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Katz Gluten Free Sweet Summer Giveaway

I recently received a big box of complimentary gluten-free sweets from Katz Gluten Free Bake Shoppe to sample and review on my blog.

Katz is a dedicated and certified gluten-free bakery (it is also completely nut-free and dairy-free), and all of their products are certified Kosher.  Katz was established in 2006 by Mrs. Katz, the mother of two gluten-intolerant children, so she knows firsthand the challenges that parents of dietary-restricted children have to deal with everyday in order to keep our kiddos safe. You can read more about Katz here.

Katz Gluten Free offers a wide range of gluten-free, dairy-free baked goods, from breads (including challah), cakes, cookies, muffins and rugelech.

We personally sampled the Chocolate Cupcakes, Honey Muffins, Apricot Tarts, Chocolate Dipped Cookies, Chocolate Strip, Chocolate Chip Cookies and the Cinnamon Rugelech (the nutrition information is available for each product on the Katz website).

The hands down favorites of my clan were the Cinnamon Rugelech and the Apricot Tarts.  Sam waged a great campaign for me to allow the rugelech as a breakfast option (since they look like “cinnamon rolls,” but unfortunately for him, mom didn’t just fall of the turnip truck, LOL!).

My husband loved the Apricot Tarts, he said the slightly tart apricot center was a nice complement to the sweet shortbread-style cookie.

I wish I could give you a more descriptive review on the other products, but the only words my brood could muster were “mmm, good” (I really need to expand their vocabulary of descriptive words!).  Personally, I can tell you that the products had great texture, but…I think it’s time I share something with you:

Medical Oddity Disclaimer: I haven’t mentioned this yet because I haven’t been quite sure what to make of it (and I keep expecting things to back to normal any day now!), but…I have been without my sense of taste for 3 months now!  Not only that, everything tastes like metal (I think that’s how I would describe it), isn’t that weird?  I have no idea why (I do know that it started with a sinus infection back in June), but it makes doing reviews a little challenging for me because I can only tell you about texture and what my “official taste testers” think!

Would you like to try some of the Katz Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, Nut-Free products for yourself?  Well, you are in luck because you have TWO opportunities to win some Katz Dollars which are redeemable towards products on the Katz Gluten Free website!

For a chance to win $100 Katz Dollars, simply visit the special Katz web page and enter the drawing.  The deadline is September 13th, 2010.

Katz Gluten-Free is also generously offering:

• One of my lucky readers a chance to win $25 Katz Dollars to spend towards products on their website,

and

• One runner up will receive a FREE sample package of Katz goodies!

To enter this giveaway:

Simply leave a comment below letting me know which Katz product you would most like to try!

For bonus entry opportunities (just be sure to leave a separate comment for each additional bonus entry you qualify for, this is how I keep track of entries…I don’t want to accidentally miss anyone!):

• Follow katzglutenfree on Twitter

• Follow Adventuresgfmom on Twitter

• “Like” Katz Gluten-Free on Facebook

• “Like” Adventures of a Gluten Free Mom on Facebook

• For 10 Bajillion Bonus Entries…Tell me how I can get my sense of taste back (pretty please)!

Using the Random Number Generator, I will pick the winners on Tuesday, September 7, 2010.

Good Luck and I hope everyone has a happy and safe gluten-free Labor Day weekend!

Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

I am finally taking a moment to breath and catch up on some posts!

A few weeks ago, I received a complimentary 2.5 lb. sample of Better Batter Gluten-Free All-Purpose flour to review. A quick bit of info on Better Batter: the ingredients are: Rice and Brown Rice Flours, Tapioca Starch, Potato Starch, Potato Flour, Xanthan Gum and Pectin. Some Better Batter product information: it is Kosher, made in a dedicated facility and is approved not only by the Celiac Sprue Association but also for use in the Feingold Diet by the Feingold Association.

Well, let me put it this way: I used up all of the flour in one day and my guys ate everything I made before I could get photos! I made “real” cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning (they were so good!) and even tried out some “Pigs in a Blanket,” which Mike proceeded to eat all of and Sam didn’t even get to try one!). I even made “Nutter Butter” cookies! I immediately ordered 25 pounds of the Better Batter GF flour and it arrived this past Friday. I have been experimenting like a mad food scientist and am having a hard time pulling myself away long enough to make a post!

I am going to do this “review” differently by showing the results of Better Batter in actual recipes. I think it is so awesome, that I may be switching from my beloved Tom Sawyer’s GF All-Purpose Flour, which uses gelatin instead of pectin. I really wish I could figure out what proportion to add these ingredients (gelatin and/or pectin) to my own GF flour blends, they have made all the difference in my GF recipes, although I think the pectin is winning out over the gelatin.

Hang on, deep breath: “omm…” (very helpful with ADD! )

Okay, so one thing at a time because I also have other very cool recipes to share too, like how to make your own (you will be able to make a dairy-free version too!) evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, liquid coffee creamers, beef jerky, GF “Hamburger Helper” Mixes, vegan marshmallows without gelatin (did you know that gelatin is derived from beef?) or agar agar, (and I am not a fan of the Kosher marshmallows made from fish gelatin, as I can taste the fish. Then again, beets taste like dirt to me, so maybe it is my palette! ). I am even closing in on a corn-free “light corn syrup!” I also have more condensed soup recipes (in fact, I will be revising the whole condensed soup “series” of posts because this has been a real journey for me and I have “updated” the condensed soup recipe many times, which is confusing even for me when I look up my own recipe on my blog! I am going to give the GF Magic Mix and each of the soups their own page.

Okay, enough rambling for now! I found the following recipe on Recipezaar (I like getting recipes from here because they have reviews) and with a few tweaks, I made a GF version. The original recipe is listed with my changes in red.

Easy Dinner Rolls (you will need to mix up the dough 2 hours – 3 days ahead of time)

1 cup Water (110° F.)

2 pkgs. Yeast (Do not use quick rising in this recipe) (I buy my yeast in bulk, so I used 5 tsp. Yeast… each package of yeast is about 2 1/2 tsp.)

1/2 cup Butter, melted (I used Smart Balance, but you can also use dairy-free Earth Balance, Earth Balance also makes a soy-free version)

1/2 cup Sugar

3 Eggs

1 tsp. Salt

4 1/4 cups Flour (I used Better Batter GF All-Purpose Flour)

• Combine warm water and yeast in a large bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer); let stand for 5 minutes.

• With a wooden spoon, stir in butter, sugar, eggs and salt (I just added all of these ingredients into the bowl of my stand mixer).

• Add flour, 1 cup at a time and beat as much as you can (you will probably be able to use all of the flour) (Again, added to the bowl of my stand mixer and let it do the work for me! I just used the standard beater attachment since GF dough tends to be more of a batter consistency).

• Cover and Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days.

• Grease a 13×9 baking pan.

• Turn dough out onto floured surface.

• Divide into 24 equal pieces (I divided mine into 20 equal pieces of 2-oz. each, if you do not have a scale, just eyeball it)

• Roll each piece into a smooth round ball.

• Place in rows in prepared pan. (I brushed mine with an egg wash: 1 beaten egg combined with 1 Tbs. water).

• Cover and let rise for 1 hour; until doubled (here is a cool tip for rising: put the covered dough in a cold oven on the middle rack. On the rack below it, fill an oven safe dish with a couple inches of boiling hot water, then shut the door. This makes for ideal rising conditions! )

• Heat oven to 375°.

• Bake until golden brown, about 17 minutes.

My guys flipped over these dinner rolls! Sam even had one for breakfast this morning ) I want to learn how to make these using Agave Nectar, so if it works out, I will do an updated post later!