Fruitcake!

'Tis that time of year for Christmas goodies.  And even if you don't celebrate Christmas, this is quite a yummy cake!  It's non-alcoholic; if you'd like an alcoholic fruit cake simply substitute 1/4 cup of brandy for 1/4 cup orange juice.  Also, this is not a "make weeks before you eat it" type of fruitcake.  It's best eaten the day it's made, though it would keep in the refrigerator for a day or two.

Fruitcake!

Ingredients
6 eggs
1/2 cup coconut flour

1/2 cup melted butter

4 cups chopped fruit (see note)
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 lb almond flour (approx. 5 cups)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt

note:  For this batch I used about 4 oz each of mission figs, calimyrna figs, and dried apricots.  Plus 8 ounces of candied cherries, 8 ounces of candied pineapple, 1/8 cup candied lemon and 1/8 cup candied orange.  Feel free and adjust fruits as you like, just try to have about 4 cup of chopped fruit.  Other good options are figs (remember, they have maltose), currants, golden and regular raisins, dried cranberries, and dried cherries.

Method
Preheat oven to 300°.

Whisk eggs in the bowl until they are light and fluffy, approx. 5 minutes in a stand mixer.  Whisk in coconut flour, let stand at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt butter and prep fruit. 

Roughly chop the fruit you're using.  If I were precise about the chopping it'd be about 1/4" dice, but for this recipe precision is definitely not necessary.  To the fruit, add the orange juice, molasses, and brown sugar.

In yet another bowl, combine the almond flour with the salt, spices, and baking soda.

Returning to the first bowl, the one with the eggs and coconut flour, whisk in the butter.  In two additions, add the fruit mixture and the almond flour to the egg mixture.  Mix gently, but mix well.

Pour batter into a parchement-lined pan and bake for about an hour, or until golden and firm to the touch.  Cool in pan 5-10 minutes before serving.

Make 15 servings, with less than 1 gram of starch* and approximately 45 grams of carbohydrate per serving.
*starch content varies by fruit type.  To completely eliminate starch, do not use figs or raisins.

(What the heck is) Glucoamylase Deficiency: Where we are now

We're coming up on 3 years since the diagnosis. At times, it was a pretty rough road. But here we are. A bit bedraggled, perhaps, but a world away from where we were.

Nope!

Hi everyone!

I bet you thought I forgot about you, huh?  Nope!  I have just been craaaazzyy busy.  Why, you ask?

• The Hubby transferred to another state in March.
• I finished the semester in May, and spent the summer writing- and battling over- my thesis.
• I moved to another state in July.
• Our stuff moved to another state in August.  (Finally!  We are all together again!)
• We went to another state for a wedding in August.  Actually, we were in one state or another all-the-freaking-time all summer.
• It was 115­°.  I was NOT going to cook if I didn't have to.

But now, we're moved, settled, it's cooler, and we're predictably in one house most of the time.  So now I can start experimenting again.  I have a Cherry Cobbler in mind for my first new recipe, so stick around and you'll see it soon!

(What the heck is) Glucoamylase Deficiency: What does it all mean?

I've addressed the "what does this mean" in a different post, but I thought it was time to expand it.

I've often joked that my kiddo couldn't have been born to a more perfect family: I have a strong medical background, and it didn't take long before I was the one doing the educating during doctor's visits. However, the whole first year was incredibly intimidating, and much of that was all the new terminology that we all had to absorb. So here's some of those terms, and what this whole deficiency is (and the why and the how) translated into Regular English.

Glucoamylase Deficiency, Pancreatic Glucoamylase Deficiency


Both of those terms effectively mean the same thing. To really understand what it is, you need to understand some really basic anatomy. Everyone has a pancreas. It hangs out with the rest of the parts that my children affectionately call our Guts. Its BFF is the liver. They are so close, in fact, that they are practically attached to each other.

Anyway, the pancreas' main goal in life is to make dry heaves the most horrible-part of the influenza experience. See, that's when we all realize that there is this totally nasty stuff called Bile in our Guts. Terrible, terrible stuff when one has the flu. Crucial stuff if we ever want to eat food. Bile is just a whole bunch of different enzymes. The pancreas makes it, and sends it on down to hang out in the gall bladder until it's needed.


What are enzymes?

