Gluten, Egg and Coconut Free Strawberry Shortcakes

Almost a month ago, Mr. Bean and I headed out to the Island, for ten (!!) lovely days of not working. It seems that every time that I go on vacation there I earn it. Like “my project manager is away, I’m the one who has to carry these drawings to be issued for construction, attend a kick off meeting by myself (while never having been to one or meeting the client before) and overall crazy-busy-ness with lots of overtime.” Fun! Needless to say, it was a well deserved holiday.

Unsurprisingly, food is a very large part of our vacations and I LOVE how good the produce is out there. On our first day, we went to the grocery store and this is pretty much a good picture of what happened: “MR BEAN – LOOK at these STRAWBERRIES! They look like REAL STRAWBERRIES!” Yep, I’m definitely from a land-locked province where strawberries are gassed to ripen on their trip over the Rockies.

We bought a lot of strawberries, and instead of just eating them plain or with breakfast, I decided to do something with the them: make strawberry shortcake! I’ve made strawberry shortcake before, but I used coconut milk cream. Me and coconuts aren’t really getting along these days and my parent’s don’t have an electric mixer at the cottage anyways, so I thought I would try something different – using goats milk yogurt!

Not quite the usual dairy free fare I usually make, but goats milk doesn’t seem to bother me as much as cow’s milk, so I thought I’d give it a try. Feel free to use other dairy free yogurt if you desire to suit your needs.

These are super simple to make – just make your favourite plain biscuit recipe then add yogurt and strawberries. Healthy, simple and delicious! The strawberries were sweet enough to counter the tartness of the yogurt and each little shortcake makes a delicious, low sugar snack or breakfast!

Gluten, Egg and Coconut Free Strawberry Shortcakes

Strawberries
Greek Style Goats Yogurt (I used Liberte Goat Yogurt)

2 c. gluten free flour mix (there were made with Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose GF flour mix, but if I were at home I would have used 2/3 c. brown rice flour, 2/3 c. sorghum flour and 2/3 c. starch)
1 tsp. xathan gum
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar (optional)
~6 tbsp. margarine
1 c. almond milk (Or other dairy-free milk)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Measure out milk and add apple cider vinegar and set aside.
3. Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl.
4. Cut in margarine with a knife and then your fingers until all the margarine is pea-sized.
5. Stir in milk until just combined.
6. Drop onto a lined or greased cookie sheet (you could roll/pat out & cut biscuits into circles, but I’m lazy) and bake for ~12-15 minutes or until biscuits are starting to turn golden brown.
7. Let cool on a rack until room temperature.
8. While the biscuits are cooking, slice up your strawberries.
9. Once ready to fill, slice biscuit in half, scoop a dollop of yogurt onto both sides of your biscuit, fill with sliced strawberries and then assemble.
10. You could add honey if you want to, but I found the strawberries were sweet enough!
11. Enjoy!

What’s your favourite things to do with fresh strawberries?

SRC: Kudos Kitchen by Renee Peanut Butter Banana Bread

For this month’s Secret Recipe Club, I had Renee of Kudo’s Kitchen by Renee. Renee is a super creative person – she is incredibly talented at painting on glass – I am so impressed with everything she does! On top of that, she has tons of tasty looking recipes such as this rainbow chicken salad, bangers and mash and orange creme brulee. Plus, she has Boston Terriers – my kind of gal!

I chose to make her Peanut Butter Banana Loaf. I asked Mr. Bean if he would cry about it -  to which he replied “Only tears of joy”. Secret Recipe Club Choice for the win! As usual, I did adapt it – I reduced the sugar by 1 cup, made it gluten free, used egg replacer instead of the eggs and dairy-free margarine instead of butter. I didn’t have any coconut extract and many honey roasted peanuts have gluten in them, so I added some shredded coconut. Even with all those changes, it still turned out great and was super tasty! It’s a perfect breakfast loaf – not too sweet, has lots of fibre and protein and goes really well with a little margarine and a cup of tea.

Gluten Free Vegan Peanut Butter Banana Bread

2/3 c. brown rice flour
2/3 c. sorghum flour
1/3 c. tapioca starch
1/3 c. potato starch
1 tsp. xathan gum
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking powder
4 bananas, mashed
2 egg replacers (1 tbsp. egg replacer powder + 1/4 c. almond milk)
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 c. smooth peanut butter at room temperature (I used Kraft unsweetened creamy that I wanted to use up)
1/2 c. dairy free margarine, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 – 2 tbsp. almond milk
1/3 c. shredded unsweetened coconut

1. Line a 5 x 9″ pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together flours, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the mashed bananas, egg replacers and brown sugar.
4. Whisk in peanut butter, margarine, vanilla, apple cider vinegar and almond milk.
5. Stir in flour with a wooden spoon. Once combined, stir in coconut.
6. Scrape into pan and smooth top.
7. Bake in oven for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in a few places comes out clean.
8. Remove from pan and parchment paper and allow to cool before slicing.
9. Enjoy!

