Chunky Apple Snickerdoodle Bars - an gluten-free, dairy-free adaptation

Thank you, Pinterest. I am a big fan of Pinterest. Hours and hours of immersion into worlds of creation and positive challenges. I love it. How can you not? Unless, it sucks you in and you find you get nothing else done.

The lure of Pinterest.

However, in moderation, it can be a super fun experience - just as I had when I came across this amazing recipe for Chunky Apple Snickerdoodle Bars.

Let me tell the story:

I was on the hunt for something exciting and intriguing to make. A good friend and neighbor was hosting a Pictionary night filled with a homemade taco bar and cookie potluck. We were all told to bring our enthusiasm and some tasty cookies or bars for sampling - and for potential winning. My friend was going to dream up some wonderful prize and a few of the attendees would be selected to taste and choose a winning cookie.

Hmm. This is always a challenge.

See, my friend and most of her friends aren't gluten-free. I am. I knew I was going to bring something that I could eat, but I wanted others to enjoy it too and not be wary of the "gluten-free" cookie. I planned on making it dairy-free too, but that's a gingersnap with cookies. Vegan margarine or Spectrum shortening always do the trick. That's never been a issue. And I think my gluten-freedom has become fairly inspired and quite tasty, but not everyone is so willing to try something gluten-free - or once they learn it is, they begin looking for the differences.And she has kids. Kids are the hardest to please.

Oh, well, I thought! I am going to find something I like and the rest will be history. Her family has responded well to my gluten-free offerings in the past, but you just never know what everyone will like. So I decided to find something I wanted to eat and just dive in and do my best.

I started flipping through Pinterest one night and came across this recipe for Chunky Apple Snickerdoodle Bars. As I looked through the ingredient list, I realized I had everything I would need already in my tiny kitchen. So alright then! Cookie challenge accepted!

I got up early on the day of the game night, started baking and by mid-morning, my whole house smelled of apples, cinnamon, and delicious cookie yummy-ness. Mmm...they smelled so good.

As you will see, the recipe states that you let them cool in the pan - completely - or they will have a tendency to fall apart. With gluten-free baking, this is more than a good chance.

So I let them sit.

And sit.

And sit.

Oh, the waiting!

I scooped out a corner. I had to try them. Quality control. Yeah, that's it.

Mmm. They were so good. Soft, moist, dense, appley, cinnamony. Good.

Hurry up and cool!

It took a few hours and I could tell when I tried to pull them out early that the original creators of this recipe weren't kidding. Let. Them. Cool. These are a soft cookie with a tendency to fall apart. Just let them be. You'll be glad you did.

When I finally pulled them out, I cut them into tiny squares because I knew they were headed to a cookie sampling night, so I didn't want them to be too big. The small two-inch squares were perfect.

When I made them, I chose to use an apple called Elstar that I found at one of the orchards just north of Seattle. It's a sweet, small apple with an intense flavor burst! A few weeks prior, I had purchased a variety of the apples they offer (they produce a paltry 19 different varieties!) and had an apple tasting with some friends. It's amazing how different each apple variety is. Soft, sweet, tangy, tart, moist, dry. And that's just in one apple! (I'm kidding. But only kinda!)

I had two Elstar apples left that were best to be made into something baked, so a cookie recipe was perfect. I knew the apples would provide a ton of apple flavor and wouldn't get lost in all the cinnamon Snickerdoodle goodness. The Elstar is also a slightly meatier apple variety, so I thought they would work best at keeping the moisture level down. This was supposed to be a cookie, after all. I decided to dice them small and left the skin on for the extra texture and fiber (which by the way, seemed to melt right into the cookie).

The cookies turned out perfect. And I guess the judges agreed because my little apple cookies won the contest unanimously. On a funny little side note, there were five different cookies brought by various individuals and couples that night and four out of the five happened to be gluten-free! One was vegan and gluten-free, one had dairy, and the other was sort of an accidental gluten-free - it was a no-bake cookie that is naturally gluten-free. It was a surprise to all of us how many gluten-free cookies there were, but they were all delicious in different ways. It's such a treat to go to a gathering and find out that you are no longer in the food minority.

