I bake. I write about famous people who make food. I research articles. I develop recipes. I review events. I take photos in professional people’s kitchens. I blog. I manage my family business’ books. I walk hundreds of miles for breast cancer awareness. I don’t eat gluten. I used to write plays. I grew up with Lyme Disease. Sometimes now that stays hidden. Sometimes it doesn’t.
I’ve been having a hard time figuring out how that all comes together here.
I used to feel like I had a “voice” on this blog, one that was quirky and fun and so focused around the joy that is throwing flour in the air and making a mess and being all scrappy in NYC and not letting the whole gluten-free thing be the thing that stops someone from baking and being all dusty in the kitchen. And then two things happened; I started getting a lot more writing/cooking work and my Lyme Disease-related symptoms started making me not feel well again.
Bare honesty here: I don’t feel well a lot, nowadays. I do a lot of things through an incredible doc who does intensely focused plant-forward immune supporting regimens. I also take a combo of pain killers regulated through a pain management doctor I’ve trusted for over ten years. I also meditate, and work with a life coach, and keep a positive attitude, and sometimes let myself cry in the bathtub because in certain moments none of that seems to make a difference.
Sometimes I don’t know how to express this person I am in this body, at this point in my life. I have a good life. I love my work, value my relationships and have a home that I adore. But I have a history, and even as I’ve tried to start sharing the reason why I’ve been on a gluten-free diet for twenty years, I’ve worried about how it will translate on here.
But then I had a conversation I really needed yesterday. Continue reading →
I’ve had a few mimosas today. Going to go pour another. And… I’m back. It is New Years Day, after all.
Saturn returned with a vengeance this year and, amongst some painful growth spurts, 2011 brought so many beautiful things; experiences and people that have made my time richer and of fuller value. This morning, while cleaning up from the breakfast I made for my guests before they hit the road back south, I took stock of the people I’ve come to cherish that I didn’t know a year ago. Of the little pup that now depends on me for health and happiness. Of the moments of incredible joy and fulfillment I’ve found both in work and personal matters. Of the insanely talented chefs who’ve devoted their lives to the art of food and have gifted me with recipes for my work. Of those who have given me the opportunity to write for an increasingly wider audience. And those who gave me the chance to perform for live ones.
Thank you.
This year will see the premiere of the Dusty Baking Show (check out a little demo above!), my first article on Saveur.com, my work in Easy Eats Magazine (including lots of pasta and some recipes by some of my favorite chefs) and scores of new people and experiences I’m sure so amazing I can’t even imagine.
So I look forward to this new year not with any grandiose statements of how I’ll radically change any of my choices or habits. But with a continued attempt at baby steps. Of mantras to get me through a day or week. Of living in the moment, practicing patience and gratitude, learning as much as I possibly can from the fascinating people around me. To just breathing. To keeping going.
50 Nonprofits to be Thankful For This Thanksgiving
I am thankful for…
My family – they’re such good people with huge hearts, and a bale full of fun.
My friends – like family, known for so long, and a bucket full of laughs.
My dog Mitra – she’s the bees knees (do bees have knees?).
This blog / selling my first article to my favorite food mag / working for my new favorite gluten free food mag / filming the DB cooking show / working with some stellar people.
My apartment and my roomate.
Seeing the hard work of my talented friends come into fruition as we work our tushes off.
People in my life who give back generously.
Click on the image above to a list of 50 incredible Nonprofits you can give back to this holiday season.
Happy, Happy Holidays.
Wishing you much peace, love and a sweet, sweet life.
Oh my goodness! I have been here, there and everywhere this past week, with blogging and reading other blogs a very missed activity.
Not that I haven’t been baking. The kitchen has been plenty dusty with vegan cheesecake, gluten-free vegan mesquite graham crackers (for the cheesecake, but then I had to sandwich them with homemade marshmallows and Kallari dark chocolate…had to, really), the first draft of gluten-free maple cakes for a recipe swap, gluten-free cranberry walnut scones, and more hot chocolate recipes than is good for anyone’s blood sugar.
Then there’s been interviewing (on both sides of the table), invoicing, prepping for a photo shoot, doing some research for Easy Eats magazine (a gorgeous digital gluten-free magazine, check it out!) writing scripts for some final episodes of something really fun, seeing friends’ shows, putting my dog into a costume for Halloween (yes, I’ve become one of those people who exploits their defenseless animal for their own amusement), and catching up with a pal on his way to India (not jealous, nope, not at all).
