Gluten Free Mom

Two Thumbs Up to Betty Crocker Gluten Free Mix and a Streusel Cake You Will Love - Plus a giveaway!

Wow - what a title, but you have to read to the bottom for the giveaway.

First, I have to give Two Thumbs Up to Betty Crocker for their four new Gluten Free Mixes - a Yellow Cake Mix, Devil's Food Cake Mix, Brownies and Chocolate Chip cookies.  We have tried them all thanks to some samples received from MyBlogSpark and were very pleasantly pleased and surprised.

Honestly, I did not expect much out of these mixes.  We have all seen the proliferation in gluten free products and when I read Betty Crocker was getting into the picture I just figured it was a mainstream manufacturer throwing together some rice flour and calling it good.

I was wrong.

We tried them all and they are very tasty.  The Chocolate Chip cookies taste like, well Chocolate Chip cookies.  And have you tried making chocolate cookies from scratch?  It is not that easy.

The cake mixes are moist and pleasant. 

Really the only criticism we could offer is that the Brownie mix is a little light on ingredients - one box makes a very flat 9 x 9 brownie.  I will probably use two boxes next time around in the same 9 x 9 pan.  Maybe this is a further statement on how much we liked them.  One box was just not enough. 

All of the Betty Crocker mixes are made in a gluten free processing facility, so no need to worry about cross-contamination.  They are also easy to make casein free.  We just substituted our favorite dairy free products - Almond Milk and Earth Balance - but you can find butter free directions on the Betty Crocker website.

There has been a lot of buzz on the web about how much butter the mixes call for.  Of course you can try to cut back on the butter and replace it with other healthier options, but remember you are making cookies!  Plus this is mainstream manufacturing - Betty Crocker does not make any claims for organic ingredients or  non-GMOs which those of us in the gluten free world have grown to appreciate.  These mixes are what they are - great Gluten Free mixes, made by a major manufacturer for mass consumption through chain grocery stores at reasonable prices.

There has also been a lot of chatter about the need to continue to support those original gluten free "founding" companies such as Pamela's.  I say again these mixes are what they are.  In a side by side comparison with cookies made with Pamela's Baking and Pancake Mix, Pamela's won hands down. We used the recipe right on the side of the bag. The Pamela's cookies were plumper, moister and just tasted better.   But wouldn't we expect that?   Pamela's has been perfecting gluten free mixes for years (and done a great job of it) and, of course, I would buy Pamela's brownie mix first.  But according to Betty Crocker one in nine US households watches, reduces or avoids consuming gluten - that is a lot of households and specialty products like Pamela's are just not available to all of those households yet.

So I say Thumbs Up to Betty Crocker - thank you for developing a safe, affordable, easily available GF product that is actually pretty darn tasty.

Shelly's Streusel Cake

Now to the Streusel Cake. First I have to introduce you to Shelly.  She is a gluten free mom from the south and my very dear cyber-friend.  Yes, we met on-line through my website and had shared much information together before I actually saw her face two years later when we became friends on Facebook.

I love Shelly - she is great Mom, working hard to advocate for the gluten free life and always seeking great gluten free products. She inspires me to keep going!

This is Shelly's Recipe for Streusel Cake using the Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow Cake Mix

1 pkg Betty Crocker Yellow GF cake mix

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 Cup Cooking Oil (Wesson/Crisco)

4 eggs

1 Cup GF buttermilk (for dairy free we used 1 cup soy milk with 1 T of lemon juice)

2 tsp GF Vanilla

2 Tbs Brown Sugar

2 tsp Cinnamon

Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside. 　

Grease and flour a bundt pan. 

Combine remaining ingredients well and pour a little more than half into the bundt pan.  

Add the Brown Sugar/Cinnamon mix in a complete circle, careful not to touch the inside/outside of pan or it will burn. (We were not that careful with ours and it turned out just fine.)

Cover with the remaining batter.

Cook at 350 for about 55 minutes or until light golden brown on top.

Remove from pan and let cool. 

We topped ours with Vanilla Frosting.

Finally for the Give Away:

The first person who posts a comment with their review of the Betty Crocker GF mixes (and a recipe using one of them would be nice) will receive a Betty Crocker Sweet Moments prize pack complements of MyBlogSpark.com. 

Gluten Free and Casein Free Treats from Shabtai Bakery

  We have died and gone to gluten free and casein free heaven -

No compromising here.

The kids were arm-wrestling over these treats.

Shabtai-Gourmet Bakery, also known as Cinderella Sweets, is a dedicated gluten free bakery.  Better yet, they are also casein, lactose and soy free!! 

I was recently reading that according to the United States Department of Agriculture there are over 2000 gluten free products in the market place and over 800 new gluten free products were introduced in 2008!  That is a lot of sampling to do, but my type A personality likes to sample everything I can find in search of the best. 

While I so appreciate everyone who goes the extra step to make something gluten free, as we all know, just because something is gluten free does not necessarily mean it will be good.

So when the box from Shabtai arrived on my front porch (in record time I might add since we are in Seattle and it traveled all the way from New York), I opened it with somewhat trepidation hoping for greatness but with all expectations in check.  We bake a lot and we have repeatedly found that it is hard to get something that is as good as we can make at home.

