Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes/Muffins, Paleo

I've been trying out a bunch of new blueberry recipes lately, trying to take advantage of our temporary bounty, and I finally found a successful Blueberry muffin! Before my paleo days I had a ridiculous amount of trouble finding a decent blueberry muffin recipe. A few of my memorable attempts were soapy, gummy, or too dense. One mildly successful batch even tasted like blueberry popovers. I've found paleo desserts to be far more reliable, and would suggest these muffins to any baker with coconut flour on hand.

Blueberry Lemon Cupcakes/Muffins
Servings: 12

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 large eggs
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup agave nectar
2 tablespoons lemon zest, firmly packed (2 to 3 lemons)
1 cup blueberries, frozen or fresh

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 12 muffins cups with paper liners (Watch out for soy ink if you're allergic! We use bridal white muffin tins these days)
2. In a large bowl, combine the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, grapeseed oil, agave nectar, and lemon zest. Blend the wet ingredients into the coconut flour mixture with a handheld mixer UNTIL THOROUGHLY COMBINED (took longer than I expected), then fold in the blueberries.
3. Scoop 1/4 cup of batter into each prepared muffin cup.
4. Bake for 22 to 26 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the cneter of a cupcake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 1 hour, then frost and serve.

Source
From "Gluten Free Cupcakes" by Elana Amsterdam, pg. 47

Note: Elana recommends lemon cream cheese frosting or whipped cream frosting (see Cupcake book), since both recipes include unavoidable quantities of dairy, I haven't put them in.  They tasted delicious without any topping.

Blueberry Pie, Paleo

I LOVE Blueberry Pie, so with the bushes outside packed with berries, and I fully equipped kitchen, I was ready to make pie until my supplies ran out. I was incredibly dismayed therefore when I realized that none of my paleo cookbooks had a straightforward blueberry pie recipe, and the internet let me down as well. Instead of trying to turn blueberry peach crumble into something resembling a pie, I decided to adapt a recipe my sister uses for her regular gluten free pie. The result was amazing (though I suspect now that I could have simply poured a pile of blueberries into a pie crust and my family still would have been satisfied).


Blueberry Pie
Servings: 8

Pie Crust
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
2 tablespoons agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Pie Filling
5 cups fresh wild blueberries (a mix of wild, cultivated, and store bought works fine)
1/4 cup coconut sugar (more or less works fine, cut out completely for sugar free)
1/4 cup arrowroot starch
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F
PIE CRUST:
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave nectar, and vanilla extract. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Press the dough into
a 9 1/2 inch or deep dish pie pan

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool before filling.

Note: When cooking the entire pie, the almond flour crust tends to burn very easily. Since it will be in the oven for over an hour total, I tend to cover the edges in tin foil. They still crisp to a dark brown, but don't blacken.


FILLING:
In a large bowl, mix blueberries, sugar, arrowroot, lemon juice, and salt. (I tend to mix the blueberries, sugar, arrowroot, and salt together first and then add the lemon, otherwise it clumps up quite a bit)

If you haven't already, make and bake the crust

Pour filling into prepared crust.

Bake pie in preheated oven for about 60 minutes.

Let cool on counter afterwards for at least 10 minutes, refrigeration before cutting is strongly advised if you want the filling to solidify.

Sources:
Pie crust is from "The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook" by Elana
Amsterdam, pg. 79
Crust makes one 9 1/2 inch crust (can be stretched out to 10 1/2 inch and
scrunched down to 9 in)
Pie filling is adapted from a Living Without online recipe, June/July 2009.

Bette's Bean Waffle's

I've spent years searching for the best possible Pancake or Waffle recipe, and I've realized that there is no perfect recipe. Pamela's has a wonderful mix, Ricotta pancakes and waffles are light and fluffy if you are okay with dairy, and there are countless other recipes depending on whether you're in a hurry, or in the mood for something elaborate. I've settled on this one for when I have plenty of time in the morning and want to make something dependably delicious. This recipe works well for pancakes or waffles, though the pancakes will be super thick and fluffy and take a bit longer than usual to cook. Adding more water would probably make for thinner pancakes. The recipe works well with or without dairy, and the flour mix is very forgiving.

taken from "The Gluten Free Gourmet Bakes Bread" by Bette Hagman

DRY INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose Flour Mix*
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 cup dry milk powder (substitute almond meal or soy milk powder for DF)
• 1 tsp egg replacer
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbs brown sugar
• 1/4 cup shortening

WET INGREDIENTS

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk (or water)

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine the flour mix, xanthan gum, milk powder, Egg Replacer, baking powder, salt and brown sugar in your mixing bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter or fork.
2. Beat the egg yolks until light. Beat the whites to soft peaks. Set aside.
3. Add most of the liquid to the dry mix until well incorporated. Use the remaining as needed to get the consistency of cake batter. Stir in the egg yolks. Gently fold in the whites. Spoon onto a hot waffle iron and bake.

VARIATION: (Never tried this, but it's in the original recipe)

MACADAMIA WAFFLES: If you don't use the almond meal, add 3 tablespoons macadamia nuts that have been chopped and roasted in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.


* I use Bob's Red Mill Mix because I keep massive amounts on hand and it is very convenient and easily adaptable. However, if you keep a mix of your own then it should work just fine in this recipe. The original version calls for a "Four Flour Bean Mix," so if you just keep flours on hand, and want a basis to work off of it is: Four Flour Bean Mix, 1 cup rice flour, 1 cup tapioca flour, 1 cup cornstarch, and 1 tbs potato flour. Note: potato flour is different from potato starch, it is often used as a thickener.