Well, when you were a kid did you ever lick a lollypop or eat half a carton of yogurt and then try to "save" it? When you came back it was all slimy and gross... and that's all thanks to enzymes. There are enzymes in our saliva too... in fact, one of them is amylase. Think of amylase as the Bruce Wayne to glucoamylase's Batman. They are very nearly the same, but just a little bit different.

Getting back to the pancreas- its job is to make all these different enzymes. It makes each enzyme separately, and then combines them all together into something that every overindulgent newly 21-year-old is far too familiar with: yep that's Bile. The pancreas, as we recall from 4th grade science, is made of Cells. Each cell has a different job, but many of them are tasked with making enzymes, and each enzyme-making cell only specializes in one particular enzyme. Of course, there are lots and lots of cells that are tasked with the same enzyme, so that there is enough. In order to do that, that cell needs to have the materials, and also have the instructions.

No one is completely sure, but we think that in Glucoamylase Deficiency there was a disastrous incident at the local Kinkos during the dna/baby making process, and the instructions that tell each cell how to make Glucoamylase were, for lack of a better term, all f'ed up. Some cells still muddle through, and sometimes they can mange to make a little glucoamylase. Sometimes there are a few renegade cells make a pretty wonky version of glucoamylase (which, in its wonky-ness, it totally useless) but most of the cells see the f'ed up instructions and say "to hell with it, I'm going to lunch".

The end result is that there either aren't enough cells making glucoamylase, or they just make it v-e-r-y s-lo-w-l-y. Either way, there isn't enough.

Why does this matter?

Well, there are two reasons. First, our bodies are cool and all, but most of our cells (especially our brains) are damn picky. They can only use glucose.

Glucose can come from a couple of places.  One is, well, glucose.  Found in your handy-dandy piece of fruit or candy necklace, you find it anywhere your sweet tooth is happy.  All by itself, it's called a mono-saccharide (one-sugar).  However, just like that weird gnome that is always on vacation somewhere, most of the time glucose doesn't like to roam the food pyramid alone.  Sometime it'll hook up with fructose and boom!  Common table sugar, or "sucrose".  Sometimes it will just find another glucose buddy to bond with and boom!  One of our nemesis... maltose. All of those are di-saccachrides (two-sugars).  But sometimes it won't just hook up with one friend, but they'll have a block party and form a crazy conga line down the street.  Then you've got a poly-saccharide (many-sugar), also known as our other dietary nemesis...starch.

Those enzymes that we talked about earlier?  They kinda work like the little pull-tab thingy on a zipper to break apart the sugar molecules until glucose is all alone and yummy yummy cell-food.  The cells can't use it if it's all hooked up and having a good old time with its buddies.  Just like cheap beer is the fuel for every college party, glucose- and glucose that is all alone and not hooked up with anything else- is the only fuel for the little party that the cells like to call the Krebs Cycle.

So anyway.  Because the enzyme-making cells are all f'ed up or out to lunch, all the starch or maltose just hangs out in the tummy irritating the intestines (making it harder for all the other good stuff to be absorbed), and is generally useless.  Except to the bacteria that we all have in our Guts, of course.  It like a bacteria buffet, and they chomp it up as fast as they can replicate.  And when they're done?  Gas.  And bloating.  And on and on... we all know the symptoms of Starchy Tummy are pretty miserable.

And this, in a nutshell, is what (and how and why) there is this thing called Pancreatic Glucoamylase Deficiency.  Or Maltase-Glucoamylase Deficiency. Or, as we like to say because mono-syllabic words are way easier (yay Regular English!)... Sharky's "Starch Problem".

When you're almost out of almond flour...

In this house, it is a BAD thing.

But, when almost out of almond flour, have hope.  And scones.  Or something.


Raisin Scones   Pancakes   PanScones
(I say they're scones, the children say they're pancakes that don't need syrup)


Ingredients
1 cup raisins
3 apples, cored (I use granny smith)
6 eggs
1/2 c sugar
1 T cinnamon
1 t baking soda
1/3 c brown rice flour
1/2 cup butter

Method
Preheat oven to 325°.  Line a pan with parchment paper.

Put all the ingredients in a food processor.  Whirl it for AT LEAST 5 minutes, or until everything is completely pureed. Dollop about 1/3 cup batter onto prepared pan, bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until done.  Let cool on the pan, or quickly invert the pan onto a cooling ran.  Either way, they are too soft to remove with a spatula while they are warm.

