Thursday, April 3, 2008

Cookbook Review: The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert


"The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert" is one of the best of the GFG series for the extra information it includes.

While all of the books have the Bette Hagman's basic GF mixes (combinations of various GF flours that makes a more stable product,) this book has a great table of the protein, fat, carb, and fiber content of many of our "funny flours" (p26-7). It's fantastic for figuring out what flours to try substituting with if you're trying to increase the protein or fiber content of a recipe.

"Dessert" also has an example of how to take an ordinary cake recipe and make it GF, and suggestions for how much xanthum to use (p30-1). There's also a great troubleshooting chapter that starts on page 33.
One of the good things about the whole GFG series is that Bette put a lot of recipes in all her books. Unlike some recent books that have 20 to 30 recipes total, Bette packs 'em in.
The "cakes from mixes" chapter is less than exciting. It's where you take a GF cake mix and then add so much stuff to it that you could've started from scratch.

Steer clear of the brownie recipe on page 138. It was rock hard on the edges and underbaked in the middle, and was more like a blondie with flecks of chocolate than a proper brownie. I just use a regular recipe and, with the help of the guidelines on page 33, make good cocoa brownies. I'll publish that recipe soon.

The Black Forest Cupcakes on p113 turned out watery-tasting rather than moist and fell a little in the centers. Use some drier flour, perhaps substitute some rice flour for some of the Four Bean Flour.

Favorite recipes:

  • Pumpkin cake p64
  • Banana cake p61 (These are both like really good breads.)
  • Toll House cookies p157
  • Chocolate Mousse cake p282 (One of the better flourless choc cakes I've had)

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