Enjoy this recipe adaptation! Happy eating!

Chunky Apple Snickerdoodle Bars - the gluten-free, dairy-free adaptation

Original recipe by Shelly of CookiesandCups.com

Makes 12 big squares or about 24 minis

Double recipe and bake in a 9x13 for more goodness and some to share! 

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter or dairy-free margarine, melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup gluten-free flour plus 1 tsp xanthan gum (I used 1/3 cup each millet flour, brown rice flour and cornstarch) 
• 1 cup diced apples
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and spray slightly with cooking spray. 

3. In a large bowl, combine melted butter and brown sugar with a wooden spoon. Once mixed, stir in egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate small bowl, combine salt, baking powder and gluten-free flour, making sure no clumps are left. Add flour mixture to egg and sugar mixture. Stir until combined and dough forms. 

4. Stir in apples and spread in pan. 

5. Combine granulated sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle on top of batter. 

6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown and center is set.

7. Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Can be stored in an airtight container for up to three days.  

Nutter Butters - the gluten-free, dairy-free version

For those of you who read my review of Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today) by Jennifer Steinhauer, we are going to keep this recipe short and sweet...peanutty sweet. If you haven't, you can read my review here.

This delectable book is where this peanutty-good recipe comes from. I reviewed the book and as with all cookbooks, the only proper way to truly review them is to start cooking - or baking, as it may be. I love Jennifer's book - the concept is awesome (who doesn't love a little sweetness in their life?), the treats are beautifully photographed (we all know that makes it better, no matter if they are real or not), and to make it that perfect book, the cookies - even made gluten- and dairy-free - were amazing!

A few notes on the baking of these beauties:

~ I used two pans lined with silicone baking mats and I used them a lot. My oven isn't convection, so I baked with one pan and filled the other. When the first was done, I took it out, placed the next one in and waited a few minutes to let the cookies cool. I then placed those on a baking rack and refilled the still-warm baking sheet. Normally, this is a major no-no in baking, but there was a lot of dough and a lot of cookies to bake. I had to keep the line moving. Somehow, it didn't seem to mess with the cookies much this time. Probably because they are a crunchy bunch.

One ready for baking, one just out of the oven. 

~ You can also put these guys closer together than two inches - they don't spread much at all, which is great. They hold their shape well and as we all know, making gluten-free cookies that require being cut out can be a challenge if the dough doesn't have the elasticity of gluten in it. They tend to break, fall apart, crumble, etc. These did great! They are rolled quite thin, so I used a fish spatula (very, very thin spatula) to transfer them to the baking sheets. I also prefer the scoop and drop method (scoop with the spatula, flip over the baking sheets and gently persuade them to drop onto the baking sheet by pushing through the slots in the spatula) for cookies like this so they don't get all bent out of shape. My first few, I tried to slide off the spatula. It worked okay, but I would recommend the less moving, the better. I wanted them to look like hearts, Picasso-versions of hearts.

~ I didn't find that I needed to flour the fork to prevent sticking when making the crosshatch. Use your best judgment. Maybe flouring the spatula would have been a good idea. Either way! Also, I was surprised at how far I could push the fork down, which seemed like they would go nearly through to the mat, and still have a cookie come out intact after baking. These guys are champs!

Just rolled, ready to rock. 

~ The recipes calls for a cooking time of 11-13 minutes. For my hearts, which I chose based on what I remember the size of a Nutter Butter to be, that would have been too long. Eleven minutes was a border-line deep brown and a minute longer, they would have burned. After the first batch baked for eleven minutes, I cut down the bake time to 10 - that was perfect. Use your judgment. If your medium-size cookies is the same size as my medium-size, aim for 9-11 minutes. If you have slightly bigger, aim for 11-13. If you are at high altitude, adjust accordingly, which is usually less, but that's a whole other can of worms.

~ See my note below about peanut butter choices, but whatever you choose, make sure it's at room temperature. All ingredients for this, and most baked goods, are best at room temperature.