Makes about 20 PanScones
17 gms carbohydrate per scone, 3 gms starch per scone

Also Awesome

So perhaps you've seen my Slightly Addictive Black Cherry Cranberry Popsicles.

These are Also Awesome.

Orangey Orange Popsicles

Ingredients
2 small boxes sugar-free orange jello
1 packet unflavored orange koolaid
2 cups very hot water
2 cups cold water
canned mandarin oranges, drained (about 1 can)

Combine the orange jello, koolaid, and hot water.  Stir until the koolaid is completely dissolved.  Stir in the cold water.

Add about 3 mandarin orange slices to each popsicle mold.  Pour in the jello/koolaid mixture.  Freeze.

Makes about 15 popsicles, with 0 gms starch or maltose, and about 2 gms carbohydrate per popsicle.

Just slightly addictive

So I've been on a bit of a popsicle kick lately.  I've made Strawberry-Orange-Banana, Strawberry-Limeade, Triple Berry, Orangey Orange, and a few others.  They've all been good, and the Orangey Orange was Really Good, but none have been OMG Good.

well, until now.

But wait, you say... isn't this a strach free blog?  Unless they secretly add potatoes to my Flav-Or-Ice, isn't it all starch free??

Yes, but unfortunately many of the commercial popsicles have artificial-everything, and they often have maltose are part of their sweetener blends.  So I've been making popsicles for a couple of years to avoid the maltose. 

As an added twist, one of my other sons was diagnosed with type-1 diabetes about a month ago (as of this writing) and now either my popsicles need to be sugar free too*, or I need to start making special popsicles for every kid.

I chose option #1.  I'm all about the Easy, lol.

So, without further ado, here is the recipe.  I recommend just going to your local big box store and buying all the ingredients in bulk.  You'll be making them all the time!

Black Cherry Cranberry PopsiclesIngredients
2 packets unflavored gelatin**
1/3 cup sugar-free syrup (I use Torani)**
splenda or other sugar-free sweetener, to taste
2 cups hot water
2 cups cold water
1/4 cup cranberry concentrate, not juice (like This)

Method
Combine the gelatin, syrup, cranberry concentrate and 2 cups hot water.  Stir until the gelatin has dissolved, and add sweeteners as desired.  Add remaining 2 cups water, and stir well.  Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.


**You can substitute 2 small boxes of sugar-free black cherry jello for the syrup and the gelatin.  The results will be slightly different, and less tart-sweet but still pretty tasty.

**You can also use 2 packets unflavored gelatin, 1 packet black cherry koolaid, and the sugar-free sweetener equilavent of aboout 1/2 cup sugar (more or less, to taste).  This would be a slightly more complicated, but (IMO) much tastier option than sugar-free jello.


Makes about 15 popsicles, depending on size of molds.  0 gms starch or maltose, about 3 gms carbohydrate per popsicle.


*this is why you'll start to see carb counts in addition to starch and/or maltose at the bottom of every recipe.  I refer to this blog for recipes all the time, and I only want to calculate it once!

(What the heck is) Glucoamylase Deficiency: Our diagnostic Process

As a recap:

We had a very difficult time finding a pediatrician that would actually listen to us. Finally, I found the fantastic pediatrician, who is still my children's primary doctor today.

At first, as it routine, she recommended all the routine treatments and all the routine tests. Increase the whole grains. X-Ray to see if he's constipated. Metamucil. Miralax. More Miralax. But unlike our previous pediatricians, she was able to see through all the noise of his symptoms and his history. She was able to see that I wasn't one of THOSE mothers. (It probably helped that I had two other perfectly healthy children.) And one spring day, after an incredibly difficult week and almost at the end of my rope, I made an appointment. As luck would have it, it was the last appointment of the day.

I went in, ready to demand a referral, and frustrated enough that I was almost on the verge of tears. She sat us down and listened to us, really LISTENED to us. And that moment was when everything started to turn around.

She agreed that we needed a referral. But she also wanted to speed the process along. So she ordered all the regular tests, and quite a few that she thought were likely to be needed, so that when we arrived at the pediatric gastroenterologist we'd be ready to talk about what was, and what wasn't, going on. On that day, she spent over 45 minutes with us. By the time we were leaving, everyone else was gone, including the office staff, and it was well after regular closing hours. But we had made a plan, and for the first time I left a doctor's office with hope that we could find a way to make my child feel better.

