The Splendid Gluten-Free Bake Mix

In large bowl, combine almond meal, OR almond flour, oat flour and coconut flour. In container with airtight lid, place bake mix and shake the container well to combine. When measuring oat flour (not necessary with the other ingredients) into measuring cup, make sure to tap the cup on the counter top and fill to the top to get the correct yield for the bake mix. Keep bake mix at room temperature for up to one month or freeze for much longer storage. Yield: 2 1/2 cups (625 mL) 1/4 cup (60 mL) per serving 125.0 calories 4.5 g protein 8.9 g fat 5.7 g net carbs Instructions for substituting the bake mix in your own flour-containing recipes: Add 1/4 cup (60 mL) additional bake mix when substituting for 1 cup (250 mL) or more than 1 cup (250 mL) flour in recipes and use 2 tbsp (30 mL) more if substituting for less than 1 cup (250 mL). When using this bake mix in your regular, flour-filled recipes, add an extra egg, and withhold 1/4 cup (60 mL) of the liquid/wet ingredients and add at the end (you will most likely need all the wet ingredients and very occasionally even more). If the batter is too wet, add more bake mix 1 tbsp (15 mL) at a time, process and check the batter consistency. If the batter is too stiff, then add more of the liquid/wet ingredients (an extra egg possibly, but not in the case of cookies). (NOTE: Do not add an extra egg in cookie recipes.) Adding Unflavored Gelatin: Less than and equal to 1 cup (250 mL) bake mix, use 1/2 tsp (2 mL) gelatin. More than 1 cup (250 mL) bake mix, use 1 tsp (5 mL) gelatin. 2 cups bake mix and more, use 1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) gelatin. Applications: The gelatin option works in most baking applications. The gluten-free bake mixes need eggs in most applications. To my knowledge it won't work in yeast applications, but nothing stopping you from adding a titch of yeast to bread recipes to get that yeasty bread flavor. Cakes and Cupcakes: They tend to be more dense than normal. Use half to three quarters less butter in cake recipes – rather add more liquid, if necessary, and do add an extra egg. Cookies: In the case of cookies, if I have not used gelatin in the recipe, then it’s fine to leave it out, however, I’ve discovered using the gelatin actually helps with some recipes that would otherwise have produced more fragile cookies, that have a tendency to crumble. Keep the number of eggs called for in the cookie recipe the same and follow the instructions for replacing flour with the bake mix. Cookies will usually be fragile straight out of the oven. Leave them to cool completely on the cookie sheet, and if you have a chest freezer, place the whole cookie sheet in the freezer, or use a thin, metal spatula to transfer cooled cookies to dinner plates and place in the freezer. Once frozen, place cookies in a sealed container between sheets of parchment or wax paper and put it back in the freezer or refrigerator. Helpful Hints: I buy the NOW® Brand gelatin in a 1 lb (0.45 kg) bag from Netrition.com. When substituting this Gluten-Free bake mix for some of my older bake mixes, treat most of them as if you were replacing white flour; follow my instructions. **I realize there are slight differences between using almond meal or almond flour in the bake mixes. Using almond flour will increase the ratio of almond flour to the other ingredients (because the yield is greater), which makes for a slightly less robust bake mix. If using almond flour, you can experiment by adding 1 to 2 tbsp (15-30) extra oat flour or 1 tbsp (15 mL) extra coconut flour to the bake mix for your own general purposes (just a suggestion, no guarantees!). Many of my recipes have been tested with almond flour, but a lot have also been tested with almond meal. I have found them interchangeable with slight differences in texture and color. In some instances almond meal is superior. It's great for crusts and for my soft tortillas it is essential, as well as using the bake mix with xanthan gum. If you are using the gelatin application for my recipes that use the original Gluten-Free Bake Mix with xanthan gum, don’t change anything in the recipes other than withholding 1/4 cup (60 mL) to 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the wet ingredients and adding it in as necessary. You will usually need less of the wet ingredients. The only drawback with using gelatin or xanthan gum for that matter is that refrigerated baked goods become denser in texture – often too dense. It is best to place the baked goods outside the refrigerator for two hours prior to serving. If you are in a hurry to eat it, briefly nuking the baked good, depending on what it is, works. It is convenient to double, triple or quadruple this bake mix. *If you are intolerant to certified gluten-free oat flour, then substitute some other gluten-free flour, such as sorghum flour, which others have had success with.