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Another evening with falernum needing to be used up … another colonial cocktail from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails! I think I’m up to number 6 or so of these that I’ve documented here or on Flickr.
I still have about 250 ml of homemade falernum to use up, and have been trying it in as many cocktails as possible. This cocktail actually dates back to the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (founded in 1844 and still in operation today!).
This is a simple, classic cocktail, but is Tiki in spirit — protoTiki if you will! One of Trader Vic’s early creations, it uses Barbados Rum as a base, (even though its the Bermuda Yacht club :/ ), made a bit more complex with the spicy, ginger notes of falernum, and the sweetness cut with some lime. A dash of Cointreau provides a final note of citrus. This is not a sweet cocktail, but is quite drinkable, and I found it quite enjoyable to relax with after dinner while snuggling with the Shiba Inus!
Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Cocktail
- 2 oz. Barbados rum
- 3/4 oz. fresh lime juice
- 2 dashes Cointreau
- 2 teaspoons Falernum
Shake with ice, double strain into a cockail glass
… see, food can help in all kinds of ways!
Shortly after the tragic earthquake in Haiti, Lauren, from Celiacteen put out a call that she wanted to publish an e-book to help raise funds for earthquake relief in Haiti. She has single-handedly pulled together an amazing book with 87 different recipes in it — doing everything from compiling it, to layout, to editing … and getting it set-up so payments would be matched! All while going to school and coming up with her own gluten-free recipes!
Lauren is an awesome gluten-free cook who is a fellow Vancouver Islander, and just happens to be a teenager! I encourage you all to check out the full gamut of recipes. When Lauren originally asked for recipes, she wanted recipes that made us think of/feel at home. Not all are gluten-free, but many are, and a number of those that aren’t, are easily converted to gluten-free. I sent her a recipe for lentil soup, and there are lots of recipes from many familiar names in the food blogosphere!
A donation of $10 (or more!) will get you your own copy of the ebook, and if you get one before Feb 12, it will also be matched by the federal government. Lauren’s parents have also generously offered to match the first $1000!!! All funds raised by the e-book will be going to the Canadian Red Cross.
So go check it out, get your own copy, and help out some folks in need in the process!
The experimenting with Timtana flour continues! I’m about half-way through the sample package I received and so far, I’m finding I like this flour a lot in yeast-raised bread products, with one major exception… this banana bread!
But before we get into the recipe, here’s a couple of things you need to know about me:
- I loathe the ubiquitous Food Network eyeroll when tasting food!
- I do NOT moan uncontrollably when nomming on even the tastiest of treats!
- I am skeptical by nature — I like to keep abreast of what’s new, but I do need to be convinced to give up valuable pantry/cupboard/fridge space for said new thing!
So that being said, this banana bread recipe is one that might make me do a double take, and the Timtana flour is a definite plus, although the recipe will work with other high protein flours in its place. Even my husband, who is a dye-in-the wool skeptic when it comes to gluten-free baking, happily snarfed down his share, before asking for more!
As I posted about a week ago, Timtana flour is a gluten-free flour made out of timothy grass by Montana processors. It is very high in protein, and helps create nice moist baked goods. It is particularly good in yeast-raised baked goods, but really shines here in the banana bread, adding structure and volume as well as a nice nutty undertone which complements the banana flavour.
This is a plain banana bread, showcasing the natural flavour of the fruit, but if you want, you can fold in 1 cup or so of nuts, raisins or even chocolate chips!
When I started working on this, I used a tried and true recipe I always fall back on from Cooks Illustrated (which is wheat-based). This is a plain ‘ole banana bread, which I think is just what the doctor ordered, after a couple of months of fancy feasting! Sometimes there’s nothing more satisfying than a slab of warm banana bread and a cup of coffee!
If you don’t have Timtana flour, you can substitute another high-protein flour such as teff, garfava or defatted soy.
 Printer friendly recipe: Timtana banana bread
Gluten-free Banana Bread with Timtana flour
Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk well to mix.
- 3/4 cup Timtana flour (90 grams)
- 1 cup cornstarch (128 grams)
- 1/2 cup almond flour (30 grams)
- 1 teaspoon xantham gum
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Mash bananas well and add other liquid ingredients in a large bowl
- 3 large ripe bananas, mashed well
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 6 Tablespoons grape seed oil (or other neutral vegetable oil)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Add dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients, and mix very well. Pour into a well greased loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 60 minutes. After 15 minutes, slash lightly down the centre to prevent cracking on the sides. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove and let cool to room temperature before slicing.
Its more than enough time since the last cocktail from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails and while I’m not strictly going in alphabetical order, I am moving roughly from the front to the back.
