Gluten free AND Sugar free? Read on lovelies...

I love to eat. I used to love to eat sweets. anything I could get my hands on and usually have enough for me, my husband and the entire football team he coaches. Don't get me wrong, I still love to eat - in fact, since embarking on this sugar free journey I've found I'm in the kitchen even more experimenting with everything from chickpeas and quinoa to buckwheat (which funnily enough is not a grain flour) and coconut milk. The possibilities are endless and we've tried more new dishes in the last month since we tried for the most part of 2012!

 

You gotta open up to this new lifestyle and embrace it. You are not expected to know everything straight away.For the record - that includes knowing that coconut flour is reeeeeeeaaaaaaaally dry and needs 6 eggs for a decent result, as opposed to crumbly brick resembling a mud-cake you ate as a kid. Now this may take some time. For me, when this happened I just had a massive hissy fit and declared the kitchen a disaster zone and I was NEVER EVER cooking again looked at my rock cakes, forced a big smile and started all over again.

 

But my latest challenge has been to come up with not only a sugar-free version of the cupcakes I was force feeding giving my husband, but also a gluten free one as well. I have many friends who are celiacs or have gluten intolerances and I know as a former teacher that these intolerances are on the rise within our classrooms as well. It just breaks my heart that there may be a  little Johnny out there unable to join in on the traditional birthday celebrations because the cupcakes he brings for everyone 'taste funny.'

It's pretty safe to say that the gluten fre market has impressively evolved now  to include quite the range of 'treats' -   both the ready made versions and the packet mixes. And they taste pretty good. You  know why? Because they are LOADED with the sweet stuff!

 

Call on your trusty 'ol pal Google and you'll find no shortage of gluten free cupcake recipes. But - they are chock full of that f-word I'm not so fond of. Every recipe I found used sugar of all colours (and just so you know, brown sugar is no healthier than white - its just had molasses added to it), honey, agave and that vile stuff that may have you asking yourself if you may have just consumed Ratkill - enter Splenda.

 

So I am on a mission to create the perfect gluten-free AND sugar-free cupcake! My first two creations were not even worth mentioning here. I took one look at the soggy sorry little excuses sitting on my bench tops. Heaven forbid. I didn't particularly handle this too well at first. See second paragraph.

 

But after two failed attempts, I have something that the Mr gave an 8/10 and didn't even know it was healthy. WIN

It's worth nothing that gluten-free does NOT mean low-carb. That's my next mission, and I promise no more hissy fits. Well, I'll try.

 

 



 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Sweet Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of gluten free flour
• 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
• 2 teaspoons gluten free baking powder
• pinch of sea salt
• 100g of softened unsalted butter, cut into small chunks
• 3/4 cup of Natvia Sweetener for Baking
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract + the seeds scraped from one vanilla pod
• 3/4 - 1 cup of buttermilk (regular milk will work fine too)

NOTES

There is an array of gluten free flour mixes at the supermarkets nowadays, Woolworths, I find, has more of a choice. I used the Laucke Flour brand.

 

Arrowroot powder is available at most health food shops, but be sure to get the versions that don't have the preservatives added to them.

 

Natvia is a 100% natural sweetener made from the leaves of the Stevia plant -  a plant that is 300 times sweeter than sugar. They have released a new product especially formulated for baking. It claims to have eliminated the bitter aftertaste akin to most sweeteners. You can find more information here. A note, if you 'lick the bowl' to try the batter - you might be somewhat off put. It doesn't taste like regular batter and there is a 'weird' taste there. Persist - once cooked, that taste disappears. Thank God, cos I was about to throw another kitchen tantrum.

 

Try to get your hands on organic vanilla extract, and not the essence - it's just not the same! Adding the seeds of the pods is a bit of a luxury and not essential to the end result. So if you don't have/want to use them, don't.

 

If your butter isn't softened, zap it for 10-15 seconds OR pop it in a little plate and put it in the oven for a few minutes while it's heating up.

