IanzGurrl asks… Just found out the hubby is gluten-intolerant. Could I make your blueberry buttermilk  pancakes (and would they still be yummy) with rice flour?

My Response… The short answer is yes. I had never used gluten-free flour before so I bought some at the grocery store and made my pancake recipe using King Arthur Gluten Free Flour… this one…

I did some research and they say you have to add xanthan gum to rice flour to add body for baking but this flour made really good pancakes. It does contain some added starches so maybe that’s all it needed for pancakes. I made plain buttermilk pancakes and one with blueberries and they came out great. I ate all three!

If your rice flour has no starches added, you may need to add some or just try the flour I used or one with added starches. Next, I’m going to try baking a cake with gluten-free flour. Fingers crossed!

Vicki asks… How long should spices be kept? I never know when to throw out and replace so I seem to have multiples. I don’t know if they are any good when I need something.

My response… They say not to keep spices for too long because they lose potency over time, but I have had some for almost ten years! So when I use the older ones, I just use more. I probably should replace some of my older ones but it’s hard to throw away an almost full bottle. (Btw, I still have 25-year old bottles of makeup!) Sure, there are guidelines for spices but I go by how they smell and as long as it smells like it’s supposed to, I use it. There is clearly no definitive answer to this quandary. Here’s a guideline I found on the Spice Islands website:

But on the Spice Hunter website they say:

Here are some tips:

1. Lose the spice rack. Store your spices away from direct light or heat. The worst place would be out in the open on the back of the stove. I store mine in a drawer.

2. It’s a good idea to mark the bottle or tin of spice with the date you opened it.

3. Never shake herbs or spices out of the bottle directly into something you’re cooking – that’s the quickest way to steam and spoil your spices.

4. To test a spice’s potency, rub some in the palm of your hand. If it smells good, it’s good. That’s what I do.

Patrizia asks… I made your buttermilk biscuits, they are fantastic. I would like to kow why the outside of the biscuits have little brown dots. I cut the butter into the flour and I put the mixture in the kicthen robot to knead.Also I would like to know how to re-heat the biscuits once I freeze them (I cut them in half), do I have to thaw them out or put them in the oven frozen and at what temperature. Thank you !

My response… I sometimes get spots on my biscuits too but it doesn’t affect the taste. I suspect it may be from over-working the dough so you could try just kneading it gently by hand 8 or 10 turns and not using the robot. The less that biscuit dough is handled, the better. You can reheat frozen biscuits by wrapping them in foil and place in a preheated 300 F degree oven for about 20 minutes. (I sometimes remove the foil at the end and leave them on the rack for a couple more minutes to crisp up the top and bottom)