During the diagnostic process, especially in the fall of 2009 and the early spring of 2010, life was incredibly busy and my memory is a bit fuzzy. In order to refresh my memory, I have referred to his medical records. If we discussed something that wasn't noted in his record, such as why a particular test was chosen over another, I can only speculate.

The tests that our pediatrician ordered were pretty common: tests for parasites, tests for reducing substances in the stool. Occult blood, pH, WBC, and other analysis (fats that shouldn't be there, etc). He also had some blood work- CBC, CMP, TSH, free T4.

When we saw our pediatric gastroenterologist, she did a scope (upper and lower) and did some biopsies. There was no evidence of celiac disease, everything looked pretty normal (though some unspecified inflammation was noted) and some biopsies were taken to check his enzyme activity. They were later sent to Mayo, who confirmed the diagnosis in October of 2009: glucoamylase deficiency.

It took quite a while before we got everything settled with his diet, and there were many times when his symptoms would flare up until I discovered the cause. When we first removed starches, I increased the amount of sweet potatoes he ate, and that's how I began to to realize that maltose was likely a problem too. By January 2010 he was maltose-free too.

In the fall of 2010 he started having more and more symptoms, almost as bad as before. We went to an allergist, who diagnosed a severe tree nut allergy. No nuts for him... we cried. In the office, in the car, and all the way home.

In January of 2011 we went back to be retested, because I wanted to be sure. The test showed that he had only a very mild reaction to almonds, no reaction to any other nut, and a very strong allergy to wheat. Though he was starch free, but I wasn't really focused on gluten-free after the negative celiac disease diagnosis (and a no-starch diet is effectively no-gluten too). Since January 2011, he's been gluten free too, and I've been much more vigilant about it.

In retrospect, I wonder if he had had some hidden wheat or gluten that had exasperated his symptoms. I'll never know, but after 4 months of no *anything* going back to a plain starch-free diet was a relief, and it suddenly seemed much easier. So we did get something very valuable out of that experience: it can always be worse.

At the same time that we saw the allergist, we requested a consultation with Texas Children's Hospital. Dr. Buford Nichols (no longer practicing as far as I know) was a pioneer with this disorder, and did a great deal of research. We saw a different physician in this practice (actually, two physicians) who was also very experienced with it, and was conducting a study on glucoamylase deficiency. He recommended several tests, most of which we had done back in our home city. The only one that was not completed was a Fructose Absorption test... there is no lab in our area that has the ability to conduct it.

The tests that he ordered: CBC, Celiac (blood test), CRP, SED rate, liver panel, lipase

The allergist recommended in January 2011 that Sharky start taking probiotics. The specialist agreed in February 2011, and told me that he's found that the "r" bacteria (rhamnosus, reuteri... all the ones that start with "r") are especially beneficial for kids with this deficiency. Perhaps they munch on starch? I don't know. But I do know that probiotics have been amazing. Sharky went from sickly-sick-sick-sick before diagnosis to sickly-sick on a starch-free diet to Just A Normal Kid after we added the probiotics to his starch-free diet. Amazing.

(What the heck is) Glucoamylase Deficiency: What we experienced

So here we are, approaching the third year since diagnosis, and I realized I've never written about WHAT this deficiency is. So, this is our experience:

Our little Sharky** was born just a wee bit early, and perfectly healthy. As with his later siblings, I had to supplement his feedings with formula. Which, for him, was AWFUL. I have never met a more unhappy little person than he was those first few months. Finally we tried an (expensive and) special hypoallergenic formula, and all was well. For a while.

When Sharky became a toddler his real problems began. At his 12 month check-up he was a robust 32 pounds, and he would spend the next 11 years falling off the growth charts. I suspected that there was something diet-related going on, and I put him on a gluten-free and corn-free diet for about six months. I also really restricted sugar, noticing that during the Candy Holidays (Valentine's, Easter, Halloween) his problems were exasperated. None of that worked. So I focused on making sure that he ate lots of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, with as few additives and preservatives as is possible these days.

