Sweet Puptato Bones - Sweet Potato Dog Treats

Hunter, my 60 lb Standard Poodle, has to put up with a lot of delicious smells coming from the kitchen that he never gets to sample.  Usually, he just lays by the back door and watches me cook and, subsequently, eat whatever it is that I am throwing together.  Occasionally, he will regale me with his interpretation of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be" soliloquy (he's quite well read) while he's lounging by the door, but for the most part, he watches in silence.

There is one thing, though, that will bring on a litany of grunts, growls, barks and various other vocalizations that I didn't even know were possible by a canine.  Sweet Potatoes.  Anytime I am slicing, dicing, mincing, steaming, baking, boiling, mashing, or roasting them, Hunter goes absolutely berserk.  So, in answer to his apparent love affair with this tasty tuber, I have decided to load up some Gluten-Free dog treats with fresh Sweet Potato.  And use the tiny little dog bone cutter that I found at Kitchen Kaboodle on NW 23rd and Flanders, in Portland.

After all, who could possibly resist this sweet puppy face?

 I know I can't...  :)

 Sweet PupTato Bones

350g (3 cups) (12.3 oz) Oat Flour
215g (1 1/2 cups) (7.6 oz) Brown Rice Flour
3 TB Golden Flax Meal or 3 TB Almond Meal
1 tsp Salt
1 large Egg
118ml (1/2 cup) Olive Oil
236ml (1 cup) Whole Milk
72g (2.5 oz) finely grated Sweet Potato (about 1/2 of a medium sized one)  OR substitute finely shredded Carrot

I need to go on record as stating that I originally measured the ingredients by standard volume, then weighed these amounts to come up with the gram and ounce.  Upon triple checking on the King Aurthur site and Aqua Calc, I figured I had done something wrong.  My weights were significantly heavier than theirs. So I did it again.... And again.... And AGAIN.   I kept coming up with the same weights, give or take a couple of grams.  I was extremely frustrated, to say the least.

I do not know how the conversion amounts are figured on those sites for non-traditional flours. I spoon the flour into the cup and level it off with a knife, and this is what I come up with.  Maybe they are sifting (several times) first, before measuring which, to me, is something you only do with cake.  I'm just sayin'.  Because of this, I have written the recipe in grams, which is technically the most accurate.  

Combine Oat Flour, Brown Rice Flour, Flax Meal (or Almond Meal) and Salt in a bowl, whisking well.

Add the Egg, Olive Oil, and Milk to the bowl.

Grate the Sweet Potato (or Carrot) with a zester (the finer the better).

Throw in the grated sweet potato.

Stir until a soft dough forms.

Let sit for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 225F degrees.
Divide the dough in 1/2.

Roll 1 piece out to 3/8 inch thick between 2 sheets of plastic wrap.

Cut small shapes with a well floured (rice flour) cutter. (the dough will still stick a little bit)

Place each bone on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Gather scraps together, re-roll and cut until you have filled at least 2 baking sheet. (they bake for a LONG time, so your gonna wanna bake as many as possible at one time)

Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 90 minutes, turning and rotating the pans every 30 minutes to ensure they bake/dry out evenly.

Cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes.

Store in an airtight container.

Mangia!!  (Yes, they are safe for human consumption)
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Halloween Scream - Monster Cookies

It was a dark and stormy night........  when the Monsters attacked......

mmmmmm    grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr  aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggg

It was the annual Halloween Chili Feed, so I figured I should make some cookies fitting the occasion.  Monster cookies are kind of a odd baked beast.  Seriously, I love Peanut Butter Cookies and Oatmeal Cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies as well as Cowboy Cookies (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip) but Peanut Butter and Oatmeal with Chocolate is kind of a odd combination to me. It's like throwing all your eggs in one basket and hoping it's not a disaster.  I guess I had never really thought about it when I was a kid.  Every time Grandma made them, we all went nuts for them...  Maybe we were just bedazzled by the colorful M&Ms... Though they are much more colorful now, than they were when I was young (Red & Blue didn't exist and I miss the tan colored ones). Maybe my taste buds have changed.  The kids went nuts for them though, just like we use to when we were young. Maybe it's an age thing.  Who knows. 

There is a plus to these cookies though, between the Peanut Butter and the Eggs, no further binders are needed... Meaning they contain no wheat flour, so they are a "gluten-free". That is unless there is hidden gluten in M&Ms...   Hmmmmmmm

Monster Cookies

1 1/2 cups chunky Peanut Butter
8 TB unsalted Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup Granulated Sugar
3 large Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 1/2 cups Quick Oats
2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 cup Milk Chocolate Chips
1 cup M&M's Dark Chocolate candies

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the Peanut Butter and Butter until well combined.

Add the sugars and continue beating until light and fluffy.

Add Eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add the Vanilla Extract.

Add Oats, Baking Soda and Salt, stirring by hand to incorporate.

Add Milk Chocolate Chips and M&M's, stirring until uniformly spread through the batter.

