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Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Gluten Free Ginger Cake Cookies

Gluten Free Ginger Cake Cookies

October 10, 2019 Add Comment
Hello, you beautiful people! And, I mean everyone. This Christmas season has given me new reasons to look at the world, remembering how blessed I am. The big things. The little things. I’m truly a blessed individual.

OK, I wasn’t thrilled when the Little Man and I were sick all but 3 days in the last two months, but we got better. And, it’s small potatoes. I have had several friends going through some very rough times lately. Some are online friends. Some are real-life friends. Some are both. To all of you, I send love and hugs and happy, happy thoughts.

Gluten-Free Ginger Cake Cookies
gluten-free ginger cake cookies

And, somehow, this actually leads to the post I was going to write today. One of the many, many things that I am grateful for is my family. All of them. And, this recipe is an adaptation from a recipe of my step-MIL. If you can call it an adaptation. She freely admits that she doesn’t write down recipes or measure. She just throws stuff together, and most of the time, it works out. Well, this is one that worked out well. Very well.

About a month and a half ago, my FIL and step-MIL stayed the night at our house. Step-MIL brought these fabulous ginger cookies. I call them ginger cake cookies. They are cakey, and gingery, and yummy goodness. I asked her for the recipe, and she sent me an approximate idea of what she threw together. So, I did some work and came up with this recipe. It tastes pretty much like what she brought.

I also adapted this recipe to make a gingerbread “house” for a contest that my friend, Kim, is holding on her blog, Cook It Allergy Free. So, this brings me to the picture at the top of this post. I loved the picture this made when we were walking on my in-law's property. It’s not theirs. It belongs to their neighbor’s son, but they share the beautiful walking property. And, I felt good about my photographer’s eye, when I heard my step-MIL say it was such a great picture as I was bringing out my camera. (She used to be a professional photographer.) So, I was inspired to make this for the contest.

Gluten-Free Gingerbread House Trailer
gluten-free gingerbread house trailer

So far, it’s not getting many votes. Like any. But that’s ok. It was my first attempt at anything like this. The Little Man helped me a lot. That boy has patience. He helped form an hour before he got bored and tried to put kidney and black beans on it. (He thinks the m’n'm’s are beans. And he will continue to think that as long as I can make it happen.)

So, if you feel inclined, you can vote for my trailer at Kim’s Gingerbread House contest. It’s #16. You can vote once per day. That would be cool.

Or, you can make the Gluten-Free Ginger Cake Cookies. That would also be cool. Let me know if you do. I would love to know how you like them.

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Gluten-Free Ginger Cake Cookies
Ingredients:

1 cup sweet rice flour
1 cup almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch salt
1/4 cup palm sugar
2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
Directions:

Mix flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
Add palm sugar.
Add ginger, molasses, and egg.
Pile into little mounds on a cookie sheet. We might want to use parchment paper, but it isn’t absolutely necessary.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes.
Test at 8 minutes for doneness.



Gluten-Free Ginger Cake Cookies


Notes: If you don’t have fresh ginger, or the gumption to grate it, you can sub 2 teaspoons of ginger powder. I used McCormick Roasted Ground Ginger I got at BlogHer Food. It worked very nicely.

Also, I adapted this recipe for the gingerbread house by doubling the recipe, using a total of 3/4 cup molasses and 3 eggs. I let it sit in the fridge overnight before rolling. It made it cakier (not a word, but you know what I mean), and we are still eating it days later. It still tastes good. (Oh, yeah, I so destroyed it as soon as I took the picture. Not really impressed with how it turned out, but it was my first attempt.)

Lessons learned when making a gingerbread house:
Roll the dough thin. Mine was much too thick to work with. The walls were heavy.
Mix the royal icing for a very long time. I didn’t mix mine long enough, and it took forever to harden. Seriously, the reason the windows look so you-know-what-ed up it because after 3-4 hours of laying down, I tried to put the walls up, and everything came running down. Not pretty. But, it’s still tasty.
If you use this recipe, you can take cookie cutters to it after. The Little Man has lots of his gingerbread “stars” to eat for a while.

Until later, here’s to…Living better, easily!™

PS – If you like this post and want to receive notices whenever a new recipe/review/rambling, etc. goes up, sign up for email updates in the upper right-hand corner of this page.

PPS – I am linking this recipe to Calling All Cookies – Gluten-Free cookie round-up, being held by Nancy at The Sensitive Pantry. Another dear friend.

