Gluten-free, Egg-free Donut Holes!

I don't know about you, but I've become the type of person who, when following a recipe, rarely measures. When I make my own baked goods at home, I rarely measure. I'm an eyeball-er at heart and even when I remind myself to measure for when I want to share a recipe here, I always get caught up in the excitement of creating and forget.

Because of my lack of measuring, the amounts of ingredients in this recipe are guesstimated. I came up with two guidelines to help you while making this though:
1) If the dough is too wet to roll into a ball, add more oats and flour.
2) If the dough is too dry and crumbly, add 1 tbsp of water until it has the right moisture balance in order to roll together

These donuts/donut holes don't taste like Tim Horton's Timbits. They are a bit heavier, denser and they are gluten free. And egg free. Oh, and did I mention that they're baked and not fried! That's another brownie point. Or donut point ;)

Gluten Free Donut Holes

Ingredients(approximately):

125ml Light Sour Cream(half of a 250ml tub)
1 tbsp fancy molasses
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 TSP nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
small sprinkle of salt
1 TSP ground flax seed
1/4 TSP chia seeds*
2 tbsp water
1 TSP baking powder
1/2 TSP baking soda
2 cups quick cook oats
1/4 cup buckwheat flour*
1 cup brown rice flour

1. Add ground flax and chia seeds to water. Stir once and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, add sour cream, nutmeg, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir with spoon until well mixed.
3. Add baking powder, baking soda, brown sugar, molasses, and water-flax mixture into the spiced sour cream. Stir by hand until the ingredients are well incorporated.
4. Add the oats, rice flour and buckwheat flour. Stir with spoon at first, then it will easier to just get your hands into the mixture. With your hands, mix the dough until there is little to no flour/oats left on the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and sticking to your hands, add 1/4 cup of brown rice flour and continue to mix it in with your hands. If it's still to wet, add another 1/4cup. If it's too dry, add 1 tbsp of water.
5. With your hands, scoop a small handful of dough into your hands and roll it into a ball. It should be the size of a medium to large marble and look something like the picture down below.

6. Place the donut hole on parchment paper, and make nine more. Cook in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes, or until slightly crispy on the outside but still soft-ish on the inside. These are better slightly uncooked rather than overcooked, which make them much seem heavier, although still yummy.
7. Place cooked donut holes on a wire rack to cool.

TIPS AND IDEAS
- When cooled down, roll the donut holes in a mixture of honey and cinnamon(2 tbsp honey and 1 tsp cinnamon). Place back on wire rack to drip dry.
- Make chocolate donut holes by adding 2 tbsp cocoa and 1 tbsp brown sugar to the mixture before it is rolled out.
- Make donuts by flattening a roll and carefully pressing your thumb through the center. Place the donut on parchment paper and shape it so it has a more defined hole, and is rounded.
-Roll donuts/donut holes in sugar or coconut flakes before baking.
*Instead of using chia seeds, you can up the amount of ground flax to equal 1-1/2 tsp
*You can use all brown rice flour instead of adding buckwheat(I just wanted to use the rest of my buckwheat flour!)

Gluten-Free Granola Bars

I've tried making granola bars in the past, when I was still able to eat oats, but for some reason or another they were never what I really wanted. When I woke up this morning I had a huge craving for something different for breakfast. Pancakes, breads, cereal and/or eggs just wouldn't do the trick today. And that's when I got creative!

These bars can be altered in many ways to suite your nutritional needs, and what you can eat. Below is a basic recipe, feel free to alter it and let me know how it turns out!

Ingredients:
2 cups puffed rice or rice crispie cereal
1 cup puffed quinoa(or puffed millet if you want)
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, de-shelled
1/4 cup almonds(shelled), slivers or whole
1/4 raisins or dried fruit
1 TBSP Chia Seeds(optional)
3/4 cup honey
1 TSP coconut oil
1/2 cup peanut butter(or nut butter of your choice)
Sprinkle of cinnamon 

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add all your dry ingredients in a bowl and stir until well combined. Heat peanut butter and coconut oil either in microwave or on the stove until it has melted. Pour over dried ingredients and add honey. Stir.

Place your mixture on the lined baking sheet and press it flat so that it sticks together. You can add more honey or nut butter on top if you wish. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until the top is browned. This can also just be placed in the freezer or fridge to harden if you want to keep it raw.

On a side note if you can't have nuts, you can always use more honey or maybe even marshmallows. You could add chocolate to the top so that when it melts and covers the top of your mixture, and then hardens once cold, it'll help to bind it together.

If you try this please let me know what you changed! This recipe is so versatile you can probably change almost anything about it. Just remember you need something sticky to help it bind.

I Dream of Pizza...

Out of all the things I miss about not being able to eat gluten, tomatoes and cheese, is pizza. After all, how could it possibly in my wildest dreams be possible to enjoy a beautiful, soft yet firm pizza crust smothered in sauce, veggies and cheese....

Guess what? It's possible. No, I'm not lying to you. Don't believe me? Try it and see!

I posted a recipe for a pizza crust not that long ago, but I promise that this one is even better. It doesn't even contain any flour. It can be made to be vegan, or it can be covered with meat. Looking for a vegan, tomato free sauce? Try my Presto It's Dairy-Free Pesto, it's sure to please.

Ingredients:

2.5 Cups cooked rice*
2 Eggs(or egg replacement like ground flax seed in water)
2 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
1 tsp Sesame Oil
Spices(garlic powder, pepper, salt, oregano, basil, ect)**
1-4 tsp water

Add all ingredients except for the water to a large bowl. Stir together with a wooden spoon(or your hands) until everything is well mixed. You may need to add a few tsp of water so that the rice sticks together well.

Line your pan or pizza pan with parchment paper. Spread half the rice mixture onto the paper until it is the desired thickness. This will not rise or fall, whatever thickness it is now is the thickness of your pizza crust.


Bake in the oven on 350 for 15 minutes then gently flip the crust over so the other side can cook. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the crust is firm. If you want a crispy crust, bake for another 5 to 10 minutes.


Remove from the oven and top with your choice of sauce, veggies and cheese. Bake until veggies are tender and cheese is melted and enjoy!

 Sauce Ideas: Tomato sauce, olive oil, pesto, make a sauce from boiled carrots, squash or pumpkin(put cooked ingredients in food processor or mash with a fork, add spices, garlic and a few cooked cranberries go really well!), Garlic butter, cream cheese...
Topping Ideas: Mushrooms, spinach, red pepper, onion, olives, shaved carrot, broccoli, zucchini, sprinkle of sunflower seeds, meat(chicken, beef, pepperoni, bacon, ham), pineapple...
Cheese Ideas: Authentic Feta(goats cheese), soy cheese, nutritional yeast, mozzarella, marble cheese, Swiss, Parmesan



*Any kind of rice can be used for this, although I haven't tried it with wild rice. Cook your rice with a little extra water to help the crust stick together.
**A little bit of spice goes a long way with this. You don't want all the flavor in the crust to overwhelm the taste of the pizza!