~ About the filling: you may consider doubling the filling recipe. I've included the recipe in the book, but based on how many cookies I made, twice as much filling would have been better. Still good, but a thicker stuffing would have been more accurate to the memory of the Nutter Butter.

~ And lastly, I used a pastry knife to spread the filling onto the cookies. It was a very thick filling (which I thought was perfect and spot-on), but I wasn't sure how it would actually go through a pastry bag. This is what can happen with different peanut butters. Not a big deal. Still tasted awesome.

All teamed up, ready to spread. 

So, without much more ado, here is the recipe that makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Yum!

Happy baking!

Nutter Butters - the gluten-free, dairy-free version

A little nibble...

Adapted from Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today) by Jennifer Steinhauer

Hands-on time: 50 minutes
Total time: 5 hours, 15 minutes

Makes 22 sandwich cookies (according to the recipe - I got 44 sandwiches!)

*Note: I used a natural no-sugar peanut butter that I buy, then add some Spectrum shortening or Earth Balance to, along with a little bit of sugar, if I'm feeling like making it sweet. If it's not fine sugar, powdered, or liquid (ie. honey, etc.), the sugar crystals won't dissolve. I'm okay with this. You can also buy natural peanut butter that has everything in it, just like the classic Skippy or Jif without the hydrogenated fats. In fact, Skippy and Jif now make their own natural peanut butters in chunky or smooth. Use smooth for this recipe. 

For the cookie: 

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter or Earth Balance, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter* at room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups gluten-free flour with 2 tsp xanthan gum (the recipe calls for bread flour, so I used 3/4 cup millet flour, 3/4 cup cornstarch, and 1 cup fine brown rice flour)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

For the filling: 

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter, room temperature
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) salted butter or Earth Balance, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
Pastry knife, butter knife, or pastry bag

1. Make the cookie dough: In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, mix the butter, sugars, and peanut butter together on medium speed until just combined, about 30 seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, then add the vanilla, mixing just until incorporated.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour(s), the xanthan gum, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour to the butter mixture in two or three batches, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally, mixing until the dry ingredients are incorporated well. (Mix any remaining pockets of dry ingredients in by hand, but let your mixer do it's job. This is gluten-free after all. You won't be messing with the potential gluten toughness here. You don't want to overdo it or underdo it). Shape the dough into a round and slide it out onto a piece of plastic wrap (I used a small glass bowl with a lid). Wrap the dough tightly, shaping it into a 1-inch disk, and refrigerate for 2 hours.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

4. Unwrap the dough and place it between two pieces of waxed paper or parchment paper. (I used natural parchment and it worked very well.) Roll the dough out to a thickness of slightly less than 1/4 inch.

5. Using a bikini-shaped cookie cutter (the top of the bikini to make a peanut shape) or any medium-sized cutter, cut out the cookies and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Use the tines of a fork to gently score the top of each cookie in a crosshatch pattern. You should flour the fork first, or else the dough will stick to the fork and the cookies may well break. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies just begin to brown. Let cool completely on wire racks. Repeat, if you have more dough.

6. Make the filling: Turn half the cookies upside down. In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer, beat the 1/2 cup peanut butter and the 1/4 cup butter together on medium speed. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, powdered sugar, and the salt, and mix until smooth. It will be thick. Scoop the filling into a disposable piping bag/pastry bag or use a butter/pastry knife for spreading.

7. Pipe the peanut butter mixture around the perimeter of the upturned cookies first, then fill in the outlined area, using about 1 tsp per cookie; you don't want the filling squishing out the sides. (You can use a butter knife or offset spatula instead to carefully spread it.) Top each frosted cookie with one of the plain cookies to make a sandwich. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Book Review: Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today) by Jennifer Steinhauer

As part of Blogging for Books, my second book selection came in the mail about a week ago. Treat Yourself: 70 Classic Snacks You Loved as a Kid (and Still Love Today) by Jennifer Steinhauer is a fantastic collection of vintage desserts, snacks, and confectionables that most people have only been able to find in the grocery store in a little cardboard box. Think back to childhood in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s – what was more prized in your Care Bear lunchbox? A Ding Dong? Maybe a Ho-Ho. Or maybe some Nutter Butters, Raisinets, or a MoonPie? Or crunchy, cheesy, Cheez-Its? Any of the above were delicious, coveted, and easily traded, if you were truly willing to depart with it for somebody else’s lunchbox treasure.

