Pomegranate Cocoa Lemon Gluten-Free Antioxidant-Rich Snack

Pomegranates as the basis for a tasty GF treat

One of my favorite fruits is the wonderfully delicious pomegranate — a fruit that requires a bit of patience when it comes to retrieving all the individual edible berries (seeds) from within its thick reddish skin and the inner near-white pulp. I have tried repeatedly over the years to improve the efficiency with which I can harvest those little single seeds inside, moving along as quickly as possible without bursting each flavorful juicy bit during its extraction.  Yet, a good sized fruit (which may reach the size of a medium grapefruit) takes me perhaps 10 minutes to fully shuck and disassemble.  I have tried methods that claim to be faster, but nothing really works better than careful deconstruction, especially if you want to keep the seeds intact.

Fresh Whole Ripe Pomegranates

Good plain, and fantastic in various gluten-free recipes too...

As good as the pomegranate fruit tastes on its own, I also have experimented quite a bit with various gluten-free recipes and combinations of ingredients mixed with pomegranate seeds.  I especially like simple recipes!  One of my perennial favorites is mixing pomegranate seeds, plain Greek yogurt, almond butter, and a few drops of vanilla (if for some reason you desire added sweetness, honey is my recommendation due to the flavor it adds). I further vary that formula with things like hints of cinnamon, some cocoa, and some citrus (I prefer lemon, but orange can be nice too, with the almond butter especially).

Recently, I have settled on a super-simple and healthy gluten-free snack that is nothing more than the pomegranate seeds, drizzled with fresh-squeezed lemon juice, and then tossed about in a heaping teaspoon or so of plain cocoa.  The resulting "dish" may look a bit unusual, as the next image demonstrates:

Cocoa-Dusted Pomegranate Seeds with Fresh-Squeezed Lemon Juice Binder

The lemon juice serves two purposes: it makes more cocoa stick to the pomegranate seeds, and furthermore it imparts a lovely sharpness and slight sourness to offset the sweetness of the pomegranate.  In fact, this snack is all about contrasts.  Textures contrast substantially, ranging from the crunch of the seeds inside each little pomegranate berry to the juicy popping of each berry as you bite into them, and the powder of the cocoa is quite different and contrasting as well.  Tastes range from that sweetness you would expect from the main fruit, to the tangy and sour taste of the lemon, to the slightly-bitter flavor of the bold cocoa powder.

In my opinion, it all combines nicely. It may be an acquired taste, but it is something that can be experimented with in a small batch (just a few seeds) to see if you like it before using the entire pomegranate.  I'd recommend playing around with other complementary flavors and combinations of your own too.

Furthermore, this gluten-free snack has a nice range of nutritional elements from vitamins to minerals to antioxidants and polyphenols / flavonoids (e.g., the theobromine of the cocoa), which makes it a bit of a super-food combination.  Hope you enjoy yours!

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Hazelnut and Blackberry Crumble Dessert Recipe

Simple Recipe using Local Foraging Bounty

Combining my Hazelnuts (Cobnuts) and Berries into a Dessert

Over the past couple months I was lucky enough to find quite a few wild blackberries, black raspberries, and hazelnuts (a.k.a. filberts or cobnuts) growing nearby here in Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom — along walking trails, bike trails, and other public areas. I have written about each component recently including:

• how to harvest, prepare, and toast hazelnuts, 
• recipe for how to make a Nutella (brand) type cocoa / hazelnut butter,
• simple recipe for plain hazelnut butter, and
• easy blackberry / raspberry cook and freeze recipe.

Now, it is time to put the individual core components to use in a simple-to-make dessert recipe!

Recipe, Directions, Ingredients

Although I have written and published formal gluten-free dessert recipe cookbooks, where each recipe includes the exact ingredient measurements used, I rarely go to such lengths when baking for myself — instead, I simply measure "by sight".  This recipe for a simple, natural, blackberry-hazelnut crumble is one where measuring the ingredients is rather overkill (in my opinion) since much of it can be done to "personal preference" or "to taste".  Some people will like more sugar added (I tend to prefer more tartness in this dish than may be average) and others may not like the taste of cinnamon, so simply go with your gut-feel on alterations and it will probably be fine.

Gluten-Free Recipe Ingredients - Berries layer, GF Oats, Filberts, Cinnamon

As shown in the first picture (above), I have simply used a rectangular Pyrex (oven safe glass) dish to layer the following ingredients into:

• some of my pre-cooked blackberries (or black raspberries) that I added a bit of lemon juice  (or a few drops of lemon oil), a small bit of vanilla, and some muscovado sugar (dark brown sugar) to
• some gluten-free oats or gluten-free oat muesli (I used Nairn's Gluten-Free Oat Muesli, which I have actually been OK with and which I plan to review later)
• a sprinkle of ground cinnamon
• a few of my toasted hazelnuts
• a slight sprinkling of additional muscovado sugar on top
• read next paragraphs for additional thoughts on altering this a bit...

Then, I just tossed this all into the oven at around 375-400° F (185-200 degrees C) for 15-20 minutes until I could see the berries bubbling a bit in the bottom layer.  I was really just going for warming the ingredients well and caramelizing some of the sugar in the berry layer.   I waited a few minutes after removing the dish from the oven and then served it.  

My recipe-notes-to-self: the muscovado sugar on top did not melt as I wanted it to — and, looking back, I would change something with the recipe: I would use a bit of butter into which I would melt the brown sugar and add a bit of vanilla, and then drizzle that over the top layer to help the surface of the dish look nicer and crisp up and caramelize a bit (but that'd also prevent the recipe from remaining dairy-free as it is now; then again, serving it with vanilla ice cream would be lovely too if I was to stray from dairy-free!)  

