course is can I repeat my success?? Time will tell...)

Update: Success has been repeated!! Woo Hoo!

Happy New Year!!

It is 2008- wow.
Getting off to a great start, I made GF tortillas yesterday, using my new tortilla press!
They turned out WONDERFULLY- great flavour, and great consistency.
Here is the link to the recipe I use:
http://www.recipezaar.com/50820

These could also be kicked up a notch by adding fresh herbs, or a hint of cayenne pepper. I kept mine plain to keep the family (ie: the kids) happy!

Filled them with chicken strips, shredded cheddar, lettuce, salsa, sauteed mushrooms and a dash of hot sauce. As I said, wonderfull!!

* see tortilla update for minor changes to recipe!

Little name change!

Seeing as this blog is (so far) mainly to do with Gluten Free life, I figured that should be reflected in the title, so here it is.

Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes

Mmmmmm..Buckwheat Crepes, with pure maple syrup! The perfect thing to hit the spot on a chilly November morning.
Here it is:
I cup Organic Buckwheat flour
2 Tb corn starch
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 lg eggs
2 Tb melted butter (plus more for the pan)
1 3/4 cup water

Makes 12 crepes



Combine dry ingredients. Whisk together 1 3/4 cup water, eggs and 2 tablespoons butter. When blended, stir 1/2 of the water-egg mixture into the flour. Mix until it is mixing until it is no longer lumpy. Stir in the remaining water-egg mixture. Set aside for 15 minutes.

Heat a 7" crepe pan, brush it with some of the remaining butter, and grasp the pan in one hand. Pour ¼ cup batter onto the pan while rotating it so that a thin layer of batter covers the surface. Return pan to the heat. Cook for 2 - 3 minutes or until the top dries. Turn and cook an additional minute or until the bottom is just lightly browned. Repeat until all batter is used, keeping cooked crepes warm.

Great as a tortilla substitute too!