Lemon Thyme and Ginger

Good Morning Glory Muffins

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

One project of mine is to develop my knowledge and skills for baking with less sugar and develop recipes using no refined sugar. The challenging part of baking without refined sugars is, often sugar has more than one function in a recipe, especially in baked goods. Sugar not only adds flavor, it helps develop the structure and texture in desserts. Whipping sugar and butter together makes cakes and cookies that are tender, light and airy as well as tasting sweet. So, when baked goods do not contain refined sugar it is easy to create a dense and dry muffin, cake or cookie. I believe I averted that challenge and created my first low sugar / no refined sugar muffin with my Good Morning Glory Muffins. These muffins are loaded with healthy and fresh ingredients, and naturally sweetened and moist. They are tender without being weighted down from all the fresh ingredients. A great breakfast to start your day.

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Traditional Morning Glory Muffins are easily adapted to a no refined sugar recipe because the grated carrots add a subtle sweet flavor. It also combines all-purpose and whole wheat flours in the recipe. For my recipe, in addition to using grated carrots, I added grated zucchini, grated apples, apple sauce and Medjool dates. The grated carrots, zucchini, and apples I used for texture and flavor, while the applesauce and dates help sweeten the muffins.  Apples and dates have a lot of natural sugar and melt when baked into muffins and cakes. They also have a lot of fiber. This helps slow down the digestion which is important to anyone who is counting carbs or watching their blood sugar.

The grated zucchini, grated apples and applesauce provide a lot of moisture. To prevent the muffins from getting soggy, I recommend squeezing out some of the water in the zucchini and apple. You do not have to squeeze them dry but getting rid of most of the water is helpful in creating a tender muffin.

What experts know about reducing sugaring baking recipes from Food 52

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Good Morning Glory Muffins

What I like about these Morning Glory Muffins is they are moist without being heavy and have subtle flavors including the sweetness. You definitely will taste the wheat, but it is not dry tasting. How sweet the muffins tastes depend on how well the chopped dates are incorporated throughout the muffin batter. I do not believe they need more dates in the muffins, otherwise they would be too sweet. Also, Good Morning Glory Muffins are hearty muffins without being heavy, so they won’t weigh you down.

Normally I love bold flavors, but with this recipe the spices create a deliberate subtle flavor profile. Even though I believe there is no such thing as too much fresh ginger, I wanted that flavor to come intermittently between bites like a surprise citrusy-ginger wake up call. The cinnamon is subtle as well, so it won’t over take the muffin flavor. However, each spice is easily adjusted to suit your taste. Often, cinnamon and fresh ginger contribute a sweet flavor in baked goods even though by themselves they are not sweet at all.

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Switch it Up

When I first taste tested my Morning Glory Muffins, I thought they needed extra sweetener, so I added a small amount of honey. However, if the dates are evenly mixed in the batter, each muffin should taste sweet without the extra honey. I do not recommend adding more honey as the flavor will overpower the muffins. You can substitute the honey with maple syrup or agave syrup. If you want less sugar, please feel free to omit the honey or, keep the honey and reduce the amount of dates to 3.

Also, to keep these Morning Glory Muffins in the low sugar category, I did not add raisins. Like dates, raisins contain a lot of natural sugar and I was concerned adding them it would make the muffins too sweet. If you are not concerned about the amount of sugar in your muffin add no more than a 1/2 cup (125 ml) of raisins and you will enjoy a sweeter muffin more characteristic to a traditional Morning Glory Muffin.

Grated unsweetened coconut is also a nice addition adding another element in texture and flavor. Add up to a 1/2 cup (125 ml) unsweetened flaky coconut.

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Determining when the Good Morning Glory Muffins are done

The hardest part about making these muffins is determining when they are done. Because of the amount of vegetables in the recipe and all the moisture from the zucchini, apples and eggs the traditional toothpick test is not reliable here because the batter does not cling to the toothpick. However, I still recommend using a toothpick to check for doneness. Instead of looking at the toothpick to see if there is any wet batter clinging to it, touch the end with your finger tips to feel if it is sticky and moist. If it is, the muffins need to continue baking. When the tooth pick feels on the dry side of moist and is not sticky, the Morning Glory Muffins are done.

Additional clues the muffins are done baking are the color and if the muffins spring back when you lightly touch the muffin tops. They should have a nice golden brown color and spring back into shape after you touch the muffin tops.

Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Nutritional Information for Good Morning Glory Muffins

According to My Fitness Pal calorie and nutrition calculator, when made according to my recipe each muffin has 203 calories. Has 7 grams of fat (11% DRV), of which 1 gram is saturated fat, 4 grams are monounsaturated fat and 2 grams of polyunsaturated fat, plus 0 trans-fat. Each muffin has 31 grams of cholesterol (10% DRV) which comes from the eggs. All other ingredients do not contain any cholesterol. Other nutritional points of interest are: Sodium 143 mg (6% DRV), potassium 217 mg (6% DRV), total carbohydrates at 34 g (11% DRV), with dietary fiber at 7 g (30% DRV), and sugar at 10 g. Also, each muffin contains 4 g (8% DRV) of protein, 41% Vitamin A, 16% Vitamin C, 15% Calcium and 10% Iron.

Because of the power of the sugar lobby, nutritional labels do not show the Daily Recommended Value (DRV) for sugar. If must be a concerning percentage if the sugar industry does not want us to know. I was hoping to get these muffins in the single digits, but with 7 grams of dietary fiber I believe they are relatively low in sugar.

More recipes using no refined sugar or less sugar.

Cocoa Banana Nut Bars

Low Fat Granola  you can adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe by reducing the amount of dried fruit. Using fresh ginger instead of crystallized ginger is also a great way to cut back on the sugar.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies 

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Good Morning Glory Muffins recipe.

Good Morning Glory Muffins

This muffin recipe is my adaptation for a low sugar Morning Glory Muffin. There is no refined sugar and are loaded with lots of fresh ingredients like apples, zucchini, sweet carrots and Medjool dates. These muffins are not sweet but will contain some sweet bites depending on how many dates are scattered about in each muffin. They are a delicious and healthy choice for breakfast.

For extra protein, serve with ½ cup (66 ml) low-fat cottage cheese or yogurt. Or Laban a Lebanese cheese made with yogurt.

Best served warm and the day it is made.  Serving size =1 muffin. 

Course Breakfast, Snack
Keyword Morning Glory Muffins, Muffins
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 38 minutes
Total Time 58 minutes
Servings 12 muffins
Author Ginger

Ingredients

  • ½ cup 43 g shelled walnuts
  • 1 ¼ cup 179 g all-purposed flour
  • ¾ cup 120 g whole wheat flour
  • ½ tsp 2 g Kosher salt
  • 2 tsp 10 g baking powder
  • ½ tsp 1 g ground cinnamon
  • ½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg less than a gram
  • 1 ½ tsp minced fresh ginger 7 g
  • 4 Medjool dates 62 g minced
  • 1 zucchini 8 oz / 239 g about 1 2/3 cups grated
  • 2 carrots 6 ½ oz / 185 g 1 packed cup grated
  • 1 apple 6 ½ oz / 185 g ¾ cup grated
  • ½ cup 125 ml apple sauce
  • 2 large eggs lightly beaten
  • 1/3 cup canola oil or 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 TB honey

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F/ 190°C / Gas Mark 5 and place the rack in the middle position. Spray each muffin cup with cooking spray. Soak up any excess oil with a paper towel. Or fill each muffin cup with a paper liner. 

Toast the walnuts

  1. Heat a small skillet over high heat for 4-5 minutes. Add the shelled walnuts to the skillet and shake the skillet to move the walnuts around the pan. Keep the walnuts in motion by moving the skillet back and forth, shake the skillet or toss with a spoon. The walnuts are toasted when you begin to smell a nutty scent, about 30 seconds. Do not let the walnuts brown or burn.

  2. Immediately turn off the heat and pour the walnuts onto a cutting board to cool. Chop the walnuts to small bite size pieces. Set aside.

Prepare the Zucchini and Apple

  1. Place the grated zucchini in a fine mesh strainer and squeeze out most of the excess water. Squeeze several times to get as much water out. Place on a plate and reserve.

  2. Add the grated apples to the fine mesh strainer and squeeze out some of the water from the apples. Place on the plate with the zucchini. Add the grated carrots to the plate. Set aside.

Make the batter

  1. Add the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, Kosher salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, minced ginger to a large mixing bowl. With a wire whisk, stir until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated.

  2. Add the minced dates into the flour and toss the dates around to coat with flour. Use your hands to separate the clumps of chopped dates to get them evenly distributed in the flour.

  3. Slide the grated zucchini, grated carrots, grated apples, and chopped walnuts into the flour mix and stir to mix.

  4. Add the applesauce, canola oil, eggs, vanilla, and honey then stir to mix. Carefully stir until all the ingredients are evenly incorporated. You want to be careful to not over mix the batter, but it does need to get all mixed together. It is a thick batter.

  5. Scoop up a heaping ¼ cup of batter with a dry measuring cup and pour the batter into a muffin tin. Repeat to fill all 12 muffin cups. Divide any remaining batter around to even out the muffins. 

  6. Bake in the oven for 35– 40 minutes, or until the muffins are golden brown and the top of the muffins spring back when touched. Also, when a toothpick is no longer sticky to touch after it was inserted into the center of a muffin. 

  7. Remove from the oven and cool the muffins in its' pan placed on a cooling rack for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, cool in the muffin tin, or remove each muffin and cool on the rack. 

    Best eaten the day they are made, but will last for 2-3 days stored in an air tight container. Reheat in a microwave or oven. 

    Can be frozen individually wrapped in plastic wrap and stored in a Ziploc bag in the freezer for up to one month. 

Recipe Notes

Because there is a lot of fruit and vegetables what have a lot of water it creates a very moist muffin. The traditionally reliable toothpick method of checking to see when a baked good is done, does not work here. No crumbs and batter cling to the toothpick even when they need more baking.

I still recommend using a toothpick, but in a different way. After 30 minutes, insert a toothpick into the middle of a muffin and take it out. Pinch the end of the toothpick that was inside the muffin, if it feels very moist and sticky, the muffins need more time. The muffins are done when the toothpick feels on the dry side of moist, plus is not sticky. These muffins take longer to bake because of the amount of moisture in the batter, anywhere from 35 to 45 minutes. 

Good Morning Glory Muffins. Recipe for tender and moist morning glory muffins made without refined sugar. These muffins are a healthy breakfast choice to start up your day..

© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas and recipe.

When writing my post, Summer Backyard BBQ Menu Ideas, it came to my attention I only have one cookie recipe on my blog. One recipe is not enough, especially when it comes to having easy desserts for summer picnics and backyard barbecues. Cookies are the perfect dessert for bringing on a hike, at the beach, camping, or as a hostess gift for a weekend at the beach. Kitchen Sink Oatmeal Cookies is a family favorite, but I wanted to make cookies that are a little different and have a broad appeal. Chocolate is my all-time favorite dessert, but in the heat of the summer more chocolate melts in my hand then in my mouth. Yet, peanut butter and peanut butter cookies hold up to the summer sun and provide some protein to fuel us through the long and lazy summer days.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas and recipe.

