Flour: Premium All Purpose Flour from the Nearly Normal Kitchen

I had the rather fortunate opportunity to try out a gluten-free premium all purpose flour from the Nearly Normal Kitchen- (now apparently re-named Jules Gluten Free). Touted as "a combination of softer starches and flours that mimic the taste and texture of whole-wheat flour," I was anxious to see how it fared in a recipe calling for all-purpose flour.

Since it was fall and I always seem to have a yen for figs in the fall- I found a tasty-sounding recipe for Chocolate Fig Oatmeal Cookies. (I think it came from the Sun-Maid Mission fig package). The ingredients are as follows: butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, figs, quick oats, chocolate morsels, nuts, and crunchy nugget cereal.

Before I could get started I had to do some searching for a gluten free crunchy nugget cereal. I didn't want granola- so I used Nature's Path Organic Acai Apple Granola with Pomegranate. Minor/Major disclaimer here: this cereal is not specifically branded gluten free- but Rob gave it his okay. (Ingredients: organic rolled oats, organic evaporated cane juice, organic crispy rice (organic brown rice flour, organic evaporated cane juice, sea salt, organic molasses), organic pomegranate juice concentrate, organic oat syrup solids (organic oat syrup solids, tocopherols (natural Vitamin E)) organic dried coconut, organic acai powder (organic freeze dried acai, citric acid). This cereal is produced in a facility that uses wheat, peanuts or tree nuts.

But back to my Chocolate Fig Oatmeal Cookies. I followed the recipe to the letter, forming the dough into balls, flattening into 2 in. rounds, and baking on an ungreased cookie sheet for 9 minutes. I took the first batch out of the oven and let them cool for 2 minutes as directed. And then disaster sort of struck. I could not get them off the pan. Each time I wedged the spatula under a cookie the cookie parts went flying; they literally just fell apart. Now I must admit this is often the case with gluten free flours- there just isn't the same gluten that keeps your baking together. But I can't be for sure- I mean it could have also been my oven which has a hard time maintaining 375 degrees, or maybe I made the cookies too thin.

But on the up-side the cookie pieces tasted fabulous. And all was not lost. Instead of baking on a sheet, I Pam'd a square glass pyrex dish, pressed the dough in and baked until the toothpick came out clean. Well I can just tell you these now Chocolate Fig Oatmeal bars were astoundingly delicious. They were dense enough to stay together and tasted fabulous.

In wrapping up my adaptive-gluten-free re-use cooking experience- I would highly recommend From the Nearly Normal Kitchen's Premium All Purpose Flour. My cookie bars were great and gave no whiff of being gluten free. They certainly weren't around for very long.

Please note we did receive a free sample.

Ingredients:

Potato Starch, Corn Starch, Expandex, Modified Tapioca Starch, White Rice Flour, Cornflour, Xanthan Gum.

Nutritional Facts:

Serving size: 30 g (1.1 oz.)

Servings per container: 32

Calories: 100

Calories from fat: 0

Total Fat: o g

Sat. fat: 0 g

Trans fat: 0 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 5 mg

Total Carb: 25 g

Dietary Fiber: 3 g

Sugars: 0 g

Protein: 1 g

Restaurant: Pie By the Pound, NYC Pizza

Admittedly I've been a bit lax lately in getting my reviews to you. But a recent gluten free dining experience put some urgency back in my tank. Last week Rob excitedly told me about Pie By the Pound, located at 124 4th Avenue in NYC. Actually he was more like a kid on his first trip to the candy shop. Pie By the Pound creates gluten free pizzeria style pizza - and for a life-long celiac to find a real pizzeria serving up gluten-free pie - well you can imagine how his enthusiasm spread like wild fire.

So of course we had to go- and pronto. Like any authentic pizzeria the pies were displayed behind glass and you could select which one you wanted. The gluten free pizza does have to be specially made- but all you have to do is let your server know how you want it. We ordered up 2 pies - the Fresh Cubed- made with cubed tomatoes, cubed fresh mozzarella, extra tomato sauce, oregano, garlic and basil; and a Caprese- made with mozzarella, sliced tomato, basil, no sauce, plus we added portobello mushrooms.

As the wait was about 20 minutes I ordered up a regular Snow White slice to keep my hunger pangs at bay- and to compare how the regular fared with the gluten free. My Snow White was delectable with a thin, flavorful crust and just the right amount of cheese. When our gluten free pies arrived, I was struck that they looked exactly similar to the regular pizza. There was the same thin crust, bubbling cheese, fresh tomatoes etc. Not that this should strike anyone as particularly notable- just sometimes the gluten-free pizza is smaller or has a thicker crust.

Okay okay so we literally attacked both pizzas and it was awesome. The thin gluten free crust was so similar to the regular I'm not totally sure I could tell the difference. Usually the gluten free pizza offered by restaurants has the tell-tale gluten-free after-taste. Pie By the Pound had none of it. I really loved the Caprese with the portobello which had the perfect marriage of flavor and texture. Though the Fresh Cubed was just as tasty I think the extra sauce makes the crust a bit softer. How in the world Pie By the Pound makes such a perfect gluten free crust- I'm sure I will never know- but take my word for it- it defies all the gluten free odds.

Our hope was that with 2 pies we would take the rest home- fat chance of that. We couldn't stop ourselves and ate it all. It was pure heaven.