As time has gone on and we have become adults, these confections are still coveted, by us and the children around us, but with the rising concern about health and the food we consume, many of us want to find a better alternative to the saturated, trans-fats, excess sugar and salt, and oftentimes, lower quality ingredients that most of these desserts and snacks are laden with. Enter Jennifer Steinhauer.  Her unique book filled with fun facts, baking tips that parallel America’s Test Kitchen-quality knowledge, and beautiful pictures is not only filled with 70 mouth-watering recipes, but the actual writing is quite delectable, as well.

Jennifer has been writing for twenty years at The New York Times (where else can you truly earn your chops?), as well as a weekly food column for Food52.com called Weeknights with Jenny (where she actually writes about chops). But this is only part of what makes her book so special. The food, the pictures, the writing, the ever-so-desired treats and snacks that we all love, but no one wants to eat without feeling guilty. Not anymore.

Now, I’m not a fan of eating with or without guilt. I say, eat what you want. Everything has its place, unless you are literally living on Twinkies. Your shelf-life may end up being as long as the Twinkie’s itself, as long as you’re preserved and full of cream. But there is an alternative…and Jennifer Steinhauer is releasing it to the world. Cupcake lunches, here we come!

Okay, enough sweet treat soapboxery. We all know that sweets in moderation might prove to be okay, as long as you balance them out with a long list of healthy other-things. And Jennifer is the first to point out in her introduction in Treat Yourself that some of the recipes have less calories/sugar, some have more. This isn’t about making these treats healthy by hiding fruits and veggies in them (unless the original did), but the book is all about deconstructing and reinventing the beloved classic snacks from Pinwheels to Ritz Crackers to the ever-loved-by-nearly-all-children popsicle. Now you can rest assured that life is good and so is your food when you bake a little sweet something right in your own kitchen. And in my kitchen, that means gluten-free and probably dairy-free.

So, here is where the true test begins – how are the recipes?

Jennifer’s recipes aren’t gluten-free, nor dairy-free. But over the years, I have mastered the art of gluten-free baking, for the most part. Yeast doughnuts are tricky. So are cinnamon rolls. But as I pawed through her new cookbook, I could tell most of these would easily translate to gluten-free (the trickiest part), and dairy-free has become pretty much a piece of cake. I had so many that I wanted to try (can you say, Chicken in a Biskit?!), but I chose something where I already had everything on-hand – Nutter Butters.

Oh, I used to love a Nutter Butter every now and again. The peanut-shaped cookies sandwiched with a soft, yet firm peanutty filling. Just like an Oreo, I’d peel the two cookies apart, lick or roll the peanut filling off the inside, then eat the two cookies separately or with milk. They were as much fun to eat as they were to taste. I haven’t had a Nutter Butter in years.

Until yesterday.

Now, here is how I can tell a cookbook is truly legit. If the gluten-free version is as good as the Nutter Butters were, the glutened version will be equally outstanding. The texture, the taste, the quality was just like eating a Nutter Butter right out of the package, gluten and all. I was truly amazed. I never really know how a recipe is going to turn out (although usually I can tell by the ingredient list ratio); most of the time, you just have to give it a try. The recipe will tell you what it’s worth. And this one is worth about a million bucks. Okay, maybe more like $19.99, or probably less on Amazon.

The cookies were crisp and peanutty, but not like a peanut butter cookie exactly. And I used a combination of gluten-free flours, xanthan gum, and natural peanut butter to boot. They reminded me exactly of a Nutter Butter. Even if I haven’t had one in a long time, the memories came flooding back. And who cares, anyway? These cookies were outstanding! I’d eat the cookie by itself.

