I have a confession to make: I rarely measure anything when I cook.
True, I am a little more likely to when I bake. Because of the precise nature of baking, it is more of a science than, say, making soup or grilling steaks. (another confession: I wear my lab coat in the kitchen, because it covers more then an apron, dangit!) But I've been cooking for a lot of years now, and have long-since gotten to the point where recipes are used merely as a vague suggestion rather then a list meant to be taken literally.
This has resulted in a lot of successful experiments, which unfortunately are hard to replicate later, and a few real disasters.
Right, so what does this have to do with anything? Well, yesterday I made something where I not only had to measure everything, but I also had to be careful that there was no cross-contamination. (sounds like I am talking about one of my labs).
That's because I forayed into the world of gluten-free baking. And I have to admit that it was a learning experience.
The reason for this was that the Man and I both have a delightful professor who has Celiacs, and I happened to want to bake something for one of my classes so I could try out my new muffin tins. I figured this gave me a good excuse to try GF baking for the first time.
Yeah, when you're cooking for two, you resort to pawning off baked goods on other people.
I am not going to repost the recipe, but here is a link to the Gluten-Free Girl's wonderful post. (scroll to the bottom for the cupcakes recipe)
Recipe!
The only differences that I made was that I did not put the coffee-flavor in the ganache, and I also added more like 10 oz of chocolate to the ganache so that it would be firmer and travel better.
The batter almost reminded me of meringue, it was fluffy and it didn't pour like I expected. The above photo shows how the batter didn't settle into the liners. There was also a brief moment of panic when I noticed that the batter smelled a lot like uncooked beans. But I decided to trust the wisdom of the people at Bob's Red Mill and the Gluten-Free Girl and not tweak the recipe at the last minute like I usually would have.
Turns out that it's good that I did.
How do they taste?
Pretty good. They went over well in class, and I got to make someone happy that they could actually eat the over-the-top dessert.
This is what they looked like just prior to frosting. (Yes I know I stacked them on top of the stove.... I don't have much counterspace in this apartment.)
I tried pouring the ganache at first, but that wasn't nearly as pretty as dipping them in it as shown above.
See? Pretty.
And tasty.