So tonight’s Dr. Cocktail Bingo landed on The Blackthorn Cocktail! This one is a gin-based cocktail of few ingredients. Its on the dryer side, and because there are so few ingredients, the garnish of a lemon twist really does make a difference here, so make sure you do it right — taking the twist off the lemon overtop of the cocktail glass in order to catch all that lemon oil!
The Blackthorne Cocktail (from Ted Haigh’s Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails)
- 2 oz. gin (I used Plymouth)
- 3/4 oz. Dubonnet Rouge
- 3/4 oz. Kirschwasser
Stir with ice, strain into a cocktail glass, garnish with a cherry* and a lemon twist.
*I use dried cherries rehydrated with brandy and soaked in Maraschino liqueur
Ive been doing a few trials with this new Timtana flour (for more on the flour, see my post from a couple of days ago), and while I don’t think its suited for more delicate baking, it works well in many of the yeast-raised breads and the more hearty quickbreads.
I tried some out a couple of days ago in the whole “grain”, gluten-free cinnamon buns that I make with sorghum. These are much heartier than your typical fluffy white cinnamon buns, but they still feel like you are eating something treat-like.
I decided to try the Timtana flour in these instead of garfava, and also decided to switch to light buckwheat flour for the usual sorghum flour. From the trials I have done, it appears that the optimal balance of starch:flour in order to have a somewhat open texture while boosting the nutritional value is equal parts of starch: flour.
These cinnamon buns are gluten-free, but also dairy-free and egg-free. These are NOT a super fluffy cinnamon bun, but they do have an open texture, and are quite moist. The addition of the Timtana flour appears to help create a nice moist dough that keeps fairly well over a day or two. These remained as moist a day later, and didn’t develop the typical crumbliness of many gluten-free doughs.
Timtana and Buckwheat Cinnamon Buns
- 1 1/4 cups light buckwheat flour (150 grams)
- 1 cup Timtana flour (120 grams)
- 2/3 cup tapioca starch (80 grams)
- 1/2 cup cornstarch (64 grams)
- 1/4 cup almond meal
- 1 Tablespoon xantham gum
- 4 teaspoons granulated yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well with a whisk
- 1 Tablespoon Ener-g egg replacer
- 4 Tablespoons cold water (60 ml)
- 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon cider vinegar
- 1 cup vanilla soymilk at room temperature
Combine egg replacer with water and whisk or mix with a hand-mixer until very frothy, like egg whites. Add the remaining wet ingredients and then fold in the dry ingredients. Mix with the hand mixer for at least 1 minute, until the dough is smooth.
Place the dough on a cornstarch dusted silpat mat, and place a piece of plastic film overtop. Roll out to a rectangle approx. 18 inches by 12 inches.
- 1/3 cup Earth Balance buttery flavoured shortening or other vegan shortening
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
- 1 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the softened butter over the dough, leaving a 2″ border on one side. Spread the sugar, cinnamon and raisins over the dough. Roll up like a jelly-roll from the long-side. Cut into 6-8 slices and place in a greased 9″ cake pan. Cover loosely and let rise for 60 minutes, or until doubled in size. Bake for 50-60 minutes, tenting with foil if they appear to be browning on top too quickly. Glaze them if you like yours glazed.
Oops, almost forgot to link up to Yeastspotting — a weekly roundup of all things yeasty!
Another Thursday Drink Night — Last night’s theme was nuts: liqueurs made from nuts, nut infused booze, and more nuts. Go check them all out, make some for yourself and and vote for your favourite!
I’m not a big nut liqueur fan, usually finding them too sweet and cloying, so this was a bit more of a challenge than usual. I had a few ideas in mind, thinking that rye or bourbon would be good bases to start with, but when I started tasting some of the combinations, I decided the flavour profiles were a bit too fall-like. I ended up breaking out the (new to the liquor cabinet) bottle of Del Maguey Crema de Mezcal — a bit of an indulgence, but really tasty. What I ended up with was something quite refreshing with a hint of the round nut flavours in the background playing off the smoky notes of the mezcal, brightened up with some citrus.
Perfect for when the weather warms up, or when you’re just wishing it does! Try it and see if you like it!
The Mexican Standoff
- 1.5 oz. Crema de Mezcal
- 0.5 oz. Nocino
- 0.5 oz. Lemon juice
- 0.5 oz. Blood orange juice
- 0.25 oz. Frangelico
- 2 dashes Angostura bitters
Shake with ice, Strain into a glass filled with crushed or cracked ice. Garnish with a blood orange twist.
So I received a new flour in the mail a couple of days ago: Timtana flour, made by Montana Gluten-free Processors (in Montana of course!). I’ve been waiting with some interest to see what it would look like and more importantly, what it would be like to bake with.