Peanut Butter Cookies Inspiration

I got my idea to make peanut butter cookies after I read Stella Parks Peanut Butter Cookie recipe in her cookbook, BraveTart. For her peanut butter cookies, she blitzes honey roasted peanuts with the flour to make a soft but textured peanut flour then mixes it into her cookie dough. When I first read this, I was so impressed with Stella Parks ingenuity. It is a brilliant idea and a great way to add extra peanut flavor into cookies without making them dense. Therein lies the cookie challenge, how to add a lot of flavor without turning light and fluffy cookies into door stops. Essentially, turning peanuts into flour adds extra flavor and yet maintains the tender structure.

For some reason, her quick and easy technique of processing honey roasted peanuts with the flour reminded me of my go to sandwich when I was a dancer, peanut butter, honey, and bananas on whole wheat bread. It was the perfect sandwich for the times I needed light, healthy and energizing food to get me through a day of work, dance rehearsal and the final performance on those long 14 hour days on my feet. It may seem like an odd connection but this cookie recipe brought back memories of eating peanut butter honey and banana sandwiches in a dressing room of a proscenium theater.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Banana and recipe

It made me wonder if I could make a cookie reminiscent of the comforting blend of sweet honey, peanuts and banana that I love. To me, it is all about the combined flavor of roasted peanuts and honey and how peanuts make honey taste sweeter, and how honey makes peanut butter nuttier. A perfect marriage of flavors in any form be it a cookie or a sandwich.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas and recipe.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies

By no means is this cookie a substitute for the high protein sandwich. It is a dessert cookie interpretation of simple peanut butter sandwich. I love the combination of peanut butter and honey in any form. I used Stella Parks peanut butter cookie recipe as my foundation, but I made several changes to get more honey flavor in the recipe. Instead of granulated sugar as the sweetener, I combined honey and brown sugar. If I only added honey to the cookies, they could get heavy and dry from the extra flour required to absorb the extra liquid. Also, I decided to use brown sugar to cream with the butter and create a tender cookie.

Other significant changes include using a blend of oat flour and all-purpose flour. The oat flour has a slight nutty-butterscotch flavor I believe highlight the honey and the peanuts. If you wish, you can use only all-purpose flour in the recipe, or only oat flour for a gluten free alternative. The cookies will be more tender without the gluten and only keep the fresh texture for a day or two.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter with Bananas and recipe.

For the banana flavor I kept it simple and used banana chips instead of fresh banana. I was concerned fresh banana mash would make the cookies too dense and moist. Banana chips are a great option, they contribute subtle banana flavor without weighing the cookie down. Even though they are very crunchy, banana chips soften in the cookie dough, and so does the banana flavor. Yet, the banana chips sprinkled on the top of the cookies stay crunchy adding a nice crispy contrast to the soft cookie and banana flavor.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas and recipe.

If you are a fan of peanut butter, you will love these cookies.

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Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas and recipe.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas

Classic peanut butter cookies with a twist. These are moist cookies with great honey roasted peanut flavor. Stella Parks, in her book Brave Tart , shares a genius idea of blitzing honey roasted peanuts with flour in a food processor for extra peanut and honey flavor. Her idea inspired me to make a cookie that replicates the honey roasted flavor of peanuts in one of my favorite sandwiches, Peanut Butter, Honey and Banana. 

Keeping the flavor of this sandwich in mind, I adapted her recipe by incorporating brown sugar, honey, and a mixture of oat flour and all-purpose flour. There is a subtle banana flavor from the banana chips keeping the cookies light and tender. 

If you prefer, use 100% all-purpose flour in the cookie dough. I use oat flour because I like the flavor it adds to the peanuts and honey. 

Store the cookies in an air tight container for a couple of days. 


Course Dessert
Keyword Cookie Recipe, Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Cooking time for all cookies 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 30 cookies
Author Ginger

Ingredients

  • ½ cup 2.5 oz /74 g all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup 2.5 oz / 74 g oat flour
  • 1 ¼ cup 6 oz / 173 g honey roasted salted peanuts plus more for garnish
  • 1 8 TB/ 115 g stick unsalted butter, soft but still cool
  • ½ cup 3.5 oz / 92 g light brown sugar
  • 1 ¼ cup 10 oz / 284 g creamy peanut butter (natural with no sugar or other additives)
  • ¾ tsp Kosher salt
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¾ tsp baking soda
  • 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg well beaten
  • Heaping ½ cup 2 oz / 57 g dried banana chips, rough chopped more for garnish

Instructions

  1. Pre-heat oven to 325°F / 160°C / Gas Mark 3. Place the oven rack in the middle and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. Place the all-purpose flour and honey roasted peanuts in a bowl of a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground, about one minute. If your food processor bowl has an 8 cup (2 liter) capacity, you can add both the all-purpose flour and oat flour at one time. If your bowl is small, about 3 cups (750 ml) then it is best to divide the flour in half and process the peanuts and flour in a couple of batches.  Once the flours and peanuts are finely ground, set aside. 

  3. Add the butter and brown sugar into a bowl of a stand mixer, or large mixing bowl if you are using a hand-held mixer. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed, until light and airy, about 3 minutes. Every minute or so, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

  4. Add the honey, peanut butter, salt, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and beat until mixed together on medium speed, about 1 minute. Half way through, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl then continue beating the batter. Slowly add half of the beaten egg to the mix and beat until completely mixed in. Add the remaining egg and thoroughly mix until well incorporated.

