1-2-3 gluten free Biscuit Mix: Cinnamon Rolls

A couple weeks ago, I heard that you could easily make gluten free cinnamon rolls using 1-2-3 gluten free biscuit mix. The mix is gluten free, dairy free, tree nut free, egg free, and soy free. It's versatile for anyone with food allergies as substitutes can be used as needed.

The 1-2-3 gluten free website has a great wealth of recipes that uses their mixes, and this cinnamon roll recipe is based upon two 1-2-3 gluten free recipes:

1-2-3 Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe
1-2-3 Cinnamon Roll Recipe

I altered up the recipes above. I used 2% milk in the biscuits, and mixed the melted butter and cinnamon sugar before spreading to minimize the mess and evenly distribute the filling. I also created a cream cheese frosting to top the rolls. I found the biscuit mix to create a well-textured pastry that was able to hold the cinnamon filling well, and recommend this to anyone gluten free craving biscuits.

Produces 8 rolls
Prep Time: 30 minutes active, 30 minutes inactive
Bake Time: 40 minutes


Ingredients

Biscuit
1 package 1-2-3 Gluten Free® Southern Glory Biscuit Mix
6 Tbsp. butter, cold, cut into pieces
1 cup 2% milk
Filling

6 Tbsp. butter, melted
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup cinnamon
Frosting 

4 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease the inside of a round 9" cake pan.


Add the butter into the mix and knead until it has the texture of coarse meal. Add milk and stir until the mix has formed a dough. Store in a bowl and cover. Store in the fridge for 30 minutes


In a small bowl, mix the butter, sugar, and cinnamon together.

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle between two sheets of parchment paper until 1/4 inch thick. Spread the cinnamon butter into the roll, leaving an inch of one end uncovered. Roll into a log, starting at the end where the cinnamon touches the edge. Roll tightly, and cut into 1 inch thick rolls. Place in the pan, and bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

To make the frosting, whip the cream cheese, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Spread onto the warm rolls, and enjoy!

How to Easily Dice an Onion

Onions are one of the core ingredients that can pack a lot of flavor in dishes, and can be prepared a variety of ways. You can lightly brown onions and add them to soups and sauces for a slightly sweet, powerful flavor. Caramelize them for a sweet, buttery flavor with a soft texture, perfect for topping pizzas or salads. You can even add them raw for a strong, powerful kick, commonly done in dips or appetizers.

Sad thing about preparing onions is that it's easy to feel as though you're going to cry from the aroma of freshly cut onion. Here's some tips for dicing onions quickly and easily. If you aren't fully comfortable with your knife skills yet, take your time as you don't want to cut yourself. Always be aware of where your fingers are and you'll be sure to prevent cutting any fingers.

Figure 1

1. Cut the top and bottom off of the onion. Slice the onion in half and address each half at a time.
2. (Figure 1) Cut the onion horizontally, about 3-4 times for a medium onion, equal distance between each cut.

Figure 2

3. (Figure 2) Cut the onion now lengthwise, while holding the onion at each end. This will create squares all inside the onion.

Figure 3

4. (Figure 3) Finally, cut the onion such that onion cubes are produced from each slice.


I hope this helps, and feel free to share any of your onion cutting tips in the comments!

TipTap: A New Social Network

Hey everyone,

A week ago one of my college friends invited me to a new social network called TipTap. Think of it as a blend of Facebook and Pinterest, with a really interesting hook.

There are three types of personality quizzes: Personality, Tastes, and Style. Each quiz takes only a few minutes, and are fun little activities to participate in. By taking a few short personality quizzes, the website will recommend followers with comparable tastes and personalities. For each follower it provides a percentage of compatibility, making it easier to decide whether you want to follow others or not.

Once you’ve followed other members, you’ll be able to participate in taps. Taps are how you share images, videos, or music. This functionality is comparable to Pinterest, as it creates a stream of taps. Your tap stream is a combination of shares from yourself and your followers. With any tap you share, you’re able to add comments and tags, and these tags will be searchable in future enhancements.

