White Chocolate Lime Bars Recipe

We're off to the races. The countdown after Thanksgiving ticked away, and now all I read about on Facebook are my friends baking and hanging Christmas ornaments on their freshly-cut trees. 26 days away is the big day. I'm lucky that I'm still able to keep track of the number of ham slices in my fridge (before they grow their own legs and have their own Facebook pages), much less hang my Christmas ornaments or lights in the front window.

Thankfully, we've also had a nice heavy snow over the weekend. We got about 8 inches where I live, but I'm sure folks who live on the benches in Salt Lake City, Bountiful and Draper could have gotten upwards of 2 feet. It's thick and billowy, and the plows could hardly handle it for this morning's commute. I would have loved to stay home in my nice bed, but I have a 7 am meeting on Mondays. It's actually a nice way to start the week (those of you who may have known me in college are probably questioniong just how much snow I ate over the weekend), because then when the 8 am meeting rolls around, you're not all behind and scrambling from the weekend. Well, mostly. I'm still doing a little bit of that.

I wanted to share these white chocolate lime bars with you. I think they're perfectly festive, a little crunchy and a lot sweet, and they would make the perfect gift for your gluten free neighbor or friend. They're a bit like the classic lemon bar, or orange bars if you're trying something new. The addition of the white chocolate topping adds a little richness, and a sweet note right as the tart lime melts away. One difference with these bars is that when made gluten free (and more whole grain than a lot of the gluten free fare you'll find in the local specialty shops), the fillings don't separate quite as cleanly as they usually do. The shortbread kind of mingles with the lime, which mingles with the white chocolate. And it's a big, sweet, happy party.

Last Year: Pumpkin Custard Pie
Two Years Ago: Yummy Yam Casserole

White Chocolate Lime Bars
adapted from Gold Medal Holiday Cookies
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Shortbread base.
1/2 cup millet flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup ground almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg

Tart Lime Filling.
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon tapioca starch
2 teaspoons grated lime peel, using my Microplane Zester
3 tablespoons lime juice
3 eggs
several drops of green food coloring


Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flours, xanthan gum, 1/4 cup sugar, butter, almonds, salt and egg. Press the dough into the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of ungreased 9x9 square pan. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden.

Beat 1 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, the lime peel, lime juice, 3 eggs and food color with electric mixer on medium speed until slightly thickened. Pour over baked layer. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or just until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center. Cool completely.

Spread with White Chocolate Glaze (below). Refrigerate 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 6 rows. Store covered in refrigerator for a week.

White Chocolate Glaze
1/2 cup white baking chips
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons corn syrup
1 to 2 teaspoons hot water

To make glaze. Heat chips, butter and corn syrup over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Stir in water until spreadable.

Shredded Mexican Chicken

The ham was sweetly spiced and melted in our mouths. The potatoes were creamy, including my dairy free scalloped potatoes. The gravy was just the right thickness, and didn't get oversalted. The pies, oh the pies, and we still have some left in the fridge. Thanksgiving this year was quite memorable, and we're glad C showed up to eat with us. Eating is always better with your best friends.

But now, we need something to cut the rich and sweet a little bit. Something spicy. A little lighter than beef fajitas. Something like Barbacoa tacos. We know how to heat up the tortillas, stir up the fresh guacamole, and be ready with some black bean and corn salsa. But what we needed was the spicy, shredded chicken to stuff the tacos with. I've tried several iterations on this recipe, and it turns out great every time. It's a little sweet, and just the right spicy, and compliments the corn tortillas, and the fresh salsa quite well.

Last Year: Apparently, the boy's not the only celiac around here
Two Years Ago: Pizza Soup Recipe

Gluten Free Shredded Mexican Chicken
adapted from this recipe
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4 boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 medium onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, smashed
1 tablespoon salt
water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped or 2 teaspoons dried cilantro
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salt (to taste)
1/2 cup chicken broth (reserved)

Place chicken, garlic, onions and salt in a sauce pan. Add just enough water to cover the chicken. Bring to a boil, cover, and lower the heat enough to maintain the simmer for 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken pieces from the pot and let cool, then shred with 2 forks or your fingers. Reserve the broth remaining from cooking.

