Pineapple Lime Cake with Lime Glaze

Three loads of laundry, lots of dishes, a welcoming kitchen full of a Bountiful Baskets order, and a few naps, we've officially arrived home from camp. I've had a chance to try a new muffin recipe with coconut flour (from Roxy's Market in Ketchum, Idaho), a chance to pick some roses from my backyard, and to enjoy the new air conditioner blasting when we walked through the door.

C was nice enough to order and pick up a Bountiful Baskets produce order for me on Saturday and leave it in my kitchen. I wondered why my living room had the slight hint of fresh peaches when we walked through the door (forgot to take out the trash??), until I had sent down all the things in my arms.

There were three large grocery bags on the stove and counter. One filled with peaches, limes, mangoes, and plums, a few carrots tucked in among the head of cabbage and the huge heart of romaine. My first thought was:

She just spent $70 on me at the downtown farmer's market. I am so spoiled.

Later I found out the real truth - just $16.50 on all this haul - and I couldn't be happier. Plenty to eat, especially now that the boy has decided to give up cheese. (Believe me, this is an earth-shattering change around here.) Cheese used to be one of the five food groups.

We've been focusing a lot more on fresh fruits and vegetables, like the potato and spinach frittata with green onions I made for dinner Sunday night. We have to find ways to not miss the cheese, and to keep our food interesting, and him full. It's been a challenge so far.

We generally eat a whole foods diet, but each change in our diet requires a new shift - me figuring out what quantities we need to be getting from the store and when, how to not run out of white onions or Russet potatoes, and how to use up all the produce that ends up in the fruit bowl.

There's always something that's been freshly baked on the counter too. This time, it's a variation of Pineapple Lime Cake from Rookie Cookie, modified to be gluten free. We didn't each much of the glaze - the boy doesn't have much of a sweet tooth these days - and well, I can only eat so much of it myself. These slices are tender, have a consistent texture, stay moist for a few days, and a have some bright flavor with the lime.

Last Year: Warming Gluten Free Muffins
Two Years Ago: Review: Living Harvest Hemp Milk
 
Pineapple Lime Cake with Lime Glaze
adapted from this recipe
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1/2 cup shortening, softened
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/2 cup millet flour
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 cup sugar
2 limes, zested and juiced
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 20 oz pineapple chunks, drained

Set oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with non-stick spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine flours, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt. Whisk well to combine. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add shortening, sugar, lime juice and lime zest and cream ingredients together until light and fluffy. Add vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture in three additions, alternating with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until just combined. With a rubber scraper, fold in pineapple.

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Cool in pan for 20 minutes. Invert onto cooling rack and cool completely. Place cooling rack over the sink or in a baking sheet. Evenly pour glaze over the top of the cake. Let glaze set for 15 minutes before slicing.

For the glaze:
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp lime juice

In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar and lime juice until smooth. Pour over cooled cake.

Off to Camp

Via

I'm headed off to camp today in the Sawtooth Mountains - a week of preparing and feeding 14 Celiacs (fourteen!) and having the time of my life. I hope you have a wonderful week!

Gluten Free Coconut Tea Cake Recipe

This has become our dinner party staple. If you're invited over to dinner, expect some delicious coconut cake to come after the beef fajitas or the ribs on the grill out back. We've gotten rave reviews, and the leftovers never last long either. It's pretty simple to assemble, even though there are multiple elements to the building of the cake. Whisking the flours together in a bowl while the stand mixer whirs away with the eggs and sugar fluffing along, warming the butter and coconut milk, and the coconut shreds toasting in the oven. If you feel the adrenalin pumping when you're multi-tasking, this is a cake for you. If you approach the kitchen with a flurry of flours and various pans heating on the stove, this could assemble in about 10 minutes. Then, it simply rises and bakes into a crusty and rich cake for an hour. The smell starts to spread through the house after about 40 minutes, just as the guests arrive.

Basically, I think you should come over for dinner on Friday.

Last Year: Oven Roasted Garlic

Two Years Ago: Radish Chips

Coconut Tea Cake
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
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1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup millet
2/3 cup sorghum
2/3 cup potato starch
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup coconut milk
3/4 cup toasted sweetened coconut flakes

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. There will be four things going on at the same time. First, put a small saucepan on the stove over low heat, and add in the coconut milk and butter. Heat until the butter barely melts, and then remove from the stove and set aside. Second, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add sugar and eggs and whip together for 3 minutes, until the mixture is yellow and fluffy. Third, while the eggs and sugar mix, toast coconut in the oven. Fourth, combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them until they are combined.

Add the vanilla to the egg mixture and beat just until combined. Then add the toasted coconut into the egg mixture, followed by the slightly cooled coconut milk mixture, and finishing with the dry ingredients. Keep mixing until all the ingredients are combined.

Prepare a bundt pan, and when the mixture is combined, spoon it into the pan evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes. Remove from the oven when the top is crusty and golden brown. Leave in the pan for 10 minutes to cool, then flip over onto a cake plate to finish cooling.

Gluten Free Poppy Seed Crackers

These buttery crackers are a delight on a chilly May afternoon. We've had many chilly May afternoons already, until today when we were greeted with a June afternoon! The sun is starting to make more regular appearances, wobbling over the clouds like a toddler new on his feet.

The crunch of the poppy seeds is a great compliment in these easy crackers. Not to mention the wonderful buttery taste. I thought, naively, that I could just have a taste. I stopped shortly afterward, remembering that these were intended for someone else and that I should keep my paws off dairy anyway. I'm glad I remembered sooner rather than later.

When you peek into the oven during baking, the butter will rise to the top and form a bubbling, buttery golden layer on top of the crackers. They brown during the process, but you have to wait for the hot butter to settle down a little bit after pulling them out of the oven. Work hard to make them as even as possible (using your gluten free rolling pin), so that they crisp evenly. The thicker crackers will not be crispy so much as tender and buttery, but the thinner ones will have a delightful snap to them with each bite.

Have you tried making crackers? What tips do you have? Any dairy free crackers in the house?

Last Year: Bacon Wrapped Mango Chicken with Balsamic Reduction

Two Years Ago: May 2009 Co-op Food

Poppy Seed Crackers
a riff on this excellent recipe
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1 stick butter (1/2 cup) at room temperature
2 whole eggs at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1 cup millet flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup milk (optional)

In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip the butter and eggs together on medium speed until creamy looking. Add the salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, and poppy seeds (for crunch!) and mix just until they are incorporated. Add the millet and sweet rice flour with the mixer still on low speed. 

If the mixture feels too crumbly add a little bit of milk to obtain a smooth but not too wet dough. Start with one tablespoon at a time. Gather the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for about 2 hours.
When ready to bake, turn the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position a rack in the middle.

Roll the dough in between 2 sheets of parchment paper and roll to about 1/4 to 1/8-inch thick. Cut cracker shapes out in the dough with a pizza cutter and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until  the edges are golden.