He was always around the 80th percentile for height, but his weight was always a concern. At about age 3 we started the visits to the doctors. At first we were limited, and he had to see a base clinic doctor. And, as is common (especially then, and especially overseas) he almost never saw the same doctor twice. So, based on his symptoms, we were told over and over that he was just constipated. Increase the whole grains in his diet.

We moved. We found a wonderful civilian doctor, who started (as most doctors would) with the presumption that he was a normal kid. Increase the whole grains. Increase the veg.

Our civilian doctor retired after about a year. We found another. She was great, but redid most of what had been done before. He had an x-ray that showed an incredible amount of gas in his gut (no wonder he was in so much pain!) . Increase the whole grains. Try metamucil, because surely he must be constipated. She left to take a teaching position. So we found another doctor. At this point, he was about 7 years old.

The doctor we found is a doctor that I will forever be grateful for. Tina Haynes, of Mid Kansas Pediatrics in Wichita, Kansas.  She's a general pediatrician, and like all the others she assumed his problems were normal at first. Increase the grains. X-Ray. Metamucil. Miralax. But unlike all the others, she was able to see through all the noise of his symptoms and his history. She was able to see that I wasn't one of THOSE mothers. (It probably helped that I had two other perfectly healthy children.) And one spring day, after an incredibly difficult week and almost at the end of my rope, I made an appointment. As luck would have it, it was the last appointment of the day.

I went in, ready to demand a referral, and frustrated enough that I was almost on the verge of tears. And then, it all changed.  Dr. Haynes sat us down and listened to us, really LISTENED to us. And that moment was when everything started to turn around.

She agreed that we needed a referral. But she also wanted to speed the process along. So she ordered all the regular tests, and quite a few that she thought were likely to be needed, so that when we arrived at the pediatric gastroenterologist we'd be ready to talk about what was, and what wasn't, going on. On that day, she spent over 45 minutes with us. By the time we were leaving, everyone else was gone, including the office staff, and it was well after regular closing hours. But we had made a plan, and for the first time I left a doctor's office with hope that we could find a way to make my child feel better.



What were his symptoms?

Bloating, incredible bloating. Poor Sharky would have a huge round little tummy, and it had to be extremely uncomfortable.

Pain. The type of pain that wakes you up in the middle of the night. We spent lots and lots of nights snuggling a hurting little boy, trying to soothe him with backrubs and lullabies, and hoping that tomorrow would be better.

Vomiting. Though only a little. He had a lot of nausea, but didn't vomit very often.
Diarrhea. Terrible- the kind that you get with food poisoning or a really bad flu. The kind that sends you running for the bathroom, praying that you'll make it in time. This was a pervasive symptom, and he had it nearly every day from toddler-hood until we got the hang of this starch-free diet after diagnosis.

and finally, when he was about six Sharky started getting hurt when he should have been completely fine. A broken arm jumping off play equipment, when any other kid would have barely had a bruise. Cracked ribs from jumping on a trampoline. And on, and on....

Skarky's last visit to the ER was just before the diagnosis, and after changing his diet his health has dramatically improved. Now he doesn't ever get hurt, aside from the occasional skinned knee just like every other kid. He doesn't have any pain, or vomiting, or diarrhea, or bloating. Just like every other kid. And, just like every other kid nearing the teenage years, he's trying to figure out the world. And to me, all the perfectly normal problems he has are the most wonderful things in the world.

Well, most of the time, anyway.



**Don't worry, Sharky isn't his given name. :)

What to Tell People You Eat

What do you tell the other mom about okay breakfast foods when Kiddo is going for a sleepover? What do you tell the babysitter if she wants to give the kids a snack? What do you tell Sister-In-Law when you are planning Thanksgiving dinner together?

While one option might be to simply hand-carry your own meals everywhere you go, sometimes it's helpful to have a list that you can just hand out, for other people to keep for a reference. Below is a link to the list that I have created for these types of things; I hope that you find it helpful!

Please note: for my kiddo, he can "cheat" with a little bit of starch from time to time. Some people might be able to tolerate more, some people might be able to tolerate less. Feel free to change, or omit, that section as it applies to you.
Foods Containing Starch and/Or Maltose

mmmm, peanut butter

What do you get when you take THIS:



plus THIS?


You get THIS.


