Meyer lemon baking

I am perhaps one of the last food bloggers to have discovered the joys of the Meyer lemon, but I am glad to have baked with them finally! I love cooking with lemon because of the way the citrus can brighten a sweet or a savory dish; especially because many varieties only appear in stores in the winter, where they are like an edible ray of sunshine. Meyer lemons, though, are especially fantastic. They are a bit sweeter than a normal lemon, and smell somewhat floral. They are also only in stores for a little while in the winter here in the Pacific Northwest, which made me eager to cook with some.

I picked up a bag of Meyer lemons last week, mostly to juice and zest them, because I like to keep a little stash of lemon zest in the freezer for convenience. I then ended up making two different lemon-based baked goods. Both recipes turned out to taste quite pleasant.

First, some almond-lemon biscotti, made almost exactly the same as this recipe by the Gluten-free Girl. The main differences were that I used different flours (swapped brown rice for sweet rice and tapioca, and switched potato flour instead of potato starch) and almonds instead of pecans. I think the one thing I will change next time is to use more like a half-cup of sugar, these are more like a desert then a snack.

I also modified my scone recipe slightly. I swapped out the potato flour for buckwheat, and used 1/4 cup lemon juice instead of coconut milk. Also, I added the zest of a lemon into the dough, and added in an extra tablespoon of sugar. I felt like these needed something else, maybe poppy seeds or almonds, but they taste good regardless.

So, you should go make something with Meyer lemons while they are still in stores! They are a fantastic fruit.

Basic Gluten-Free Scones

I don't have a pithy anecdote for this week's post. I've been spending the last couple weeks writing and editing personal statement essays for grad school. Using a day to write "I am an awesome candidate and here is why you should pick me!" is rather draining. All I want to do now is sit in a window seat and eat scones and drink tea. I don't have a window seat, but I did make some scones. nice, simple scones that can be customized however you like. They don't even need xanthan gum.

They are very tasty.

Here is the recipe.

Basic Gluten-Free Scones 

Adapted from King Arthur Flour (recipe here)

Dry ingredients

¼ cup brown rice flour (30 g)

¼ cup potato flour (40 g)

½ cup sorghum flour (65 g)

1/8 cup brown sugar (20 g)
edit: 1 tsp baking powder (can't believe I forgot that!)

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ginger

4 Tbs butter (½ stick)

up to ½ cup of add-ins (dried fruit, nuts, oats, chocolate chips, coconut etc.)

1 egg

¼ cup milk of choice (I used coconut, use whatever you like and aren't allergic to)

½ tsp vanilla

sugar to sprinkle on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl to incorporate flours. Add the butter; use a pastry blender until the pieces of butter in the dough are the size of peas or a little smaller. Stir in your add-ins at this point, if desired.

In another bowl, mix together the egg, milk, and vanilla. Pour this mixture into the dough, and stir until the mixture forms a slightly wet dough that holds together.

For smaller scones (as in the photographs) take about a quarter cup of dough and shape it into a ball, flattening it slightly onto the cookie sheet. If desired, sprinkle some sugar of top of each scone.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Yields six small scones, perfect for two people.

I have made this with dried mango and some coconut flakes and that was tasty. I also made it with oats as the add-inn. I plan on subbing out brown rice for oat flour, and using currants or raisins in the next batch. The nice thing about this recipe is that it can be adapted to other flours or customized with pretty much any add-in you want.

Prior to baking

Very tasty scones