Tag Archive: Almond Flour

Gluten-Free Baked Onion Rings + Twitter popchips Giveaway

Written on July 22, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Giveaway, Snack

When I was a kid I never liked onion rings. When everyone else was going for bags of Funyuns, I chose potato chips. I didn’t even care that they were fried; they had the word “onion” in them so how could they be good?!

Well, I grew up and so did my taste buds. Now I love onions sautéed, caramelized—however you make them. And when I had my first taste of onion rings in England they were surprisingly good.

popchips sent me a Summer supply of their tasty all natural snacks, and when I started looking at recipes on their facebook wall these onion rings grabbed my attention. If there’s anything better than potato chips, it’s onion rings. And baking them in a batter with low-fat popchips means they’re better for you than the original, too.

Gluten-Free Baked Onion Rings

Ingredients:

2 onions, sliced and separated
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk or non-dairy substitute
1 teaspoon vinegar
1/2 cup potato chip crumbs*
1/3 cup almond flour

*I used 1 .8oz bag of original popchips and 2 .8oz bags of salt & pepper.

Line 2 sheets of baking trays with parchment paper and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together the eggs, milk, and vinegar. In a separate bowl, mix together the almond flour and potato chip crumbs. It’s best to use the finest crumbs you can so running them through a food processor is recommended.

With one hand, lift the onion rings and dredge them in the wet ingredients. Take it and put it in the breading, tossing to coat with your other hand. Using the dry hand, place it on the lined baking tray. Repeat this process for all of the onion rings.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Serve slightly warm with ketchup.

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I wasn’t sure if these would actually taste good. They’re “healthy”, free of grains and low in fat. They’re easy, too, compared to actually frying the onion rings which would require a lot more attention cooking.

The verdict?

I had no problem finishing them all. I don’t think it’s too soon for another batch.

popchips wants to give away a Summer supply of popchips to one lucky person on Twitter! To enter, simply tweet between now and next Friday, the 29th, “I snack healthy with ________ @popchipsboston @wannabechefevan” answering the question with your favorite healthy snack or favorite popchips flavor and you’ll be entered to win.

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Dark Chocolate Almond Meal Cake w/ Peanut Butter Glaze

Written on June 29, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

Sunday we went to Maine to celebrate Father’s Day with relatives. I didn’t need any more of an excuse to start baking. I’d already had this cake recipe in my head and couldn’t wait to try it out.

The body of the cake is made with just almond flour, making it gluten and grain-free and lending a slightly nutty flavor. Because almond flour isn’t all that absorbent, the cake comes out slightly dense and fudgy. I don’t know about you, but those are two adjectives I like to describe my cakes. The cake isn’t all that sweet, though, so the glaze adds that final punch of flavor that makes it a show stopper. This cake recipe will become my standard for frosted and layer cakes.

Dark Chocolate Almond Meal Cake

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups finely ground almond meal
3/4 cup cane sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3oz unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup neutral oil
4 eggs
2 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the almond meal, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Whisk in the eggs, oil, vanilla extract, and egg whites completely.

Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler and fold that into the cake batter until it’s completely emulsified. Pour the cake into a cake pan and bake for about 25 minutes or until the center has set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

This is a great gluten-free cake on its own, but it’s not incredibly sweet nor does it have much else going for it. This cake really begs for a frosting or a glaze of some sort, and what goes better with chocolate than peanut butter?

Peanut Butter Glaze

Ingredients:

1/3 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
Water to thin

Scoop the peanut butter into a large bowl. Slowly sift in the powdered sugar, mixing it in little by little. When the sugar is completely incorporated, pour in the maple syrup and stir. Slowly incorporate water until the frosting reaches a glaze-like consistency. Pour the glaze over the cake and level out.

I decorated mine with Trader Joe’s miniature peanut butter cups and cut it up into 14 slices. I couldn’t believe how well this turned out on the first try. The cake is somewhere between cakey and fudgy, which isn’t and easy balance to strike with gluten-free flours. And the peanut butter glaze doesn’t over power the rich chocolate in the cake.

I’ve set a goal to only have one slice a day. So far that’s not going so well.

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Amaretti Biscuit Cookies + Dessert Overload?

Written on June 27, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

I’ve baked more in the past few days than I had all Summer. I love baking but usually I can’t(or rather shouldn’t) eat a whole batch of sweets by myself, so as soon as I get a chance to bake for others I jump at it. Here’s a sneak peak at what’s come out of my oven lately:

9am is too early for cake, right? Just checking.

And last but not least:

Almond cookies. I looked all over for these one night and couldn’t find them anywhere. I threw in the towel and decided to bake them, which couldn’t have been easier. The secret to getting a crisp, biscuit-like texture to these is using regular and superfine sugar to create hard shell on the outside. And since you don’t need to whip the egg whites at all, it’s simple enough for a beginning baker to do!

