Millet Zucchini Bread

While being relatively low fat, this gluten free loaf is insanely moist, with a texture similar to a partial whole wheat loaf and the perfect balance of cinnamon, ginger and allspice. 

Are you dealing with Zucchini-Geddon yet? We've been pulling in mounds of the stuff - and it's going into basically everything we can fit it into. However, there's only so much of it that we can saute, bread or casserole! When our dinner routine cries "uncle", I get the pass to use it in a sweeter avenue. I posted a spiced, whole grain zucchini loaf a week or so ago, and was planning another round with it, when I spotted this beauty on Gluten Free Baking. Elizabeth uses mostly millet flour in her loaf, which I was excited by - I never really get a chance to bake with it, always passing it over for my current favourite sorghum.

So millet it was, and I have to agree that it's flavour is fantastic in this spicy quickbread. It has a great texture, and is mild and almost buttery tasting which amplifies the rich flavour of each slice. Being a higher protein flour too, the structure of the batter is definitely more sturdy than one made with, say, a rice flour base. All in all, a fantastic use for some of the zucchini glut - and with a little extra spice for kick, it was a hit during the mid-afternoon slump.

While the original recipe bakes for 40 minutes, mine took significantly longer - roughly 75. I cannot stress the importance of wringing out the zucchini enough - I squeezed the life out of mine, but since the air was fairly humid in the kitchen that day, the bread simply took longer. Start checking at 40 minutes, and go from there - the "poke test" will steer you right.

The other comment I will make is that the texture will be even better if you let the batter stand in the pan for 20 minutes before baking. The flours and guar will rehydrate and eliminate any risk of "grittiness" from the finished product. However, if you're pressed for time, forge on ahead - it's great either way! I can't wait to try this with cocoa powder for a chocolatey loaf too - how awesome would that be?

Lemon Sparklers

Glittering and very lemony cookies are always a bright addition to the dessert table. 

Who doesn't love cookies? Even in the middle of Summer, at a backyard cookout, I always see at least one tray of them alongside the inevitable pies. Cookies are alluring for many potluck guests because it's easy to make a lot at once, they're already individually portioned, they travel well and they are so versatile!

For a sweet, but not cloying, treat for our last BBQ, I whipped up these very lemony, very yellow cookies. They have a light, crisp texture thanks to using only egg whites, but they're tender enough to not break your teeth biting into one. Thanks to Truvia's baking blend, I was able to cut down the sugar significantly while keeping the right amount of sweetness and bulk in the dough, adding just enough sugar to allow the cookies to brown a bit on the bottom and taste, well, like cookies. The butter added a rich under-note for the lemon zest, juice and extract I used, buffering the acidity while allowing the citrusy aroma and flavour to shine through. The crowning jewel was the coating of yellow sanding sugar - crunchy and bright, and definitely sparkly, it makes sure these cookies get noticed!

All that said, I think the best part about these cookies is that the dough freezes fabulously. As in, I made a batch of dough and bulk-froze it in February, baked it mid-July, and there was zero loss of quality. I know they say six months is usually the max freezer-life for cookie dough, but I'd be willing to push it seven to eight months easily.

If you love lemon as much as I do, you've got to try these!

Honey Garlic Crackers

Gluten free honey garlic crackers are made with freshly ground black rice flour, potato flour and psyllium. Each bite is an explosion of garlic, honey and the earthiness of black rice.

Growing up, after school snack at Grandma and Grandpa's was always a plate of Triscuits. I loved those things (and still do) - provided they were the original, real-deal, full salt kind. Since then, I still love a snack of crackers, usually spread with a Toast Topper. Usually, my crackers are pretty plain and boring, but it never really occurred to me to just make my own. Sure, I've done crackers as Christmas gifts and the like, but for me? Never thought of it.