  5. Turn the speed down to low and add the peanut flour into the bowl. While the flour and batter are mixing turn up the speed to medium and mix until just incorporated. Make sure to not over-mix the batter.

  6. Remove the bowl from the stand and stir in the banana chips until just incorporated. The batter will look soft and feel slightly sticky.
  7. Divide the cookie dough into one ounce portions, one heaping tablespoon, and arrange on the prepared baking sheets spaced 2 inches (5 cm) apart. (I fit six cookies on my baking sheets, but you could squeeze in 8 if you are not worried about the cookie edges touching).

  8. Sprinkle honey roasted peanuts and broken banana chip pieces over the top of each cookie and place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Half way through baking, rotate the baking pans front to back, and top to bottom for even browning and baking.

  9. Remove the cookies from the oven when they are just starting to brown around the edges, be careful not to over bake. Rest the cookies for 10 minutes on the baking pans, then remove each cookie to a cooling rack with a spatula.
  10. Makes 30 cookies.
  11. Switch it up:

    Add dark or white chocolate (or both) chunks to the batter.

    Try some raisins with the banana chips.

    Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of each cookie before baking.

    Substitute Reese’s Pieces or peanut butter cups for the banana chips. 

    Gluten Free: substitute the all-purpose flour with oat flour.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas. Recipe for peanut butter cookies made with honey roasted peanuts, They are light and full of that warm honey peanut butter flavor topped of with banana chips. Gluten free option available in recipe.

© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Nut Crust

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

An amazing event happened last week just in time for Mother’s Day. My friend Tami became a grandma. Tami’s daughter gave birth to a healthy 7 plus pound baby boy and both mom and baby are doing fine. She is the first of my friends from Yorktown to become a Grandma and because it is Mother’s Day this weekend, I wanted to honor her and her growing family with a gluten free strawberry tart. Tami, Alissa and her husband Victor are a great support to me and my blog and I am grateful for their continued interest and encouragement. A month ago, Tami sat by and watched as our book club friends ate two strawberry tarts I was testing. Now, it is Tami’s and her family’s turn to dig in and enjoy a gluten free nut crust tart filled with strawberry rhubarb jam and fresh strawberries.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart

My inspiration comes from a recipe in Jacques Pépin’s cookbook, Essential Pépin. His raspberry tart uses a pâte sucrée dough that he rolls out then shapes the tart by hand on a baking sheet. Once baked, the tart is filled with a layer of jam and fresh berries. Jacques Pépin makes everything look so easy. I am always in awe when I watch a video of him roll out pie dough in under 2 minutes like it is as familiar to him as his own hand.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

 Gluten Free Tart Pastry

Gluten free strawberry tart is a gluten free and nut version of a traditional sweet cookie pastry dough. I used white rice flour for its’ neutral flavor, butter, sugar, and ground and peeled pistachios. This is a very different gluten free nut pastry dough from the crust in my Double coconut pie . That pie crust is made with all nuts and egg whites, like a coconut meringue cookie. This tart I used a whole egg for extra strength, and it tastes like a shortbread cookie.

Gluten free pastry is fragile to say the least and this gluten free sweet cookie pastry dough is no exception.  Fortunately, I found the dough very easy to work with. It was soft, not too sticky, and rolled out nicely between sheets of plastic wrap. The challenges came later, when the dough became crust. Once baked, the gluten free tart crust is very fragile, and it broke apart easily whenever I touched the tart. It was very difficult to keep the tart crust in one piece while removing it from the pan. Afterwards, I started to wonder why all the recipes I researched never talked about how to get the tart crust out of the pan. Hmmm, very curious.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

After my third tart crust turned into cookie crumbles, I decided to make this a free form tart. It might look more rustic, but it stayed in one piece as I transferred the tart to a serving plate. Rustic is all right with me.

Regardless of the fragility, it tastes delicious. The strawberries are bright and sweet, and the crust is nutty and crumbly in a good way. The white flour gives the crust a grainier texture, but it compliments the ground pistachios.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Variations for a Gluten Free Strawberry Tart

First you can swap out the pistachios and substitute it with almonds or walnuts. Both those nuts pair nicely with other fruits.

Switch up the filling. You can make a pastry cream and top it with berries. Switch out the jam with another flavor. Change the fruit and use any berry or a mixture of fruit. Most fruit will taste great in a jam tart.

Chocolate ganache filling is wonderful in a strawberry tart. Take 3/4 cup heavy cream and bring to just a boil. Remove from the heat and add 6 oz of bittersweet chopped chocolate to the hot cream. Stir to melt the chocolate and let it cool until it starts to thicken. Pour the chocolate into the tart shell, then loosely cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Add the strawberries.

If you want to make this with all-purpose flour, switch the white rice flour with 3/4 cup (106 g) all-purpose flour and add 4 TB of heavy cream instead of water. Omit the xanthan gum. This all-purpose flour pastry crust is the Sweet Nut Cookie Tart Crust recipe from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Happy Mother’s Day

Tami, Alissa and Alissa’s husband Victor, are a great support to me and my blog and I am grateful for their continued interest and encouragement. Happy Mother’s Day.

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Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Nut Crust

An elegant strawberry tart gets a gluten free upgrade when made with a pistachio sweet pastry dough. The pastry is tender but crumbly like a giant nut cookie. The tart filling is a simple one filled with a thin layer of the best quality jam, or homemade, and fresh strawberries. 

