Gluten-Free Crepes

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup (5½ ounces) of euforia Gluten Free Flour Blend (without xanthan gum)
• ¼ tsp Salt
• 3 tbsp Sugar
• 2 Eggs, large
• 1 ½ cups Whole Milk
• 2 Tbs Butter, very soft

Instructions

• In a medium bowl, whisk flour/sugar/salt.  In a separate bowl, combine milk/butter/eggs
• Add wet ingredients to dry, mix until batter is smooth
• Heat small amount of oil in a crêpe pan (test pan temperature by using a tbsp of batter - when it's the preferred brownness, the pan is the proper temp.  This can take about 5 minutes or more)
• Pour ¼ cup of batter into the pan, tilt to spread the batter into a thin layer.  Cook for 20-25 seconds until the edges start to brown 
• Flip to cook the other side, then place on a paper towel to remove any excess oil
• Fill in a line with preferred filling (such as a berry compote), roll and top with yogurt or whipped cream

Note:  This recipe has been tested with and without xanthan gum with slight differences.  The crêpe with xanthan gum was slightly more firm and slightly tougher.  The differences were subtle but noticeable.

Gluten-Free Waffles

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups euforia Gluten-Free Baking Blend (without Xanthan Gum) .                            
• ½ tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 3 Eggs, large
• 1 ¾ cups Buttermilk
• 4 tbsp Butter, very soft

 Instructions

• Pre-heat waffle iron while waffle batter is being prepared. 
• In a medium bowl, whisk flour/salt/soda/sugar. In a separate bowl,mix eggs/buttermilk/butter.
• Add wet ingredients to dry and whisk well until batter is smooth (about one minute)
• Spray oil onto the waffle iron and pour amount necessary to fill.  Bake until crispy brown.

Note: You can use this recipe to make pancakes as well.  Increase the amount of buttermilk by ¼ cup or more, depending on your preference for how thick the pancake will cook on the griddle. Also, if you don't have buttermilk, you can add 1 Tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup, then fill with milk until it reaches 1 cup.  Let sit for five minutes, then stir and use.  (For this recipe, you'd use 1 1/2 tbsp vinegar, then add milk to make 1 3/4 cups.)

Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp Unsalted Butter 
•  ½ c Sugar
• 2 tsp Lemon Zest
• Large Egg
• ½ Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Euforia Gluten-Free Baking Mix (w/o xanthan gum)
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• ¼ tsp Salt 
• 1/3 cup Sour Cream
• ¾ cup Small Blueberries (rinsed and dried)

Instructions

• Grease muffin tin and preheat oven to 350F degrees
•  Cream butter and sugar. 
•  Add remaining wet ingredients and mix until incorporated. 
•  Combine all dry ingredients together and sift into the wet portion. Mix well, but don't overbeat.
•  Stir in blueberries. Again, don't over beat.
•  Fill each compartment 3/4 full and bake 25-30 minutes. (Test for doneness before removing from oven.) 

 Notes: If you prefer a lighter muffin, add 1/2 tsp of baking powder as well to the dry ingredients. You can use frozen blueberries rather than fresh as they will not bleed some much into the muffin when baked.

Gluten-Free Banana Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 very ripe banana, mashed 
• ¼ cup sour cream 
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp lemon zest 
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract 
• ¾ cup flour  
• 6 tbs sugar 
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda 
• ½ tsp salt 
• ½ cup walnuts

Instructions

• Cream together butter and sugar. 
• Add remaining wet ingredients and mix to incorporated. 
• Combine all dry ingredients together and sift into the wet portion. Mix well. Don't over beat. 
• Grease a muffin tin and fill each compartment 3/4 full.
• Bake at 350° for about 25-30 minutes. 
• Test for doneness before removing from oven.

 Notes: Recipe works well with gluten-free flour mix. You may prefer to omit the baking powder and replace with equal amount of baking soda to give a firmer muffin.