 

Prepare to Beat

You will be doing a lot more beating in these recipes. When using regular sugar, the chemical reaction of beating sugar and butter together creates a lot of air. Without the sugar, you really need to beat or cream your initial mixture like there's no tomorrow. A free standing mixer, is very beneficial here, however hand mixers will do the trick too (just don't lift weights that day, cos that'll be your upper body work out!) Beat butter on its own until light and fluffy and then add the Natvia and continue to beat.

 

Method

• Preheat your oven to 180 degrees (or 160 Fan Forced)
• Grease (with butter or a spray) the tops of the rounds of a 12 hole muffin tray and line with cupcake liners. (Greasing the top will prevent the cupcake tops from sticking when they rise)
• Over a medium sized bowl, whisk the flour, powders and salt over a sieve. It's important to do this - so don't skip this part!
• In another medium sized bowl (or in the mixer) beat the butter on its own for about 4 mins - until it's pale and fluffy in texture.
• Add the Natvia and continue beating for another 4 mins
• Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat for a minute after each addition
• Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated (about 1 min)
• Fold in the flour mixture, slowly, until just incorporated. You can do this with a wooden spoon
• Add the milk, in 3 additions - start with 1/2 cup and then mix. Add a bit more. Mix. Add the last of the milk and mix until well combined
• You will have a thick batter, but it should still poor.
• Fill each hole about 2/3 full.
• Place in the centre of the oven and back for 17 - 20 mins. They should be golden and the tops will spring back when lightly touched. Stick a toothpick in the centre of one to ensure it comes out clean.

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Ingredients

• 125g cream cheese, softened and cut up into small chunks
• 150 ml pouring cream
• 2 tablespoons malt syrup (depending on your taste buds you may want more or less)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (the seeds of a pod would work too)

Method

• Beat the cream cheese for about 3 mins, until light and fluffy
• In a separate bowl, beat the cream until thickened and soft peaks form when you lift the mixer out
• Add the cream to the cream cheese and add the malt syrup and vanilla
• Continue mixing until all incorporated and the mixture is at the right consistency for piping.
• With a piping bag (or just snip the corner of a zip lock back) pipe the frosting onto the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with cinnamon

NOTES

If it's too runny - beat up some more cream and add to the mixture to thicken. If you do this you may want to add more sweetener. Or if you aren't in a hurry - pop it into the freezer for 20mins

 

 

The NEW f-word



Week 3 is almost over and one might say I fell off the bandwagon - I'd argue not so much  falling off, but more having a leg dangling over the edge. You see, I auditioned for a Weis Bar television commercial this week. You know those ads, care free young 20-somethings with the multi coloured lipstick? That's what I was going for. Except not the yellow lipstick part. Turns out their new flavour is Choc Hazelnut. So I guess that means.. brown lips.

 

the reason I fell off the bandwagon this week

 

Lip colours aside, I had to, and I reiterate HAD to munch down on a bar as part of the audition. And again, I'd argue less 'munching down' and more eating-like-a-chipmunk. My first bit of sugar in nearly 3 weeks. It. Was. AVERAGE. Yes average, I was actually a bit disappointed. But read on. The disappointment is replaced.

 

cookies you would sell your soul for

 

Ok, so that was the first instance of the proverbial leg dangling over the bandwagon. The second? In my kitchen. Of late, I have had the irrepressible urge to bake. And since I haven't figured out a way to replicate sugar laiden recipes of my the good 'ol days (yet) my husband is in 7th heaven. Literally. If 7th Heaven had a signature scent I'm sure it would resemble the sweet smelling haven of cupcakes, muffins, cookies and cakes that is our kitchen. Yesterday I made the kind of cookies you'd sell your soul for. Delectable, soft, chewy. Their buttery goodness just melted in my mouth with lashings of warm chocolate oozing from the middle. I had a bite. O.M.G. Weis Bar? What Weis Bar?