I was in a bit of a hurry when I made it, and though it tasted good (thanks to delicious ingredients) it would have been better with a more even, caramelized top.   Thankfully, I have more of thee ingredients to put to use!

The finished product: baked, warm, and ready for eating!

Enjoy.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Fresh Black Raspberries in Season

Fresh Black Raspberries: Yum!

Bushes full of berries...

There has been an absolute abundance of wild berries this year here in the southwest United Kingdom, especially blackberries and black raspberries.  The image below shows a typical wild black raspberry bush, or patch — perhaps better described as a hedge of raspberries or nearly a forest of raspberries — that I keep running into all over the region along footpaths, bridal paths, hiking trails, biking trails, and so on.

Wild Black Raspberries on the bushes

These berries are simply everywhere: I call these berries the "national weed of the UK" due to how widespread they are.   I definitely do not mind, as unlike most "weeds", these plants produce a very useful crop — a delicious fruit that is quite versatile and can be used in many of my gluten-free recipes.  I used to pick these same types of berries in Ohio in the United States, but I never encountered them in such abundance as I have seen here.

...but, picking still takes time.

Even with so many berries on so many bushes, I have found that my ability to pick them peaks out at about 1 quart per hour.  The black raspberries are quite a bit smaller than the nice big plump fresh blackberries I was picking earlier this year (compare the picture below to the pictures in the blackberry blog-link — shown in same size pan); in fact, it probably takes 6 or 8 of these small berries to equal the size of a medium blackberry.

Next, there is the issue of the thorns on the bushes that must be avoided; those do not feel so nice and/or can get get your clothing all caught up in them.  If that were not enough, so often where these wild raspberries are growing, so grow large patches of stinging nettles around them and/or mixed throughout them — and if you have experienced the "sting" of those stinging nettles, you will soon realize why it is with great care (even if it slows down the harvest) that I work my way through the wild berry patches.

Fresh-picked black raspberries - much smaller berry than blackberries.

Lovely treat worth the effort

Even with the effort required to pick these lovely little flavorful berries, it is so worth it!  Much like with the blackberries, I eat these black raspberries fresh and I also freeze any extra ones.  I freeze some of the berries whole and others I cook down a bit prior to freezing the resulting very thick puree (many of the berries remain nearly whole).  I use these in some lovely gluten-free berry pies and other dessert recipes too!

One characteristic of the black raspberry I very much prefer to the larger blackberry is how it stays much more solid and has less liquid (per volume) than the blackberry when cooked — this denser and more solid texture makes for a much nicer berry pie, berry crisp or crumble, and so forth (the dessert does not succumb to sogginess).  And, they are simply loaded with flavor!  This all makes for them being quite a treat when placed in the morning granola or yogurt.  Hope you have a chance to enjoy some where you are.

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.

Fresh Blackberries : Simple Cook and Freeze Method

Extending the Fresh Blackberries Season

Blackberry Puree Ready-to-Use for Many other Recipes

This year I have been fortunate enough to encounter a bumper-crop of fresh blackberries growing wild where I live. There have been so many blackberries ripening at once that eating them all while fresh is just not possible — I can eat perhaps a quart of berries a day, but something has to be done with the remainder.

So, time to cook these berries up for simple storage (and reduced storage space in the freezer too).

The steps to this "recipe" cannot get much easier:

1. pick berries, unless a very nice neighbor or friend donates some to your cause;
2. rinse them off well in a colander
3. place the berries in a nice large pot in which you can cook down a substantial batch on the stove top at once.  If you have very ripe berries, there should be no need for any additional water in the pot (to prevent burning or such), since they should have a lot of their own natural juice
4. bring the berries up to a light boil — if your berries are as ripe as the ones I am using, your pot should have plenty of liquid in it just from mashing a large stirring-spoon through the berries a couple times.
5. reduce the heat to a simmer and be patient — stir every so often to prevent any burning and let the batch cook down as much as you desire.  This can take an hour or more to off-steam enough liquid to thicken the mixture considerably.  
6. Let cool and place into containers of your choosing and freeze (and, perhaps keep some in the fridge for the coming week or so) 

Fresh Blackberries ready to cook down on stove top

Although I could freeze the berries whole, I have limited freezer space and this process allows me to greatly reduce the volume of the berries.

I have kept a bunch of cleaned, used, pint (1/2 liter) size plastic yogurt containers into which I place my cooked berry sauce.

Then, I place these containers in the freezer for easy retrieval and thawing when I need blackberries for any other recipes I am planning, or simply for my morning yogurt.   I make my own flavored-yogurt by simply adding about a 1/2 cup of this cooked blackberry sauce to a cup of greek or plain yogurt, along with a bit of honey and slight bit of lemon juice (or couple drops of lemon oil).  This is the way a blackberry-yogurt should be — loaded with berries and full of flavor!

I also use this puree in some other gluten-free dessert recipes, like: cheesecakes (right in the batter), other cakes (in batter, or in the frosting, or both), berry pies (used along with some other fresh/frozen berries), my morning pancakes (in or on), and much more.

This is one of my favorite gluten-free recipes / treats that comes along during a limited season each year.   I hope you are able to find some fresh berries nearby to try this yourself.

Nicely cooked-down blackberry puree / sauce

Continue to read this Gluten-Free Blog for all sorts of gluten-free recipes, product-reviews, and related information. In addition, visit my Gluten-Free Recipes Site where many of the recipes I have featured on this blog are available.