To get that nice green color from the pistachios you need to peel off the thin dark skin off the nut. See recipe notes for how to do this. I bought my pistachios in bulk at a the grocery store with the skins already removed.  

You can substitute the pistachios with almonds or almond flour, or toasted walnuts. 

Course Dessert
Keyword gluten free strawberry tart
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chilling 2 hours
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8
Author Ginger

Ingredients

Gluten free Pistachio Pâte Sucrée, Sweet Pastry Dough

  • 1/2 cup (75 g) pistachios peeled (see recipe notes)
  • 3 TB (45 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (162 g) white rice flour (more if the dough is too wet)
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (see notes)
  • finely grated zest from half a lemon
  • 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
  • 6 TB (89 g) unsalted butter
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 TB (15 ml) cold water

Strawberry Filling

  • 1/3 cup (75 ml) strawberry rhubarb jam (or your best quality strawberry or seedless raspberry jam)
  • 2 lb (1 liter) fresh strawberries
  • 3 TB (45 ml) seedless raspberry jam
  • 1 TB (15 ml) raspberry liquor
  • finely chopped pistachios for garnish
  • fresh basil or mint for garnish

Instructions

Gluten free pistachio Pâte Sucrée, Sweet Pastry Dough

  1. Lightly butter a piece of parchment paper and place on a rimmed baking sheet, at least 12 inches (30.5 cm) wide. Set aside. 

  2. Add the pistachios and the sugar to a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground, but not starting to turn into nut butter. Pour the ground pistachios with sugar into a medium size mixing bowl. 

  3. Add the white rice flour, Kosher salt, lemon zest, and xanthan gum. Stir with a fork to mix all the ingredients. 

  4. Cut the butter into small pieces then add them into the flour mixture. With clean hands, rub the butter into the flour until it is thoroughly mixed in. The dough will look like rough sand. 

  5. Add the egg and 1 TB of water and mix in with your hands. If the dough feels too wet, add more white rice flour 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough will feel wet, but it should not be sticky.  

  6. Roll out the dough. Cut a piece of plastic wrap to make a 16-inch (40.5 cm) square. Depending on the width of your plastic wrap you may need to overlap two pieces of plastic wrap. Place on the counter where you will roll out the dough. Place the pistachio pastry dough in the center of the crust and flatten it with your hands into a disk. Cover the pistachio dough with more plastic wrap the same size as the bottom layer. 

  7. Roll out the pastry dough into a circle until it reaches 12-14 inches ((30.5 - 35.5 cm) in diameter. You are aiming for a 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thickness. 

  8. Drape the dough covered in plastic over your rolling pin. Remove the top piece of plastic and roll the pastry dough onto the prepared baking sheet, plastic side up. Remove the plastic wrap from the pastry dough. 

  9. Roll the edge of the dough inward about a half an inch, (1 cm), creating an edge for the tart. Roll the edge inward another 1/2 inch (1 cm) for a more defined edge. Make a decorative edge or keep as is. 

  10. Loosely cover the pistachio pastry with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. 

  11. 25 minutes before you plan on baking, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C/ Gas Mark 7). Make sure the oven rack is in the middle position. 

  12. Remove the plastic wrap and pierce the bottom of the pastry dough with a fork. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Turn down the heat to 375°F (190°C / Gas Mark 5). and bake for 10 -15 minutes, or until the tart is a light golden brown. Watch the tart carefully so it does not burn. 

  13. When done, place the baking sheet on a cooling rack and completely cool. Lift the parchment paper with the tart, supported underneath the tart with a large BBQ spatula or pancake spatula. Place the tart on the counter and remove the baking sheet.  Carefully slide an offset spatula under the tart to loosen it from the parchment paper. Slide the tart onto a serving plate. 

Assemble the tart

  1. Spread the strawberry rhubarb jam in an even layer over the bottom of the tart. Clean the strawberries and dry them. Remove the stem and arrange the strawberries around the tart and fill it up., cut side down.  You can add other fruit to fill any gaps between the strawberries, like blueberries or raspberries, if you wish. 

  2. Add the seedless raspberry jam and raspberry liquor in a microwave safe bowl. Stir to mix and warm up in 10 second intervals until it thins out. Baste the jam over the strawberries with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and other garnishes like chopped basil or mint. 

  3. Serve within an hour of assembly. This tart is best eaten within a couple of hours from when it is made. 

    If you do have leftovers, loosely cover the remaining tart with plastic wrap and keep on the counter. 

Recipe Notes

I was able to buy my pistachios in bulk which cut down the price and they already had the dark skins removed. If you cannot buy pistachios with the skins removed, buy roasted pistachios (preferably not salted) remove the shells and blanch in boiling water for one minute. 

Drain the pistachios from the water and place on a lint free and clean kitchen towel. Cover the pistachios with one side of the kitchen towel. With your hands on top of the towel, rub them back and forth until all the skins have come off. 

Separate the pistachios from their skins and set aside on a plate in an even layer.  Some skins on pistachios need extra encouragement and you may need to rub the skins off with your fingers.  Air dry the pistachios before using. 

 

Xanthan Gum helps stabilize gluten free ingredients, so they do not separate and makes it easier to work with.  Normally, Bob's Red Mill sells it in an 8 oz bag for $13.99 which is a lot if you only need a half teaspoon. If you plan to do a lot of gluten free baking buying that amount makes sense. Fortunately, some groceries sell xanthan gum packets made by Hodgson Mill and is more reasonably priced. 

