Gluten Free Date Apricot Bars

Gluten-Free Date and Apricot Bars

Ingredients:
4 oz dates, pitted
4 oz unsulphured dried apricots
4 tbsp coconut oil or melted butter
1 oz brown sugar
3 oz rice flour
½ tsp vanilla essence
½ tsp baking powder
2 tbsp date syrup
½ cup milk

Instructions:
Combine milk, rice flour, oil, vanilla, baking powder and sugar in a large mixing well and blend well until creamy. Add the apricots, date syrup and dates and toss gently. Cover the bowl with foil and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and grease and flour a baking tray. Spread the mixture onto the tray and bake in the oven for about 7 – 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, cool slightly and place onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, then slice the date and apricot bars into squares.

Fantastic for lunchboxes!

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Brownie Mix

My two year old seems to have inherited the wheat sensitivity I have (lucky her!), so I decided to go out and buy some wheat free mixes to make her some little treats. I came across this baking mix at Kroger. I’ve been pleased with the quality of other Bob’s Red Mill products and decided to give this mix a try. Instead of wheat, it uses potato starch, sorghum flour, tapioca flour, and corn flour.

I made the “cream cheese brownie” recipe on the package and was very happy with the flavor and texture of these brownies. The mix is a good value too because it makes a lot of brownies and is more reasonably priced than other gluten free baking mixes.

I noticed that these brownies were tastier the second day, and they also held up beautifully when I froze part of the batch to eat later. These have a permanent place on my counter, they’re officially my favorite wheat/gluten free brownie mix.

This brownie mix is available on Bob’s Red Mill’s website or amazon.com: Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Brownie Mix, 21-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

This baking mix is an easy, super convenient way to whip up a batch of gluten/wheat free chocolate chip cookies. Instead of wheat, it uses garbanzo bean flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, whole grain white sorghum flour, and fava bean flour.

I decided to bake up a batch of these and found they were excellent. The texture was chewy and the flavor delicious. They won’t taste like the cookies made with wheat you may be used to, but they’re good nonetheless.

Just a note: Skip letting the kids lick the bowl on this one. The bean flours give the batter a very “beany” flavor, although you don’t notice it when the cookies are baked. Also, these didn’t taste as nice when they were frozen and defrosted, which was a bit disappointing.

Bob’s gluten free products are some of the more reasonably priced mixes and I recommend them, especially if you or your child is sensitive to wheat and you don’t want to waste a lot of time and money experimenting with gluten free baking, which can be really tricky to master.

You can get these baking mixes at a small discount by buying them in bulk from amazon.com: Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix, 22-Ounce Packages (Pack of 4)

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