Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes

I love crepes, particularly sweet ones. I made a crepe cake for my birthday brunch and the fiance and I make crepes for breakfast every once in awhile on the weekends.

Now that I'm not eating gluten, I've had to find a new recipe for my weekend crepes. I bought a bag of buckwheat flour a few months ago when a gluten free friend of mine told me about some buckwheat crepes she had made and I knew that French galettes are usually made of buckwheat flour. So, I did some searching for some gluten free buckwheat crepe recipes. I knew that the addition of buckwheat would make the crepes taste a little nuttier and earthier. However, taste isn't the biggest thing for me. The thing I was most concerned about was texture. It had to feel like a regular crepe. And this gluten free crepe does! Each crepe cooked perfectly. They were crisp on the edges and they browned nice and evenly. We ate our crepes with a warm berry sauce and some skyr whipped cream (basically the same berry sauce and cream from my crepe cake!). Seriously, crepes are the best way to start the weekend! 

Gluten Free Buckwheat Crepes (barely adapted from Food Fanatic)

Makes 16 crepes 

(I halved the recipe and made 8 crepes, but I'm giving you the amounts for a full recipe)

1/2 cup all purpose gluten free flour, I used Jeanne's Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

2 tbsp sugar

3 eggs

11/2 cups milk

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp butter, melted and cooled (salted or unsalted, for crepes and pancakes I usually just go with salted)

Sift together the flours and sugar. Then beat in the eggs, milk, salt and vanilla until the batter is smooth. Let the batter rest overnight in the fridge, or for at least 30 minutes. (It's best if you can let the batter rest overnight.)

When you are ready to make the crepes, melt your butter, let it cool for a few minutes before whisking it into the batter. 

Place the pan on the stove over medium heat and melt a little smidge of butter to coat the pan. When the pan is hot and the butter is starting to bubbly, hold the pan by its handle, pick it up and pour 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan. Slowly tilt and move the batter around so that the pan is evenly coated. Place the pan back on the heat and cook for about a minute or two, or until the edges of the crepe are crispy and the top no longer looks wet. Flip the crepe with a spatula and cook for another minute or so. Repeat until all the batter is used up!

Gateau Marcel

Happy Monday! It has been a sunny, fun, and full weekend with one of my best friends here visiting the boyfriend and I. Now that the weekend is over I thought it'd be nice to start off the week here with a recipe for a chocolate mousse cake.

I made this Gateau Marcel on Saturday morning and we had it for dessert on Saturday evening (and then breakfast on Sunday morning and another slice for dessert last night, whoa!). I've made this cake three times now and I absolutely love it. It is quick to make, doesn't include so many ingredients, and tastes phenomenal. I made the cake early Saturday morning and chilled it for almost 12 hours and it tasted wonderful for dessert that night, but I think the texture was even better 24 hours later so you do have to plan a little in advance for this cake!

Gateau Marcel (adapted from Chocolat)
Makes 1 9-inch cake

225g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids and up
225g unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
150g pasteurized egg yolks
180g pasteurized egg whites
cocoa powder, chocolate shavings, and/or fruit for decorating

Start by preheating the oven to 175C and buttering your round cake springform pan.

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a double broiler/water bath. Set aside to cool for a few minutes once that is ready.

Whip the egg yolks and two thirds of the sugar in a bowl with your mixer until it is pale, light, and fluffy. Stir the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks until completely combined.

In a large bowl, whip the egg whites and last third of the sugar until you get stiff peaks. The meringue should be glossy and not fall out if you turn the bowl upside down. Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the chocolate mixture until there are no streaks of meringue left.

Pour half of the chocolate mousse mixture into the cake form and bake in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes. Store the rest of the mousse in the fridge.

Once the 25 minutes are up, take the cake out and let it sit until it is completely cool. Pour the rest of the mousse mixture onto the cake and keep it in the fridge overnight.