PPPS – If you haven’t already, go vote for my trailer at Kim’s Gingerbread House contest. It’s #16.

PPPPS – I am linking this post to Gluten-Free Wednesdays at The Gluten-Free Homemaker. Linda is collecting cookie recipes this December as well as other great gluten-free recipes.

Gluten Free Cookies Recipes | Balsamic Fudge Drops

October 08, 2019 Add Comment
This morning, I made a new version of Huevos Rancheros. Instead of serving it over corn tortillas, I served it over the leftover cornbread from last night. It’s basically a salsa type sauce (canned fire-roasted tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper, cumin, coriander, S&P; chopped in the blender) served over two fried eggs, served over cornbread. Nothing fancy, but boy, it tasted great on a Sunday morning.

The finishing touch was tonight’s dessert. Homemade chocolate cookies. But not any old’ chocolate cookies. These were Balsamic Fudge Drops which I got from the Habeus Brulee blog which in turn got them from Alice Medrich. I don't know much about Alice Medrich, but if these cookies are any indication, I am definitely going to read everything she's ever written.

I made a mistake that I think turned out to be fortuitous. It was the first time I replaced wheat flour with a gluten-free flour mix. But I forgot to add xanthan gum, which I think you’re supposed to do when you make substitutions with GF flours. But the cookies came out fantastic. Oh, and instead of using what I imagine is dark balsamic vinegar, I used white balsamic vinegar, as I didn’t have any of the dark stuff in the house. Cookies were so chocolatey and so crisp and lacey. A real keeper. In fact, I could see making a chocolate crust using these cookies.


balsamic fudge drop gluten free

Balsamic Fudge Drops



Balsamic Fudge Drops
I think the recipe made about 18 cookies.

1 cup gluten-free flour of your choice (I used Annalise Roberts Brown Rice Flour mix)
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon SALT
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar (I used light brown)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
Vanilla sugar (see note)
Preheat oven 350 degrees.

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda together and set aside.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. When it is all melted and sizzling, remove from heat and stir in the cocoa powder, and then both sugars. And then the yogurt, vanilla, and balsamic vinegar. Once that is mixed together nicely, add the flour mixture and stir it just until it is fully incorporated, trying not to overmix.

Measure out tablespoons of the dough about 1 ½” apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle vanilla sugar on top. Bake for about 11 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through.

When the cookies come out, they will look somewhat crackled on top, and terrifyingly soft. You will probably be convinced they are not yet done. Take them out anyway. Slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a rack to cool – the cookies will harden as they cool, and then you will be able to remove them from the parchment paper.

Note: To make vanilla sugar, mix sugar and inside scraped flesh from one vanilla bean in your food processor. Sift to remove any big chunks. To use the vanilla bean, make a slice from top to bottom with a sharp paring knife, as if you’re opening it to see what is inside. Then take the blade of your knife and slide it from the top down to the bottom, dragging the inside pulp out of the vanilla bean and then putting it into the food processor.

So, long post. Lots of yummy food. Lots of cooking. That’s what I do. In order for me to stay safe, I’ve needed to learn to eat at home. We go out periodically, especially when we travel out of town. But when we’re home, we eat home. And I have to say, I ain’t looking back at all. I feel good and on my way back to mending my health, after many years of stomach aches and who knows what else. I’m doing what my friend told me when she first advised me – it’s not a death sentence – you can do it and eat well. So, right back at you girlfriend. Make it work, you’re worth it!

Gluten Free Cookies Recipe Peanut Butter

October 08, 2019 Add Comment

Peanut butter chocolate cookies.


I originally was going to try those white chocolate chip chocolate cookies again, but I ran out of white chocolate chips. I did have some peanut butter chips, so I tried those. Fabulous cookies. I brought them to a housewarming party to share, or I would have eaten way too many.

gluten free cookies recipe
gluten-free peanut butter chocolate cookies



Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

1/3 c. Crisco
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 t. vanilla
1/3 c. brown rice flour
1/3 c. potato starch
1/3 c. millet flour
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
scant 1/3 c. cocoa
1 1/2 c. peanut butter chips

Cream the Crisco and sugars. Beat in the egg. Stir in the vanilla. Mix the dry ingredients except for the peanut butter in a separate bowl, and stir them into the wet mixture. Stir in the peanut butter chips. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 375 for 8-10 minutes.

Oh, YUM. These rich cookies have a great balance of peanut butter and chocolate. They're slightly crispy on the edges and soft in the middle.

NEXT time, I will make them with white chocolate chips.

Enjoy your weekend!