i8tonite

Tag: Dessert

Goodie, Goodie, Gluten Free

Learning How to Make GF Sea Salt Pecan Bars with Indy’s GF Lady, Lydia Bootz Armstrong.

When we moved to Indianapolis from Southern California, we had already been on a gluten-free diet for several years. Before being diagnosed with celiac, doctors couldn’t understand my partner’s overwhelming gastrointestinal pain. The outcome was celiac, which now seems as common as a cold. But it’s actually not.

According to Beyond Celiac, a non-profit dedicated to eradicating the autoimmune disease, they estimate that one in 133 Americans has celiac. However, 83% of individuals with celiac may not even know they have it or are misdiagnosed with another ailment. Another six percent of the general population may have non-celiac gluten sensitivity (NCGS), says the World Journal of Gastroenterology, with symptoms ranging from acute abdominal pain, bloating, constipation and diarrhea. Still, all of this can be managed, states the Celiac Disease Foundation, with a lifelong adherence to a strict gluten-free diet, avoiding anything that contains wheat, rye and barley. While the cause of celiac disease is unknown, it is a genetic issue, handed down along a family line.

I can manage diet adjustments. Besides, a cake is a cake regardless of the flour used; it’s only a different ingredient. There might be some stretch or elasticity missing from the dough. If you toss in chocolate chips, some walnuts and buttercream, it can be as tasty as wheat-based – almond flour, anyone?- and sometimes even better. Pizza crusts made from rice flour offer a lovely chew and crispness, holding toppings even better instead of flopping. Of course, French macaron and marzipan quell a sweet tooth and happen to be made from almond meal, making them gluten-free.

Lydia Bootz Armstrong, Indy’s GF Lady

I was prepared to bake most of our cookies, cakes and breads when we set up a heartland home. However, it turned out to be easier to find wheat-free bakers in the Midwest than on the coasts. While most sell goods at local farmers’ markets, many brick-and-mortars provide tasty alternatives using proprietary blends crafted with tapioca, potato and rice. Baking, indeed, is a science.

This is how I came across Gluten Free Creations and Lydia Bootz Armstrong, a wheat-alternative baker but still uses true-blue butter, sugar and all the other tasty goodies found in confectionaries. While healthy is a good thing, we still wanted the experience of granulated sugar, not substitute sweeteners, no matter how good they might be. I’ve eaten her goods for the better part of the four years we have lived in Indiana.

Why did you start making gluten-free baked desserts? I began when several of my Purdue University Extension colleagues I worked with were celiac or had gluten sensitivities. I enjoy baking, creating things so everyone can eat at special events. The caterers (at work) couldn’t figure out different flours or alternatives for gluten-free, so I started working on transforming recipes from regular wheat flour to gluten-free.

I realized I also needed to be gluten-free, which I discovered. It made it even more urgent for me to dig in and expand, making things gluten-free for me and my family.

When did you start baking? I’ve been cooking since I was young, a little kid. I always enjoyed doing that and making desserts for my family.

When did you start it as a business? I started Gluten-Free Creations nine years ago this past April. It grew out of my desire to have gluten-free baked goods for people who needed something gluten-free that tasted better than in the commercial grocery stores. There were only so many options for local bakeries.

Have you found that gluten-free baked goods have grown? There’s definitely been growth, but only some things have improved with time. There are still plenty of dried, baked goods out there.

What would you like me to ask that I still need to include in your gluten-free story? I’m not the only gluten-free baker in town. I have colleagues, whether they are brick and mortar or from their homes; we all work together. If one of us doesn’t make a particular product, we call upon each other and give the referral. We’re in this work and business together and want everybody to succeed. We try to remember our humble beginnings to serve people who desire something delicious that they can eat without getting sick. It’s great knowing we can support our customers by providing products they enjoy knowing.

I’m glad to be a part of these options available, so that people can have regular everyday lives and enjoy the things they love.

Follow her on Instagram and Facebook.

Gluten Free Sea Salt Pecan Bar

Lydia Armstrong, President and owner of Gluten Free Creations, Inc. Carmel, IN, Makes 8×8 pan. 9 Servings

Ingredients:

1 ⅛ c GF Flour Blend (I use our house blend.)

¾ t baking soda

½ t xanthan gum

½ c Unsalted butter, softened

½ c Brown sugar, firmly packed

¼ c Granulated sugar

1 Egg

¾ t Vanilla extract

1/3 c Sea Salt Caramel Morsels

1/3 c chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ᵒ degrees. Line 8×8 pan completely with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk together GF Flour, baking soda and xanthan gum and set aside.

Combine unsalted butter and both sugars in a mixing bowl; beat on medium speed with mixer until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla extract. Incorporate everything into the mixture. With mixer going, add in flour mix a little at a time until incorporated. Stir in morsels and pecans with spatula.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly with spatula. Place in preheated oven and bake for 25-30 min. Batter will rise during baking, but will “collapse” when finished. Remove pan from oven and place on cooling rack. Once cooled, remove bars by pulling them out by the parchment paper and place on counter/table to cut. Pull parchment away from the sides and cut into 3rds yielding 9 bars. Store in airtight container for up to a week.