Peanut Butter Surprise Muffins
Ingredients
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup peanut butter chips
peanut butter

Method
Beat eggs until thick and light-colored. Whisk in coconut flour. Add butter, almond flour, light cream, vanilla, sugar, and baking soda. Whisk well to blend. Add peanut butter chips.

Place a scant 1/2 cup of batter into muffin tins. Place about 1 teaspoon of peanut butter on top of each muffin, and press lightly into the batter. You just want to push it down a tiny bit so that it doesn't slide off when it hits the heat of the oven, you're not pushing it all the way into the batter.

Bake at 350° for 15-18 minutes or until done. Makes approximately 18 muffins, with about 1 gram of starch each.

Starch Free Fauxtmeal

This recipe is totally cool, mostly because it's not a recipe. But it has a great photo, so there's that, at least.




Fauxtmeal (faux-t-meal)
TVP (plain, non-flavored)
Milk (whatever kind floats your boat)
sugar (or stevia or agave or whatever you like)**
cinnamon or other spices
fruit, perhaps, or raisins, or anything else you can think of**


Combine equal parts TVP and milk. Add sugar and spice(s) and fruit to taste... all of this is completely optional. Add whatever you like!!! Place the whole lot in a cake pan or a pie plate or a 9x13 pan or any pan that you like. The only important part is that your mixture should be somewhere around an inch thick.

Bake at 350° for about 30 minutes, or until done. Add extra liquid when serving if you prefer your oatmeal to have that "soupy" quality.

That's it, and that is a non-recipe recipe if I ever saw one! Oh, and it's starch free.

*remember, honey has maltose, so don't use that if you're maltose-intolerant
** don't be silly and add potatoes or taro with your raisins, 'cause then it's not starch-free anymore

-----------------------------
After I posted this recipe, it occurred to me that some people might not know what TVP is. For this recipe, it's important to get the Plain variety, because it can come in different flavors, and I don't imagine that chicken- or beef-flavored oatmeal would be very tasty. I get mine in the bulk bins of my local WholeFoodMart, but Bob's Red Mill sells it in ~1lb packages.

Here is a linky to Bob's TVP on their website:
Bob's TVP

Coconut Easter Cookies

Here are some yummy cookies just in time for Easter! If you prefer, you can replace the jelly beans with dried fruit, or leave them off altogether.



Coconut Macaroon Easter Cookies
Ingredients
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
~3 cups sweetened coconut (I used the whole bag)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

jellybeans, optional

Method
Beat eggs until light thickened. Whisk in coconut flour, add remaining ingredients except jelly beans. Beat well.

Place small scoops of batter onto parchment-lined pans. Press the centers down to make small depression. Bake at 325° for 15-20 minutes, depending on size, or until done. Remove to a cooling rack and top with jelly beans (you can anchor them with frosting if you prefer).

Makes about 2 dozen small cookies with less than one gram of starch each.

Apple Fritters, yo!

So I was at the store getting some milk...isn't that how all good love stories start?

...Anyway, so I was at the store getting some milk when out of the corner of my eye this unassuming little package beckoned. Bedecked with a garish orange sign, it was proclaimed that Apple Fritters Were on Sale!!

I picked up the package. Mulled it over, put it back. Thought about it some more, picked it up...

oh, I really wanted some apple fritters!

Then it occurred to me that I could just make some. And while they wouldn't have a shelf-life of at least a week, with any luck and a bit of skill that wouldn't matter. I grabbed my milk and high-tailed it out of the store and into the kitchen and Apple-y Frittery Heaven.

Apple Fritters

Ingredients
1 1/2 qts oil, for frying
3 cups chopped apples, use a good mix of sweet and tart
1 1/2 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon coconut flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar

Cinnamon Sugar

"Powered" Sugar Glaze
bakers or superfine sugar
vanilla extract
milk

Method
Beat eggs well. Whisk in coconut flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Mix in almond flour. Stir in apples. Let batter rest 5-10 minutes before frying for best results.

Heat the oil to 350-375° Using a scoop or some other implement, place 1/4c to 1/3c dollops of batter into the oil. Don't crowd the pan or the oil temp will drop too much and they'll be greasy. Fry about 5 minutes or until they are the dark golden (well, light-ish brown) and cooked through.

Remove cooling rack and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, glaze, or both.

