White Rabbit Bakery

Duchess Gluten Free Cake from White Rabbit Bakery

For the last two weeks I have been visiting my parents out in Oregon where I grew up.  Usually I don't expect much from the world in regard to gluten free eating while I'm there, sometimes if we are lucky we are able to run to Bob's Red Mill.  This trip was vastly different!  My Mom took me for a brunch treat at White Rabbit Bakery, and I'm positive that when I stepped through the door I fell down the rabbit hole into a world of nonsense and make-believe!

It was fantastic!  First of all, the building the bakery resides in used to be an old antique shop, as many buildings are in Aurora Oregon.  I have vivid memories of my mom dragging me into this particular shop as a young tween/teenager, it was filled from floor to ceiling with all sorts of odd treasures.  There also used to be a particular dusty old smell to the place.  All that has more than disappeared!  The smell is some sort of sweet heaven mixed with cinnamon and coffee.  Here's where the bit of nonsense comes in, I'm positive someone picked up a bakery straight out of the Lower East Side of Manhattan and plopped it right into this building in Aurora Oregon.  Anyone who has ever driven through Aurora and managed not to blink knows it's the oddest little town FULL of antique shops and old man bars, so to find this amazing gem was truly a surprise.  I think the biggest moment of visual disbelief was when the adorably sweet lady, Becca, behind the counter let me know that there were more GF options in the case than regular items, WHERE AM I!?!?!?!  Each item was more enticing and beautiful than the last!

I ordered a Chocolate Chip Oat Scone (GF) and a cup of coffee, and sat down in the cute dining room with it's antique chairs and rustic wood tables.  The coffee came in a clay pottery mug, and my scone sat nicely on a plain white plate.  It was fantastic!  I admit the scone was a bit of work to chew, from the deliciously fibrous contents, lots of oats and Becca said they also use Amaranth flour, but it was worth every chew.  The hardest thing for me was to sit there watching the counter and see all the other delicious GF treats be sold off one by one, it gave me horrible anxiety!  I finally stood up and got a few things to go, Oscar one of the owners was a tremendous help and with that infectious smile, I might have bought the whole store if he had asked.  I took home a Plum Tart (GF), and two Her Majesty Cupcakes (GF), both gorgeous and you would never believe to look at them that they were GF.

I ate them on two separate days and even had dreams about how delicious they were!  Some how Emily the owner and head baker at White Rabbit has managed to suspend the laws of physics when it comes to baking without gluten!  I don't understand how she made such amazingly moist and tender cake, or a perfectly flaky dense delicious tart crust, it's nonsense!

Plum Tart Gluten Free

The Plum Tart was pretty, with sweet red plums baked into the top.  Oscar had told me it had almonds in it so I didn't dare share it with Ceci, but it was worth keeping it from her because it was Wonderful!  The crust was flaky and buttery and dense while the filling was sweet with a hint of lemon that paired perfectly with the sugary and slightly sour plums.  I wanted about 10 more of them after that.

Her Majesty Gluten Free Cupcake

The next day I took the Her Majesty Cupcake out of the fridge and finally noticed the cute leopard print liner it was in, I had been so distracted by the perfect top of the cupcake I never looked down to see the liner.  Her Majesty is a vanilla poppy seed cake, with a lemon curd and raspberry jam filling topped with vanilla butter cream frosting, and possibly a dash of heaven!  Light, fluffy and tender don't even begin to describe the poppy seed cake, and it could not have been a more perfect palate for the creamy and tart lemon curd, the sweet raspberry jam worked perfectly with all of it.  Finally the vanilla butter cream spoke directly to my heart and my stomach, I'm a huge frosting fan since it was all I ate at birthdays and weddings for most of my life.  The frosting was tremendously rich and buttery, I could have sat down with a tub of that and the raspberry jam and eaten all day.

The last thing I picked up at White Rabbit Bakery was a menu, and after the amazing success of the Her Majesty I just had to have a birthday cake!  After more than an hour of pouring over the menu I decided on the Duchess cake!  It didn't hurt my decision that Ceci calls me Duchess (from the Aristocats Movie). But I was so excited to try the Chocolate cake, with raspberry jam filling and more of that amazing vanilla butter cream frosting!  Tim placed the order for my birthday and spoke directly with Emily the baker/owner and said she was very accommodating even though we missed the 48 hours of notice.  She said she could have it ready by the next afternoon for us.

Cut section of Duchess cake

The last item I ate from the bakery was a Marionberry Sour cream Muffin (GF) that I tucked into my carry-on for our flight.  It got smashed in all the hassle of travel but that didn't alter the flavor at all, it was bursting with cinnamon and nutmeg and reminded me of holiday baking yet was perfect for a summer breakfast treat.  The Marionberries  made the muffin even more moist than just the tender muffin by itself.  I'd say it was the perfect treat to end my long flight home to NY.

I'm so sad that I'm now so far away from the bakery and won't be able to get more treats until we are out in Oregon again.  I'm so spoiled now, I have even less tolerance for bad texture or horrible tasting GF foods, after having Emily's beautiful creations there is no excuse to eat bad food!  If I had more regular access to White Rabbit I think I would end up like Alice in Wonderland when she eats the cakes, she grows bigger and bigger and bigger.  I would certainly not be getting taller from these cakes though!