I also had to say goodbye to a dear friend – my macro camera lens. It was a loaner, one that I fully intended to accidentally keep. But it had to go home Friday.
While I was sad to say goodbye to the lens, this is what it created, so it was a worthy sacrifice:
It’s a trailer for a friend’s newest novel. Yes, evidently books get trailers now too. She’s an incredible writer and a lovely person, so if you have a young-ish lady in your life, grab the book when it comes out in January.
And while I’m at it, here’s another friend’s amazing creation:
This puppet marched alongside a 40-foot Brooklyn Bridge and NY Stock Exchange Bull in the NYC Halloween parade on Monday with the Occupy Wall Street protesters. My buddy Joe is quite a beautiful artist and just one of those people that makes this planet so fascinating and full of love.
I’m fortunate to be surrounded by inspirational friends, those involved with and aside from food!
Speaking of which, now that Halloween is over can we officially start baking for the holidays? Please, please, pretty please?! I’ve already rough-drafted my Thanksgiving menu and pondered the new cookie recipes I’ll be gluten-freeing for Christmas.
After I spent a few hours in a senior center kitchen on Saturday morning (felt a bit guilty that other Meals on Wheels volunteers were out delivering in the snow and I got to stay in nice and cozy and make whipped crean), I hunkered down with my recipes in my home kitchen and forced myself not to put on Christmas music. That’s what a snow storm in October will inspire in you. Well, in me, at least.
But now it’s officially November, so here it is: the perfect gluten-free pie crust, ready for your apples or pumpkins or sweet potatoes or whatever it is that means holiday to you. Shortly I’ll have a gluten-free, vegan pumpkin pie up here for a lovely reader who requested the recipe. Until then, I’m going to make this crust over and over and toss whatever I have around in it.
gluten-free flour blend: 1/2 cup brown rice flour, 1/2 cup tapioca starch OR arrowroot starch, 1/4 cup millet flour, 1 tsp xanthan gum, 2 Tbsp sticky rice flour.
pinch of salt
1 Tbsp palm, sucanat or white sugar
1 stick unsalted butter (higher fat the better)
1 egg
1 tsp lemon juice
Method:
If you have a standing mixer, place the flours, salt and sugar in the bowl and fix with a paddle attachment. Mix flours to combine thoroughly. Cube or thinly slice the butter, add to the bowl, toss to mix. Then mix on low until the butter is just incorporated into the flour, making it look like cornmeal or buttery flakes. Make a well in the center, add the egg and lemon juice, and mix on low until just combined, to the point where it doesn’t pull into a ball but is about to. Gather with your hands, wrap in plastic, flatten to a disk and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
If you have a food processor, use the directions above but pulse the butter into the flour, and then the wet ingredients into that mixture.
If you have neither, don’t despair!! You have ten awesome little kitchen gadgets at the ready! Use the tips of your fingers to blend the butter into the flour, being sure not to use your whole palm or the fleshy part of your fingers (you want as little of the heat from your hands transferring to the dough). Then use a fork to pull the egg and lemon into the mixture.
Once the dough has been chilled to where it’s not sticky but not too hard to roll, flour a pastry board, parchment paper or Silpat with rice flour, and roll to desired thickness. Fit into a pie plate, tart plate or slide onto a baking sheet for the perfect galette crust!
I filled this galette with:
4 Asian pears, cored and thinly sliced
2 Tbsp honey
zest of one lime
juice of 1/2 lime
1 2″ piece of ginger root, grated with microplane
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds
Then brushed the top with egg white and baked it for 35 minutes until the edges were lightly browned. And then I ate it. The whole thing. Ok, I shared a little and it took a few days, but someone may have seen me walking to the subway, eating it with my fingers. May.
These cupcakes are amazing. I just wanted to start with that. You can’t tell that they’re gluten AND dairy free. My roommate’s eyes lit up when she took her first bite, and after her third she proclaimed it her favorite of my creations. Even I am wowed by how good this cupcake is. I can confidently say this is the best gluten-free red velvet cupcake recipe. AND the best dairy-free red velvet cupcake recipe. There. I said it. But I should know. I’ve eaten about 12 of these little guys. Including two this morning, before breakfast.
Three things contributed as inspiration for the best gluten-free red velvet cupcake I have ever eaten.
