Picture it, my living room, three or so years ago. I was at the tail end of an elimination diet (no sugar, dairy, or gluten), which I’d undertaken in desperation after having been told by my doctor that nothing was wrong with me. Yeah, right.

My carb-loving self was having a mean craving for anything cakey, and I didn’t know how long I’d be able to last if I didn’t get a cupcake or muffin in the very immediate future. Apprehensively, but hungrily, I made my way to the kitchen cupboard that contained my then tiny supply of gluten free baking ingredients. Having never baked gluten free before, I wasn’t sure what to make, but after flipping through my only gluten free cookbook at the time, Gluten Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts (still a favorite!), I decided on the carrot spice muffins. It’s amazing how easily I can justify eating several muffins or cupcakes in one sitting when they have something healthy like carrots in them.

I mixed up the batter, using these strange new ingredients and agave nectar as the sweetener, popped the muffins into the oven, and hoped for the best. Looking back, I think I can say that I was extremely lucky to have tried such a great recipe for my first gluten free baking adventure, because I knew after taking my first bite of that slightly spiced, moist muffin that it was completely possible to make something that tasted just as good (or better) than what I was used to in my pre-gluten free days.

As a result of my first experience baking gluten free, carrot-y baked goods still hold a yummy place in my heart, and this time around I tried the prize carrot cake recipe from Bette Hagman’s The Gluten Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods, which has become another of my cookbook favorites. Though I was intrigued by the fact that the original recipe called for a healthy amount of pureed green tomatoes, they’re not exactly easy to find in a city, so I replaced them with applesauce, which provided the same moistness, as well as a little bit of sweetness. I do wonder how different the flavor would’ve been if I would’ve used the tomatoes, because I can tell you that this cake was absolutely delicious even without them. Seriously, I think that this may rank in my top three favorite gluten free recipes. The texture was amazing, and boy was this cake ever moist, even after three days (that’s how long the cupcakes lasted) and even though I used the sugar free sweetener xylitol, which tends to suck the moisture out of baked goods.

I halved the recipe because I didn’t want to make a full cake, but you can double it if you want to make a three layer cake, which is what the original recipe made.

Having an ice cream maker at your disposal can be a dangerous thing. I find that, every time I break out the machine to make a batch of ice cream, I have a thousand – well, at least a dozen – flavor ideas swirling in my head, and then I want to make batch after batch of ice cream. This is great for my taste buds, but not so good for my thighs.

I forced myself to put my ice cream machine back in the cupboard and out of sight, but not before I made this luscious batch of sugar free cherry vanilla. Add 1/4 cup of shaved dark chocolate for an absolutely decadent chocolate cherry combo, or leave it as I did and enjoy the classic pairing of cherry and vanilla.

I’ve been trying to make a great gluten and sugar free brownie for at least two years, and nothing that I’ve tried has been anywhere near successful … until now. Texture, texture, texture. That’s always been my problem in the past. Pasty, leaden brownies are just not good and, unfortunately, I’ve had to toss a few pans of them because they were simply inedible. I really hate wasting food.

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with an ingredient called inulin, which has been incredibly helpful in giving my baked goods a texture more along the lines of something made with sugar. Inulin is one of the key ingredients in this brownie recipe.

So, what in the world is inulin*? It’s a subtly sweet fiber (about 1/10th as sweet as sugar) that can be used to replace sugar, fat, and flour in recipes, and has been shown to help the body absorb calcium and possibly magnesium. Inulin is also sometimes referred to as a prebiotic, which means that it helps promote the growth of intestinal bacteria (the good kind). So, it’s both helpful and healthful! I purchase my inulin at Whole Foods, where it can be found in the aisle with all of the sweeteners. It’s rather pricey, but it’s been more than worth it to me to get back some of the fudgy, chewy, gooey texture that is lost when I bake with my regular sugar replacements.

Okay, so these brownies are magnificent. I love them, and I don’t think that it would be an understatement for me to say that I love, love them. This is the texture that I’ve been after for so long — oh so fudgy. I think I may have even teared up a little when I tried the first one because it made me that happy. And I topped them off with a bit of flaky sea salt, which made for a fantastic, salty-sweet experience.

