Testing Recipes

[sailorzeo]

I had to make one to make the other...
both are modified slightly from the original recipe due to on-hands and circumstances.

Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix
1 cup white rice flour
1 Cup sweet rice flour
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour
1 tsp xanthan gum

Mix well; use in place of AP wheat flour. (I just combined in a big zip bag; 
mixing container and storage container in one! I probably should have sifted, though, now that I think about it)

Andrea's Somewhat-Healthy Bars (originally found here, my commentary in italics)
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup flour
3/4 cup sweetened coconut
1.5 cups dried fruit (I used cranberries)

1/3 cup honey
1 stick butter

2 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp baking soda

1 cup yogurt  (I used low-fat lemon)

Preheat oven to 350°F
Combine first four ingredients
Melt butter and honey together in large bowl, not a 1 cup pyrex measuring cup
Add baking soda to water
Add baking soda mixture to butter mixture

Stand back because the whole mass froths and bubbles over!! 

Add baking soda butter mixture to dry ingredients, mix well

Refrigerate mixture for 30-45-60 minutes while you run to the store because someone ate the last yogurt.

Add yogurt, mix well
Pour into a 9"X14" baking dish.  Or a 9" round cake tin because you can't find your normal baking dish.
Sprinkle top with coconut, and/or chopped nuts if you have them (I don't)
Bake for 30 minutes, check.  Mine still looked a little soft in the center, so I turned off the oven and let it sit in 
there while the oven cooled

So I won't know for sure how they turned out for a while yet, but they certainly look and smell good.

Comments

[dollsahoy.livejournal.com]

Heh heh, I use a two-cup Pyrex measuring cup to melt the butter and honey.

Much of the recipe originated from improvising around what I had on hand. I'm a big fan of improv cooking, moreso now that I know you really can improvise in baking (I'd always heard that baking was an exact science and recipes could not be altered. Feh.) I left mine in the oven to cool before I got the time right, too.

I'm glad you gave this a try!

[sailorzeo.livejournal.com]

We actually liked them well enough that we're making a second batch to take to goodie night tonight. :)

Improvising is fun. Yeah, baking is a science, but once you get the basics down, it's fun to play around. For example, when making cookies, I always double the amount of vanilla, and also add almond extract. It just adds an extra richness.

[dollsahoy.livejournal.com]

I intended to make the bars to take to work, substituting loads of baking morsels for the dried fruit, but, um, I didn't realize melted butter mixture would so rapidly melt the chocolate chips and such (in retrospect, that this would happen is painfully obvious, natch), so, I inadvertently made a sort of backwards brownies. They seem reasonably popular amongst my coworkers, though, oatmeal and whole wheat flour aside.