Before serving, sift some cocoa powder on top, cover the cake with chocolate shavings, or serve with some fruit or a coulis. Finally, run a knife around the cake to separate the cake from the pan before releasing the springform and serving.

And there you have it, Gateau Marcel!

Lemon Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins

This is my go-to berry muffin recipe. It has whole wheat flour in it, it has a crumb topping, and it is super adaptable. It doesn't take much time to make and we usually have all the ingredients on hand.

White whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour isn't very common here in Denmark, but there is one that is similar. I have bought Amo's Hvid Hvedemel at Netto a few times when they have Amo baking flours on sale, and I've seen it in stock at Kvickly. You can also use regular whole wheat flour, it's just that this Amo Hvid Hvedemel is ground a bit finer so that texture is more like regular white flour than regular whole wheat flour. It's all just a matter of texture really. On to the recipe!

Lemon Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins (recipe adapted from Cooking for Seven)
makes 12 muffins

For the topping:
1/3 cup sugar
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

For the muffin batter:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar (white or raw sugar)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
5 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1 to 11/4 cup buttermilk
11/2 to 2 cups frozen blueberries
zest of 1 lemon

Preheat oven to 350F or 175C and grease or line a muffin tray.

To make the topping, mix sugar and flour in a small bowl. Then pour in the butter and stir to create a crumbly mixture. Set aside for later.

For the muffin batter, whisk together the two flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, melted butter, extract, buttermilk, and lemon zest. Make a well in the center of the dry flour mixture, and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir just to moisten. Add the blueberries and gently fold them in with a rubber spatula. Be careful not to overmix.

Spoon the muffin batter into the prepared cups and then evenly distribute the crumb topping over them. Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes. To check if they are ready, stick a toothpick into the center of the muffin, and if the toothpick comes out clean, they can be taken out of the oven. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes in the tray before taking them out and placing them on a cooling rack.

Next, eat and enjoy your muffins!

Blackberry, Nectarine & Seabuckthorn Panna Cotta

Wanting to use the blackberries and seabuckthorn we picked last weekend, I decided to make a vanilla bean panna cotta. The vanilla bean panna cotta is delicious in itself, but as it is a simple, uncomplicated dessert with a really beautiful but light vanilla flavor, it really lets the berries shine. With the berries, I kept things really simple. Rather than making a coulis or a berry sauce, we wanted to get all the vitamins from the raw berries so we simply macerated them. We had a blackberry vanilla panna cotta the first day, and a nectarine seabuckthorn vanilla panna cotta the next. I paired nectarine with seabuckthorn as the sweetness in the nectarines would balance out the sourness of the berries. (Please excuse my not so amazing pictures. I was more focused on eating the dessert than photographing it!)

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta (recipe adapted from David Lebovitz)

I halved the recipe to make 4 servings

2 cups heavy cream (I used 1 cup heavy cream and 1 cup half and half)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 tsp gelatin powder

3 tbsp cold water

Heat the heavy cream and sugar in a small pot on the stove. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn off the heat. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the cream and place the vanilla bean in the mixture as well. Cover and let everything infuse for 30 minutes. (Reheat the cream before continuing.)

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water in a medium sized bowl and let stand for 5 minutes.

Pour the very warm cream over the gelatin and stir until the gelatin has dissolved.

Divide the panna cotta into 4 cups and chill until firm. Around 4 hours. 

To serve, run a sharp knife around the edge of each panna cotta and unmold unto a plate to serve. Or eat them right out of the cup! Garnish with berries, shaved chocolate, etc. 

The panna cotta can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for a few days.

Macerated Berries/Fruit
Super easy, follow your instincts

Sprinkle two teaspoons of sugar over a cup of blackberries, give it a good mix, and let sit for at least half an hour.

Sprinkle two teaspoons of sugar over 2 nectarines cut into small chunks and a few tablespoons of seabuckthorn, give it a good mix, and let sit for at least half an hour.

The sugar draws out some of the juice from the fruit and creates a light syrup/sauce.

Enjoy!