To make the glaze: To about 1 cup of superfine sugar add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla (or to taste) and enough milk to make a thick glaze. Use a spoon to drizzle over the fritters, if desired.



This recipe makes about 2 dozen, depending on size. I'm not sure because I ran several "quality checks" and I lost count.

They are totally- no kidding, totally- starch free.
*see this post regarding possible starch content in the apples.

Starch Free Granola Bars

Commercial Granola Bars are full of... Granola. Which is made of oats. Which is full of starch (and often gluten too).

Bummer.

But my kids kept asking, and I persevered, and so I present to you....

Starch Free Granola Bars!!! Which, granted, aren't granola bars because they don't have any granola, but I'm a baker and not a namer-of-things.

Before you start, be sure to read the recipe through carefully, and do ALL the prep work ahead of time.




Starch Free....Bars

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup water
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

12-16 ounces of mixed nuts
24 ounces of dried fruit (I used apricots and cranberries)

1/2 cup chocolate chips, optional

butter or oil

Method
Coarsely chop the nuts and fruits, place into a large bowl. Measure out the chocolate chips, set aside.

Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.

Butter a cutting board, or a the backside of a smaller sheet pan. Set aside.

Get a large bowl scraper or spoon, set aside with the parchment-lined pan.

Place the first 5 ingredients into a 3 qt pot. Use a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature, and cook to 300°. Watch carefully and do not go above 300° (soft crack stage). Remove the thermometer.

Working very, very quickly, pour the fruit and nuts into the sugar, stir well, and pour onto the parchment-lined pan. Press flat with the buttered cutting board.

If desired, sprinkle chocolate chips over the bars, and press again with the board (no need to butter it again).

Let cool about 5 minutes, no longer, and cut into bars with a pizza cutter or a sharp knife. Let cool completely, and store in an airtight container.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

Hi Blog! Long time no... well... write, I guess. I know that's completely my fault. There's been this annoying thing called a thesis that has been taking up all my time, and also a bit of the flu. Anyway....


There is no actual pie in these muffins. There isn't any oatmeal either. There is pumpkin, and there are raisins.... and effectively no starch.

Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal Raisin Muffins

Ingredients

6 eggs
1/2 cup ground flax seed/meal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon *each* allspice, nutmeg, ground cloves
4 cups almond flour
1 15ounce can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups raisins
1 teaspoon baking soda

Method

Add eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer (a hand mixer also works, but it may take longer). Using a whisk attachment, beat at high speed for at least 5 minutes, or until the eggs are lighter, foamy, and have doubled in size. Add flax meal, beat another 2 minutes or so. Add sugar, beat another 2-5 minutes. **

Add pumpkin, beat a minute or so, then add almond flour.

As soon as the almond flour is completely incorporated, add the butter, and vanilla. Then add the raisins. After the raisins are completely incorporated, add the baking soda and salt. Beat just long enough to incorporate the last two ingredients.

Bake at 325° for 25 minutes or until done.

**It may seem like nothing is happening, but all this whisking time is adding air to the batter, helping to ensure that the muffins are nice and light.

Disappearing Act

Thesis writing is not the funnest thing in the world. Funnest isn't a real word.

Both of these things are cured by Cinnamon Rolls.






Cinnamon Rolls

These have a different form than traditional cinnamon rolls out of necessity, but they have all the important components: roll, filling, and frosting. And they are scrumptious.

Ingredients

Roll
6 eggs
1/3 c butter, melted and cooled
1/2 c sugar
1 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
3 c almond flour

Filling
1/2 c sugar
1 T cinnamon
2 T whipping cream

Frosting
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 c butter, softened
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Method
Beat eggs until light colored and foamy. Slowly beat in sugar and butter. Add remaining ingredients, and beat on high for 30 seconds. Portion into muffin cups.

Combine filling ingredients and place into a zip-top bag. Pipe a small amount into the center of each muffin. Bake at 325° for 25-30 minutes.

While muffin/rolls are baking, place cream cheese and butter into a mixing bowl and beat until fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients, and beat on high several minutes until frosting is fluffy.

Place frosting into a zip-top bag, and pipe onto muffin/rolls. Then, watch them disappear.

Best of all, there is NO starch in these cinnamon rolls.

Left to Right: Unfrosted, Frosted, and one showing off its yummy filling.