But then, there’s the filling. A soft, peanutty, slightly salty flavor with just the right amount of rollability. Because that’s important. The one downside to this whole baking experiment: the recipe says it makes about 22 medium sandwich cookies (to which she used the top part of a bikini cookie cutter – I used a heart cutter) with enough filling to fill them. I made 44 medium-heart-shaped sandwich cookies. And no, it wasn’t 44 individual cookies, hence the 22 sandwiches – I had 44 sandwiches when I was done. Great! Some to share. This made not quite enough filling and it would have been an easy double, but I ran out of peanut butter. Not complaining. They were still freakin’ awesome! But double-filling is so good too. Just look at the Double-Stuf Oreo. Twice the trans-fatty goodness. Unless you make Jennifer Steinhauer’s.

Back to the Nutter Butter. These cookies were spot-on. The texture was great, the flavor was incredible, and I adore them. So far, no complaints from friends either – gluten-free or not. That’s how I can tell this is a great book. Gluten or no gluten, the cookies rock. I am excited to try a few more recipes. Maybe every single one.

Happy eating! 

Finished product with a little heart-y bite. 

Check out the Nutter Butter recipe here! 

*I received a copy of this book from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review. 

Product Review: Happy Dance Baking Company Blondie Brownies

Happy Dance Baking Company Blondie Brownie

While I was out and about today, I drove past the Lynnwood Farmer's Market (north of Seattle, folks) and made a quick turn to find myself a parking spot. Even though it was raining small kittens and puppies, I thought, What the hey! You just never know what you'll find at a farmer's market. Treasures lie around every corner.

And specifically at the corner of yum and delicious, I found this amazing little treasure. After perusing the standard farmer's market stands of kettle corn, beautiful flowers, and tantalizing produce, I came upon a couple of cool finds: Lynnwood Farmer's Market has a Harley stand (awesome!) and an allergen-free baker...Happy Dance Baking Company.

Happy Dance Baking Company was started by Jen Fosnot just a few years ago, but her journey into allergen-free eating started nearly a decade earlier. Jen's daughter was diagnosed with severe allergies to gluten, yeast, eggs, soy and dairy. She looked around for assistance, but back then, there weren't many products lining the shelves, certainly not like there is now, and she lived in the Midwest where they are just starting to catch up to understanding about allergy-free eating. A large portion of the country is gaining in this knowledge, but as all allergen-free eaters know, not a day, week, or month goes by when someone asks you what gluten is or why you don't eat dairy when they have lactose-free milk

Partially devoured...

Jen turned to her trusty kitchen and turned her whole family into allergy-free eaters, whether they liked it or not. It was a matter of safety for her daughter who had to carry an epi-pen in the event of exposure and often dealt with issues such as hives, as many food-allergic/sensitive people do. She refused to give in to stale, dry fare and eventually came up with some pretty incredible recipes.

Now, I have tried a lot of gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, egg-free, allergen-free foods in my lifetime. I've been eating allergen-free for nearly two decades. I, too, turned to my kitchen to get good food in the early years, although now, the shelves do stack better quality products when I need or want something in a pinch. Thank goodness that technology and the sheer number of bakers have more than quadrupled since my early allergy-free eating years. Not all of it's good, but Jen and the Happy Dance Baking Company knows what they are doing!

At her farmer's market stand, she had a plethora of baked goods including peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies (about the size of a softball), drizzled chocolate chip cookies (yum!), two kinds of brownies, a mini-muffin loaf, and several other varieties of cookie softballs. I say that lovingly. They were huge! Most of the price point ran from $3 to $7 - not bad considering she favors organic, all-natural ingredients, including coconut oil, several different gluten-free flours, organic chocolate, and organic sugar. It seems most of the ingredients are on the organic list, except those that would be hard to find (if at all) such as organic arrowroot.

