Raspberry Bakewell Flapjacks

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Raspberry Bakewell Flapjacks

Adapted from Lyle’s Golden Syrup by My Little Blue Heron Kitchen

Dedicated to Leon Pozniakow 

Flapjacks have become my obsession. In the U.S., flapjacks are ‘pancakes’, but to the British, they’re sweet treats made from oats. British oats, porridge oats, seem to be different than our "American" oats (like Bob's Red Mill or Trader Joe's). They seem much softer, so I recommend using them. I like Flahavan's porridge oats. You can, of course, find them on Amazon. Try to get to a local shop that carries imports from the UK or Ireland. Also, so wonderful and special: Lyle’s Golden Syrup (or light treacle syrup that has this remarkable and addictive butterscotch taste), and Demerara sugar, a sugar that is different in taste: it’s richly caramel (originally from Guyana and more often now from Mauritius, Africa).  I recommend getting these ingredients for your pantry. You'll need Lyle's Golden Syrup to make this confection. You can probably noodle your way around the oats and Demerara sugar, but I wouldn't.

Maybe you know what a Bakewell Tart or Pudding is, but I didn't until I read about it. Here's what I found out: “Bakewell” refers to the infamous Bakewell Tart. Wikipedia: “A Bakewell tart is an English confection consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell beneath layers of jam, frangipane, and a topping of flaked almonds. It is a variant of the Bakewell pudding, closely associated with the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire.” So to make a mock Bakewell Tart, we have oats, butter, and caramel sweeteners for our shortcrust pastry, raspberry jam, and ground and extract of almonds as stand-ins for frangipane. And our topping is, of course, almonds.  

If you're nut-free or don't like or tolerate almonds, try coconut and vanilla extract. (There's always chocolate, but if you do opt for chocolate, give unsweetened chocolate chips a try. Pascha makes them and they're amazing. You can buy them directly, or from other places like Vitacost and some markets and of course the "A" word). Fool around with different fillings and jams. You're the boss.

 

Raspberry Bakewell Flapjacks

Ingredients:

225 g unsalted butter  

6 Tbsp. Lyle’s Golden Syrup

110 g. brown or Demerara sugar 

375 g. Irish porridge oats (I use Flahavan’s)

24 g. ground almonds 

generous pinch of kosher salt

1/2 tsp. almond extract (if using vanilla, use 1 tsp.)

5 Tbsp. raspberry jam at room temperature

Sliced or chopped slivered almonds to cover the flapjacks

Procedure:

• Heat the oven to 350º F.

• Grease and line an 8 x 8 baking tin with parchment.  I spray my baking tin with ghee spray before lining it. N.B.: These bars are soft and chewy. So, if you prefer a crispier product, opt for a 9 x 11 pan. Bake time will be shorter, and your flapjacks won't be soft. It's personal .. like chocolate chip cookies.

• In a medium bowl, measure porridge oats. Whisk in salt and either ground almonds or coconut. Set aside. 

• Place the butter, golden syrup and soft brown or Demerara sugar in a large heavy-based pan. (A non-stick wok or large saucier will work well.) mlbh truc: if you're pouring from a jar rather than scooping from a tin (I do) your Lyle's syrup, coat the measuring spoon with some butter (I use ghee spray.) Less to lick, but it literally slides off the spoon with no waste or mess!

• Heat gently, stirring occassionally, until the butter and sugar have just melted. This should take a few minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and dump in the porridge oats mixture. Add extract and stir until well combined.

• Spread half the mixture into the prepared baking tin, (a silicone spatula or large silicone spoon works beautifully!) to smooth and level the surface. Be sure the bottom is covered completely and make sure you leave enough mixture to completely cover the jam.

• After you've dolloped the raspberry jam, with a light touch, spread evenly over the surface. A small spatula or even the back of a spoon will work.

• Next, gently spread the remaining oat mixture over the layer of jam, smoothing the surface, taking care to cover the jam surface completely. 

• Sprinkle the sliced or chopped slivered almonds or coconut on top.

Bake in center of preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until golden. Remove from oven and place pan on rack, leaving flapjacks in the pan until cooled. (If you remove from the tin before cooled, you’ll be left with a hot mess.)

• When completely cooled, lift flapjacks from pan, and place on surface where you can carefully remove from parchment. A flat spatula or large icing spatula works well. Using a sharp knife, cut into squares. The flapjacks will be soft and chewy.

• Cool completely before wrapping. Store at room temperature, wrapped well in an airtight container for a couple of days. You can keep them in the fridge and bring them to room temperature before serving. Flapjacks may be frozen. 

Yield 16 - 2" squares. Fewer, if you prefer larger bars.

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Orange Madeleines

Gluten Free

Adapted from Laurent Dran by My Little Blue Heron

These are lovely little cakes, easy to put together, and you can leave the batter in the fridge for a day or two and bake on demand. 

