I just read a great article on Salon.com about eating gluten-free for fun (don’t you just love those people?). It is called “Dilemmas of a Gluten-Free Convert” — you should check it out. The author may be a symbol of everything I hate about, well, everyone who doesn’t have a celiac diagnosis, but I still loved her article. I especially appreciate her observation about sticking to wine and dodging the appetizers at cocktail parties.
Ruth Reichl, you are my hero.
Daily Treat: A great, grown-up, spicy crispy chocolate thing, with pistachio nuts. Which I baked (even though ever since The Diagnosis I don’t tend to bake very much). I would show you a photo of the crisps, except my family ate every single crumb and all I had left was the plate, which isn’t picturesque. So instead I will (1) give you the recipe, and (2) provide you some visuals of the book (since as we know every blog post requires a photo, QED.)
The recipe is called Pistachio-Dark Chocolate Crisps, and it comes from the Gourmet Today cookbook (page 686), which to my surprise contains a luxurious selection of naturally gluten-free cookies and desserts. I am looking forward to trying the Fruit and Nut Chocolate Chunks and the Crispy Chocolate Marshmallow Squares just as soon as my body stops gaining weight on water and roasted fennel (since that is all I eat).
If you looked, you would find that the crisp recipe as it appears in the book is not completely, totally gluten-free, but it only calls for six tablespoons of flour, and that is close enough for me. I just substituted gf flour, and then I doubled the curry powder… If you read this blog for long, you will discover I fiddle with almost all my recipes. No apologies; it’s my way.
Pistachio-Dark Chocolate Crisps – converted to gluten-free by ME!
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (I used dark, because that was all I had)
6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (I used Terry’s gluten-free flour mix)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon curry powder (I used 1/4 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg white
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used double that, of course)
1/2 cup cup roasted shelled pistachios, chopped
I wasn't sure if this would work with GF flour, but it did!
1. Put a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine butter, brown sugar, flour, salt, curry powder, vanilla, and egg white in food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Glue parchment to baking sheet with a dab of batter in each corner.
4. Spread remaining batter evenly into a 10 by 14 inch rectangle on parchment paper (yes, I did measure!), then scatter chocolate and nuts on top.
5. Bake until firm and golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes.
6. Transfer crisp, still on parchment, to a rack to cool completely.
7. Remove crisp from paper, breaking into pieces. Good for dessert. Or breakfast.
glutenfreebitches.com 