The GFCF Experience Recipe Review - Ginger Lemon Girl's Boston Baked Beans

I have been a fan of Carrie aka the Ginger Lemon Girl ever since I started blogging - in fact, we both started blogging about the same time back in 2007. Over these last 4 years, I have tried and enjoyed many of Carrie's recipes - Pumpkin Chocolate Chip muffins (a family favorite), Chocolate Cream Cheese Brownies, Cranberry Cobbler...and these are just some of the ones I've blogged about!

Which reminds me, it's getting time to make some more sweet tea goodness!

The best part is that I have come to know Carrie these past 4 years, and I am proud and honored to call her friend.

Which brings me to the most recent of Carrie's creations I have fallen in love with - her Gluten Free Boston Baked Beans:

Don't these look great?

Carrie published her recipe a few days before Memorial Day. So naturally, I had to try them as part of my Memorial Day cooking adventures. And, like most everything else made that day, it turned out to be an epic fail. Maybe not on the scale of the jelly doughnut muffins or the burger and hot dog buns, but they still didn't turn out the way they should. The bacon and especially the onions were not well cooked, and the onion in particular overpowered the dish.

This left me baffled - go back and look at Carrie's recipe. I made them in the slow cooker - how hard is it to put a bunch of stuff in a slow cooker, put the lid on, and let it cook for several hours?

It's not hard, as long as you use the right equipment.

What I did on Memorial Day was use a small crock pot - 3 to 4 quarts I think is the size. I made the recipe exactly as Carrie wrote, but this filled my small crock pot almost to the top. With the end result that, six hours later, the bacon and onions weren't cooked well enough. I could have solved this by cooking the beans an extra 2 or 3 hours, but by then the kids would have been in bed...

I talked to Carrie about it, and there were two things we agreed should be tried. First was, as I said, cook the beans longer. And the second was to use a larger crock pot. And, on Helena's birthday, it was time for yet another food redemption.

This time, I used the big six quart crock pot. And I planned on letting everything cook for about 8 hours. I made Carrie's recipe again, exactly as written. And it was magic. The beans were actually done after about 7 hours of cooking, but that was ok as my cooker has a warm setting built in.

This is so simple. And it makes a lot of beans.

If you choose to make this recipe for your next cookout (and you should!) here are some suggestions:

• As I mentioned, make sure you use a 5 or 6 quart crock pot, and plan on 6 - 8 hours of cooking - start checking for doneness after 6 hours. I also gave everything a stir after about 3 hours.

• I have made this with both white beans and great northern beans, and both work really well. My personal preference, admittedly, is the white beans.

• I really like using thick-sliced bacon in this recipe - a half pound worked out to about 6 strips. I also used dark brown sugar as opposed to light brown sugar for that extra molasses kick.

• Finally, heed Carrie's advice and use as little water as possible - just enough to cover the beans. You don't want your sauce too watered down.

I cannot say enough about this recipe.

It's simple.
Try it.
You will love it.

You will never buy baked beans ever again.