A little about the reason I live gluten free...

I have celiac disease, an autoimmune intestinal DISORDER. It is not really a disease, and no, it's not contagious, it is genetic. It's most common in Northern Europeans, so I can probably blame it on my German ancestry. I will have it for the rest of my life, and it will never get any better. If I ingest gluten, my immune system attacks my small intestine. Gluten is the protein in wheat (including durum, semolina, spelt, kamut, einkorn, and faro), rye, barley, and triticale.

I can't eat foods containing wheat, rye, barley, triticale or most oats (due to contamination). That means no bread, pizza, pasta, flour tortillas, crackers, hamburger and hot dog buns, beer, breaded & fried foods, crepes, waffles, pancakes, pastries, cookies, brownies, cake, pie, most chips, etc. etc. the list goes on and on. Gluten can be found in almost everything, even things like vitamins and licorice. But as long as I avoid gluten I'm perfectly healthy and normal. It could definitely be worse. There are gluten-free substitutes for most of the items listed above, and some taste better than the ones made with gluten :)

I've never been officially diagnosed as a Celiac, it's not worth being sick again! They have to physically see the damage that gluten is doing to your intestines, or see the antibodies in your blood that are produced by your reaction to gluten.

I probably inherited it from my mother's side, many relatives on that side have had intestinal problems.

I started getting sick when I was 8 and I got sicker and sicker until I went gluten-free during my 2nd semester of college.
DON"T feel sorry for me. I was sick for years without knowing why, and now I am HEALTHY!!! :)...well trying....So be happy for me!

Gluten Free Eclairs

This recipe is based off of a Gale Gand recipe for chocolate eclairs, from www.foodnetwork.com.
The recipe calls for the filling to sit for 2 hours, I put it in the freezer for
30 mins and it was ready to go in the eclairs!
Here are some pictures of how they turned out....

Ingredients

Filling:

• 2 cups whole, 2 percent fat, or 1 percent fat milk
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  
• 6 egg yolks
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Pastry:

• 1 cup water or 1 cup milk(adds a little more flavor to the pastry)
  
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 cup Gluten Free Mama's Almond flour
• 1 1/2 tsp guar gum(or xanthan gum)
  
• 3 eggs, plus 1 extra, if needed

Egg Wash:

• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons water

Chocolate Glaze:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions

Filling: In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and vanilla bean to a boil over medium heat. Immediately turn off the heat and set aside to infuse for 15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cornstarch and whisk vigorously until no lumps remain. Whisk in 1/4 cup of the hot milk mixture until incorporated. Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture, reserving the saucepan. Pour the mixture through a strainer back into the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Let cool slightly. Cover with plastic wrap, lightly pressing the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill at least 2 hours or until ready to serve. The custard can be made up to 24 hours in advance. Refrigerate until 1 hour before using.

Pastry: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt and sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer). Mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, add 3 eggs, 1 egg at a time. Stop mixing after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add the remaining 1 egg and mix until incorporated.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe fat lengths of dough (about the size and shape of a jumbo hot dog) onto the lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches of space between them. You should have 8 to 10 lengths.

Egg Wash: In a bowl, whisk the egg and water together. Brush the surface of each eclair with the egg wash. Use your fingers to smooth out any bumps of points of dough that remain on the surface. Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees and bake until puffed up and light golden brown, about 25 minutes more. Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking. Let cool on the baking sheet. Fit a medium-size plain pastry tip over your index finger and use it to make a hole in the end of each eclair (or just use your fingertip)**Also you can fill the eclairs by cutting them partially open**. Using a pastry bag fitted with a medium-size plain tip, gently pipe the custard into the eclairs, using only just enough to fill the inside (don't stuff them full).

Glaze: In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat just until it boils. Immediately turn off the heat. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside and keep warm. The glaze can be made up to 48 hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use, and rewarm in a microwave or over hot water when ready to use.

Dip the tops of the eclairs in the warm chocolate glaze and set on a sheet pan. Chill, uncovered, at least 1 hour to set the glaze. Serve chilled.