Amaretti Biscuit Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups almond flour
2 egg whites
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.

Beat together the egg whites, almond flour, both sugars and extract until the dough is unified and sticky.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and place them on the baking tray. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the outside is hard and golden.

Serve with a cup of tea, coffee, milk, or almond milk. Since they’re crispy cookies, they’re perfect for dunking to get them soft and crumbly. If you want to spike your milk with amaretto, I won’t judge.

Can you have such a thing as too much dessert?

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Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Written on May 4, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Dessert

I’ve had a lot of gluten-free baking disasters happen to me. Cookies are the worst; there’s no protein structure in most gluten-free flours to keep them from spreading. When I read this recipe I was intrigued but skeptical. There’s no way a cookie could work with just almond flour I thought. Despite having doubts the entire time, I gave this recipe a shot and I’m so glad I did. These are perfect chocolate chip cookies, with a slight buttery flavor and tons of melted chocolate chips. The texture is soft and pillowy with a little chew. I couldn’t believe these came out as good as they did! I’m definitely saving this recipe to cook again and again.

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies(adapted from this recipe)

Ingredients(Makes about 12 cookies):

1 1/2 cups(6 ounces) almond flour
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 375.

To make the almond flour, ground 6 ounces of almonds in a food processor until it’s all been ground into a thin flour. degrees.

Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Mix in the egg. Next, add the almond flour, vanilla, salt, and baking soda and mix until it’s all incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Scoop the batter into even portions onto the parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Let cool slightly before removing the cookies from the tray.

I had to try one straight out of the oven. And it did not disappoint. These would be great with a glass of chocolate almond milk for dipping. I would definitely double the recipe next time because 9 cookies just won’t be enough.

Added Note: The second time I made these(pictured) they spread out less so that the ones that went into the oven in a ball shape came out rounded like a doughball whereas the ones that I fashioned into a disk came out in the more traditional cookie shape. The only difference between the two was in appearance; cooking time, taste, and texture all remained relatively the same.

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Macaron Monday: Trying Is Something

Written on November 8, 2010 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

3 attempts at Macaron Monday later and I have no recipe to report.

But I refuse to say I failed , because I tried, and that was the whole point of Macaron Monday: To try something new. And I definitely tried. Each attempt was a learning experience in why I wasn’t doing something right.

Attempt #1

The lesson here was pretty simple: Coconut flour cannot be used in place of almond flour to make macarons. It’s too fibrous and doesn’t spread during baking. What these did make was something close to donut hole, so I covered them in chocolate and all was well.

Attempt 2

This was probably the closest I got to making macarons(also the picture at the top of this post comes from this try). What I did right was whipping my egg whites by hand, rather than a food processor. As I went to pour the egg whites into the other ingredients, however, I noticed a pool of unwhipped egg whites at the bottom. Also, I used wax paper instead of parchment paper, which the macarons stuck to and so I was only able to scrape two cookies off before throwing the rest out.

Attempt 3

These were the tastiest by far, but they never rose and were clearly not cooked evenly. I was going to make a white chocolate-raspberry ganache for the filling, but it just seemed like a waste of ingredients since these were clearly not the macarons I wanted to make.

I can make ice cream, brownies, even mound bars. So why didn’t these turn out OK? I hate to make excuses, and I hate to say I “can’t” do something. But truthfully I was not working with the right equipment to make these. Every time my egg whites weren’t whipped properly, either after 20 minutes of hand whipping or a minute in a food processor. Ideally I think you should use an automatic mixer but I don’t keep one around because those are so cumbersome and I usually make vegan baked goods. And I have no clue what the oven here is calibrated at but I doubt that’s correct either.

Will I try to make these again some day? Maybe. But not anytime soon and not in a dorm room. I need to learn my limitations and clean the batter off my bedspread in the meantime.

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How To Make Almond Flour

Written on October 20, 2010 by Wannabe Chef in How To

Before I start, I’ll answer the obvious question: Yes, it’s this simple. Almond flour is a great, gluten-free substitute you can use for baking. Either use it in special recipes or just substitute a quarter of the wheat flour in a recipe for a rich, almond flavor. Making your own is a great way to save money and ensure a fresher flavor, too.

How To Make Almond Flour

Ingredients:

12 oz skin-on almonds, raw or roasted

Wash and dry the almonds if they’re from a bulk bin or might otherwise be dirty. For a richer flavor, used roasted almonds. Always keep the peels on as this will not only make the flour more nutritious but help ensure it stays a dry, course meal and not turn into almond butter.

Add the almonds to a food processor and process for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until all of the chunks have been pulverized into a smooth meal. Store in a seal-tight bag in the refrigerator until using.

Did I say “simple”? If you’re still wondering what to do with almond flour, I wouldn’t be opposed to making chocolate hazelnut shortbread with almond flour in place of the hazelnut flour or substitute some almond flour for whole wheat flour in banana bread, not opposed at all.

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