Gluten-free Gourmand

Last year, my mom asked me to recreate a scone recipe that she liked from a local gluten free bakery.  They made a walnut raspberry scone recipe she just loved and missed after they closed down. I tried several iterations, adding more and more walnuts until the recipe was 50% walnuts.  It never really tasted nutty.  Much later she was able to get the recipe from the owners of the bakery.  It turned out that the secret to walnutty scones is to toast the walnuts. This really brings the flavor forward.  Mom, we lost you before I could make these for you again.  Happy Valentine’s Day. Here is my interpretation of walnut raspberry scones.  Recipe for Walnut Raspberry Scones To toast the walnuts, preheat the oven to 350 degrees f.  Place a little over 1/3 cup walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes  remove from the oven, stir/turn over, and bake another 5 minutes.  Remove from the oven and co...

Imagine traveling to a new city, one you've never been to before.  You go downtown, and you walk into a random coffee shop.  There are loads of pastries in the case, but nothing looks likely to be something you can eat.  You ask anyway, out of habit.  The woman behind the register blandly replies, "We have several things that are gluten-free.  There's a chocolate muffin that's gluten-free, and we have several kinds of friands that are all gluten-free." That is what happened on my first day in Melbourne, Australia.  And it happened almost every day after that.  My mom and I were amazed at how many gluten-free things there are to eat in Australia.  I even found gluten-free treats in several airports, an occurrence that has never happened in the US.  Here is proof that I bought a GF pastry in the airport in Hobart, Tasmania: In honor of the great gluten-free trip I had, I bring you a taste of Australia.  Friands aren't something you f...