I'm so inspired to work harder on my own recipes to make them even better in taste and texture.

To Emily, Oscar and all your staff;  please keep up all the hard and delicious work!  You are doing amazing things with gluten free flours!  You might want to consider writing a cook book for those of us who can't always make it into the bakery, or maybe shipping some of your amazing treats would be great.

Tim learned a new trick!

We are so lucky to have a very active library that offers tons of free classes.   Usually I only look at the kids classes for Ceci and I, but last month one caught my eye, a Mozzarella making class.  I told Tim to sign up for it since he is always excited to learn new cooking techniques, I figured this would be perfect for him.  Apparently during the class there was a reporter from the library newspaper who interviewed everyone.  The other day one of our favorite librarians told me that she saw Tim's picture in the Patch, of course it took me several days to get around to looking it up.  Thought I would share it with everyone, nothing fancy, just me being a proud wife!

Library Article about Mozzarella Class

Happy Mother's Day to Me!

I'm sure some of you have seen the photo from our Holiday Cookie Party and my tremendous mess of flours in all sorts of miss-matched containers.  That was all solved this weekend!  My Tupperware delivery arrived, and I was able to sort though all my flours and put them nice and neat into the cabinet.  I feel so much better looking into that pantry shelf now, no anxiety!  These were my Mother's Day present from my husband, even though I picked them out and ordered them.  Oh well, I still love him!  I think it might finally be time to throw away the lingering tub of wheat flour that has been in the cabinet forever.  I used to make separate batches of waffles, or cookies for myself and my husband, now I just make him eat GF, poor guy!  It would be torture except he prefers the GF stuff anyway.

Did I mention the Tupperware is liquid tight, air tight, and guaranteed for life?  That's what got me!  Now I won't ever have to worry about Ceci dropping a container while she is helping me bake, and no more haphazard Tetris inside the panty!

After the wonders of Tupperware!

Before

Where are you from?

my poor princess passed out at the dinner table after eating cake and ice cream for dinner

I'm just curious where you readers are from.  I've been watching my stats page for a while now and I see people visiting this page from so many incredible countries, and I just wonder what your gluten free stories are?  This is the first blog I've ever written and it's amazing to see the accessibility over the entire world.  Please leave a comment and introduce yourself, I'd love to know more about the people who know a little bit about me and my family.

Thanks,
Andrea

Gluten Free Italian Cheesecake

Baked Italian Cheesecake

The other night we were invited to friends for dinner and told it was an Italian theme, and since most of the other courses of food were covered I sat and thought for days about what kind of dessert was "Italian".  I could only come up with Tiramisu for a long time, and then Gelato, but wasn't inspired to make either one, finally I came up with Italian Cheesecake!  It's been a million years since I've eaten an Italian cheesecake, and I have NEVER made one, let alone a NY style cheesecake.  I contemplated for a while about whether or not I wanted to really take on this challenge and how crazy I was willing to make myself.  I also received a request to bring GF Italian Bread, so now my work load was up, but I was feeling like a challenge.  The bread did not turn out well so I won't be posting that debacle anytime soon.  But the Cheesecake was a fabulous success!  I nearly had to abandon the idea midway after realizing one friend seriously dislikes ricotta cheese, the main ingredient in Italian cheesecake, after a quick strategy session with his wife I decided to go ahead with the plan.

I did some research on the internet about Italian cheesecakes and found that the recipes are not at all consistent with one another, some had crusts, most didn't, some used whole eggs, some only yolks, and on and on.  With that in mind I figured I would just go ahead and make my own recipe, and cross all my fingers that it would come out okay.  

I got tons of approval from everyone, even the ricotta hater!  He said it was the best cheesecake he had ever had because it was so light and fluffy, not like those other ones that are so heavy and dense.  Don't worry, no one let on that it was full of ricotta, it was pretty funny though.    I loved it too, soft, tender, light, fluffy, not overly sweet, and just a touch of lemon to balance out the flavor.  Hopefully I'll have another reason to make it again soon because it was fantastic.

Now to add to the vast array of Italian cheesecake recipes on the internet, here is mine.

Gluten Free Italian Cheesecake

1/2  Cup GF Graham Crackers, ground up
2 lbs of Ricotta
1   Cup Sugar (granulated)
2   Tbs  Tapioca Starch
4   Whole Eggs
1    tsp Vanilla Extract
Zest of a whole lemon
Juice of half a lemon

Drain Ricotta by placing layers of cheesecloth into a colander, and pouring ricotta into the cheesecloth.  Let the ricotta sit for a while, be sure to place the colander in a larger bowl to catch the drippings so that you don't end up with a sloppy mess on the counter.  (If you don't have cheesecloth, I used paper towels and a mesh sieve pretty successfully.)

While Ricotta drains, smash up GF Graham crackers and spread in bottom of 9 inch cake pan, or spring form pan.  Set aside.

