Le Pop Tart From 'The Everyday Art of Gluten-Free'

[Photograph: Knoxy Knox]

Springing for the store-bought version of the food you crave is an easy road to satisfaction. But when you can't have gluten, finding palatable substitutions to your favorite foods can be a real hassle. Luckily, we have Karen Morgan's The Everyday Art of Gluten-Free to help you through that quest. Take this thickly-frosted, fruit-stuffed pop tart as a shining example of what can be done with a little starch manipulation. A custom blend of flours mimics shortcrust pastry, and homemade buttercream serves as an icing that is second to none.

Tips: The first step in making this breakfast sweet is putting together Morgan's Pie & Pasta Blend, a flour mix that forms the foundation for this and many other recipes in the book. We'll be using it again in the week's coming recipes, so if you go to the trouble of making a batch, it won't go to waste. Indeed, the most difficult part of attempting any recipe in the book is preparing the flour blend, and the most difficult part of that comes from sourcing the ingredients. Thankfully, Ms. Morgan has several helpful suggestions.

The first? Buy in bulk, and with friends. There's no need to break the bank when going gluten-free. She also provides a list of her most trusted purveyors, like Bob's Red Mill (for all kinds of flours), Now Foods (for guar gum), and Penzey's Spices. Bob's Red Mill products can be found in several supermarkets, and Now Foods and Penzey's products can be found online. And if you think trying these recipes might be a one or two-time thing, the custom flour blends we use here can be purchased directly from Morgan's store, Blackbird Bakery.

Tweaks: We certainly aren't going to mess with the makeup of any of these recipes, as the results in texture can be disastrous. But the fruit filling and icing can easily be tweaked. Below are instructions to make Lemon-Cardamom Pop Tarts:

"Proceed as for the basic tart, but when it's time to make the buttercream, add 4 whole cardamom pods and 3 whole cloves to the simple syrup mix as it is simmering. Proceed as directed. As you beat the syrup into the buttercream, add the zest of 1 lemon. Fill the tarts with raspberry jam (my favorite brand is Bonne Maman), bake as above, cool, and ice with the lemon-cardamom buttercream."

As always with our Bake the Book feature, we have five (5) copies of The Everyday Art of Gluten-Free to give away. Just tell us what dessert you'd love to see transformed into something gluten-free.