Perfect Pairing: Spiced Apple Cider

It's still summertime, but it's at that point of the summer when people are so ready to go out and buy a new hoodie, make apple cider, and hit the pumpkin patches already. In most areas of the country, the leaves will begin to turn in just a few weeks from now. Fall planning has already begun!

With that in mind, we have another perfect pairing for euforia: Spiced Apple Cider. Apple cider is sold cold at grocery stores, specialty stores, or farmer's markets - because it is so perishable. But you can warm it, too. For this pairing, I suggest drinking it chilled. Chilled cider has that incredible apple taste - it's cold, fruity, with just a little spice. Sip and munch on euforia after a nice dinner of easy roasted chicken and potatoes. It's the simple goodness of REAL FOOD.

Perfect Pairing #2: Spiced Apple Cider

You'll need

1. Apple cider
2. Ingredients for spice cider recipe (see below)
3. euforia cake! Get 20% off euforia from now til Food Day, Oct 24. See Facebook (become a fan and then go back to "Welcome.")

First, spice the cider. A great (and creative) recipe for spiced apple cider from allrecipes.com (one of my favorite recipe sites) calls for brown sugar, allspice, nutmeg, whole cloves and a cinnamon stick, and then uses the coffee maker to brew! Clever.

Perfect Pairing: Homemade Spiced Chai Tea Latte Recipe

Okay, Gourmets! (Funny, "foodies" used to be called "gourmets." I wonder what the name will be in ten years.)

When eating euforia, and in a state of euphoria (ha) wouldn't it be nice to sip on something amazing? It would. For the next several weeks, we're going to be publishing all sorts of perfect pairings for euforia, so you can get the full experience! euforia is a delicate, super moist thousand-layer cake that goes really well with coffees and wines - which we will certainly cover - but there are also a number of other drinks that bring the gourmet experience to life.

Perfect Pairing #1: Homemade Spiced Chai Tea Latte Recipe

What is chai tea? In my opinion, it's definitely the best stuff on earth! Chai is by origin an Indian concoction of delicious, fragrant spices - cardamom, star anise, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg are frequently found in Chai. The recipe below uses pepper (I would probably leave that out). Fresh black tea is also used as a base.

In chai tea latte, steamed milk is used to create the latte. It's absolutely wonderful. Chai mix is easy to make and store, also. Doing a quick search on Google for chai tea mix recipes will bring up tons of great resources on blogs.

We like the step-by-step instructions for making chai from TastyKitchen.com. They also provided a printable recipe, which we have published below.

Thanks to TastyKitchen.com for providing such a great walkthrough!

Image Source: TastyKitchen.com

Southwest-Inspired Cocktail Recipe: The Cuban Sunset

Are you all getting ready to celebrate the long weekend? The only thing better than holidays are holidays that fall on Friday or Monday, right?

I am a member of a dining group here in Tucson and from time to time, our group leader, Amy Mason, shares recipes she has learned from her various foodie adventures. The cocktail recipe below is from JBar Tucson, a local Tucson restaurant, and apparently it is one of the best-selling drinks (cost $8). You can make this one for your friends this weekend, or take them to JBar!

The Cuban Sunset
1.5 oz habanero infused Vodka
2oz Kerns Passion Fruit Puree
1/2 oz Simple Syrup
small plate w/fine granulated sugar on it (can use colored sugar for impact)
cliantro sprigs for garnish

Place all ingredients in a martini shaker with ice shake vigorously for 10 seconds...strain into martini glass rimmed with sugar, garnish with cilantro. DRINK!


TO MAKE HABANERO INFUSED VODKA:

Open bottle of vodka (Jano's even uses Smirnoff for this one as its good vodka Kristian says just not one you want if Vodka taste is what u want, but he says no need to spend $ once u drop a habanero in it...subtle flavor is a waste to pay for...LOL)

USING gloves, cut in half one Habanero pepper and de-seed it put it in bottle. Replace lid on bottle.....store in a room temp environment for 24 hours (no more, no less) Strain off vodka into a clean bottle...and its ready to pour.

Photo: Downtown Kitchen+Cocktails Photo Album on Facebook