If you want to make this non vegan, you can substitute the egg replacer with two eggs. If you don’t want to make it gluten free, use 2 c. of wheat flour for the flours & xathan gum and if you’re using eggs, reduce the baking powder to 1/2 tsp. and don’t add the apple cider vinegar.

Renee, it was great to have your blog and have the opportunity to witness all of your creativity! I look forward to trying more of your recipes!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes by clicking the link below!

SRC: Lavender and Lovage’s Fresh Orange Cake with Citrus Buttercream

For April’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Karen of Lavender and Lovage. Karen is an English cook who loves to share British recipes and French inspired recipes that look AMAZING! Looking through her blog, I was so impressed with all the gorgeous things she’d make for tea time - a quintessential English practise. I definitely need to get more tea time in my life!

She has TONS of amazing looking recipes including these Little Victoria Lemon Daisy Cakes, this Victorian Spring Posy Cake, this sticky Ginger Marmalade Loaf and this beautiful looking fruit salad. She also has a ton of recipes using her mom’s lemon curd and she even has a recipe for strawberry curd! Yum!

I have to admit that I was really only looking at her sweet recipes as I was looking for something to make as a birthday cake for myself and Karen didn’t disappoint. After much debating, I ended up choosing her Fresh Orange Cake with Citrus Buttercream. It’s a variation of her Victoria Sandwich Cake – a sponge cake that can be made into any size that you want as all the ingredients used (butter/margarine, sugar, flour) are the same weight as the eggs used . The original recipe calls for 4 eggs, but I used 3 and it was pretty easy to adapt. I couldn’t quite convince myself to use the full measurements of margarine and sugar, so I reduced them a bit. I debated trying to make this egg free, but I wouldn’t have know how to adapt it given how the recipe is made.

The buttercream originally had lemon curd in it, but it isn’t quite as readily available in Canada as it is in England, so I substituted a mixture of orange zest, lemon juice and limoncello. I added strawberries in the filling and garnished with one on top.

I can’t wait to try this cake – it looks so tasty! I will be sharing it with my coworkers tomorrow morning as my birthday gift to them, so I’ll get the final verdict then!

Lavender and Lovage’s Fresh Orange Cake

3 free range eggs (215 g)
200 g of margarine
150 g of castor sugar (I used normal white sugar that I made finer in my magic bullet)
215 g of flour (I used a mixture of brown rice, sorghum (~2/3 of the weight) and tapioca and potato starch (~1/3 of the weight)
1 tsp. xathan gum
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
Zest of two oranges
Juice of one orange (probably could have used two)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1. Preheat your oven to 350F and grease and line two 6″ cake pans.
2. Cream margarine and sugar together until fluffy.
3. Add orange zest. Add eggs one at a time until fully combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, gum, leavening and salt. Shift flour into the fat and fold in.
5. Mix in orange juice and vinegar.
6. Divide evenly between both pans and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
7. Let cake sit in the pan for a couple minutes before removing to cool on a cooling rack.
8. Once cool, frost with buttercream icing.

Citrus Buttercream Icing

4oz margarine
8 oz icing sugar
Zest of half an orange
Orange Juice
Lemon Juice
Limoncello

1. Cream margarine and icing sugar.
2. Add orange zest and a mixture of orange juice, lemon juice and limoncello (one tbsp at a time) beating until you reach the desired consistency.
3. Frost cake once it’s cool.

Karen, it was truly a pleasure to look through your blog with all your delicious recipes and gorgeous photos! I felt that I really learned about British Cuisine and look forward to trying more of your recipes!

Please check out the rest of Group D’s recipes below!

SRC: Chocolate and Chilies’ Apple Coffee Cake

For March’s Secret Recipe Club, I was paired with Asiya of Chocolate and Chilies – a fellow Canadian! Asiya started her blog as a way to record of all the recipes that she’s tried and I’d say she’s done a great job at picking delicious recipes and taking great photos of them! She has tons and tons of beautiful, tasty looking recipes like this Spring Greens Risotto, this mango smoothie, these kiwi, lime and coconut muffins and this eggless, machine-less mango ice cream. She even has a coconut oil pie crust recipe and a whole page about substitutions!

After a lot of perusing her beautiful blog, I ended up choosing her Apple Coffee Cake and I wasn’t disappointed with my vegan, gluten free version! In the original recipe, you create a layer of apples, sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon between two layers of cake, but since vegan gluten-free cake batters are usually thicker than their non-vegan glutenated counterparts that just wasn’t going to happen. As a substitute, a tossed the sliced apples in cinnamon and then mixed them into the batter. Since I took this approach, I probably could have added a third apple.

The cake turned out really well! It rose beautifully, and the texture was fluffy and had a good crumb. It was also tasty – I’d definitely make it again, although I’ll add less sugar next time, especially in the topping.