Brainstorming first came when I online-met Kelli of Ingested Read. I love her new blog, and her recipes are created for a specific book she’s pouring over. I’m a big fan of this idea, and this blog. So she opened up her site for guest-posts with Intercaketuality. Brilliant. I’m sending her a big high five across the pond.
I knew I wanted to make some sort of red-velvet cake. In my gluten-free food crawl with a few friends I learned that the three bakeries in the city that boast gluten-free offerings disappointed our taste buds in the red-velvet department. Either too dry or too moist, none contained that classic cocoa flavor.
A few months ago my cousin Daniella played Little Red Riding Hood in her high school production of Into the Woods and, as I predicted, was stellar, stealing the show. In this musical version Little Red has a slight obsession with baked goods, eating all the bread and sweets she is supposed to take through the woods to granny. Daniella herself is very allergic to dairy, so over the years we’ve commiserated at the dessert table as treats were passed around.
So when thinking about a new cake I wanted to work on, these three elements blended perfectly into The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake!
But a few challenges arose when making this both gluten and dairy free.
First, how to replicate cake flour? According to my interweb research, cake flour is distinctive because (a) it is very finely milled, (b) it contains a low amount of protein which develops gluten and (c) it has a higher amount of starch as a result. So, how to make a gluten-free version of cake flour, which obviously lacks gluten to begin with?
I don’t really use potato starch, as it’s a nightshade and not good for people with arthritis and digestive issues, so instead I used arrowroot and crossed my fingers. I also used 2 cups of brown rice flour and 1 of white rice flour, and sifted twice. This worked wonderfully in the cake. I’ll have it on hand from now on.
I then had to replace buttermilk with a non-dairy ingredient. Normally I’d just use almond or soy milk, but as the consistency of buttermilk is a bit thicker and tangy, I had to improvise. So I used tofutti sour cream and diluted it with unsweetened almond milk, then threw in a tablespoon of white vinegar. It worked!
I can honestly say that this recipe is better than the two bakery ones we tried. The cakes are that perfect combination of being both moist and crumbly – they’re not dry at all, so they won’t fall under the pressure of a fork. The cocoa is definitely present, but in no way do they taste like chocolate. And I cut back the sugar aspect by a half a cup and substituted with 1/8 a cup of light agave syrup. I’m not at all a fan of using either of these things, but for experimentation purposes I had to go with it.
Vegan "cream cheese" frosting
For a frosting I whipped up a tofutti / Earth Balance spread from Mama Sophia’s Soul Kitchen. It’s a very tasty recipe, tangy and sweet without being overpowering nor tasting like soy. But as you can see in this picture, it’s more like a pretty, thick glaze. It has a gorgeous sheen, but even when refrigerated overnight it was far too loose for piping. So I glazed the minis with these and then found an incredibly light and fluffy vegan frosting that I whopped on the big guys.
Fluffy Vegan Frosting
The Little Red Velvet Riding Hood Cupcake
Notes: Make sure you have all your ingredients are room temperature or slightly warm. Make sure your oven is properly heated. Don’t over-mix the dough when you’re stirring in the last batch of dry ingredients.
2 rounded tablespoons Tofutti “sour cream” – at room temp
almond or soy milk (directions below)
1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp distilled white vinegar, separated
1 1/2 tsp baking soda.
Directions
Preheat oven to 350º
Line 24 cupcake molds (I did an even 12 cupcakes and 24 minis)
Add Tofutti cream cheese to a liquid measuring cup and fill to just shy of one cup with almond or soy milk. Whisk thoroughly with a fork until smooth. Heat in microwave until warm but not hot.
Add 1 Tbsp white vinegar and stir in.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, cocoa and salt thoroughly.
In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix sugar, agave and oil thoroughly on medium speed until thoroughly combined.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well between additions.
Add vanilla and coloring and mix in.
Turn speed down to low. Add the flour in three additions, alternating with 1/2 of the “buttermilk”. Make sure to mix thoroughly between additions.
Mix baking soda and remaining 2 tsps vinegar until foamy. Add and beat for 10 seconds or until incorporated.
Bake for 14 minutes (small) or 22 minutes (large), rotating pan halfway through.
Cool in pan for at least 5 minutes before removing to cool on a rack, or cool completely in pans.
Definitely cool completely before frosting.
These can be kept in a refrigerator for 3 days in an airtight container. Bring them down to room temperature before serving.
I am a mess of many things.
The Dusty Baker 