October 19, 2023
i8tonite: My Favorite Recipe from 2015: French Apple Cake and Becoming Us
Photo: Michael Stern

I8tonite is simply about food. On the surface, we hope — along with the contributors — to engage the reader in what chefs cook, what makes them human and why they love their profession. (Chefs love their work.) We want to share new recipes we’ve discovered and talk to food industry people. We want to learn. As we’ve said in several posts – without food, we can’t be artistic, physical, intellectual or emotional. Food, water, and shelter are fundamental human needs.

Underneath, we want food to be a main topic of discussion – whether it’s becoming a vegan, how to butcher a pig, pick coffee beans or discuss biodynamic wineries – but try and leave the politics out of it.I8tonite is not meant to be solely a cooking blog. As the creator of this blog, I don’t have that warehouse of culinary knowledge. Although, I do have a vast amount of food experience including working as a waiter and bartender as well as in hospitality marketing. From these practices – which meant a lot of travel – I ate very well and learned cooking techniques from culinary teachers including Michelin-starred chefs, well-known cookbook authors, and international epicurean eateries.

Photo: Michael Stern

Working in restaurants taught me another thing: chefs love other chefs. They admire the work of their peers. Therefore, I8tonite is meant to be a storehouse of what other chefs and people in the food industry are cooking – for the professional and the home cook. I8tonite will not only focus on chefs who have publicists, but the unheralded cooks are who are chopping onions somewhere in Peoria, Arizona or Ubud, Bali.

In the five months, since I’ve devoted myself to i8tonite, the blog has amassed unique monthly views of over 12,000. How? Well, I’m a damned good marketer plus i8tonite was meant to be different. It’s supposed to showcase the cook as a creative individual and where they get their inspiration. It’s also meant to inspire by learning what and who inspires them. For me, there is no better indication of who you are than by what you eat.

Photo: Michael Stern

The other key to the blog is that I cook religiously. Others go to church, I go to a stove. People can quote scripture from their chosen faith, I can recite a recipe. Same thing…but not. The commonality resides in a spiritual devotion.

As the readership develops, we grow and learn together. With i8tonite; I want people to become motivated by the chefs, food people and places we cover. Editorially, we want the reader to get inspired by the individual behind the recipe’s development, and then possibly become creative themselves and write a cookbook, a cooking blog, become a chef, start a garden, or just become a more conscious eater.

# # #

Photo: Nolan Williamson

As my parting gift to 2015, I wanted to share my Favorite Recipe of the Year: Dorie Greenspan’s French Apple Cake from her cookbook Around My French Table. I’ve made it about a dozen times, and it’s now committed to memory. I also played around with the fruit and the required liquors which are not necessary but hey – everything is good with a glug or three.

It was a close contest between cake and poultry. I thought about Sascha Martin’s Hungarian Paprikash –I make it almost weekly — found in her memoir “Life from Scratch,” a book full of hope and lovely recipes. Ultimately, sweet won out over savory and adaptability over dependability. Regardless, they are both delicious. I encourage you to read Martin’s book and her blog: Global Table Adventure. Both are memorable

Dorie Greenspan’s French Apple Cake

Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch of salt
- 4 large apples (if you can, choose 4 different kinds)
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons dark rum
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
Other adaptations and suggestions:
- Chopped crystallized ginger and substituting Bloomery Sweetshine’s Ginger or Domaine de Canton for the bourbon.
- Calvados, a brandy made from apples, is also an excellent choice instead of the dark rum.
- Pineapple and peaches can be used in place of the apples. The cake will still be moist.
Let’s Make This Puppy:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch Springform pan and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet parchment paper.
- In small bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt
- Peel, core and cut the apples into 1- to 2-inch chunks.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk until they’re foamy. Pour in the sugar and mix for a minute or so to blend. Add the liquor and vanilla.
- Stir in half the flour and when it is incorporated, add half the melted butter, followed by the rest of the flour and the remaining butter
- Fold gently after each addition so that you have a thick batter.
- Add the apples fold in the apples, rotating the fruit so that it’s coated with batter.
- Scrape the mix into the springform. Flatten the top so it becomes even in the pan and along the sides.
- Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean; the cake may pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Run a butter knife around the edges of the cake before removing the pan.
The End. Go Eat.
December 28, 2015
No Cook Thanksgiving But If I Were…..

I stopped cooking Thanksgiving meals about 5 years ago. I know, I know. It’s one of the big days that all caliber of cooks want to shine showcasing their adeptness in the kitchen, commercial or home. If you know anything about me, cooking is one my favorite of the things. Therefore, you would think that I would be all over this but I’m not. Not anymore. I stopped cooking for the holiday when I was ending a decade plus relationship that entailed my work and my personal life. I also moved from San Francisco, where I lived for 3 years, back to Los Angeles at the same time. (Hey, no one ever said that I liked to do it easy). That first Thanksgiving, as a single man, turned out to be a horrible experience as I was invited to eat at one of my ex’s friend with their 30 plus dinner guests. My only excuse for going was I that I was still delirious from the break-up.