 

Gluten free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust. Gluten free strawberry tart recipe. A tender gluten free pâte sucurée dough made with ground pistachios and white rice flour. The tart is filled with strawberry rhubarb jam and fresh strawberries. A simple but elegant strawberry tart.

© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a recipe.

Chocolate is a separate food group in my household and just like protein, I can’t live without it. Whenever I order a dessert in a restaurant, it is the chocolate desserts I gravitate to. However, I hesitate whenever I see a flourless chocolate cake on the menu because I do not know if it going to be fudge or cake. When it comes to flourless chocolate cake, I like them on the lighter side, not the ones that taste like dense fudge. It is not that I believe they taste bad, it is just they are very rich. The type of flourless chocolate cake I prefer, have a lighter airy texture, despite being moist and loaded with dark chocolate.

So far, I have come across two flourless chocolate cake recipes that satisfy my requirement of biting into a slice of cake, not a chunk of fudge. What makes them different from most flourless chocolate cake recipes out there is the use of finely ground nuts and whipped egg whites. The nuts act like a flour replacement and give the cake some texture and body. Also, because of the whipped egg whites, there is some air which gives the cake some lift and tastes light. Just like brownies, the cake is fudgy without being dense.

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

The only challenging aspect to making a flourless chocolate cake is how fragile they are. Especially the types of cakes I prefer. Without the gluten to hold it together, the cake can easily break and crack. Transferring the cake off the bottom of the springform pan onto a serving dish requires the strength of all the good karma, prayers and best wishes you can muster. As well as patience and your best problem-solving skills. It is a very moist cake, especially in the middle which makes it very delicate.

My recipe is adapted from Diana Henry’s Bitter Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe in her cookbook, Simple. She uses ground almonds which I love, but I could not bring myself to use almonds a day after I wrote a post about Earth Day Recipes and how growing almonds in California is depleting their water supply. I will not give up almonds altogether, but I should leave some time before I start using them again.

Bitter Orange Chocolate Cake recipe

Flourless Chocolate Cake Variations

In my recipe I substitute almonds with ground walnuts and I added orange zest and Grand Marnier. Chocolate pairs well with many types of nuts, so you can’t go wrong using any type of nut. I do love walnuts and chocolate, especially with bitter orange flavors from orange zest and orange flavored liqueur. I kept all the proportions the same, but I also added Grand Marnier for an extra orange punch. There is just enough of the walnuts for a subtle nut flavor with the dark chocolate the focal point.

However, the addition of Grand Marnier makes the cake more fragile than without it. I believe this is because of the extra moisture in the cake batter. I don’t believe baking it longer will help. If you are concerned about the final show stopping appearance, then don’t add the Grand Marnier. The whipped cream has Grand Marnier in it, so the dessert will have the great chocolate and boozy orange flavor.

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe.

Removing the cake off the bottom of the spingform pan is challenging with this moist and delicate cake. If you don’t care, remove the sides of the pan and place the cake still on top of the pan’s bottom, on a serving plate. No one will care or notice while they are enjoying your delicious cake. Or, you can try lining the bottom of the pan with parchment paper to see if that helps. If your cake does break don’t despair, you can break it up and make ice cream sundaes with chocolate and vanilla ice cream, dark chocolate sauce, whipped cream with orange flavors and candied orange peel. Or, cut the cake up into bite size pieces for people to nibble on with their coffee or tea.

Orange Essence Flourless Chocolate Cake is worth making regardless of its delicate nature. Because the chocolate is the dominate flavor, use the best quality of chocolate you can buy with 70%- 72% cocoa butter. I have great success with Lindt chocolate and Ghirardelli Intense Dark Chocolate, twilight delight found in candy section of the grocery store. Here is a link for more information on the best chocolate bars for baking from Serious Eats.

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake Recipe

Enjoy!

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Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake, with a recipe.

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake

An effortless flourless chocolate cake with intense dark chocolate flavor and a light and nutty texture. The cake is very moist and fudgy but not dense.   

Serve with whipped cream 

Course Dessert
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Cooling Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 8 servings
Author Ginger

Ingredients

Flourless chocolate cake

  • 6.75 oz (192 g) unsalted butter about 1 2/3 sticks
  • 11.5 oz (328 g) good quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces 70% coco solids
  • 3/4 cup (164 g) super fine sugar
  • 5 large eggs, separated
  • 1/2 cup (57 g) ground walnuts (see note)
  • finely grated zest from half a navel orange
  • 2 TB Grand Marnier Optional
  • Confectioners' sugar for dusting the cake

Whipped Cream

  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 TB confectioners' sugar or to taste
  • Zest from half an orange
  • 2 TB Ground Marnier or a 1/2 teaspoon of Orange Blossom Water

Instructions

For the Cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 °F (177°C /Gas Mark 4) oven. Butter an 8-inch (20 cm) springform pan. Set aside. 

  2. In a medium metal mixing bowl, add the broken-up chocolate, the butter and sugar to the bowl. 

  3. Add some water to a large 10-inch (25.5 cm) skillet just enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Set on a burner over medium heat. Bring the water to a gentle simmer and place the bowl with the chocolate, butter and sugar in the center of the skillet. Melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. Do not let the water get to a brisk boil. Keep it at a gentle simmer, being careful not to splash water into the chocolate. 

  4. Remove the bowl from the skillet just before all the butter has melted and stir until all the chocolate and butter has melted. Let the chocolate cool for four minutes. 