After using it for a week, I’ve grown to really appreciate the personality matches. I’ve had a good experience with the taps that others have shared, and have found a variety of delicious looking recipes (one thing I’m interested in with these types of social networks). I definitely recommend it for users who love new social networking sites. It’s also a great social tool for bloggers, great for anyone looking for new site traffic.

Be sure to check it out, and all of the new features that will be coming out soon! Visit tiptap.com to give it a try!

#SundaySupper: Gluten Free Cookie Dough Ice Cream

Hey everyone! I hope you've had a good weekend so far. This week is the first time I'll be participating in the #Sunday Supper group, which is a group of bloggers who share recipes weekly based on a common theme. This month's theme is "Beat the Heat," so I decided to share a gluten free cookie dough ice cream. 

When I was younger, before discovering how sensitive I was to gluten, I loved novelty ice cream. My two favorite recipes in the past were Cookies and Cream and Cookie Dough Ice Cream. Something about the blend of creamy ice cream and sweet cookie dough was just the best combo ever. And don't even get me started on Half Baked Ben & Jerry's. That was the best.

But since I've been gluten free, my ice cream choices have been much lighter and topped more frequently with fresh fruit. But every now and then we all need to indulge, and here's my guilty cold treat. 

Note: There is no egg used in the cookie dough in the recipe. Therefore, no concerns about eating raw egg. Only allergen in this dessert is dairy.

Servings: 6-8 1/2 cup servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes for the dough, 5 minutes for the ice cream

Inactive Prep Time: 25 minutes, then 2 hours

Ingredients:

Cookie Dough

1/4 cup butter, room temperature

3 tbsp brown sugar, packed 

3 tbsp granulated sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp sweet rice flour

3 tbsp tapioca flour

3 tbsp potato starch

1/4 cup semi sweet mini chocolate chips

Ice Cream

1 cup cold milk

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 cup heavy cream, cold

Steps:

Beat the butter, brown, granulated sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Fold in the flours and starch until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips. Wrap the cookie dough and place it in the refrigerator.

For the ice cream, whisk the milk, sugar, and vanilla until the sugar has dissolved. Whisk in the heavy cream until combined. Pour the cream into the ice cream machine, and churn for about 20 minutes. 

After 20 minutes, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Using a spoon, scoop the dough into the ice cream as it is churning, adding teaspoon sized amounts at a time. Churn for an additional 5 minutes. Transfer the ice cream to an air tight container, and then place in the freezer for 2 hours before serving.

TriumphDining Gluten Free Grocery Guide Review

Happy Sunday everybody! I hope you're having an enjoyable weekend, and are staying cool during this hot weather. 

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to try the Gluten-Free Grocery Guide by TriumphDining (click here to check them out). I've been using it every time before I go to the grocery store, testing to see how useful it would be in planning my trips to the grocery store. 

For those who don't know, purchasing food on a gluten-free diet can be super scary. I can't tell you the number of times I've gone to the grocery store, movie theater, etc. and had to search through forums and other websites on my phone to see if I can safely eat the food. Most of the time, I just safely default to choosing not to eat. That’s why I was excited to try this grocery guide out. Here’s some of the reasons why I’ve grown to like it and use it on a regular basis:

Consolidated information – The guide covers pretty much everything in the kitchen outside of the kitchen sink. From breakfast items to baking ingredients, I haven’t had trouble yet with finding a type of grocery item in the guide.

Well organized – The guide is broken down into various grocery categories and includes an index. This made it easy to find items quickly through a guide dense with information.