I wanted to buy them all, but I settled for the nearly-all-organic blondie brownie bars - a four-pack for $7. If her other stuff is comparable to these blondies, I am in love. I've made blondies and I've bought them, but these were really outstanding. A nice crisp bite to the chocolate drizzle with a nice soft, moist and tender blondie underneath. Studded with chocolate chips and a nice soft texture, what more could you ask for? Not too sweet, not too gooey, just a nice soft, moist bite with a little chocolate snap. These were divine. I would highly recommend you tap dance your way to Happy Dance Baking Company today.

Ellie Krieger's Honey Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies: The Gluten-Free Adaptation

I love Food Network. What home cook doesn't? They have inspiring chefs and cooks, great recipes and easy things to bring more beauty and bounty into your home! How great is that?
Well, I love Food Network enough that I also felt the desire to subscribe to their monthly (mostly) magazine. And as soon as it shows up on my doorstep, I read the entire thing, cover to cover. I love it almost as much as I love my allergen-friendly mag, Living Without!

*Gasp*

I can't help myself. I love it! The layout, the pages, the recipes, the chefs. It's a great magazine. It's like the People magazine of the food world without all the drama. And the chefs may be the celebrities, but the food is definitely the star.

And I keep them all. I have a special little area on one of my shelves for Food Network Magazine, Living Without and a few others that are great for reference. That's how much I enjoy them.

Now, mind you, I do read them cover to cover, each and every page, but somehow - somehow - I missed Ellie Krieger's recipe for Honey Oatmeal-Raisin cookies the first time around. I'm sure I saw it, but at the time, I wasn't intrigued or inspired enough to try and adapt them. Don't know why. Just wasn't. What can I say? Sometimes you feel like baking, sometimes you don't!

In the most recent edition, I came across a little article section where readers can ask Food Network editors about features in the magazine. (See, I told you I read everything!) One reader asked about Ellie's oatmeal cookie recipe and about something called 'almond butter.' The reader didn't know what it was or where to get it. She'd never heard of it!

Shocking!

Well, to me anyway. I use the stuff every week; sometimes, every day. I love it! My body's not a big fan of peanut butter, but almond butter is right up my alley. So, that is my nut butter spread of choice and thank goodness, Costco carries it cheap and natural. Also up my alley.

Well, thanks to this reader's curiosity about almond butter, I have found a new favorite recipe. I went back and referenced (see, this is why I keep them all) the May 2010 edition and found Ellie's recipe. I scoured over the pages to see if I would be able to adapt it and after reading it through and feeling pretty confident, I gave it a shot.

And boy, did I do some straight-shootin'!

The cookies are tender and moist, just the right size with just the right amount of sweetness. I feel good because my body is enjoying them, they have a lovely flavor and they're packed with nutrition. All pluses!

So, here is my rendition of Ellie Krieger's now-famous Honey Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies. What I changed to suit my baking needs is in bold-type. There are a couple of gluten-free baking notes along the way, as well, so take note!

Happy eating!

Michelle

Honey Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

Adapted from Food Network Magazine, May 2010, original recipe by Ellie Krieger
Prep Time: 25 min
Cook Time: 15 min

Level: Easy

Serves: 30 small cookies or 20 medium cookies (if using small ice cream scooper)
Important note: When baking gluten-free, it is best if all items are room temperature, unless noted otherwise, including the eggs and flours.
 
Ingredients


• Cooking spray or parchment paper/liners

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

• 1/4 cup canola oil or grapeseed oil

• 1/2 cup honey or agave nectar

• 1 large egg

• 1/4 cup smooth unsalted almond butter

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk or almond flour

• 1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour (or 1/2 cup each all-purpose and whole-wheat flour) or 1 cup millet flour with 2 tsp karaya gum/xanthan gum/guar gum

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or ¼ tsp ground nutmeg + ¼ tsp ground ginger + smidge each cardamom and cloves

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1 3/4 cups rolled oats or combination of gf rolled oats and raw millet*

• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

 
Directions


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mist 2 baking sheets with cooking spray or use parchment liners or paper. Beat the butter, oil, honey/agave, egg, almond butter and vanilla extract in a large bowl with a mixer until combined.

In another bowl, whisk the dry milk/almond flour, flour and gum, baking soda, spices and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the oats/millet and raisins.