Inspiration struck in the form of a bag of black rice (not the purplish sticky kind often called Forbidden Rice, which I also have, but inky black Chinese black rice) and the dregs of a bottle of buckwheat honey. I love honey garlic tofu on rice, so why not make a honey garlic rice cracker? I busted out the Mockmill attachment for my stand mixer and got to grinding, then added a little potato flour and psyllium for cohesion, the garlic powder (fresh would be too wet and would burn) and the honey. From experience, I know that most doughs - gluten free especially - benefit from a rest, so I spent a half hour heating my oven while it hung out in the bowl. 

Rolling and cutting was somewhat challenging - unlike regular dough this doesn't "stretch" and is prone to breaking - but by rolling and cutting on the cookie sheet you eliminate the risky "transfer" between cutting board and tray. 

They smelled awesome while baking - almost like my favourite Chinese food place growing up - and once they were cooled I grabbed a taste. Excellent on their own, even better with more honey on top (what can I say, I have a sweet tooth), and even great with sour cherry jam! My mom had a few spread with peanut butter alongside a bowl of curry and gave it the thumbs up too. All that taste and full of the antioxidants and iron from the whole grain rice!

Scotchy Peach Sauce

Can you GO wrong with peaches, dark caramel and scotch? Didn't think so!

August has arrived, and with it, the glory of Ontario peaches. I realize that fresh peaches are available in every supermarket all year round, but not only are they prohibitively expensive, they're just not very good. In all honesty, I don't touch peaches in any form until I have a basket of Niagara freestones in my hand, and while either IQF or pouched fruit is infinitely better than canned, I still prefer to use them in preserves or pies, rather than having to eat them with a fork. Let's face it - Summer peaches are intended to be eaten leaning over the sink, or wearing a bathing suit with the immediate intention of jumping in the lake.

The downside to all this sticky, juicy goodness is that fresh, ripe peaches simply don't last that long. Even with three of us in the house eating peaches everyday, the huge baskets that we buy for a (relative) song at the market simply seem to never empty! Faced with the first few, almost-too-far-gone fruits, I knew it was time to get canning - and with the taste of the peach nectar almost like a fruity caramel, I wanted to see if I could, in fact, make a caramel-kissed preserve. I found a basic recipe on Martha Stewarts' website, which I decided to use even though I've struggled with some of her formulas before, and changed up the sugars to bring even more caamel-molasses notes to the party. Because nothing adds a touch of elegance like good-quality vanilla, I added a bit of my homemade stuff, and finally a shot of Scotch turned things in my mind from "caramel" to "butterscotch". While there is no dairy in the recipe (making either caramel or butterscotch a misnomer), it is definitely rich, and perfect to top ice cream (I suggest cherry or butter pecan) or plain yogurt if you want something lighter.

Please note, though - there is "raw" alcohol in this, so keep it from the kids (as if they'll see it at all!)

White Chocolate Cherry Cookies

A shot of cherry drink mix turns these white chocolate-studded cookies a vibrant pink.

I'm going to preface this by saying there's pretty much nothing "healthy" about these cookies. I mean, they're essentially the Unicorn Frappuccino of the cookie world - nothing in nature is that pink.

But that's not to mean they're not tasty. Ohh, no. Every once in a while nothing but a true dessert-y indulgence will satisfy, and these cookies also invoked the "kid" in me. Pretty much everyone I know who grew up in the USA or Canada drank at least some Kool Aid in their formative years, and while my parents were of the "half the sugar" club I do have to say it made fantastic, tongue-staining popsicles. They, along with strawberry shortcakes on our back deck, were the highlight of many summers with friends.

Thinking about making an almost "cotton candy" cookie with the powder was intriguing, and a great way to say adios to summer. I found a pretty basic cookie recipe online and played around a bit, not only adding the unsweetened powder but a dash of honey for chewiness, cake flour for an almost melt-in-your-mouth tenderness and white chocolate chips for their unabashed sweetness.

With Summer at it's height, and carnivals cropping up everywhere, these cookies are a great way to toss your baking hat into the ring. If nothing else, the kids will adore the colour and sweet cherry taste, while the grown up kids will have a hint of nostalgia for their "long lost" childhoods.