Symbols to present the quality of gluten free – This is perhaps my favorite feature in the guide. When it comes to gluten free, there’s a wide range of how sensitive people are. Celiacs follow rigid guidelines to ensure the food they are eating is not contaminated with gluten. Meanwhile, you have those who are gluten-sensitive, and won’t experience as severe symptoms if consuming gluten. They use the following categorizations, and match a symbol up with each:

·        GF Facility – No chance of cross-contamination

·        Gluten Testing performed

·        Gluten Free based on the ingredients listed

·        Procedures are in place to minimize cross-contamination, but produced in the same plant

·        Cross-contamination possible, not labeled as gluten-free by the company

·        Company states item is gluten free without context.

This is perfect because it eliminates guessing whether the item you purchase will cause you to react negatively to the trace amounts of gluten present.

Now, if you’re like me and forget your guide, or do some unplanned shopping, you can download their guide as a smartphone app. It has all the same information, only packaged in a digital medium.

In close, I definitely recommend this guide to anyone who’s like me and worries about whether they’ll get sick from food they buy from the grocery store. It’s a great tool for Celiacs and those with gluten sensitivity. I use it regularly and I recommend it to anyone who finds gluten-free grocery shopping difficult.

Image Source ( http://www.triumphdining.com/products/gluten-free-recipe-ingredients )

Gluten Free Graham Crackers

Hey everybody! I hope my fellow American readers are having a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July today! (And that all my non-American readers are having a good Wednesday so far.) Today is the first Wednesday of the month, time for another Gluten Free Ratio Rally. This month we took on the task of adapting Crackers and Breaksticks.

I decided to go the sweet route this month and make gluten free graham crackers. I always loved the molasses taste to graham crackers, and the crunchy texture of them as well. They're perfect for delivering cream cheese and other spreads to your mouth, but more importantly awesome for Smores! What better way to celebrate the Fourth of July!

The ratio for graham crackers is:

5:3.75:1.25:1

flour:sugar:butter:milk

It took a little experimenting to find the correct blend of flours. I settled on a blend of a variety of flours, a few of them for notable reasons. I used brown rice flour because it is normally more course than white rice flour, so I chose this to assist in obtaining the texture I wanted for graham crackers. I also chose millet flour because its commonly used in flatbreads, so I figured it would be perfect for a cracker.

From dry and wet ingredients...

Thank you to Rachel of the The Crispy Cook for guiding us this month in our culinary expedition. Be sure to check out her Ratio Rally blog post. Check out her Cilantro Crackers and links to everyone else's recipes! 

To an extremely sticky dough...

Another thanks goes to the Smitten Kitchen for inspiration on the recipe. Check their original recipe here.

To a rolled out sheet of dough ready to be cut.

Makes: about 30 3x3 crackers

Active Prep Time: 40 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 4 hours

Bake Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

100g sweet rice flour

75g brown rice flour

50g millet flour

75g tapioca flour

75g potato starch

2 tsp xantham gum

175 g dark brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

100g cold butter, cubed

110g honey

75g 2% milk

2 tbsp gluten free vanilla

Steps

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, starch, gum, sugar, and soda until combined. Cut the cold butter into the flour until the butter is well distributed throughout the flour. You'll expect to see small pea sized amounts of butter throughout the dough.

Whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla in a separate bowl. Gradually add to the flour, and stir until well combined. Expect a sticky dough. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Split the dough into two halves. This makes it easier to work with before the dough warms up. Keep one half in the fridge. Cover a cutting board with a piece of parchment paper, and generously flour with tapioca flour. You'll need to do this or else the dough will stick to the paper. Believe me. From this point on any rolling pins, knives, or fingers need to be dusted with tapioca flour before touching the dough or else they will stick. Roll out one half of the dough until it is a thin sheet of dough. You'll want about 1/8th of an inch thickness. If you don't have a ruler, use the nail of your pinky finger as a good gauge. If the dough is thicker than the length of your pinky finger nail, it needs to be thinner.

Using a knife dusted with flour, cut the dough into squares, about 3 inches by 3 inches. Transfer to the baking sheets. Once all the dough is cut, repeat the rolling and cutting for the second half of dough. Place the cut dough in the fridge for about 10 minutes before placing in the oven (this helps them keep their form). Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, and you'll have gluten free graham crackers. 