With each progressive year, I feel less and less like big festivities. This year, I think it’s just Nick, Holly, JJ and my mother. I don’t really think of the holiday as exceptional anymore but I celebrate it quietly with people who love me and I, them.

At the heart of it all, Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday and New Year’s Eve clustered together in a 6 week period, is that I really just want to spend quality time with the people whom I cherish. I don’t want to wrapped up in a kitchen anymore for the entire day. Let someone else shine and enjoy learning about cooking. (To brine or not to brine? Fried or not to fry? Oysters in the stuffing or sausage?) I’ve made a lot of turkeys, roasts and hams in my life and I’m now willing to give up the “big star” turn to others. Cooking quietly, simple easy meals on a daily basis.

However, if I were to cook for a dinner of 8 to 10 (LOL), this is what I would make and why:

Butternut Squash Soup: Simplicity. Ease and elegance. Besides, Butternut Squash Soup screams fall!

Roasted Turkey Stuffed with Prunes: Mario Batali’s way of cooking a large bird is ingenious. Have your butcher remove the bones and use them for stock and gravy. Beautiful. Easy. Delicious and quick.

Homemade Bread: There is nothing in the world like homemade bread. Nothing. It can be made two or three days in advance and frozen. Just one of the most beautiful things ever. No Knead Bread is revelatory.

Salad: If I were making the dinner, the recipe for this Kale, Fennel and Apple Salad would be it. And I would leave it at this. It feels very European this meal. A protein. Bread. Salad. Soup.

This would be the meal. You don’t have to do too many things. If you want to throw in a traditional dish of roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes, go for it.

Oh, but don’t forget for dessert. HA! I don’t make a lot sweet things and there are reasons for it. I don’t want it around because I will eat it…ALL…but if I find something sweet and light.

Sparkling water and flat. Always.

White Wine: Duckhorn or Cade Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley. Both are perfect wines for cocktails and for the first course. Lovely and herbaceous.

Red Wine: Oregon’s Sokol Blosser Pinot is lovely for this dinner. Light, bodied, earthy red with hints of cherry.

Beer: Brouwerij West “Saison”. Not to hoppy, excellent flavor, Belgian-style beer. Craft beer made in Los Angeles.

Happy Turkey Day. Enjoy your family, friends and food!

November 14, 2014
The Humble “Crumble” or Just a “Crisp”
I have written many times that my mother wasn’t really a cook. She was a working, single mother and it wasn’t really in her repertoire to cook. Occasionally, she would make a meatloaf or the requisite holiday dinner but normally it was a sandwich, doughnuts, Kraft Mac & Cheese, possibly a can of Campbell’s Pork and Beans (very Sandra Lee).

It wasn’t until I moved to New York City that my taste buds began to experience real food and cooking. One of my teachers in my gastronomic learning was my roommate, Teresa. Born in Massachusetts, outside of Boston, from a family of 9, she quickly became someone I thought of as a family member; plus, she loved to cook. She made simple American dishes like “baking soda biscuits”, roasted chicken and made delicious “Apple Brown Betty” which is what she called it. Really it was just a “crumble” also known as a “crisp”.

Brought over by English settlers, a crumble or crisp, is baked fruit topped with a crust of sugar, butter and flour. And one of the most amazing things in the American cooking world. It’s a simple concoction that conjures up Norman Rockwell scenes: kids frolicking in freshwater lakes, post an afternoon of strawberry picking or climbing apple trees, yanking down bushels of apples. (None of which I experienced growing up in Baltimore. Besides, I had never seen a berry plant much less an apple tree in the urban Seventies landscape.)

It was Teresa’s Irish family cooking which opened me to this bit of Americana. I can still smell the baking aromatics of cinnamon and nutmeg with the sweetness of the apples. She would pull it from the oven still bubbling hot and top it with some cheap ice cream bought at one of the local bodegas.

It sort of came back to me when I was moving. I was triggered to make a crisp for me and Nick. It’s funny how doing something can make you want to do something else. A move is stressful and I wanted to eat something nostalgic, when I thought life was simpler like living in New York City and being a club kid. (LOL)

You will need:
- 2 pounds of hulled and sliced fresh strawberries
- 2 or 3 cups of fresh blueberries
- 3 tbs. of cornstarch
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- ¾ cups flour
- ¾ cups quick-cooking oatmeal
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg (optional)
- ½ cups Butter
To Make:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put the berries into a large bowl. Toss berries with cornstarch. Butter a 10″ glass pie plate or loaf pan and place the berries inside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the brown sugar, flour, rolled oats and cinnamon. Cut butter into the dry mix until resembling “crumbles”. Place over top of the berries.

Bake for 45-55 minutes with a rimmed baking sheet just in case it bubbles over.(Hate having to clean an oven!)

Serve warm with your choice of ice cream…vanilla is probably my choice because it’s tasty and doesn’t conflict with the berries. You can top with some homemade whip cream. (Add a touch of bourbon to the cream….whoo- hoo!)
August 6, 2014