  5. Add the egg yolks one at a time to the chocolate, stirring between each addition until each yolk is incorporated. 

  6. In a separate bowl, with a stand mixer or hand-held mixer, beat the egg whites until stiff with soft peaks and still wet. Soft peaks will form when you lift out the beaters. Gently fold in the Grand Marnier if using. 

  7. Add the orange zest to the ground walnuts and mix together. Add the walnut mixture to the chocolate and half of the whipped egg whites. Fold into the chocolate. Then fold in the remaining egg whites. 

  8. Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan and place on a rimmed sheet pan in case it leaks.  Place the cake in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. 

  9. Remove the cake from the oven and cool on a cake rack. Don't get upset if you see the cake deflate and crack as it cools. When the cake is completely cool, unlatch the pan and carefully remove the sides. Run an icing spatula, or thin sharp knife under the cake to loosen. It helps to clean off the spatula or knife every time you pull it out from under the cake. Carefully transfer the cake onto a serving plate.

  10. Dust the cake with confectioners' sugar right before serving. 

Whipped Cream

  1. Right before serving, use a hand-held mixer and whip the heavy cream until it just holds its shape. Sprinkle in the confectioners' sugar and Grand Marnier, if using. Whip until combined soft peaks form. Taste and correct the whipped cream for sweetness and the Grand Marnier. Place in a small serving bowl. 

  2. Serve the whipped cream with the cake and extra fruit, like berries. 

Recipe Notes

Before you start the cake, toast the walnuts in a preheated 350°F (177 °C / Gas Mark 4) oven. Spread a couple of handfuls (60 g) of the walnuts over a small rimmed baking sheet. Toast in the oven for 7 minutes. Spread the toasted walnuts over a clean lint free kitchen towel. Fold a portion of the towel over the nuts to cover and rub the towel with the walnuts back and forth to remove the walnut skin. No need to go crazy rubbing off all the skin. Rub back and forth a few times until no more skin comes off without scrubbing. Collect the walnuts leaving the loose skin behind and grind the walnuts in a food processor. 

Bitter Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake. A flourless chocolate cake recipe made with ground walnuts and flavored with orange zest and Grand Marnier. It has intense dark chocolate flavor complemented with the bitter orange essence. A very moist and light cake.

© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.

Maida’s Lemon Cake

Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe.

Everyone needs those back-pocket recipes at their fingertips and Maida’s Lemon Cake is one of mine. Maida Heatter’s, “The Best Damn Lemon Cake” comes from her cookbook, Cakes and her New Book of Great Desserts. She explains in the recipe’s summary the cake got its name from the first thing her friends said after taking one bite. She is the guru of baked desserts and celebrated her 90th birthday last year. I have always found her desserts reliable and well tested, especially her cake recipes. They are all classics that never go out of style.

Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe.

Lemon cakes come in so many shapes, sizes and styles and this recipe is no exception. It is a loaf cake with a light lemon glaze on top that soaks into the cake. Early in my marriage, I made this lemon cake all the time. Unfortunately, I stopped because baking for pleasure was replaced with the pleasure of taking care of my children with a couple of baking projects squeezed in between.

Recently, I was reminded of this lemon cake recipe after being treated to a slice of Lemon Lulu Cake from Mother Myrick’s Bakery (A bakery in Manchester VT.) They are different types of lemon cakes, but the bright lemon flavor is similar. Lemon Lulu cake has a lighter texture and made in a Bundt pan, whereas Maida’s Lemon Cake has ground almonds in the mix and keeps its’ moisture even after a couple of days.

Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe

Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe.

The only downside to this recipe is, it is not something to make at the last minute. Ideally, the cake rests for 12-24 hours before you serve it. During this resting period the cake’s lemon flavor gets more pronounced and the cake becomes very moist from the glaze. You must plan accordingly. Yet, the advanced planning has its merits too. Bake it a day or two before you need it leaves you with more time to do other activities on the day of. Also, this cake gets better with age. It freezes well, is perfect for travel, picnics and gifts.

Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe

Best Types of Cake pans for Lemon Cake

My lemon cake did not rise as high as it should because my aluminum loaf pan is larger than the one specified in the recipe. It is hard to come by an 8½ x 4½ x 2¼ inch (21 x 11 x 6 cm) heavy-duty aluminum loaf pan that does not have a Teflon coating, made of glass, or made with a dark metal. These materials are all no-no’s in Maida’s book. I am partial to Nordic Ware baking pans, but their loaf pan has an 8 cup (2 L) capacity. Chicago Metallic makes a loaf pan with the right dimensions and material as well as Wilton and Williams and Sonoma.

My cake is also darker, because it cooked faster because the pan was not made with heavy-duty aluminum. My pan is a generic lightweight aluminum pan I bought over 30 years ago at the grocery store.  It might be a lightweight, but it is still going strong and baked it fair share of Pumpkin Bread over the years.

This baking experience reminded me, I should trust my instinct and not always follow a recipe blindly, I knew I should have checked the cake earlier than specified, but I followed the directions instead. Fortunately, I do not mind a darker crumb and the glaze keeps everything moist. See the links in the Notes of the recipe for the types of adjustments to make if you use glass or dark metal pans.

Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe.

 Lemon Cake

The only adjustment I made to the recipe is I added almond meal (flour) instead of blanched almonds. It is not always easy to grind nuts as fine as you can get with almond meal. Often the almonds start turning into a paste before you get the right consistency you want. Do not add a half cup of almond meal, measure the almond meal by weight, not volume. The two measurements are not equal. You may use the volume and weight measurement for the blanched almonds.

If you have the almond meal use that to flour the pan instead of bread crumbs. It will do the same job and add extra almond flavor to the loaf.

