Life, as they say, sometimes gives you lemons. That can be true with baking too. But did you know that with a little confidence and creativity, you can bake your way to that proverbial lemonade with your gluten free recipes? Indeed!
Many people are afraid to bake gluten free. Heck, many folks are afraid to bake, period! It’s my job to help people achieve baking success with gluten free products and recipes, but things don’t always turn out as we’d expect. It happens to all of us at some point, and that’s ok.
The best tip I have to avoid the mistakes in the first place is to simply use my gfJules™ Flour or baking mixes. I designed them to make people happy, not frustrated, because they take all the guesswork out of baking — they just work.
Using my trusted products eliminates the need to buy lots of different gluten free flours or other funky ingredients and they save you time and money because everything tastes so good, your whole family will want to enjoy it together (even if they don’t have to eat gluten free!).
My mixes are all designed to make the most beautiful, yummy whatever they’re made for: the muffins have a lovely crown on top with no sinking; the pizza is crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle; the cookies don’t spread … you get the idea. And my gfJules Flour (as well as my mixes) are consistently voted #1 in the Gluten Free Awards because they’re loved by both new and experienced bakers — people just like you!
But every once in awhile we all have a bad baking day. Forget an ingredient? Oven too hot? Don’t set a timer? It happens! Here are some of my lemons and the lemonade I’ve made with them.
I hope these inspire you to venture boldly into the kitchen with renewed excitement, no longer fearful of the outcome! I’d love to hear about some of the ways you’ve made the best of some less than perfect baking outcomes – do share!
Making the Best of Gluten Free Baking Mistakes
Gluten Free Bread Too Dry or Too Hard: Slice and cube the loaves, then freeze them for croutons, bread crumbs (pulse in blender or food processor), bread pudding, stuffing … (gluten free croutons recipe here)
Gluten Free Cookies Too Flat: Crumble them and sprinkle on top of ice cream and pulverized them in a food processor for delicious cookie pie crust (see a recipe for gluten free cookie crust here) or in the centers of a gluten free ice cream cake!
Gluten Free Graham Crackers Too Soft/Thick: I use the soft graham crackers for s’mores and ice cream sandwiches! (gluten free s’mores recipe here)
Gluten Free Graham Crackers Too Crispy/Thin: Pulverize them in a food processor and freeze to make graham cracker pie crusts later! (gluten free graham cracker crust recipe here)
Gluten Free Pie Crust Dough Too Dry/Fragile: In my early gluten-free pie crust experimentations, I couldn’t get a pretty top crust with the dough because it fell apart, so I used cookie cutters to cut small pieces of decorative crust and laid them individually on top of the pie, covering the whole top with small, manageable pieces (it was quite beautiful!). Meanwhile, if you’d like to make a gorgeous WHOLE top crust, try my gluten free pie crust recipe and tutorial! It makes all the difference!
Making Homemade Ravioli & Realize You’re out of Cheese: We empty out the fridge on ravioli night, now that we learned that the fillings can be deliciously unconventional! Hummus, tapanade, grilled veggies, taco filling, pesto … (gluten free ravioli recipe here)
Your Homemade Gluten Free Flour Tortillas are Overcooked: No worries! Cut them with a pizza cutter and toast or broil lightly for crunchy toast points for dips! (gluten free flour tortilla recipe here)
Gluten Free Brownies Won’t Set Up: Ever heard of a spoon?! Seriously, there’s little better than eating warm brownies with a spoon, even if you can’t cut them into squares, who cares? Top with ice cream, and that’s a little piece of heaven!
Gluten Free Brownies Too Crunchy: Brownie Brittle is a thing. It’s a delicious thing, actually. It’s basically overcooked, crunchy brownies that people actually intended to make! That’s what you were going for, too, … right?? 🙂
Gluten Free Muffins Too Dense and Moist in the Middle/Undercooked: (This can happen especially with wet fruit muffins like peaches or strawberries, especially). If it’s too late to simply bake them longer, cut up the muffins into crumbs and sprinkle on top of cut fruit like berries or peaches, drizzle some melted butter on top, sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar, then bake until set. Voilà! A new spin on fruit cobbler!
Leftover Gluten Free Beer: I often bake with GF beer but there are always leftovers … so I drink it! See, baking is fun! Cheers! For more information on which beers are safe for gluten free folks, check out my gluten free beer tasting notes.
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I’ve had a number of these kitchen misadventures with great success!
So glad I’m not alone in this, Christine!
~jules
Love ideas for salvaging “mistakes.” Made some scrumptious starshaped cookies for Christmas. They were supposed to be Linzer cookies, with a starshaped cut out and raspberry jam filling. Well, most of the cut out ones fell apart. Not giftable for sure. I took them all and put them in a freezer bag and froze them. I’ll crush them and add a little butter for a yummy cheesecake crust later on.
Sounds like a delightfully yummy solution (I’ll take a slice, please!).
~jules
Thank you for the great hints on what to do with our “misses”. I found this blog very informative. I have recently bought your all purpose flour and pizza crust mix. I have not tried them yet but look forward to using them in the near future. Your products were recommended to me by a friend.
I’m so glad you found my blog and my products. I hope you love the flour and pizza crust mix – they’re favorites in our house, and I know have really helped a lot of people enjoy great recipes again!!
~jules
I wonder if there is a way to help gluten-free cupcakes or muffins rise well when filling 3/4 full?! I always get the flat top (I used gluten-free flour mix and flour’s texture looks like cornstarch). I don’t want to fill mine full and then get the burnt edges around the top 🙁
I found in Finnish supermarkets that the fair-priced G-free flours are flour mix and oat flour. There are some other flour mixes with fancy packaging which are quite expensive, and I haven’t bought them to try yet because I have so many bags of flour at home waiting for me to use them.
Hi Quyen, since you are in Finland, I’m not sure which blends you are using, but this article might help you work up a blend that will work better for you. I have perfected my gfJules Muffin Mix so that it crowns beautifully without spilling over and getting crunchy edges, but it’s not something that is easily replicated from a homemade blend of flours. You could try using extra large muffin cups and papers and then filling them higher without spilling over, but they likely still won’t crown — that’s all dependent on the flour you’re using.
~jules
Not that there’s anything wrong with just words…but pictures make every one of us out here feel sooooo much better and in good company!! The baking company King Arthur Flour sometimes publishes “best recipe ever” type photos around April Fool’s Day, and the pictures and commentary that people share of their flops are priceless and laugh-out-loud funny. If anyone’s brave enough to share photos and explanations of “what the heck was that supposed to be” … it’d be a hoot!
We all experience those flops sometimes, Julie, and I agree, it’s nice to SEE them and share the good humor about it all!
~jules
Some wonderful ideas here, Jules. Thanks for sharing!
Great ideas for repurposing gluten-free lemons. When our Oatmeal Raisin cookies ended up soft and crumbly, they were great additions to yogurt or as an ice cream topping.
Thanks for giving me ideas on what to do with my “lemons”.