In a large pan, heat with olive oil. Add the remaining ingredients, including garlic, onion, tomato, bell pepper, black pepper, cilantro, and cumin. Saute until the veggies are soft, about 10 minutes. Stir in the shredded chicken and saute briefly. Add tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of reserved broth, and then salt to taste.

I've added this to this week's Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

Gluten Free Thanksgiving Ideas

If you're still on the lookout for great gluten free Thanksgiving recipes, here's a list of the ones I've served.
[Thanksgiving 2009]
[Thanksgiving 2008]

I'm thankful for food that doesn't hurt my body anymore, for a body that is healing, for family and friends who are kind and understanding and ever-available for me. Y'all are on my thankful list too. Have a wonderful weekend!

Appetizers
Tangy Cranberry Jezebel Sauce

Sides and Veggies
Baked Acorn Squash
Cranberry Sauce
Garlicky Smashed Potatoes
Pat's Gluten Free Turkey Stuffing
Turnip Souffle
Yummy Yam Casserole

Main Dish
Acorn Squash Risotto
Check out Ginger Lemon Girl's Turkey Brine

Desserts
Apple Strudel
Cherry Galette
Acorn Squash Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Frosting
Cranberry Cream Pie
Pumpkin Custard Pie

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

I made it! I am home, and now I can eat my chocolate chip cookies, cook in my tiny kitchen, speak English, and go to the office in the morning. Apparently it's the simple things for me.

And now, I'm getting geared up for Thanksgiving as well (see last year's spread). We'll be going the same direction this year, with pies and a few friends. We'll probably invite ourselves over to someone who is making gluten free fry bread (scones) to go along with their Thanksgiving dinner. Days off from work, and food. I'm definitely grateful for food that heals me.

For right now, I'm busy catching up with work for this short week. Cheers!


Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Gluten Free & Wheat Free Gourmet Desserts by Michael L. Eberhart

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour (also called glutinous rice flour)
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 cup chocolate chips or white chocolate chunks

Using your stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Add baking soda, powder, and xanthan gum. Add flours and mix slowly. Add chocolate chips and fold in by hand. Drop onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Baked at 350 for 16 minutes.

Tip: With gluten free cookies, it's best if the cookie dough is cool when you put it on the pan. Also, cool the pan between batches by sliding it in the freezer for a minute or two before adding the next batch of cookie dough to the pan. This will help keep the cookies from spreading.

What are you up to for Thanksgiving this year?

Check out healthy Thanksgiving and otherwise recipes at Slightly Indulgent Tuesday!

Cookies at home. Yes please.

I made my way from Sweden to Germany, and have been working furiously here auf Deutschland as well. Sweden was pretty awesome for eating gluten free - and I'll get to that more later. Germany, however, is throwing me a curve ball. Sort of like the U.S., it seems like everything is wrapped in bread, sitting on bread, baked inside of bread, or breaded on the outside. I know that's an exaggeration, but hey, some of us are trying to eat here!

I have mostly been eating lunch meat, potato chips, fruit, veggies, and chocolate from the market. It's going pretty well, but I wouldn't mind a hot meal. I was at a work meeting today, and the office's assistant passed around a menu for us to pick our lunch entree from. I chose a salad, since the rest of the menu was pizza and lasagne. The salad showed up with noodles on top, and a little bag of bread on the side. Um, no. I pulled my handy pack of lunchmeat out of my bag and ate that. Good thing there was fruit as an afternoon snack! Tonight I tried to hit Restaurant Erdapfel, which has a gluten free menu, and serves some of their entrees with fresh gluten free bread, but it was dark, late, and I couldn't find it on the corner it was supposed to be on. Oh well.

I'm longing for home a wee bit too. Like, my cramped apartment and small kitchen and cooking every night. I wouldn't mind it. Only a few more days to go! Until then, I'll be dreaming of the gluten and dairy free chocolate chip cookies I made recently, that I'll probably make right when I get home. I'll share the recipe soon, because this was a great one!