The first item sampled was the Devils Food 7 Layer Cake - oh my goodness it was amazing!! 

First of all, it was something that I would never take the time to make - it was seven layers of thin cut chocolate cake separated by seven layer of the sweetest frosting.  The entire delight was frosted in that hard-chocolate frosting that they put on ding dongs (and that I have no idea how to make). 

As a matter of fact, it tasted a lot like what I remember ding dongs tasting like.  The Gluten Free Kid only ate maybe one or two ding dongs before going gluten free and my other two kids had never eaten them, but to me it tasted like a ding dong.  A gluten free, casein free ding dong!!  (As a matter of fact they make a product called the Ring Ting cupcakes which we will be ordering shortly).

I don't mean this in a bad way (even though to the super health conscious it may sound so), but if you, or your loved ones, have been crazing that processed really sweet chocolaty treat of our former lives, go order some right now!

As a side note, while we eat extremely healthy, I do think that indulging in these kinds of over the top sweet treats is the only way to survive being gluten free.  So that you, or our kids, do not feel constantly deprived you have to spend the extra money or the extra time in the kitchen, and eat your hearts content of Ring Dings (on occasion).  The kids in my daughter's class actually thought she was cheating on her diet when she ate the last few bites of our treat at school the next day. 

The next treat that we sampled was the Fudge Brownie - okay I have to make a confession here.

It was my son's 6th birthday on Monday.  I have made a home made birthday cake for every birthday we have celebrated since going gluten free, and my family has grown to love these cakes and this tradition.   But we had just had a Halloween party, a soccer party and a birthday party (we celebrate birthday's with friends with make-your-own sundaes), everyone in my family was a little sniffly from a cold, and I was down right exhausted. 

How does this relate to the brownie?  I pulled the Fudge Brownie from Shabtai out of the freezer, placed it on our special birthday plate, decorated it with Betty Crocker frosting in the tube, added some Star Wars figures, cute candles and . . . well you can see the result on his face in the photo below.

He loved the cake, the other kids were jealous of it, and it was so quick and easy.  Oh, and least we forget, so amazingly good tasting - moist, super sweet, that kind of over-the-top richness that leaves your teeth hurting a little. 

We still have a few goodies left in our box to try.  Tonight we are transforming the Lady Fingers into Tiramisu.  Yes, tiramisu.  I am a pretty adventurous cook these days, but would not have taken on the challenge of making tiramisu without the pre-made gluten free Lady Fingers which are an essential ingredient.

Here is the recipe for Gluten Free Tiramisu

*4 large eggs, separated

*8 ounces mascarpone cheese (To make your own casein free substitute try this basic dairy free cheese recipe  I have to admit I have not tried this dairy free yet)

*1 cup espresso or very strong coffee

*3 teaspoons brandy

*24 gluten free lady fingers from Shabtai

*cocoa powder

In a large bowl beat sugar and egg yolks well until they are a pale yellow creamy color.  Since these eggs are not cooked, use pasteurized eggs or pasteurize them yourself. 

Add mascarpone and beat until JUST mixed.

In a small bowl beat pasteurized egg whites until stiff peaks are formed.

Fold into mascarpone mixture.

In another small bowl combine espresso and liqueur           .

With a pastry brush, brush cookies with the espresso/liqueur mixture.  Place a layer in the bottom of an 8x8-inch deep glass casserole dish.

Cover with half the cheese mixture.

Top that with another layer of brushed cookies and add remaining cheese.

Sprinkle with cocoa and some chocolate curls for an extra touch. 

Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving, if you have the time six hours is even better. 

I have two more great things to say about Shabtai; first, all gluten free food is expensive, but for the quality of the baked goods, Shabtai's prices are reasonable.  The 7 layer cake was almost $9.00.

Secondly, the prices are made even more reasonable by the fact they are now offering free shipping to anywhere in the continental United States.

So try it and let us know what you think. 
 

Gluten Free Worcestershire Sauce

As a follow up to the Super Bowl Party Mix,

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is GF.  You can follow this link to their website

I also just reconfirmed it over the phone with customer service.

They are mailing me a copy of their GF products which I will scan, upload to a file and post as soon as I receive it.

This a wonderful sauce that adds great flavor to any gluten free dish.  I rarely brown hamburger without adding a tablespoon or so of this sauce. 

Wow - Review of Glutino Baguettes

We generally like a lot of the Glutino products, but we were really impressed with the Baguettes.

We tried them with dinner tonight, and everyone let out a collective "WOW" on first tasting them.

They reminded us so much of the bread we used to eat for dinner - not the restaurant quality melt-in-your-mouth kind of bread, but the pre-made grocery store garlic-type of bread.

I was thinking of saving them for brochette, but when it looked like dinner was going to be a flop (a new recipe I will save you from) I:

cut open the bag

defrosted in the microwave for 45 seconds

cut them in half

added a generous serving of Earth Balance (butter for those who can have it) and sprinkled them with garlic salt.

Then I baked them for 15 minutes at 350 to warm them up and broiled them for a few minutes just to get a nice crispy crust on top.

Sorry no photos - they were gone before I could get the camera out tonight.  But you can find them by following this link:  Glutino Baguettes