Flamingo Pink & Aqua

So, when I went gluten-free this past fall this was the first recipe I had to convert.  I was terrified that I’d have to give up all yummy baked things, but felt that if this recipe could be made gluten-free all would be well (all is well).  Mom used to make this all of the time & if I was around (visiting from college or grad school) then you could guarantee that it didn’t last more than a day.  I love this recipe for breakfast, but equally as dessert (maybe with some vanilla ice cream? mmm…).  I’ll first post the basic recipe & then list the alterations that I make to it below.

Blueberry Coffee Cake

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3/4 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 C milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 C all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 C fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix all ingredients together (yes, it looks like a blue-purple mess, it’s supposed to)
Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan

Topping:

• 1/2 C sugar
• 1 Tbsp soft butter
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix together with a fork till crumbly and sprinkle on top of batter.

Bake at 350°F for 45-60 mins.  Will be done when an inserted toothpick comes out cleanly.

Rachel’s alterations/substitutions:
Eggs:
When I switched to gluten-free I also stopped using eggs/egg beaters in my recipes because I discovered this wonderful product: Ener-G Egg Replacer (try Whole Foods or any other fru-fru food store).  Initially, it was because I do have a few ethical issues/health concerns with the whole chicken/egg thing (not enough to give up deviled eggs though…then I just buy the super expensive “pasture-raised” “organic””certified humanely treated” eggs and cross my fingers that they actually are), and then I realized what a wonderful thing a shelf-stable egg replacer is.  I no longer have to dart out to the grocery store in the middle of baking because I’ve discovered that I have no eggs/egg beaters or that the ones I have are bad–I just pull the box down from the cupboard & mix up an “egg” or two.  Now, this is great for baking, but not suitable for substituting in quiches, etc. where eggs are the main focus.

1 egg = 1.5 tsp egg replacer + 2 Tbsp warm water
whisk together and then add to the recipe

Milk:
I always use soymilk—have for years.  I love Silk light vanilla soymilk, but will use whatever vanilla soymilk I can get ahold of.

Butter:
I cannot & will not give up butter in baking, if you’re wondering about that—so I buy the fancy “pasture butter”.  I’m sure there are ways to get around it though…some people bake with olive oil or coconut oil or use some sort of vegan butter substitute (made from olive oil or soy maybe?).

To make gluten-free:
Substitute the all purpose flour with a gluten-free all purpose flour mix (or you can prepare your own: I use 1.5X sorghum flour + 0.5X buckwheat flour + 1.0X tapioca starch; basically a 2:1 ratio of flours to starch—I just keep it on hand, mixed up in an airtight container) plus 1/2 tsp of xanthan gum for every cup of flour.  If the store bought gluten-free all purpose flour mix that you use already has xanthan gum in it then you can leave that out.  I sometimes find that I need a tiny bit more liquid with this—a splash up to 1/4 C, either soymilk or orange juice.  A note on the buckwheat flour:  I’ve been using Bob’s Red Mill & it’s pretty dark, which leaves a dark cast in my baking—it’s delicious no matter what, but if you want your baking to have a lighter color like the original recipe then there are other brands of buckwheat flour that are lighter or you could sub in another type of flour.

Other fruit:
I’ve also made cranberry coffeecake from this recipe.  The contrast of the super tart cranberries with the sugary topping is delicious.  I just do a straight substitution of fresh/frozen cranberries for the blueberries.  I do like to roughly chop them before adding them to the recipe.

Enjoy!