Cornflakes.

Dear Delta Airlines,

I really appreciate the service you provide with letting your passengers opt for a special meal. And for the first time on an international flight today, I got one. (When I went to Italy in September, there was a mix-up on the way there, and my return trip was booked with too short of notice to get a special meal.) The chicken and rice for dinner was actually decent, and it was gluten free too.

I just have a few things to point out. The rolls you are serving to everyone else with dinner are not gluten free. Please don't put one on my plate. Even though it was in a little package, it wasn't clearly marked as gluten free or otherwise. It wasn't until I saw everyone else's food (brought out later than mine), that I realized that suspicious roll was just part of the regular fare. Full of gluten.

One more thing: Cornflakes. You know, the ones from Kelloggs that come in the convenient bowl? Those aren't gluten free. They make me sick when I eat them. That's why I didn't eat them this morning.

Otherwise, keep on keepin' on.

-Me

PS If you want some suggestions, take your cues from both the Salt Lake City and JFK (New York) airports and sell Food Should Taste Good multigrain chips. Those are so delish. And they are gluten free. Those + trail mix + G2 = a really good meal.

Did I mention I'm in Sweden?

Ginger Bars Recipe

There's no denying it now. Snow on the ground. Coats in the (pitch black, dark) mornings. The grounds crew at work stringing lights in the trees and putting together the giant, framed tree of holiday lights. It's chilly outside, even though it's November.

We even went out to the woods last week for a cookout. It's part of our Basic Wilderness Survival class that we took through the local school district, and our final class night was a trip to Affleck Park in East Canyon, near Mountain Dell Reservoir. There, we scrounged around for the right types of wood, even though most of the wood was a little wet for our use. We constructed the pieces needed for a bow-drill fire, made from our own hands: a flat dry piece called a fireboard. A tall, slender softer wood, about 4-8 inches long called the spindle. A stick about 2 feet long with a little bit of bend to it, which would be fashioned into the bow. And the last piece, a rock or a piece of wood that easily fits in the hand, with a little divot in the center that has been hollowed out, called a socket.

And then, with careful precision and some muscle, you pull the stringed bow back and forth, pulling the spindle with it, and creating friction against the fireboard. Eventually, a small coal is created near the fireboard. You pick up the coal so gently, using a leaf under it to cradle it. You drop it in a small bundle of juniper bark peeled and wound into a little nest. You inhale over your hard work, and exhale into it, hoping your breath will bring the coal to life.

It worked for me, for the first time this fall. My coal eventually created flames, and we quickly ducked it under the carefully stacked set up inside the fire ring. We crumbled to our knees and blew the same direction as the wind. We had fire.

We roasted hotdogs (what? good gf hotdogs? We love Nathan's), talked survival, and looked at the stars in the night sky. It was in the upper 30s (near freezing), but the awesomeness of building my own fire without using a match, lighter, or any other piece of metal (except my knife to carve a few strategic parts on the fireboard and spindle), had made it possible for us to be warm. We found north. We stood below Cassiopeia.

I'm excited for the winter ahead. For some root vegetables, some soup, and some cookies. I guess we ushered it in with sparks.

These ginger bars are warm and spicy, like the little gingerbread men in the coming season. Except they're soft, and with a sprinkle of powdered sugar, they are gently sweet, and are perfect with some hot chocolate. That I happened to steal from C. She's nice like that.

Last Year: Chicken Parmegiana
Two Years Ago: our favorite recipe (and probably most tested) Almond Poppyseed Muffins

Ginger Bars

adapted from this recipe

[Printer Friendly]

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup millet flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

confectioners' sugar

In a large mixing bowl, stir together liquid coconut oil (must be above 77 degrees, but shouldn't be hot) and sugar. Add eggs; beat well. Beat in water and molasses. Combine the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, xanthan gum and salt; add to molasses mixture and mix well.

Spread into a greased 8 x 8 square baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar if desired. Cut into bars.