Well, this recipe has had me stumped for quite some time. I originally imagined it as some lovely damper mini-loaves made with crushed chickpeas, tahini and garlic salt. They were going to be just fantastic … except that they didn’t actually work.
So I tinkered for a while, but got sick of the stockpile of crumbling mini-loaves so I gave it away.
But it has niggled at me, because the idea should have worked, damn it.
I’ve had my fair share of disasters just recently – another recipe I’d been working on for a long time was a failure again and again so I turned the remnants into Cake Balls. I have to say, the good thing about the failure is that I worked out how to salvage something out of it. Always a bonus when the ingredients are just a wee bit expensive!
I eventually came back to this recipe, determined to get it working and decided to use a store-bought hummus instead of chickpeas and tahini. The thing is, the recipe was looking more and more involved and further away from the original concept of easy lunchbox baking.
So I recommend using a good quality, gluten-free, store-bought hummus, unless you regularly keep the homemade variety in your fridge. Homemade hummus is certainly on my to-do list- my kids love it and I’m sure they would dive headfirst into a vat of the stuff given half a chance.
But here’s the really big news – I’ve realised that there is a wonder miracle ingredient for gluten-free baking, and it works like a charm in this recipe. It’s an easy to find, common ingredient. Yoghurt. Yes, that’s right. Plain Greek yoghurt.
It’s amazing the way it locks moisture into a cake or muffin and the less fruit or vegetables you use in your baked goods, the more you will need something else to keep things moist and spongy. Yoghurt is it. I don’t know why it works better than cream, for example, but it does. I’ll have to conduct my own scientific enquiry into this. One day. One day when I also have time to watch TV without folding the washing, one day when I have time to paint my toenails and apply moisturiser to my legs….. Oh, wait. Off track and too much information.
Anyway, these little bites could easily be a savoury recess time snack, but I’ve been packing them for lunch, along with some cooked chicken breast and vegetable sticks. And they freeze and defrost like a dream. And most importantly, the kids love ’em.
Enjoy!
Ingredients
2 eggs
60 g tapioca flour
80 g brown rice flour
80 g sorghum flour
5 g psyllium husk
15 g baking powder
1 tsp gluten-free garlic salt
135 g gluten-free store-bought hummus
125 ml oil
140 g plain Greek yoghurt
70 ml milk
Method
Preheat oven to 180° Celsius (conventional oven) or 160° Celsius (fan-forced oven). Grease and line 24 cavities in a 25 ml capacity mini-muffin tray.
Beat eggs in the large bowl of an electric mixer, on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Sift into the bowl the tapioca flour, brown rice flour, sorghum flour, psyllium husk, baking powder and ½ teaspoon of the garlic salt. Add the hummus, oil, yoghurt and milk. Mix until well-combined.
Spoon mixture into cavities until three-quarters full. Sprinkle a little of the remaining garlic salt over each Bite.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Makes 24.
Hey Kate!
Those look perfect. Little vegetable sandwiches are in my mind now.
First: doe s ‘damper” mean a small bite? It’s a term I’m not familiar with.
Second: Interesting addition. I noticed you are using physillium husks. Extra fiber? Because that could be the thing causing them to dry out.
Third: If you make homemade hummus, pro secret here, add hot water while it’s processing. Smooths it wonderfully.
Thanks for the great tips, Janet! Damper is an Australian term. It’s basically a quickbread. Traditionally, damper was cooked in a camp fire, in a pot (or foil) buried in the coals. It comes out charred and hard on the outside and warm and moist on the inside. It’s the best comfort food when camping! I use psyllium husks in my baking because I find it helps give flexibility and strength to the texture. But you’re right- they’re super absorbent, so you can’t use too much! It’s a good thought, though. I’ll keep an eye on that!