Tag Archive for 'Bakery'

Product Review: Gluten-Free Mama’s Cookie Mix

I’m continuing to work my way through the gluten free flour mixes that we got samples of from Gluten Free Mama. Check out our earlier review of their Gluten Free Pancake Mix. Something I really miss is cookies. It’s funny, too, because there are a lot of gluten-free cookie mixes available now. There’s even a Betty Crocker Mix. I just haven’t got around to checking any of them out.

The other day I found myself at home with some time on my hands and a hankering for some cookies, so I broke out the mix. Here are the ingredients: Organic Evaporated Cane Sugar, White Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour, Potato Starch, Sweet Rice Flour, Almond Meal Flour, Aluminum-Free Baking Powder (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Corn Starch, Monocalcium Phosphate), Xanthan Gum, Sea Salt, Vanilla Powder (Vanilla Bean Extractives, Evaporated Cane Juice, Silica, Cellulose). It happens that these are the exact same ingredients that are used in their pancake mix, except that there is more cane sugar in this mix. There is also more salt. Mama’s figures that there are fifteen 100 calorie servings in the container, and that each serving has 100 mg of salt.

The cookies are a snap to make. Just add 1.2 cup butter, an egg, and 2-3 Tbsp of milk.

Then roll out on a surface with some rice-flour to keep the dough from sticking.

Cut out shapes and top with sprinkles, sugar, or what-have-you. I topped half of mine with sugar and half with shredded coconut. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350* for 12-14 minutes or until edges start to brown.

I sort of separated the two batches and took a photo. They look kind of scared of each other here. While I wasn’t that excited by the Mama’s Pancake Mix, I did enjoy these cookies. Sienna did not like either product. She says that they have an nasty metallic after-taste. It’s somewhat rare that Sienna and I differ so much on a product, but there it is. On the plus side, that left more cookies for me! So, our verdict is maybe you’ll like them, and maybe not.

Get Gluten Free Mama’s Sugar Cookie Mix on Amazon. Many thanks to Gluten Free Mama for sending us these mixes to review. See our disclosure policy, here.

Bookmark and Share
Published on March 8, 2010 in Product Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Coming Product: Jensen’s Better Buns

We were contacted last month by Jensen’s Bread and Bakeries, who are working on bringing a brand new gluten free product to market in Portland, Oregon. Both David Jensen and his daughter, Brenna, were diagnosed with Celiac disease a few years ago, and like most people quickly learned that they weren’t going to have anything resembling real bread without some action on their part. Most of our readers can certainly relate, I’m sure. After suffering through months of awful imitations, they started making their own bread.

David’s wife, Debbie, who has been a recreational baker for over 40 years, started working on recipes to make better gluten free bread and buns. She and David spent two and a half years coming up with a product that they think is good enough to sell. Then they took a course at the Portland Small Business Development Center to figure out the next steps. They are almost ready to start selling them, and we got a sneak peek.

Jensen's Better Buns Packaging

The good news is that we have tried the buns and agree that they are awesome. The bad news is that you can’t buy them – yet. I met David last week and we talked about gluten-free bread, buns, and what the next step is for their company. David is very clearly serious about bread. They are in the process of getting a commercial kitchen set up and hope to get their products on shelves near you in the first quarter of this year.

Gluten-Free bun

Take a look at this. I brought one of these to work last week and a fellow co-worker who is also gluten-free saw it and couldn’t believe that it was a gluten-free bun. The buns are flexible and soft. They toast excellently and aren’t crumbly. They don’t need to be toasted and freeze well. The flavor is as close to a hamburger bun as I’ve had since I stopped eating the real thing. Sometimes buns and breads will end up having a beany flavor, or a corn aftertaste. These buns don’t suffer from that problem.

Gluten-free burger

Given buns like these, we had to make some hamburgers immediately! These make awesome hamburgers. They are the best gluten-free buns we have tasted and are head and shoulders above the competition. The Jensens have other gluten-free products in the pipeline, including sesame seed buns, multi-grain buns, and bread. You can check in on their progress on their website, Gluten-Free Concepts. They can be found on Twitter, here and on also Facebook, here. We’re looking forward to hearing more from them!

Bookmark and Share
Published on January 27, 2010 in Product Review. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Gluten-Free Cooking Classes

Happy New Year! If your New Year’s resolution has anything to do with learning (and/or eating), then you’re in luck. Here are a bunch of gluten-free cooking classes happening soon in Portland, Oregon.

Cooking Class at Hipcooks

Course Title: I’m Free! Gluten-Free
When: Sun, Jan 31 – 11am-3pm
Description from the Website: Our Gluten-Free themed Class! Meals on the go, GF bread and Pasta, and Desserts! (The class is also dairy free) This extra-long session will offer advice on meal-planning, and will come with a wonderful take-home cookbook packed with recipes and GF tips.
Price: $80 per person
Hipcooks Website: http://portland.hipcooks.com/
Classes page: Hipcooks Class Schedule
Our Reviews: Fresh and Zingy 1 and Persian Immersion
(Note that other of their classes are also gluten free. Check the class descriptions page for more info.)

Cooking Class at Iorio Italian Restaurant

Course Title: “Gluten-Friendly” Cooking Class
When: Feb 20, 2010 – Noon to 2 PM
Description from the Website: A Heavenly class for GF’ers! Here’s your chance to bring your skills to a new level. Chef Chris will teach you how to command your gluten intolerance.
Price: $75 per person
Restaurant Website: http://www.ioriorestaurant.com/
Classes page: Iorio Cooking Class Menu
Our Restaurant Review: Iorio Review

Class at the Oregon Culinary Institute

Course Title: Gluten-Free Cooking and Baking
When: Saturday, February 20, 2010, 9 AM-1 PM
Description from the Website: Don’t let an allergy to wheat rob you of appreciating some of the finer things in life. This class will explore the cooking and baking options available to this sector of our hungry population. Understanding proper cookery of grains such as quinoa and rice is critical to discovering the versatility of your options, and we’ll cover that in this class. Using potato starch and rice flour and learning other new ingredients will be covered in order to make living gluten free an enjoyable lifestyle.
Price: $85.00
Website:http://www.oregonculinaryinstitute.com/
Class Page: Gluten-Free Cooking and Baking

Class at Bob’s Red Mill

Course Title: Gluten-Free Baking with Tiff Mumma!
When: Thursday, January 28, 2010 5:00-7:00 PM
Description from the Website: Let’s face it gluten-free baking can be a challenge, knowing which flours to blend and what to use as replacement for gluten can be frustrating. Tiff an avid gluten-free baker, is back to help put an end to your gluten-free baking challenges. Whereas many people view their diagnosis as the beginning of “living without” Tiff sees the transition to a gluten-free lifestyle as an opportunity to expand her diet to include a variety of grains. Her class menu will focus on: Banana Cake, Cinnamon Rolls, Potato Bread, Pumpkin Bread and Zucchini Bread. Come enjoy an evening filled with fabulous instruction and priceless baking tips!
Price: $40.00
Website:http://www.bobsredmill.com/
Classes Page: Bob’s Red Mill Class Schedule

Bookmark and Share
Published on January 1, 2010 in Classes. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .