gluten-free Archives

So much of the time around here, comfort food starts with the butter-bread-cheese trifecta or consists of just one thing-pizza-that I forget a whole other subset of soul-satisfying noshes, those based on rice. Donburi are just that: perfect, rice-based comfort food. At restaurants, they’re hard for me to order, since there are usually other important items on the menu that take precedent, like katsu and Japanese curry. Good thing then that they’re perfect make-at-home cuisine, unlike the deep-fried katsu (a mess!) and the delicious Japanese curry (a mystery of a recipe!).

Hi readers. I’m currently on my way back from vacation, so from afar, I’m delighted to introduce this post, by Carly Diaz, one that’ll transport us to the kitchens of Korea. It’s a recipe for gyeongdan-Korean sweet rice cakes-and a story about learning to love them.

The first time I tasted sweet red bean paste, I nearly choked. It was the summer of 2006, the air was thick with humidity and the sound of cicadas. Everywhere around me were bright lights, loud music, street carts, and hired girls dancing in front of an electronics shop as part of the grand opening celebration. I had recently moved to Seoul in a post-graduation flurry and planned to spend the next 12 months writing, applying to grad schools, and teaching English.

In my defense, I was given the bean-filled pastry and told it was the Korean-version of a cream-filled doughnut. Instead of a light cream, I received a mouthful of thick beans. And not just any beans. Sweet beans. It would not be the last time that an unfamiliar taste heightened the sense that I was in foreign territory. That first taste of sweet red beans marked the slow transition of the unfamiliar to the familiar. Over the next year, the wholly unfamiliar world of South Korea would become one that I navigated with relative ease, one bite at a time.

In September, during the Korean harvest festival Chuseok, I was confronted with the sweet red bean paste again when I received a box of songpyeon. The traditional moon-shaped Chuseok dessert is made with sweet rice flour and filled with the paste. I nimbly took a bite and found that I liked it. It wasn’t the kind of confection I had grown up with, but there was something about the sticky rice cake and the subtly sweet, earthy, protein-y richness of the red beans that appealed to my acclimating taste buds.

Key lime pie is perfect for this in-between time of year. (Especially today-Pi Day 3.1415!) It’s green (extra points for St. Patrick’s Day), citrus is in season, and it tastes like summer when there is still snow on the ground. Depending on whom you ask, authentic key lime pie is either decidedly baked or not baked. This is a no-bake recipe. The pie comes together in a snap, and will transport you straight to the Florida Keys. In fact, it comes to you from Florida, and is a recipe my boyfriend has made since he was a little boy. He was born and raised in Florida.

Of course, fresh key lime juice will taste the best, but Nellie & Joe’s bottled key lime juice is the second best. You can find it in the juice aisle or perhaps by the cocktail mixers. The almond crust is a nice change of pace from graham crackers, and keeps the pie gluten-free. Feel free to use the filling in a standard graham-cracker crust if you don’t need to be gluten-free. I’ve also made this with a gluten-free gingersnap crust or chocolate crust. All delicious!

Natalie of Good Girl Style joins us each month to share incredible desserts with Big Girls, Small Kitchen readers–desserts that are entirely gluten-free, but not like obviously gluten-free. That means no specialty flours or hard-to-find ingredients, just lemons, lemons, and more lemons. Want even more GF desserts? Check out Natalie’s Chocolate Cookies.

Some days require a quick chocolate fix, and these gluten-free cookies are just the ticket.

Deeply fudgy and altogether satisfying, they take just minutes to whip up and don’t require any flour. I think they might be a miracle cookie. With a crispy outside and a brownie-like fudgy interior, there is something for every chocolate lover in these cookies. A glass of milk is almost a required accompaniment. When a midnight craving hits, keep this recipe close at hand. That is, if you don’t memorize it after the first few times making it.

I like to think these are healthy-ish, too, with no butter or egg yolks to speak of. The espresso powder is optional, but if you have it on hand (perhaps from making the Cappuccino Marshmallows), you won’t notice a coffee flavor, but instead a more intensified chocolate flavor. Parchment paper will make taking these delicate-when-hot cookies off the tray much easier. If you wait until they cool, they are prone to fall apart, so grease the cookie sheet well or use parchment paper and slide them onto the cooling tray while still warm. They retain their fudginess when cooled, but are especially delicious warm.

Natalie of Good Girl Style joins us each month to share incredible desserts with Big Girls, Small Kitchen readers–desserts that are entirely gluten-free, but not like obviously gluten-free. That means no specialty flours or hard-to-find ingredients, just lemons, lemons, and more lemons. Want even more GF desserts? Check out Natalie’s Lemon Pudding.

Natalie of Good Girl Style joins us each month to share incredible desserts with Big Girls, Small Kitchen readers–desserts that are entirely gluten-free, but not like obviously gluten-free. That means no specialty flours or hard-to-find elements, just sugary air fluff, aka marshmallow ingredients. Want even more gf desserts? Check out Natalie’s Lemon Pudding.

Cappuccino is such a delight this time of year. Frothy, fluffy, and satisfying, it’s made even more appealing with the addition of these cappuccino marshmallows, which are also frothy and fluffy as well as satisfyingly sweet. The sweet, coffee-y pillows pair equally well with a coffee drink as they do hot chocolate, or as a treat popped in the mouth as you walk by the kitchen. They are sure to go fast!