Gluten Free Vegan Apple Coffee Cake

Cake:

2/3 c. each of brown rice and sorghum flours
2/3 c. tapioca starch
1 tsp. xanthan gum
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. dairy free margarine
1/2 c. white sugar
2 egg replacers (1 tbsp powder + 1/4 c. almond milk)
1/2 c. almond milk
1 1/2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 apples, peeled and sliced and tossed in cinnamon (Could use 3)

Topping:
2-3 tbsp. brown rice flour
1 tbsp. dairy free margarine
1/4 c. white sugar (could also use brown/sucanat sugar)
1 tsp. cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9″ cake pan with parchment paper and grease both the parchment paper and pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the topping using your hands. Set aside.
3. Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.
4. Beat margarine and sugar together until fluffy (takes a few minutes.)
5. Add egg replacer and beat until combined.
6. Alternate adding flour and milk to the fat mixture, starting and ending with flour. Add the apple cider vinegar.
7. Mix in the apples. Scrape into the pan and used a spatula to smooth out.
8. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the cake.
9. Bake for about 40 – 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in multiple places comes out dry.
10. Cool on a rack. Can serve warm or room temperature.
11. Enjoy!

Asiya, it was great looking through your blog and I look forward to trying more of your recipes!

Please check out all the other recipes for Secret Recipe Club’s Group D below:

Gluten Free Vegan Valentine Cupcakes

Happy Early Valentine’s Day! In honour of the day of pink, hearts and all things kitsch, I decided to make cupcakes. Pink Cupcakes. Well, they couldn’t be any other colour, could they?

Being me, I wanted them to be healthier(ish), but still tasty. They are based off Cybele Pascal’s Vegan Vanilla Cupcakes recipe from The Allergen-Free Baker’s Handbook (great book & resource!), but I reduced the sugar and added raspberry purée as a swirl to take away some of the sweetness. Many raspberry swirl cupcakes get you to add sugar to the raspberries, but I don’t think that’s necessary.

These cupcakes work well with or without frosting – just make sure that you don’t add tons of it if you’re trying to reduce your sugar intake! (Don’t take a page from Crave Cupcakes. Seriously. No mountain-high icing swirls for me!)

I brought them to work and my coworkers loved them (“this is gluten free? Everything I’ve ever tried that was gluten free was gross, but this is really good!”) – little did they know that they were also vegan!

I asked one of my coworkers how they compared in taste and texture to gluten ones and she said they were fairly similar and that mine were considerably less sweet, which was a good thing. I take that as praise for gluten free vegan baking!

Gluten Free Vegan Raspberry Swirl Cupcakes

1/2 c. Sorghum flour
3/4 c. Brown rice flour
1/2 c. Tapioca starch
1/4 c. Potato starch
1/2 tsp. xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Baking soda
1 c. Almond milk
1 tsp. Apple cider vinegar
1/2 c. Vegan shortening (I used earth balance, which is unfortunately not soy free, but I needed to use it up)
3/4 c. Sugar (could probably use even less as I found them to be quite sweet)
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
1 Tbsp. Powdered egg replacer, whisked with 1/4 c. water
1 c. Frozen raspberries, thawed and mashed (you could purée them in a blender, but why make extra dishes when you don’t have to?)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line muffin tins with paper cups (I made 20 mini cupcakes and 7 larger ones, but I think you could easily do 24 mini cupcakes and six bigger ones. This should make about 12 standard sized cupcakes.)
2. Whisk together dry ingredients. Set aside.
3. Measure out your almond milk and add the vinegar. Stir and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a mixer, beat together the shortening, sugar, egg replacer and vanilla until fluffy, about 2 min.
5. Add flour mixture in three parts and almond milk in two parts alternatively, starting and ending with the flour. Beat until smooth.
6. Scoop a but of batter into each muffin tin (about 1/3 full). Add about a scant tsp of raspberries to the mini cupcakes and a scant Tbsp to the large cupcakes.
7. Cover with batter until tins are 3/4 full. Using a toothpick, swirl the raspberries around the cupcake.
8. Bake in oven for ~14 min for the minis and ~20 min for the larger cupcakes it until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
   Immediately remove from tin onto a cooling rack.
9. Frost once cool, if desired.

Raspberry Frosting

1/2 c. vegan margarine
2+ c. icing sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 – 3 tbsp raspberry purée (left over from cupcakes)

1. Beat the margarine until fluffy.
2. Add icing sugar, vanilla and raspberry purée.
3. Beat until smooth. Add more icing sugar or purée to get the desired consistency.
4. Pipe onto cupcakes with a star tip.
5. Add heart sprinkles if desired.
6. Enjoy!

*I found this amount of frosting to be perfect as I managed to ice all of the cupcakes. As you can see, I tried not to add a ton of frosting, so if you want more on your cupcakes, you’ll need to make more frosting.

What are your plans for Valentine’s Day?