Gluten Free Eating

Stuffing is usually the hardest Thanksgiving side to make gluten-free, because the classic version is mostly bread. This one has none. Wild rice takes the place of the bread cubes, browned mushrooms and celery give it the savory base people expect, and dried cranberries and pecans add the sweet and crunchy bits. With the bread gone, the labels left to read are short: the rice blend, the broth, the cranberries and the nuts. Cook the rice in broth, and start checking early The gfcooking.food recipe simmers 1 1/2 cups of wild rice blend in 4 cups of broth, covered, over low heat. It is done when the grains are tender and some have split open, which takes 45 to 55 minutes depending on the blend. Cooking times vary a lot by brand, so start checking at 40 minutes, and drain off any broth left in the pan. Because the rice drinks up all that broth, the carton is the biggest label in this dish. Many cartons and bouillon cubes use yeast extract or flavorings that can come from barley, so...

Gravy is the Thanksgiving dish most likely to bring wheat to a gluten-free table, because the classic version is thickened with flour and the shortcut version comes from a packet. Cornstarch fixes both problems. It thickens drippings and broth into a smooth, glossy gravy, and it is one ingredient you can read on a single label. Start with drippings you trust Pan drippings give gravy its flavor, but they are only as gluten-free as the turkey they came from. Some turkeys are injected with a basting solution, and brines, rubs and stuffing cooked inside the bird can all carry wheat into the pan. Check the turkey's label before it goes in the oven. If you are unsure about the drippings, 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter make a fine base on their own. Cornstarch into hot fat, then broth The gfcooking.food recipe warms 3 tablespoons of drippings in a saucepan, whisks in 3 tablespoons of cornstarch to make a smooth paste, and cooks it for a minute while whisking. It looks pale and...

Cranberry sauce is one of the few Thanksgiving dishes that is gluten-free by nature and better made early. Fresh cranberries, sugar, orange juice, a little water, orange zest, a cinnamon stick and a pinch of salt cook down into a glossy sauce in about 20 minutes. It sets up in the fridge, and the recipe says you can make it up to 7 days ahead, which frees up a burner when the stove is at its most crowded. Fresh or frozen both work A standard 12-ounce bag of cranberries is the whole recipe. Rinse fresh berries in a colander and pick out any soft or shriveled ones. Frozen berries go straight into the pot with no thawing, so it is worth tucking a bag into the freezer while they are in stores. The sauce tastes the same either way. Dissolve the sugar first Put the sugar, orange juice, water and cinnamon stick in a medium saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar disappears. That takes about 2 minutes. Starting with a syrup means the berries cook ...

Pumpkin cheesecake bars solve two Thanksgiving problems at once. They need no pie crust to roll out, and the crust they do have is gluten-free by nature: almond flour, chopped pecans, a little sugar and melted butter pressed into a pan. No flour blend, no xanthan gum, nothing to go crumbly. Why almond flour works here A cheesecake crust only needs to hold together and taste toasty. Almond flour and pecans do both, because the fat in the nuts binds the crumbs once the butter goes in. Stir the mix until it looks like wet sand, press it firmly into an 8-inch square pan lined with parchment, and bake it for 12 minutes at 325F until it turns light gold. Let it cool for 10 minutes before the filling goes in. Almond flour is made from almonds, but it is often milled in plants that also handle wheat. Buy a bag that says gluten-free, and check the pecans for the same reason. Mix the filling slowly Cracks in the top of a cheesecake usually come from air. A mixer on high whips bubbles...

Thanksgiving baking starts earlier than you think. The pies and rolls need oven time on the day, but a good quick bread can be baked up to a week ahead and nobody will know. This is the one I make every November: a gluten-free cranberry walnut bread that slices clean, toasts well, and survives a crowded holiday table. Cranberries are the star, and they are picky in quick breads. Fresh ones burst and bleed pink streaks through the crumb. Frozen ones hold their shape better and give you little jewel-like pockets of tartness. Either works, but do not use dried cranberries without soaking them first. Dried fruit pulls moisture out of an already lean gluten-free batter, and you end up with a dry loaf and chewy spots. The flour blend matters more here than in a muffin. A simple rice-flour-and-starch blend gives this bread a tender crumb, but I add a spoonful of psyllium husk powder to the dry ingredients. Psyllium builds the structure gluten would normally provide. Without it, fruit-laden...

Thanksgiving is five and a half weeks out, which means pumpkin pie season has already started in my kitchen. It is the one dessert where a gluten-free version either wins the whole table over or gets politely left on the plate. Most gluten-free pumpkin pies fail in the crust, not the filling. The filling is easy: pumpkin, eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, spice. It barely knows the difference. The crust is where the trouble lives, because gluten is what keeps a wheat crust from falling apart. Without it, you need a plan. Start with a crust you can roll without a fight Cold fat is the first rule, same as any pie. Cut your butter or shortening into the flour mix while everything is still cold, and work fast. Warm fat melts into the flour instead of making pockets, and those pockets are what turn into flakes. The second rule is rest time. Gluten-free flour needs longer to hydrate than wheat flour does. Mix your dough, shape it into a disk, wrap it, and give it at least 30 minutes ...