Gluten-free Gourmand

If you already have some puff pastry, croissant dough, or danish dough made, then assembling some raspberry squares is very easy.  It's also an impressive dessert to bring to any occasion.  You can use any fruit, fresh or frozen, instead of the raspberries.  Here I used frozen raspberries. Raspberry Pastry Squares Recipe This recipe makes as many pastry squares as you have ingredients for.   Prep time: 10 minutes (with pre-made pastry dough) Cook time: 20 minutes Heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Push through a fine mesh seive: apricot jam (optional) Set the jam aside.  Roll out to about 1/4" thick (or more): puff pastry, croissant , or danish dough Cut the dough into as many squares as needed, 2-4 inches per side.  Place the squares at least 1/2 inch apart on a parchment-paper lined sturdy baking sheet with sides.  (Do not use a baking sheet with no sides or you may start a grease fire.  Butter will probably come out of the d...

If you're making croissants anyway, Pain au Chocolat is easy.  All you need is your croissant dough , or Quicker, Easier Croissant Dough , and some high-quality chocolate. Roll out your croissant dough, but instead of cutting triangles keep the dough in rectangles.  Place a piece of chocolate about 1/4 of the way back from the leading edge. Using the parchment paper to support your croissant dough, carefully flip the leading edge over the chocolate. Keep rolling the dough around the chocolate gently until the whole think is rolled up. Let the  pain au chocolat  rise like you would a croissant.  Brush with egg wash and cook with your other croissants as directed.

There's something about Portland weather.  The rain, you might say.  It's that every June, I start getting the urge to cook bread, soups, and stews again, even though I thought I'd given that up for the summer. Portland always gives you a few really warm, summery, breezy days in May, then takes them all back for a few rainy, cold, sleazy days in the beginning of June.  It's those rainy June days when I want something like chicken pot pie.  The nice thing about this dish is, you can put your spring vegetables in it if you want. Recipe for Chicken Pot Pie The first thing to consider when making chicken pot pie is how much volume your pot - or in this case your casserole dish - holds.  To determine this, you can fill your casserole with water and then dump that water in the pot that you will use to stew your ingredients, take a note of the level that it fills to, and proceed.  Or, if you would like to be authentic, I suppose you could just use you...