Why all the fuss about baking pans?

More Lemon Desserts

Maida Heatter’s Lemon Mouse, Lemon Saffron Syrup Cake, Lemon Pavlova with Kiwi’s and Passion Fruit Glaze

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Maida's Lemon Cake, a recipe.

Maida's Lemon Cake

When Maida Heatter explains her name for "The Best Damn Lemon Cake," came from the first things her friends said after taking a bite. You just know it is good. Everyone needs a reliable lemon cake to bring to friends or just add some sunshine at the end of a meal. This loaf cake has great sweet lemon flavor but is not too sweet to turn you off. It is great paired with coffee and tea. I also like it with fresh berries. 

The instructions say to let the cake sit for 12-24 hours before serving so plan accordingly. I found the cake is even more delicious the day after it is made.

See recipe Notes for specifics about the loaf pan used to make the cake with. If you do not have the exact loaf pan, no worries. Just make the necessary adjustments recommended in the articles. 

Course Dessert
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 8 -10 people
Author Ginger

Ingredients

Lemon Cake

  • ½ cup (60 g) blanched almonds (or 60 g almond meal)
  • cup (185 g) sifted all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 3/4 tsp Kosher salt
  • ¼ lb (115 g) butter 1 stick
  • 1 cup (235 g) granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup (125 ml) whole milk
  • 1 oz (29 ml) real lemon extract 1- 1 fl oz bottle
  • Freshly grated zest from 2 extra large, or 3 medium lemons

Lemon Glaze

  • 1/3 cup plus 2 TB (113 g) granulated sugar (4 oz)
  • 1/3 cup (75 ml) fresh squeezed lemon juice

Instructions

Lemon Cake

  1. Set the rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven at 350°F (175°C / Gas Mark 4). Butter an 8½ x 4½ x 2-inch (21 x 11 x 6 cm) loaf pan with a 6 cup (1.5 L) capacity. Lightly dust the loaf pan with very fine bread crumbs or almond meal and set aside. (See note about pan). Line the bottom of the prepared loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper. 

  2. Ground the almonds in a food processor or nut grinder till they are very fine but are not getting pasty. Or use the almond meal. 

  3. Add the sifted flour, baking powder and Kosher salt to a small bowl and stir with a wire whisk until the ingredients are well incorporated. Set aside

  4. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan set over low heat. Cool slightly before using.   

  5. In a bowl of a stand mixer, add the melted butter and sugar. (Make sure the eggs are cool enough so they will not cook the eggs.) Turn the speed to medium and beat to mix. Turn down the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time, thoroughly mixing each egg in the batter between each additions. Scrape down the sides of the bowl between additions. 

  6. While the mixer remains on low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions and alternate with the milk in two additions. Beat in the ingredients thoroughly between each addition but be careful not to over-mix the cake batter. Also, stop the mixer to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl between each addition. Add the lemon extract and beat it in. 

  7. Turn off the mixer and remove the bowl. Add the lemon zest and ground almonds (or almond meal) to the batter and stir in with a rubber spatula. 

  8. Pour the cake batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 65-75 minutes. The cake is done when a cake tester inserted in the middle of the cake and all the way to the bottom, comes out "just barely clean". The cake will crack down the middle because the outside cooks faster than the inside of the cake. This causes the cake to crack as the insides cook and the cake rises. 

  9. Remove the cake from the oven and let it rest in the pan for 2 minutes on a cooling rack. 

  10. After the two-minute cool, slowly baste the lemon glaze over the top of the cake. Take your time basting the cake so a nice even glaze coats the top of the cake and soaks into the body, about 5 minutes. 

  11. Let the cake rest in the pan until it is tepid, mostly cooled down. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert the cake to loosen it out of the pan. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake. Turn the cake right side up and cool on the rack. 

  12. Once completely cooled, wrap the cake with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and let it rest on the counter for 12 - 24 hours. Or place in the refrigerator for 4 hours. Or the freezer for 2 hours before serving. I prefer the results after the 12-24 hour period, but if you need it for the same day then the freezing options works fine. Just let it defrost before you serve it. 

Lemon Glaze

  1. A couple of minutes before the cake is done cooking, make the glaze. Add the sugar and fresh squeezed lemon juice in a small sauce pan set over medium heat. Stir the mixture until the sugar is completely dissolved. Do not let the syrup come to a boil. Turn off the heat and set aside until needed. 

Recipe Notes

Maida is very specific about what type of pan will produce the best results. You might think it is a lot of smoke about nothing but for baking, everything you use from ingredients to the oven affect the final outcome of your baked good.  She is adamant about not using a non-stick pan, dark metal pan, and glass loaf pan. Her pan of choice is a heavy-duty aluminum pan. From my experience, I agree with her about the dark metal pans and glass pans, they do not bake as nicely as a heavy-duty light-colored aluminum pan does.   

I used a large aluminum loaf pan, but it was not a heavy-duty one. It cooked up faster than the recipe suggested and got darker. It was either that or use my dark metal non-stick pan, which would have been two strikes against me. If you can't take her advice, use the loaf pan you have, but be forewarned. Why you should not bake a cake with a dark pan. Why you should not bake a cake in a glass pan. These articles give advice how to work with these types of pans when you need to bake with them.  

Maida's Lemon Cake. Recipe for a lemon cake, with sweet lemon flavor and is very moist. The unexpected ingredient is ground almonds for more texture and a nuttier flavor. Easy dessert recipe. From Maida Heatter's cookbook, Cakes, "The Best Damn Lemon Cake".

© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.

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