* If you have a sensitivity to fiber or have gastrointestinal issues with high fiber intake, please watch it with the inulin. I’ve read that it can have some pretty unpleasant side effects. Thankfully, I don’t seem to have any issues with it, though I do try to use it as sparingly as possible in recipes, just in case.

Oh, granola, you were supposed to be irresistibly chewy bars like the ones I saw on Smitten Kitchen, but instead you crumbled apart and became a cereal. But, oh, what a lovely cereal you are, filled with nuts and freeze dried fruit and coconut and pepitas. I blame myself for your metamorphosis, as I probably forgot to add or adjust some ingredient here or there, but it’s all part of the learning process, so no hard feelings, okay?

Gluten Free Granola
adapted from King Arthur Flour (via Smitten Kitchen)

Notes: To make oat flour, process rolled oats in a food processor until finely ground. I used an 8 x 8 inch glass baking dish to make my granola, with the intent that it would become chewy bars. However, since this turned out to be a crumbly granola, you should be able to spread the granola mix evenly on a lightly greased cookie sheet for similar results. Freeze dried fruit is a great replacement for store bought dried fruit, which typically contains added sugar.

Ingredients

1 2/3 cups gluten free rolled oats
1/3 cup oat flour
1/3 cup yacon syrup
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 Tbsp. Water

2 to 3 cups of dried fruit, nuts, seeds — I used the following:
1/2 cup pepitas
1/2 cup dessicated coconut
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup freeze dried blueberries
1/2 cup freeze dried strawberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease an 8 x 8 inch glass baking dish.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients, including the fruit, nuts, coconut, seeds, etc.

3. Add the yacon syrup, agave nectar, coconut oil, and water to the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined.

4. Spread in the greased baking dish (or on a cookie sheet — see notes above) and pat down gently. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges.

5. Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack. Crumble cooled mixture (if you’re using a cookie sheet, then the granola will already be crumbly) and store in an airtight container.

Glazes, drizzles, and any confectioner’s sugar based frostings have become the bane of my sugar free existence, so we’re just going to ignore the fiasco of an attempt at an orange glaze on what is otherwise a very nice cake. Okay, now that we’ve gotten that unpleasantness out of the way (and, hey, if you’re on a sugar free diet and have come up with a nice glaze or drizzle recipe, I’d love to hear it!), I want to talk about my new favorite flour blend.

Late last year, I picked up a copy of Elana Amsterdam’s The Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookbook (her chocolate chip scone recipe is a must try!). I’ve been using almond flour in my baking for a couple of years, but this cookbook has taken my interest to the next level. I’ve been blending almond flour with my other new favorite flour, coconut flour, and a bit of a starch like cornstarch or arrowroot starch with great results!

This orange poppyseed cake is a new favorite. The crumb is fantastic, and it stayed very moist for at least four days (that’s how long it lasted before we gobbled it all up). It’s a dense cake, like a pound cake, but it’s not heavy. In other words, it doesn’t sit in your stomach like a brick, which is a very good thing.

At the last minute, I decided to add almond extract to the batter because I’ve been hoping to recreate the taste of these yummy almond poppyseed muffins that I had years ago (in my pre-gluten free and sugar free days) at an office potluck, of all places. I think I came pretty close to the flavor with this cake, but unfortunately the almond sort of overpowered the orange, so if you want an orange-ier cake then you can leave out the almond flavoring. And, if you’re not sugar free, you should be able to substitute table sugar 1 to 1 for the xylitol with no problems.

Cookies have been one of my biggest challenges since I started a gluten and sugar free diet. Cakey cookies are usually no problem, but crunchy, crispy, or chewy cookies? It just hasn’t been easy for me to replicate these textures with the ingredients that I use. I’m sure it’s down to chemical makeup and reaction or non-reaction, which I’m certainly finding out more about as I go along, but I’m no expert … yet. However, I am starting to get better cookie results, so I guess I must be learning something. Or it’s dumb luck. Either way, I’ll take it.

My gluten and sugar free take on one of my favorites, thumbprint cookies, comes pretty darn close to the “real” thing. I’ve always enjoyed the balance of the subtly sweet, shortbread-like cookie, covered in toasted walnuts, with a sweet burst of jam in the center. My favorite jams to use are raspberry and strawberry, and I’ve also seen them with chocolate frosting or ganache in the center.