Once the Ricotta is drained, place it in a stand mixer, and blend in sugar, and Tapioca starch.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing each one into batter.  Finally add extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice, mix until everything is fully incorporated.

Pour the batter into a 9 inch cake pan (I don't own a spring form, if you do, you can use that instead.)  Bake at 350 degrees (F) for 50-60 min, until a knife inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.

Gluten Free "White" Irish Soda Bread

Finished White Soda Bread

I made this recipe last year for St. Patrick's day and fell in love with it, so much that I made it a few more times after St Patty's day, last year and enjoyed it.  I had the recipe card tucked away in my recipe box this whole time waiting for this year when I blinked and almost let the holiday slip by me.  When I checked the fridge the other day to start making the bread I was totally out of unsalted butter, never mind I forgot about needing buttermilk.  A quick trip to the grocery store this morning solved both problems.

Yesterday at work one of our patients, a true Irishman, asked how I would be celebrating St. Patrick's day, and laughed when I told him I was making Corned Beef and Cabbage, and Irish Soda Bread.  He informed me that is not what you eat in Ireland, I can't say we got so far as discussing what they do eat, because the conversation turned to what color of soda bread I would be making.  Silly me had very little idea that there were different kinds.  I told him I think I was making white, he said brown was always his favorite and far more popular in Ireland, so he said he would "ring his Mum and ask for his Granny's brown bread recipe." I love it!  Sadly he won't get it to me until the 18th, so a little late for me to convert over to GF, and post, so in the mean time we can all enjoy this white version I worked up last year.

I was really excited to make this bread with Ceci, we need lots of projects around the house now that she seems to have given up her nap.  Part of me finds the lack of nap very distressing, while a larger part finds a new freedom in not being tied to the house at a specific hour of the day.  Ceci seems to find a great joy in helping me bake lately, the other day she helped make chocolate cookies and managed to help with every step of the process.  Today was no different, she helped measure flours, and quickly climbed up on the island to help knead the dough too.  If I haven't said it lately, I should, I love this age!  2 and a half is, and has been so much fun, she is busy all the time and needs constant stimulation, and cooking and baking seems to fit the bill.

Gluten Free "White" Irish Soda Bread

1/2   Cup Soy Flour
1      Cup Brown Rice Flour
1      Cup Sweet Rice Flour
1 1/2 Cup Tapioca Starch
1 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
4      Tbs Sugar
1      tsp Baking Soda
1 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
4      Tbs Cold Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2" pieces
1 3/4 Cold Buttermilk
1      Egg, lightly beaten
1      Cup Golden Raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).  Line a sheet pan with parchment, or silpat

Combine flours, sugar, baking soda, and salt in bowl of mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Ad the butter and mix on low until butter is mixed into flour.

With a fork lightly beat buttermilk and egg together in measuring cup.  With the mixer on low, slowly add liquid to flour mixture.  Add Golden Raisins to dough, mix until distributed through.

Dough will be very wet, dump dough onto a well floured surface and knead a few times into a round loaf.  Place loaf onto prepared pan, and cut a shallow X into the top of the bread.

 

Bake 45-55 min, or until a toothpick inserted into the top of the loaf comes out clean.

Let cool, and eat immediately, or smear with cold butter and enjoy!

Gluten Free Scallion Pancakes

Homemade Gluten Free Scallion Pancakes

Apparently I inspired my husband with my cooking the other night because he sat down and wrote a guest post for me.  Isn't he the cutest?!?!  I guess he liked the pancakes.




From Tim:


I am of Chinese descent, despite living in New York my whole life. That being said, I grew up with family members who knew how to cook authentic Chinese, in multiple styles. Most notably, my grandmother would make dumplings from scratch.

When neither she nor my mother was cooking, we'd enjoy going to get dim sum, a tradition we adopted now, with Andrea and Ceci. The problem is, some of the best morsels are gluten filled.  Aside from shrimp dumplings and roast pork buns, one of my favorites is the scallion pancake.

I'm not sure what motivated Andrea, but she suggested making them from scratch. We located a whole host of recipes online, which seemed simple in ingredient list, but somewhat complex.

She came up with an amazingly simple method, and so, I picked up some scallions. She basically used GF Bisquick, but with hot water, and made a batter mixing in some salt, white pepper, and of course, diced scallions. Mixed it all together until well blended.

She heated a thin layer of canola oil on high, and pan-fried the pancakes, flipping once. And that was it. Not entirely authentic, but damn good flavor. The texture of the authentic is more like phyllo dough, but I think that that is much more difficult to pull off as gluten free, and much more time consuming.


Gluten Free Scallion Pancake Recipe


1   Cup GF Bisquick
1   Cup Water (instead of milk)
2   Tbs Vegetable Oil
1   Egg
1   Bunch of Scallions, finely slice the green parts only
Salt and White Pepper  (dash of each)




Blend all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until smooth
Pour a few Tablespoons of vegetable oil into a pan and heat on stove, when oil is Really hot, carefully pour in about a 1/4 cup of pancake mix and let it fry up.  Flip and cook second side until golden brown.