The Timtana flour comes from the seeds of Timothy grass (basically a perennial forage grass). What is interesting, is that it is grown as a perennial, rather than continuous annual cropping like most other grains. Its also packed with protein and nutrients. Looking at the properties of it, I had some ideas in mind, thinking it might behave much like teff flour in baking. Nutrient content as outlined on the bag:
120 grams = 1 cup flour
nutrition facts per 1/4 cup flour:
- 90 calories
- 2 grams fat (0 saturated, 0 transfat)
- nil cholesterol
- 0 mg sodium
- 19 gram carbohydrate (5 grams dietary fibre)
- 1 gram sugar
- 5 grams protein
- This stuff also contains Calcium and Iron!
The flour is completely gluten-free, processed in the Montana Processors facilities with no risk of cross-contamination. Not only that, but the Timothy grass is also grown in fields that have not had any glutinous crops grown on them within a four-year period. Hard-core attention to detail!!!
So this morning, I opened the bag of flour up, and was somewhat surprised! Right out of the bag, the flour is much fluffier than most other gluten-free flours, which tend to fall either in the starch or the fine-sandy camps. The flour itself is a little bit nutty in flavour, with a sweet, slightly grassy aroma to it, and a light brown colour.
So for the first round, I figured I would go pretty basic, with bread. Not too many other flavours as I really wanted to get a sense of not only how this baked up, but also whether the flavours would change much on cooking. I’ve been thumbing through the new Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and opted to try out a modified and veganized version of the basic gluten-free boule. I’ve made this gluten-free bread before, with millet flour, and wanted to see if the Timtana flour would provide much loft and whether it would develop a crust.
I mixed up this batch of dough by hand and it wasn’t difficult. When you make the dough this way, it is quite a bit more dough-like than many other gluten-free bread “doughs”, but it remained fairly soft throughout. After letting it rest for about 2 hrs, I split it in half, to bake part of it, and stash the other half in the fridge to see what it will be like tomorrow. For those of you who haven’t tried the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (and you can do a gluten-free version!), you mix up a large batch of dough, let it go through an initial proof, and then store it in the fridge for 1-2 weeks, pulling of a loaf-sized amount as you need it. It really does work, so we’ll see what happens with this batch with the Timtana flour.
So here’s the bread fresh out the oven — a small boule perfect for 3-4 people with dinner. I baked this at 450 degrees, under cover for 15 minutes, and uncovered for 20-25 minutes. The texture of the inside is quite nice — hearty but not too dense. The Timtana bakes up with a nice crust, which is also aided a bit with the cornstarch I added to the initial flour mix.
The interior is fairly moist (made very few additions to this to encourage the moisture). The crust is chewy, with a soft interior crumb, which I thought had a faint alfafa aroma. Where the dough was browned, the flavour is much more nutty. All in all, a pleasant loaf of bread — Jeff gave this a thumbs up. I am thinking for the next round I may add a little bit of almond meal or flax meal.
I’m thinking this dough would also make tasty bagels — holding their shape well with a nice crust on the outside.
Basic Timtana Bread (adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day)
- 1 3/4 cup Timtana flour (210 grams)
- 3/4 cup tapioca starch (112 grams)
- 3/4 cup cornstarch (96 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 Tablespoon xantham gum
- 1 Tablespoon Ener-g egg replacer whisked with 4 Tablespoons water until very foamy
- 1 1/3 cup water
- 2 Tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 Tablespoon evaporated cane juiuce
Whisk dry ingredients together until well combined. Whisk wet ingredients together, and add dry ingredients, stirring well until the dough starts to smooth out. Cover and let the dough rest at room temp for 2 hours. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks if not using immediately. Dough will be best if used by 7-8 days.
To bake, take half and smooth into a loaf or ball on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Let the dough rest for 30-40 minutes, and slash the top just before baking. Put the pan in the oven, covering with a disposable lasagna pan for 15 minutes. Remove the foil pan, and continue baking for about 20-25 minutes, until the internal temperature registers 205 degrees. Let cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing.
I also tried the Timtana flour out in Banana bread — post to come as its just come out of the oven but is too hot to slice 
So this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge was brought to us by Lauren over at Celiac Teen who threw down the gauntlet for folks to not only embrace the gluten-free, but also to embrace the uniquely Canadian treat known as Nanaimo bars (from scratch of course!). If you haven’t done so already, go check out Lauren’s blog. She likes to cook — she likes to cook gluten-free, she’s a fellow Vancouver Islander! AND she’s taken it on herself to create an ebook of recipes to help raise money for Haiti relief! So many kinds of awesome rolled up in one!
The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.