Enjoy!

Tomatolove: Gluten Free Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken

Hey everyone! Its July and time for some #tomatolove! This weekend I made a chicken stuffed with sun-dried tomatoes and feta with my friends for dinner. It is a super delicious main course, and I recommend it to anyone who loves the combo of tomato and chicken. The filling is a savory blend of the aromatic garlic and onion, and the sweet, tangy taste of sun dried tomatoes. Coupled with the smokiness of chili powder and the slightly sweet taste of basil, its a great combination filled with tons of flavor.

There are three main steps to this chicken dish.

1. Prepare the filling. First trick is that you'll want to cook the filling and let it cool down before stuffing the chicken. This makes it easier to handle and stuff the chicken.

2. Brown the chicken. After stuffing the chicken, you'll want to brown the outside of the chicken in a hot pan for some great color and texture.

3. Finish the chicken in the oven. Cook the chicken in a 350F oven to ensure that the chicken cooks thoroughly to the proper temperature. I also recommend buying thin-sliced chicken breasts, or pounding out the chicken to 1/4 in thickness to ensure quick and even cooking.

Thanks to everyone who is co-hosting this month:

Name	Website	Twitter	Pinterest
Evelyne	Cheap Ethnic Eatz	@cethniceatz	cheapethniceatz
Junia	Mis Pensamientos	@juniakk	juniakk
Jessica	Oh Cake	@jesshose	ohcake
Sheila	Pippi's In the Kitchen Again	@shlylais	sheilapippi
Helena	Rico sin Azúcar	@ricosinazucar	Helena {Rico sin Azúcar}
Deanna	Teaspoon of Spice	@tspbasil	tspbasil
Liz	That Skinny Chick Can Bake!!!	@thatskinnychick	lizzydo
Jackie S.	Vegan Yack Attack	@veganyackattack	veganyackattack
Suzanne	You Made That?	@YouMadeThatblog	youmadethat
Kimberly	Badger Girl Learns to Cook	@Bdgergrl	bdgergrl
Cindy	Vegetarian Mamma	@vegetarianmamma	vegetarianmamma

And be sure to check out the all of the tomato recipes this month!

Gluten Free Sun-dried Tomato Stuffed Chicken

Prep Time:  15 minutes

Cook Time: Filling – 20 minutes, Chicken – 15 minutes

Servings: 6 chicken breasts

Ingredients:

1 small onion

3 cloves garlic

3 oz sun-dried tomatoes, julienned
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

2 bay leaves

1/3 cup white wine

2 tbsp basil

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper

1/4 cup feta cheese

1 ¼ lb chicken breast, thin sliced or whole

¼ cup white wine

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper

Steps:

Chop the onion and mince the garlic. Heat a skillet over medium heat. Add a little olive oil, and cook until the onion and garlic are slightly browned. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, bay leaves, half of the 1/3 cup of white wine, basil, thyme, chili powder, salt and pepper. Stir constantly, and add the other half of white wine after the rest has evaporated. Cook until the filling is no longer wet. Remove the filling from the heat, and let cool to room temperature. Fold in the feta cheese.

Preheat the oven to 350F, and preheat a large skillet over medium heat. Place some of the filling in the middle of each breast, and fold each breast over such that each chicken is now filled. Keep the chicken breasts closed by using toothpicks. Add a little oil to the skillet and brown the chicken on each side, about 3-4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a baking sheet, and cook it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes. The chicken will be done once it is no longer translucent and the juice runs clear.

While the chicken cooks in the oven, add 1/4 cup wine, butter, chili powder, salt and pepper to the sauce pan. Remove the scrapings from the bottom of the pan, and reduce down into a sauce. It'll take about as long as it takes to cook the chicken in the oven.

Enjoy!