Use a scoop (I used a #24 but that is the largest I have.. a #12 would have been better) to portion the dough on an ungreased baking sheet.

(I found candy eyes earlier this month and since I did not get around to decorating sugar cookies by floating royal icing on them, I decided to give the monsters eyes)

Bake 17 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of scoop you use), careful not to over bake, they should look a little bit moist in the center when removed from the oven.... Allow them to cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheets to allow the cookies to finish baking.

Transfer to wire racks and cool completely before storing in an airtight container so they can't escape.

Apparently, I should have gotten the lid on faster....  ;)

Mangia!!
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Sweetened Hummus Anyone? - Gluten Free Shortbread

Hey all. Sorry I have been gone for so long. It's just been a little crazy round here since the fishing trip ended a week ago. To top it all off, I lost by camera battery charger somewhere between Copperfield at Oxbow dam and home. (sigh) But the good news is that the one I had to ordered has arrived, so I have finally been able to charge the battery and retrieve the photos from my camera.... So I can bring you interesting shots like Bucky Beaver here,

who decided to visit us one morning around 5am while we were trout fishing in the Snake river.... Calmly making his way up river, with only a momentary pause to wonder what the heck we were doing in his river.

LOL.

But before I regale you with fish tails (though I have an awesome recipe to share with you) I have some unfinished business that I didn't get to before the end of May. There just wasn't enough time to finish the post and edit all the pictures before heading east and with the camera charger fiasco upon returning, the whole thing was placed on the back burner.

I am speaking of the Bakespace Monthly Challenge. The month of May was to convert a recipe into a gluten-free recipe. Sadly, I was unsuccessful... That is putting it mildly. I would call my attempts colossal failures.

I deemed it necessary to attempt a decent shortbread recipe, sans flours containing gluten. This left out Oat flour, Wheat flour (of course), Triticale, Rye, Spelt, Kamut and any of the other myriad "go to" flours that I usually have lying around in the freezer (for they will all go rancid fairly quickly) Luckily, I still had a few options... White Rice Flour (for breading), Garbanzo flour (for cheating at Hummus), Tapioca Flour (a sauce thickener), and Corn Flour (which I use in Corn Biscuits) I also had Coconut Flour, Buckwheat Flour and Chestnut Flour.... But I would only use those for a "Flavored" shortbread.... Since they have a VERY distinctive taste.

The only thing I had to purchase that was not part of my normal repertoire was Xanthan Gum (which is indeed a little spendy) Luckily, I was able to find it in the supplement aisle of the health food store, where it came in a smaller quantity than I would have been required to purchase from Bob's Red Mill. After all, I would rather spend 5 bucks for a 10 year supply than 15 bucks for a 25 year supply of the stuff. Especially since I am not planning on making a career out of Gluten-Free baking.

The first recipe I played with was a combination of Corn Flour, Rice Flour and Xanthan gum...

After 4 attempts and altering the proportions of rice flour each time, I have come to the conclusion that ANY amount of corn flour in anything not only gives it a gritty mouth feel, but makes it taste like a corn biscuit. And while I truly love corn biscuits with my chili, I do not so much care for them when they are trying to impersonate shortbread.

Back to the drawing board. Maybe I just take shortbread too seriously. hmmmmm. ;)

For the second formulation experiment, I decided to retain the Rice flour, but use the Garbanzo and Tapioca flours. This time I only experimented 3 times before I had to leave for the Snake river trip on the 26th. Below is the 3rd recipe I tried.

40 g Garbanzo Flour
70 g Rice Flour
30 g Tapioca Flour
2 tsp Xanthan gum
40 g Super Fine Sugar
78 g European Butter
2 tsp Celtic Sea Salt

It had perfect color when removed from the oven.

It un-molded beautifully as well;

It was easy to cut and showed great promise.

The texture was good, though not perfect, but it was the closest I had come at this point. The only real issue was that it tasted like sweetened Hummus. Oh, you didn't notice it so much upon the first bite; or even the second bite for that matter. But as you made your way through, what should have been a little slice of heaven, this almost insidious flavor began to build on your tongue, until at the end you were wishing for some flat bread, a slab of Feta and some Retsina.

My personal opinion? I don't know if shortbread can be made without actual WHEAT flour. The primary flavor of shortbread (unless you add flavoring) is the butter. Most of the other "Mild" flours that I attempted to use have there own distinct taste that overpowers the butter's flavor. You can get really close to the texture, but for me, it really isn't shortbread.

So.... Catastrophic Failure!!!

On a happy note, though I have not tried it personally, Bob's Red Mill DOES make a Shortbread Cookie mix that has all sorts of interesting stuff like Whole Grain Sorghum and Potato Starch flour in it. You are required to add your own butter and an egg yolk, but for all intensive purposes, I think if I have to make Gluten-Free shortbread for anyone, I will simply be purchasing that the next time. LOL

Mangia!!
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