So I’m up against the clock again, working down to the wire to get this up and posted, so better pics will come, but the gist of the challenge was to make Nanaimo bars from scratch, in particular, making the graham crackers for the crust from scratch. I opted to stick with the gluten-free option for these, because I figured they would also make a tasty base for cheesecake, so why not give it a try.
After scrounging around a fair bit, I gave one recipe which contained xantham gum a try (against my better judgement!). Graham crackers are fairly crumby, in fact, just barely held together with that smooth yet sandy texture, and LOTS of honey flavour. I wasn’t happy with the first batch I made, which didn’t have the crumb I was after. Although they would have made satisfactory crumbs for the base, I went at it a second time, using the same basic recipe as Lauren used, except I substituted fine brown rice flour for the sweet rice flour, and light buckwheat flour for the sorghum. I use brown rice flour in my gluten-free pastry, and really like the texture, and have really been liking the flavour of the light buckwheat flour.
Anyhow, a couple of notes:
- make sure you don’t roll these any thinner than 1/4″ thick, or they won’t have the right crisp yet firm texture you need for s’mores, and second,
- use your silpat mat to roll these out (trust me, you will thank me!)
So here’s the preliminary bad nighttime kitchen lighting photo. I made these unadulterated because I like my Nanaimo bars straight-up. No fancy flavours for me thank you! Because these are pretty sweet all-round, I used unsweetened coconut in the base, and kept the almonds fairly large for added texture. You also cannot monkey around with the middle layer — you MUST use Bird’s Custard powder, and the resulting mix is not much more than a thick icing. The final slather on top of a tasty bittersweet chocolate sets the whole works off! One recipe makes an 8-inch square pan, or 16 individual portions.
Another addition to go down in the pantheon of uniquely Canadian food stuffs such as Poutine, Tourtiere, Buttertarts and Coffee Crisps! (NOW don’t you wish you lived here?). There’s a whole raft of these to look at, so in addition to checking out Lauren’s blog, head over to the Daring Kitchen to see all the variations other Daring Bakers have come up with!
Gluten-Free Graham Wafers
120 grams finely ground brown rice flour
100 grams Tapioca Starch
60 grams Ligh Buckwheat Flour
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed
1 teaspoon Baking soda
3/4 teaspoon Kosher Salt
7 tablespoons (100 g) Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)
1/3 cup Honey
5 tablespoons Milk
2 tablespoons Vanilla Extract
use a food processor for best results. Roll to 1/4 inch thick and Bake at 350 degrees for 25 -30 minutes.
Nanaimo Bars
Ingredients:
For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Gluten Free Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)
For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer
1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar
For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter
Directions:
1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.
2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.
3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.
A quick lentil soup that is hearty enough for dinner! While you can use plain brown lentils for this, do try and get the French Lentils (Lentils de Puy). They have a richer flavour, and have a slightly firmer texture than the brown ones. They look like beautiful little speckled stones in their uncooked state.
Lentil Soup
(Serves 4)
A hearty, satisfying lentil soup for those chilly winter days. If you want to make it vegan, omit the bacon, and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. You can also add 1-2 cups of diced carrots before you lock the pressure cooker lid on. If you make this without the bacon but still want a smoky flavour, you can add about 1 1/2 teaspoons smoked paprika to the onions and garlic while they are sautéing.
This recipe is gluten-free and dairy-free
- 3-4 strips bacon, cut into lardons
- 1 large onion, finely diced
- 3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup French Lentils (Lentils de Puy)
- 1 14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes (low sodium)
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 1/2 cup white wine (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 2 whole bay leaves
Over medium heat in a pressure cooker at least 4 quarts, cook the bacon until the fat is rendered out and it starts to brown slightly. Add the onion, garlic and salt and sauté until the onions are translucent. Add all the other ingredients and lock the lid on the pressure and cook under pressure for 25 minutes. Bring the pressure down and remove the lid.
- 1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar or Balsamic vinegar
Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Stir in the vinegar just before serving.
Lentil Soup: Printer Friendly Recipe
Time for another cocktail from Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails!
Ive been eyeing this one for a bit, thinking it would be a fun one to try, just for the historical kicks, if nothing else. I can just imaging all the New York party set heading out on their private boats for a bit of imbibing just beyond the 12-mile limit (originally set at 3-miles out, but extended to 12 partway thru Prohibition).
This turned out to be pretty tasty, and fairly uncomplicated to assemble (of course, it would need to be for those evading the authorities on the high seas!)
The Twelve Mile Limit
- 1 oz. white rum
- 1/2 oz. rye whisky
- 1/2 oz. brandy
- 1/2 oz. grenadine (I used my homemade hibiscus grenadine)
- 1/2 oz. lemon juice
Shake with ice, strain into a chilled cocktail glass, garnish with a lemon twist.
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