this week's round-up of the best gluten-free on the web

Francoise beet salad, originally uploaded by shaunaforce.

So many recipes, so little time. However, I'm keeping my promise to you (and really, it isn't that hard for me to do this one) and trolling the best food blogs out there, in search of the most scrumptious gluten-free recipes of the week.

And this week, they mostly seem to be dessert. Maybe it's that time of year, when the body wants to start padding up for hibernation. Or maybe it's because this week was Sugar High Friday, over at Lovescool. Or maybe we food bloggers never grow tired of our sweets. Whatever the cause, here are my favorites of the week:

°Nic, at Baking Sheet, has this gorgeous dark chocolate yogurt, made with thick, Greek yogurt. I've never heard of it, never thought of making it. But that's what I thought about the cauliflower with cocoa powder, and I made that again tonight. Nic has a sweet tooth like almost no one else, along with pithy renditions of the making of the recipes. Her dessert sensibilities are exquisite. And last month, she made crepes with rice flour! I'm going to try this one this week.

The enigmatic J at Kuidaore has outdone herself again. Her photographs are little magic lanterns of taste, a window into a world of rich desserts laid out on tidy plates. I'm fascinated. How does she do it? This time, she made three desserts for Sugar High Friday (does she ever make just one?), with one of special interests for us gluten-free girls and boys: Carmen Meringay. Whimsical and sky-high, this one defies explanation. Meringues are a wonderful way to eat gluten-free dessert, and I'm going to try this one soon. No way am I taking a photograph, though. It would never look like J's.

Before you go over to look at Oswego Tea's Dark Chocolate Truffles with Fleur de Sel, make sure you prepare yourself. Take a deep breath. Take another. Make sure you've had something to eat recently. Okay, go look. Didn't I tell you? My god, those look good. And she made them herself? I adore dark chocolate with sea salt. Fran's, here in Seattle, makes caramels so good that an entire room will be filled with moaning as soon as you eat them. But Michele, she made these herself. And had the patience to take photographs before she gobbled them all? Oh my.

Tara at Seven Spoons teased us all week. Last Monday, she posted a photograph of the most divine rice pudding, promising the recipe. But no word from her. She claimed life overtaking her. Certainly, I understand that. But Tara, you tease! Finally, she has posted the recipe for Arborio rice pudding with Calvados and cinnamon caramel. You see what I mean? I hope life slows down a bit soon, Tara. Come back to us.


With all these desserts, we need something with substance. Why not try Ilva's zucchini, potato, peppers, and sun-dried tomatoes dish? And yes, I know this is the second week in a row that Ilva has made the weekly round-up. What can I say? She's doing a great job.


And our last entry (pictured above) isn't from the web at all. It's from my friend Francoise, who was over for dinner tonight with her two delightful girls, her dear friend Judy, and our lovely friends, Lakshmi and Matt. Yesterday, I wrote that I have a fear of beets. So many people left comments and emailed me, urging me to try them again, that I resolved this afternoon to cook with beets soon. Ask and you shall receive.

Francoise brought over the makings for this salad, then masssaged olive oil and white balsamic vinegar onto mache leaves. She dolloped goat cheese, then strew some walnuts she had roasted with honey. (This is my kind of friend.) And finally, little maroon coins of wonderfully pickled beets. We all pitched our forks into it and came up smiling. How can you resist? You should try it too.

I think I may have conquered my fear.