Snacks
By Pamela Lee, From the February 1998 Newsletter
A snack, by definition, is a small quantity of food or drink; a light repast, usually taken between meals. For me, a snack is also something that is relatively quick and easy to prepare. In this day of fast and processed food, for most folks, snacks are abundant and easy to find. But, for people with food allergies, snacks are not so simple to buy or to contrive. This is especially true if folks with food allergies need to pack snacks, to take to work or with you for a day away from home. My challenge for this article was to prepare snacks that were tasty and delicious, and that might be suitable for people who suffer from food allergies. If you have food allergies, you know what a challenge this is!

Usually, when I try to convert standard quick-bread recipes to rice flour, I have pounds of failed breads to feed to the squirrels. Sorry squirrels; I spent yesterday in the kitchen testing recipes and all were good enough to eat, save, or freeze for future snacks. And, these recipes are good enough to be enjoyed by all—not just the food-allergic folk. Of course, if you are allergic, you'll need to read the recipe carefully. If eggs, are a problem, you can substitute flaxseed or use a commercial egg substitute. If you are allergic to milk, use soy, rice, or oat milk instead.

I typically bake extra, then cut, wrap in Saran, and freeze my breads into individual proportions. Then, I can pull what I need out of the freezer. Wrap a bit of spread, dip, or goat cheese; take some carrot or celery sticks, an orange or apple, and a portion of one of these breads—your snack will be satisfying and healthful!

This is a pretty, tart, and festive loaf. With only raisins, it lacks the colorful sparkle of the cranberries and is much sweeter than with cranberries. I left the nuts out, used tapioca flour, and fresh squeezed orange juice. It is delicious! If you let the loaf cool first, it slices very neatly.

Cranberry Rice Bread

3/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
½ cups chopped raisins (or use all raisins, no cranberries)
1/3 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 T. undyed orange rind
1 3/4 cup brown rice flour
½ cup potato flour (or ½ c. tapioca flour)
1 ½ t. baking powder
½ t. soda
½ t. salt
3 T. honey
2 T. butter or oil
2 eggs, slightly beaten
½ c. orange juice
2 T. lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 8"x 4"loaf pan.

Stir together berries, raisins, nuts, and orange rind. Sift the flours, baking powder, soda, and salt into the bowl and stir all of them together.

Beat the honey with the butter or oil, then add the eggs, orange and lemon juices, stirring as you add them. Mix until smooth. Add the dry ingredients, mixing just enough to moisten.

Bake about 45 minutes. Cool before slicing.

I converted this low-fat coffeecake from a recipe that called for wheat flour. I was delighted at how well it turned out. In fact, I liked the rice flour version better than the wheat flour coffeecake. (I'd made it with wheat flour first.)

Applesauce Coffee Cake with Crumb Topping

Topping:

¼ cup rice flour
¼ cup brown sugar or Sucanat?
3 T. unsalted butter, room temperature -or- 3 T. canola oil
½ t. ground cinnamon

Cake:

1 cup rice flour
½ cup tapioca flour
¼ cup brown sugar or Sucanat?
2 t. baking powder
½ t. baking soda
½ t. salt
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 T. vegetable oil
1 large egg yolk
½ t. (packed) grated lemon peel
2 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 F.

For topping: Combine all ingredients in small bowl. Mash with fork until blended and coarse crumbs form. Set aside.

For cake: Spray 9-inch diameter cake pan (or 9"x 9" square cake pan) with nonstick vegetable spray (or grease pans).

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt into large bowl and set aside. Whisk applesauce, buttermilk, oil, egg yolk, vanilla and lemon peed in medium bowl until well blended.

Add to dry ingredients and stir just until moistened. Beat egg white in another large bowl until stiff peaks form. Whisk half of whites into batter. Fold in remaining whites.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Sprinkle topping over batter. Bake cake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool in pan. Cut and serve.

Note: By accident, one time I forgot to beat the egg whites, and I discovered that by not beating the whites until stiff, the coffeecake turned out lighter, with a more crumbly texture which I prefer.

This recipe is from Bette Hagman's Gluten-Free Gourmet. The first time I made these, I didn't have corn flour on hand, so I substituted Hagman's (Gluten-Free) GF Flour, which is 2 parts white rice flour, 2/3 parts potato starch flour, 1/3 part tapioca flour. The muffins are tasty either way, and especially good spread with goat cheese and honey.

Yellow Corn Muffins

1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 cup corn flour
¼ cup sugar
2 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup buttermilk
2 T. shortening, melted (I use canola oil)

Sift the dry ingredients together into mixing bowl. Stir in the beaten eggs, buttermilk, and melted shortening (or oil).

Pour into greased muffin cups. Bake in preheated 400 F oven for about 20-25 minutes. Makes about 12 muffins.

The following recipe is from The Yeast Connection Cookbook. They are rich, satisfying crackers that taste like they have peanut butter in them, but don't. I found it took nearly 20 minutes to cook them, not 12, but keep your eye on them—don't over-bake.

Sesame Oat Crackers

¼ cup sesame seeds
1½ cups oat flour
¼ cup oat bran
½ t. salt
Optional: ¼-1/2 t. chili powder
¼ cup olive oil
¼ cup water
1 t. toasted sesame oil

Preheat oven to 350 F. Toast the sesame seeds until golden brown in a dry skillet or oven. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the seeds, flour, bran, salt and chili powder.

Stir in the oil, water and sesame oil; mix thoroughly. Roll out on a baking sheet, with a sheet of oiled wax paper over the dough. Cut into squares with a knife or pizza-cutting wheel.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly brown. When cool, store in an airtight container.

Tofu Spread

8 oz. tofu
3 T. lemon juice or vinegar
¼ t. salt
3 T. safflower oil or olive oil

Optional flavorings: herbs, spices, Dijon mustard, maple syrup, honey, etc.

Rinse, drain, and pat the tofu dry. Place in a blender or food processor, using the steel blade. Blend ingredients together until creamy and smooth. Flavor with herbs, spices, or mustard to taste. Or, for a sweet spread, add maple syrup or honey, perhaps some cinnamon, allspice, or a touch of nutmeg.

Garbanzo Dip or Spread

¼ cup olive oil
Optional: ¼ cup yogurt (or rice or soymilk)
1 can garbanzo beans
1 T. tahini
1 clove garlic
½ t. cumin
3 T. lemon juice
2 t. miso

Process all the ingredients in a blender until smooth. If you want a spread, eliminate or use less yogurt (rice or soy milk). If you don't have miso on hand, you can substitute a bit of soy sauce (use 1 t., then taste before you add more) or use salt. If you use salt, use ½ t. increments, tasting as you continue to season. (Prepared mustards also contain salt).

Copyright: Copyright on articles and recipes are jointly held by the Moscow Food Co-op and the respective authors, except were otherwise noted.

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