Gluten Free & Delicious

Does that sound like an oxymoron? There does come a time, even for a novice guest house host, when you find yourself preparing for guests with special food intolerances. Ideally, we should see these as new "opportunities", new adventures in the wonderful world of food exploration! I wrote about my first experience some weeks ago when we had a guest who was allergic to eggs, and it led to a wonderful discovery of our Mushroom & Brie Tart, which has become a favorite with our guests, even those whose only intolerance is to boring food! My new "opportunity" is to create wonderful, tasty food for two upcoming guests who are on gluten free diets. This is something I have had a little experience with because, on the advice of a naturopath, I did attempt to survive on a gluten free diet for 3 months last summer. I was truly horrified at the very unappealing offerings available in the supermarkets or, to give them the benefit of my considerable doubt, perhaps something tasty was hiding on their shelves and I just didn't know where or how to find it (?). However, my motivation is perhaps stronger now because I really do care about creating food that brings pleasure to our guests, that encourages them to leap out of bed in response to the aromas of wonderful home baking wafting up the stairs! How much more so for those who have been suffering through weeks or years without the taste of wonderful, home baked bread or delectable scones dripping with berries and crusted with golden sugar crystals! So, I rolled up my sleeves and dove in. I pored over my cook books, I read countless blogs and websites and I spent around $100 buying every kind of non-gluten flour I could find. I may not have a full repertoire of menus yet, but I do have hope! I discovered that there's a whole world of gluten free recipes out there and, fortunately, I have a husband willing to be the food tester for whatever comes out of our oven! Never one to leave a perfectly good recipe alone, I blended 3 of them to come up with one, and it turned out pretty well. My nephew ate 3 of them right out of the oven - perhaps a good sign! Here it is:

Gluten Free Chocolate Cherry Scones

• 1/2 c. Amaranth Flour
• 1/2 c. Potato Starch
• 1/4 c. Brown Rice Flour
• 1/4 c. Glutinous Rice Flour
• 1/4 c. Quinoa Flour
• 1/4 c. Arrowroot Powder

(I think the flours could be any combination of the above, or some others - these are just what I tried. Also, there's a gluten free flour blend you can buy)

• 1/3 c. Sugar
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1/4 tsp Xantham Gum
• 3/4 c. Cold Unsalted Butter. Cut into pieces, then cut into dry mixture until pea sized, then add:

• 1/2 c. Dried Cherries
• 1/2 c. Chocolate Chips

In separate bowl, whisk together:

• 3/4 c. Buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. lemon zest

Add to dry ingredients and blend just until mixed - do not over mix. The dough is very soft. You can pat it out into a circle and cut it into 8 pie shaped wedges, but handle very carefully to get it onto the pan. Don't worry, if the wedges are a bit wonky, they still will taste good!

Brush the tops with a little buttermilk or cream. Sprinkle with coarse sugar (optional).

Bake @ 425 for 12 - 14 minutes.