Laurent Dran is my GF guroux. C’est vrai, evolved from its nascent stage, gluten free baking has grown into .. young adulthood. So, in gf context, these are fantastique, parfait, even magnifique!

These little pillows are seriously beautiful, truly delicious and will delight you and yours.

Dran’s recipe calls for a final dip in dark chocolate, melted in a bain marie (water bath/double boiler).. or, if you’re adept at nuking chocolate, melt it in your microwave. In the microwave, do take care to melt it at a low power, little by little, stirring often. Allow time for the chocolate to set up before serving or storing. BHK truc: for a pretty chocolate sheen, add a tiny bit of flavorless oil to the melted chocolate. 

I don’t love chocolate (really), and I like to test and taste without the drape or what I consider the mask of chocolate, which definitely hides shortcomings. These cookies are delicious sans chocolate. They’ll hold for a day in an airtight container. If you need to prepare in advance, try the fridge or freeze them.

What’s interesting to me is that despite the absence of butter, there’s a buttery quality to these little cakes. There are eggs, so they’re not vegan. I haven’t tried them using egg substitute. The recipe has no gum binders and if you have a well-stocked gf pantry, it requires no unusual ingredients. What you may need to buy is orange blossom flower water. This is available in specialty markets, middle eastern markets and online. It’s a lovely and fragrant flavoring and it's always fun to have a new flavor in your pantry!

Essential to this recipe: The batter must rest in the fridge for at least two hours prior to baking.

I love my silicone molds. I gave my tins to my nephew. The best ones are from France. They’re made by Lekue. I was lucky to snag their mini madeleine molds. Larger “regular” sized ones are available. 

Ingredients are listed in grams. You’ll need a kitchen scale. If you don’t have one, get one. They’re inexpensive and essential. Here’s a very inexpensive one you can buy on Amazon in the U.S.

I love the mini madeleines. Mini or full-sized, these will be a beautiful addition to your dessert plate, a lovely accompaniment to fruit, or a perfect snack with coffee or tea.

I’m mad for madeleines and hope you’ll be too. You’ll never know they’re gluten free. 

peace and love,

jane

Gluten Free Orange Madeleines

Equipment: Silicone or conventional madeleine tins, electric stand or hand mixer

Ingredients: 

  🟠150 g rice flour (I love Authentic or Bob’s Red Mill)

  🟠70 g potato starch

  🟠170 g 10X (powdered sugar)

  🟠100 g flavorless oil (canola or sunflower)

  🟠2 tsp. baking powder

  🟠Generous pinch of salt

  🟠4 eggs, size large, at room temperature

  🟠1 orange, zested (no pith!), organic if possible

  🟠1 tsp. orange blossom flower water

  🟠For optional chocolate glaze: 100 g 70% dark chocolate

Procedure:

Mise en place: 

In a medium/large bowl, weigh rice flour, then tare. Add potato starch, baking powder and salt. Whisk together and set aside.

Zest orange, taking care to not include the white pith (it’s bitter.) I like to use a Microplane Zester, but a box grater works well, too.

Weigh oil.

Have orange blossom flower water and a tsp. close by the mixer.

In a separate small bowl, weigh 10X (powdered) sugar.

Crack eggs, one at a time and ready them for pouring into batter. No need to mix them.

Prepare the batter:

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or if using a hand mixer, in another separate bowl), beat together the 10X sugar and the eggs until well combined and light in color. 

Add, little by little, the dry ingredients mixture, oil, orange zest and orange blossom flower water and mix until well incorporated.

Essential step: Transfer to a bowl, cover the bowl and put in fridge for at least two hours.

Preheat oven to 375º F. (Dran calls for a much hotter oven, but I had better control and success at a lower temperature. You can go up to 425º if you want to fool around.)

If you’re using conventional madeleine molds, brush with oil. Silicone molds need no coating of fat. I worked both with and without oil, and preferred without. 

Fill molds with batter and bake in center of preheated oven for 6-9 minutes, depending on your molds and your oven. 

Remove from oven, cool enough to remove from molds and transfer to racks to cool completely. 

If dipping in chocolate, wait until cookies are cooled. Dip and cool on racks until chocolate is set. 

Batter can be left in fridge for a day or two, covered well, and baked on demand.

These are best eaten the same day. May be stored in an airtight container for a day. Baked madeleines (not dipped in chocolate) may be frozen. 

Pizzelle, Gluten Free, Anise with Chocolate Variation

Gluten Free Pizzelle Cookies 

(Anise with Chocolate variation)

Adapted from Nick Malgieri by My Little Blue Heron

Pizzelle (pronounced: "peetsellay") are some of the older cookies around - like me. They're wafer cookies, traditionally made on the stovetop using an iron (think thin waffles). These are so easy to whip up and make - particularly in our modern times, since you can crank them out with ease, using an electric iron. I've tested out several electric devices, including the (classic) Palmer, as well as the Chef's Choice, but my fave , by far, is the simplest model that Cuisinart makes. It's compact, non-stick, quick, accurate, and reasonably priced. The manual iron, or stove top, is harder to locate.  I had one but gave it away. 

