Gluten Free Baking - GF Mixes by Better For You Bakery

Before I begin this post about the new products available from Better For You Bakery in Jefferson, Iowa, I wanted to take a moment to address something that is heavy on many of our hearts and minds: Hurricane Harvey Relief. When natural disasters hit it isn't only healthy people who are affected. There are always people with special dietary needs affected as well. Here is some great information from Gluten Free Watchdog on how you can donate gluten free non-perishables to Celiacs and people with Non-Celiac Gluten Sensitivity who've been impacted by Hurricane Harvey. #hurricaneharveyrelief #glutenfreewatchdog  To find out how you can help, click here.

Recently Better For You Bakery released some new products available online here as well as in selected grocery stores in Jefferson, Carroll and Sioux City, Iowa and at Gud n Free in Sioux City.  Not all of these new products are available in Sioux City, however.  Gud n Free restaurant, for example, does not carry the Nut Granola because they are a nut free establishment.  However, all of these products (as well as previous mixes by BFYB) can be found at the Better For You Bakery Website.

(Labor Day Special from Better For You Bakery: This offer will end after Labor Day so shop now by following the link below. Delicious starts with our Gluten Free bakery mixes! Get yours now in this SHIP ONLY special limited time offer here: 

https://betterforyoubakery.net/product/better-baking-box/

BFYB Gluten Free mixes and Granola are made in our dedicated Gluten Free Peanut Free facility from NON GMO sourced ingredients and include dominant whole grains. Have other food allergies? Did you know our bakery mixes can ALL be made to avoid any of the other 7 other major food allergens? Granola does include tree nuts. Shop now and share the news with others.)

Tina, founder, owner and entrepreneur of Better For You Bakery sent me each of her new products to test out and review.  Unfortunately, I've had some technical issues in the past few weeks with my laptop and then my cell phone (on which I had many of the photos for this blog post) completely died and I had to send it in to get a replacement phone - after first being instructed to do a full factory reset to make sure it really was a faulty phone.  Due to the factory reset, I lost all of the pictures that I hadn't already sent to my laptop.  UGH!  Frustration!  And, yes, it was the phone that was faulty.  So, this blog post is long overdue.   

A couple of weeks ago, my mom and I had a baking day.  Basically, it was a cookie day!  I used BFYB Sugar Cookie mix (and Tina provided me with the recipe for her amazing frosting, which I will share here).  Tina had also provided me with her recipe for a Pecan Coffee Cake, but I haven't had time to make that, yet.  When I do, I will share it (and her recipe) here on the blog.

Better For You Bakery Sugar Cookie Mix

Anyone who has enjoyed BFYB's decorated sugar cookies either directly from the bakery or through Gud n Free restaurant is going to love this mix!  The cookies were so easy to make and they are just as flaky and delicious as if Tina had baked them herself.  I shared with both my mom and husband as well as the ladies I work with, none of whom have to be gluten free.  They were all amazed by the taste and texture and I had several surprised comments of, "These are gluten free?!"  and "Does everything gluten free taste this good?"  The answer to that last question, unfortunately, is no.  These mixes are truly an exception.  Between the reasonable price of the cookie mix and the added ingredients, these are so worth it!  I bought two more packages of this mix from Gud n Free in the last couple of weeks so that I can make more soon!!!

I didn't have any cookie cutters, so I simply used a canning
ring as my cookie cutter

These were medium sized diameter, but I made them a bit thicker than the instructions on the package

I thought I was completely prepared ingredient-wise, but I was missing one thing - food coloring for the frosting.  So, my cookies may not have turned out very pretty, but boy did they taste great - and they didn't last long!!

Of all of the new products out now from BFYB the one I am the most excited about is the new All Purpose GF Flour Blend!  Used cup for cup in substitution for regular flour, there are so many possibilities for this product.  Tina shared with me her recipe for Pecan Coffee Cake, which I haven't had a chance to make, yet, but when I do, I will share it on here.  I promise!  What I chose to make was plain and simple chocolate chip cookies, a staple of pretty much every American childhood.  I used the Nestle Tollhouse Cookie recipe from the Nestle website, though I made it with the BFYB gluten free AP Flour blend and I chose to use organic coconut sugar in place of refined white sugar.  The coconut sugar gave the cookies a bit darker color and a slightly different taste than what I think of with chocolate chip cookies, but it was really tasty and the texture was perfect!

Since Mom was helping me bake, I thought it only fair to invite her to stay for supper.  Of course, I used the new pizza crust mix from BFYB.  Unfortunately, I don't have any of the before/after baking pictures of the pizza crust without toppings because they were among the pictures that I lost with the reset of my phone.  Very disappointing.  But the pizza was not!  I'm sure, like me, you've searched high and low for a gluten free pizza crust that doesn't taste like cardboard.  Not an easy task.  Look no further than the pizza crust mix from Better For You Bakery.  This is much the same mix as the French Bread mix, however the pizza crust mix contains the seasoning as well.  I got one large round pizza pan crust out of the mix plus enough for a smaller pizza crust out of one mix.  I like my pizza crust a bit thicker.  The taste and texture of this pizza crust was so savory and amazing!  My mouth is watering for it now just thinking about it!

I made this pizza for 3 very different people with 3 very different likes, so it was topped in thirds.

Good to the last crumb!

 The last of the new products is the Nut Blend Granola.  I haven't used it to make anything yet, though I do plan to make some apple crisp using it in the topping - again, recipe will appear on the blog when I do make the apple crisp.  This tasty treat goes well with so many things.  Currently I've been using it to mix in with my Greek yogurt for a hearty and delightful snack at work.  YUM!

This nut blend gluten free granola has so much flavor and crispy almonds, walnuts & pecans, along with sunflower kernels.

Now, as I promised, Better For You Bakery's sugar cookie frosting recipe (this is for the full batch as Tina makes it for her customer orders.  You can either adjust the recipe in half or use what you need and freeze the rest for later use.

Ingredients: 

1 bag of powder sugar (2lb)

2 sticks unsalted butter (softened)

1 cup shortening (Tina's suggestion - Holsum brand, though Crisco works fine). 

1 tbsp of vanilla extract

2-4 tbsp of water this is depending on how thick or thin you need frosting. 

Cream softened butter with shortening on medium speed.  Add half the powder sugar then start on low then medium to mix in then add other half bag and vanilla and 2 tbsp water mix on low then when it's mixed in turn on high and mix for about 5 minutes add the extra water in this case you'll need it.  **Helpful Hints: The two biggest mistakes people make with frosting is not creaming shortening and butter till creamy and not mixing powder sugar long enough till it's fluffy frosting and if you don't it will be gritty.  Also lots of people use cheap and salted butter but good butter and no salt makes better frosting.**  You shouldn't need more water for cookies, however, you may need more for cake frosting if you are spreading it.  If you want chocolate frosting you add 1/4 cup cocoa and another tbsp or so water.  Mocha is tsp espresso plus cocoa.  

If you are looking for high quality, great tasting gluten free mixes, check out Better For You Bakery's website https://betterforyoubakery.net/ for more information on all of her products and recipes that you can use these mixes for at home.  

Until next time - have a safe Labor Day!

Siouxland Celiac 💚