Author Archives: Darla

Gluten-Free Cheddar Cheese Crackers Recipe with Video

Cake Darla Gluten Free Works

honeyville almond flourSince I have this brand new bag of blanched almond flour that Honeyville sent me burning a hole in my pantry, I decided to try one of the savory recipes from Elana Amsterdam’s book. My kids love Cheddar Bunnies and Goldfish snack crackers, so I made these cheddar cheese crackers, hoping they’d be something we could all enjoy. I’d never attempted homemade crackers before, and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy they were.

For the cheddar cheese crackers, you’ll need:

2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
¼ tsp sea salt
½ baking soda
1 cup freshly grated cheddar cheese
3 tablespoons coconut oil (original recipe calles for grapeseed oil) Read More »

Gluten Free Flourless Brownie Recipe

Cake Darla Gluten Free Works

I may have mentioned how much I love the Whole Foods Recipes app a time or two dozen on here. It’s very user friendly and has a great bank of recipes. I particularly like the Flourless Brownies because they’re made with a secret ingredient: black beans. That’s right, you use a can of unsalted black beans (that have been well rinsed and drained) instead of flour. Every once in a while I get experimental and try the beans-for-flour sub in other recipes, but lately I’ve been playing around with this one trying to make it… better. Read More »

Gluten-Free Chocolate Bar Cookies (An Experiment)

Yesterday I mentioned that I was trying something different. I love Elana Amsterdam‘s recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, only I make it with coconut oil instead of grapeseed oil and maple syrup (the good stuff!) in lieu of agave because I hate agave. But everything else is the same, unless I sub out a handful of the almond flour for coconut flour. This makes more of a dense, soft cookie that doesn’t spread when baked.

I’m the kind of person who usually wants something sweet after dinner, and chocolate should be involved somehow. When I don’t have a healthier alternative, I eat junk. I decided to stop buying junk earlier this year, so I make this recipe all the time.

While eating these cookies, I get ideas. Such as, what would they be like as a crust? Could I make them bigger and really thin, then shape/roll them like brandy snaps? How would they do sandwiched together with chocolate ganache or some other kind of filling? And so on.

Instead of just making more chocolate chip cookies, yesterday I decided to see if I could bake the dough as one big rectangle and make bar cookies out of it. Read More »

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Zucchini Mini-Muffin Recipe

Gluten free chocolate chip zucchini mini muffinsZucchini is a veggie that you can easily add to just about anything, and that’s pretty much what I’ve been doing with it. Grated, it makes a wonderful “raw” pasta substitute, I love it lightly stir-fried with other veggies, it’s delicious sauteed and added to salads, omelets, or whatever else is cooking, and then of course there’s always zucchini bread. My grandmother used to make it every summer. She would bake it in loaves, and then sandwich softened cream cheese between thin slices. It tasted like cake, and I suppose it practically was the way she made it. YUM.

I started looking online for gluten free zucchini bread recipes, and I came across some zucchini mini muffins with chocolate chips over on Elana’s Pantry. I love that website, and I have her Gluten Free Almond Flour cookbook, which I use regularly. She now also has a Gluten-Free Cupcakes book, which is now on my wish list, if anyone is feeling generous.

But I digress. Here is the original Gluten Free Zucchini Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins recipe, and the only things I changed were my typical substitutions using Read More »

Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix and Easy Cupcake Decorating

Cake Darla Gluten Free Works

If you didn’t already know, Betty Crocker does gluten-free cakecookie, and brownie mixes now. Actually, these have been around for a while, but I’m honestly not a fan of Betty Crocker. Or cake mixes in general for that matter. But if I have to use a cake mix, I’m more than likely not going to eat it, so I usually go for Duncan Hines if it’s on sale or Pillsbury, whichever is cheaper.

A few days ago I realized that February is half over and I hadn’t posted anything since January, so I decided to try out the box of Betty Crocker Gluten Free Devil’s Food cake mix that had been sitting in my pantry for many weeks. I bought it on sale to use for something, I forget what, that I obviously never used it for. I was also in the mood for something chocolate. And easy. Cupcakes made from a mix are

GlutenTox Home Test Kit

Cake Darla Gluten Free Works

There are many reasons people who wish to lead a healthier lifestyle chose to avoid gluten in their diets. Those with gluten allergies and intolerances, however, don’t have a choice. For them, consuming undetected gluten poses a real health risk. The trouble is that traces of gluten can be found in foods that don’t naturally contain it, due to cross-contamination, cooking methods, food additives, etc. This is especially true when it comes to restaurant and commercially processed food.

But the good news is that now there’s a way you can check to be sure what you’re eating is really gluten free. Boimedal Diagnostics has developed an easy-to-use gluten test kit, called GlutenTox Home, and they were nice enough to send me a sample pack to try. Along with a free Read More »

Namaste Foods Gluten Free Bread Mix Review

Recently I made a loaf of bread using a bag of Namaste Foods Gluten Free Bread Mix. I bought this on sale at some point, and it subsequently sat in the pantry for a while. I’m not sure how long, but there’s another 8 months to go until the use-by date, so I’m not worried. I like to have stuff like this on hand because sometimes I get in the mood to eat bread, and that usually means I have to make it myself. This time, I was also in desperate need of clearing out some pantry space, so making this mix was the easy answer.

This is the third loaf of gluten free bread I’ve made from a mix (Pamela’s and Bob’s Red Mill were the other ones I tried), and it did fairly well. It rose way more than I thought it would, but it was still heavy and moist the first day, only to very quickly dry out by the third day after baking.

The bread mix consists of a flour blend made from brown rice flour, Read More »