 

Let's  - shall we -  look at the aforementioned 'mishaps' as experiments. I didn't go nuts, didn't spiral out of control and I didn't binge (I actually threw the rest of the Weis bar out after the chipmunk got to it and I literally stopped after ONE mouthful of the cookie.) Hip hip hoorah for me, that my friends, was my biggest problem in the first place. NOT being able to stop. Ever. I'd say this whole 'experiment' is working.

 

Should I be quitting?

 

I don't know. Should you? By answering yes to the following questions, one might say you need to quit sugar. But. I'm not your mum and I'm sure you can make your own decisions these days. 

• Do you need a chocolate fix pick me up every afternoon, say around 3pm?
• Do you feel your meal isn't complete without a little sweet something to finish off?
• Can you seriously eat 2 squares of chocolate…and walk away?
• Or sit down to dessert and only have one helping?
• Do you feel bloated?
• Do you often feel unclear?

Maybe, just maybe, you might want to think about jumping on the IQS 'bandwagon' And if you fall off, jump straight back on! It's not a life sentence, remember - you're just 'seeing how it goes'.
 

The new 'F-Word'

 

To be clear – it’s fructose that’s the enemy. Not sugar, per se. When you hear all this 'Ive-gone-and-quit-sugar chat, it's fructose that's been given the ol' heave ho. It's fructose that makes us eat more. WTF? Told you it's the new F-word.

Remember fructose is fructose no matter what fancy pants it may be wearing

(thanks to Sarah Wilson for this image from her I Quit Sugar ebook)

 

Here it is plain and simple: every molecule of every bit of food we eat have corresponding appetite hormones. When we’ve had our fair share of a certain molecule, these hormones tell our brains, 'that'll do tiger'. In other words -  'STOP eating.' That's our bodies doing what they do best - telling us exactly what we need and how much we need of it.

 

Have a guess which molecule doesn't work like this? There's that F-word again.

 

Today we eat more than a kilo of sugar a week. Just 150 years

 ago we ate next to none.

 

why on earth did loincloths go out of fashion??

 

Now back when we looked a lot less Mr and Mrs Smith and more Tarzan and Jane, sugar was both highly valuable and extremely rare. If we did come across a berry here and there it was instant energy for beating cavemen off your Mrs with a stick  hunting wild beast (aka your dinner). Energy that was vital if you were to survive. As a result, we evolved without the fructose “full switch”. For Tarzan and Jane this was great - if they did so happen to  stumble across a berry bush they could gorge themselves stupid (instant energy source). All very well back when sugar was rare and we had to work hard to get it. But now that we can't get enough of the stuff and it's shoved in our faces 24/7 - not having an “off switch” is a huge problem! As David Gillespie says in Sweet Poison, "the way fructose is converted in our bodies means it’s not used upfront as energy, but converted directly to fat. It also becomes,  'porridge in our arteries'. Ew. That can't be good. 

 

Why do I have to give up fruit?
 

Again, you don't have to. Perhaps you just want to give up refined sugars. But a word of warning - so you can break the addiction, a lot of the sugar experts agree: it’s best to get rid of all of it at first. And ALL sugar includes fruit, fruit juice, agave and honey. Even sugar free sweeteners. Afterall, you want to ween yourself off the sweet stuff - real sugar or otherwise. Keeping too many sweeteners in your diet while you are trying to go sugar free will only confuse you and your taste buds. After around the half way mark (remember though we are all different), and if your addiction is broken, you may find you want to re introduce 1-2 pieces of fruit per day. Or you may not. See my previous post re:fibre and keeping 'regular'. It's a myth that you need fruit for that. Trust me.

 

My star recipes for this week. Jump on instagram and follow me there @frankieandnicole I post recipes and pics all the time. Yep, I'm one of those people.

 

 

raw coco muesli

 

hot smoked salmon + vege frittata



 

Until next week..keep away from the cookie jar (I am talking to myself here!)

PS. If you haven't already go and check out these great reads from two very knowledgeable authors. I speak alot about them both.

 

The gorgeous Sarah Wilson

And the man who started it all