Traditionally, Pizzelle cookies can lay flat or can be rolled or curved (like tuilles cookies - French for tiles .. the clay ones that are on roofs). They can be dipped, filled, or dusted with sugar. 

You can fool around with flavors! Swap out anise for vanilla or lemon. Try adding some espresso powder (I love King Arthur Flour's) to the chocolate variation. 

Due to the absence of gluten (stretchy protein), manipulating these cookies is a little challenging. I stuck with flat - and that's what I recommend you do, too. King Arthur Flour's All Purpose Gluten Free Flour is excellent and worth the price. Look for sales. Wegman's (it's in NYC now!) is always competitive in its pricing. I don't recommend using  their (or any) "Measure for Measure" flour. My faux of choice is guar gum. For me (and I've read that this is true for others) it doesn't cause stomach upset, and it produces a finer, gentler product. You'll read that you shouldn't use guar gum when baking, but I say guar for it. You may have to alter (increase slightly) quantity with guar - but just a smidge. If you're serious about learning about xanthan v. guar, you can read up on it. Laurent Dran, a genius GF baker, exclusively uses guar gum in his recipes. Xanthan gum is a mold that grows on corn. (His books are in French, so should you decide to purchase, here's an instant translation tool that I found really easy and convenient.) (And it's possible that xanthan isn't available in France, but I kinda doubt it.) And to play it from the opposite corner: other chefs (read about it in Larsen's "Gluten-Free Baking at Home", tout xanthan gum as the binder of choice because it's not from a bean source and it won't cause stomach upset. You'll find convincing arguments for either. I suggest you experiment with both and decide what's best for you.

I adapted these Pizzelle recipes from Nick Malgieri's "Cookies Unlimited" book. You can find a used copy for about $6. If you live in NYC, you can often find used copies at good bookstores like The Strand (which is fun to visit when it's not during Christmas time).

What's impizzellitive is that you WEIGH ingredients for these recipes). PLEASE buy a kitchen scale. Here's Wirecutter Deal's budget pick, which .. if you ACT NOW is at an unbelievable low of ... $9.47 U.S.

MLBH truc: If you have star anise: Please take a glass jar: fill it with some granulated sugar, throw in some star anise, pour in more sugar, repeat. Let sit for several days to several weeks. This sugar will make your pizzelle do the tighten up: 

peace and love,
jane

🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊🕊

Gluten Free Pizzelle Cookies (Anise with Chocolate variation)

Adapted from Nick Malgieri by My Little Blue Heron

Equipment:

An electric pizzelle iron. A kitchen scale.

Ingredients:

314 g. King Arthur all purpose gluten free flour (NOT WITH XANTHAN GUM)

2 g. guar gum

pinch of kosher salt

9 g. baking powder (gluten and aluminum free)

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

1 large egg yolk

2 Tbsp. anisette (or use anise extract, but much less)

160 g, granulated sugar (may be infused with star anise (see MLBH truc above and then see note below)

8 Tbsp./4 oz. unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

vegetable or palm oil for greasing the iron

Note: If you have anise seeds, you can grind them and throw in a Tbsp. or more, to taste – this is up to you and how much you adore anise. 

Procedure:

1.    In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. (You can place the bowl on the scale, taring after each addition and then remove from scale to whisk.)

2.    In a different bowl, whisk together the eggs, anisette, melted butter and sugar.

3.    Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mixture will be somewhat stiff.

4.    Heat the pizzelle iron to desired temperature. You’re going to have to experiment with this because every iron is different. Coat the iron lightly with vegetable or palm oil once. You won’t have to do this again unless the cookies begin to stick.

5.   Drop rounded spoonfuls of batter (my iron came with a measured spoon) onto the center of the iron, close the iron and they are usually ready when they stop steaming. The Cuisinart can be adjusted to different settings, and a light tells you when they’re baked. (I turn mine to pretty well done - almost the highest.) Easy!

6.    Remove immediately and place on a cooling rack. Repeat. Repeat .. until all batter is used. You can try rolling them while they’re still warm. Try using a French rolling pin or any cylinder as a mold. You can roll them into cones, dip them in chocolate and fill them with whipped cream!

7.  When cooled, store them in an airtight container. You can dust them with some powdered sugar – pretty.

Chocolate Variation:

1.    Remove 20 grams of gluten free flour

2.    Add 20 gram of unsweetened, dark cocoa powder

3.    Whisk flour and cocoa together well.

You may like the combo of Anise and Chocolate, or you may opt for vanilla extract (1 tsp. or ¼ tsp. Gluten Free vanilla powder made by Authentic Foods), and you could add a chocolate, hazelnut, orange or coffee liquor or extract.

Take care that you don’t overbake chocolate pizzelle cookies. Chocolate becomes bitter when burnt.