Scoop tablespoonfuls of batter about 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Use a small ice cream scoop with finger trigger for easy placement. Note: If you want the gluten-free cookies to be flat, press cookies down with your hand or roll them in your hand and flatten them before placing on cookie sheet. Otherwise, they will be round, but still delicious.

Bake until golden, about 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in a loosely covered container for up to 3 days.

* I used raw millet in my cookies because I like the crunch and texture. You can omit these and just use gluten-free oats. Plus, I was out of raisins, chocolate chips, craisins, or any other yummy that would have been great in these.
 
Thanks, Ellie! You rock!!!

Product Review: Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

Ah, the elusive chocolate chip cookie. A favorite for fall, Halloween or any time of year, really, and the great thing about them is they're fast, simple and delicious. Everyone seems to love chocolate chip cookies.

Except us gluten-free babies.

Those little wheat-filled, soft and gooey delicacies you find in bakeries, on store shelves and in packaged mixes are a major source of sadness for so many of us. We love 'em, but do they love us back? Not so much. Soft or crisp, chocolate chip cookies are a problem.

Add to that the lack of a good mix for those days when you just don't have it in you to break open all the flours and sugar and make your own. Nobody seems to care about us gluten-freers and making our life easy.

Not true anymore.

In the spirit of meeting the needs of a growing population of gluten-free eaters, Betty Crocker has branched out and created a line of gluten-free baking mixes. Made in a dedicated gluten-free processing facility, the Betty Crocker baking team realized they had a problem with their traditional mixes, right in their own kitchens. Two co-workers had varying degrees of problems with gluten, so they started by creating four dessert mixes: Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Cake, and Yellow Cake.

I haven't had the opportunity to try all of them yet, but I had to start with the cookies, of course. I bought my mix for about $5 at my local Central Market. We can all hope that someday they will make it into the Safeways, Albertsons and King Soopers of the world, and being they are Betty Crocker, they just might actually make it onto the shelf. But until then, check the website to find great recipe ideas and retailers selling these mixes.

Sidenote: There is an incredibly mouth-watering recipe for Gluten-Free Cookie-Brownie Bars on their website and I just had to show you the picture here. Doesn't it look yum? Swirls of gluten-free brownie goodness interlaced between chocolate chip cookie dough baked into a bar. Oh, my. I'm trying that next.

Okay, onto the review.

The little yellow Betty Crocker box contains mostly rice flour, chocolate chips (sans dairy, yeah!), two types of sugar, potato starch and flour, some leavening agents and salt. Pretty simple and basic, but nice to have all ready to go. You just add 1/2 a cup of softened butter or natural margarine (I used Earth Balance Soy-Free Natural Buttery Spread), a teaspoon of vanilla and one egg. Mix together and bake on a sheet for 8 to 13 minutes, depending on size, removing from oven and leaving on the baking sheet for an additional two minutes.

The cookies come out soft and gooey, looking like a regular, delicious chocolate chip cookie. The taste is pleasant and sweet, with a hint of chocolate softness melting between bites. I might add a bit more vanilla or get crazy and add some cinnamon, nutmeg or peppery heat to make a Mayan Chocolate Chip cookie next time, but other than that, they were quite good for any basic package mix.

I cooked two batches of small cookies for ten minutes and another two batches (also small) for a few minutes longer. I personally liked the ones cooked longer better. Here's why: the slightly undercooked (and usually resulting in a softer, chewy cookie) had a slightly funky texture and flavor from the potato flour being undercooked. You could taste it and I wasn't a fan. I prefer a soft, chewy cookie, but this batter didn't seem to allow for that in flavor and texture because of the potato flour flavor. The ones I cooked longer were crisp and buttery and the texture was perfect - for a crisp cookie. The funky flavor and texture were gone and they were just great. I'd personally recommend this mix used this way because of the addition of the unique potato flour flavor.

Please don't confuse potato flour and potato starch. Both are used in this mix, but for different reasons. Potato starch adds lightness and chew to baked goods (I use this often), while the flour is used - I'm guessing here because potato flour is not used often and I use it for special things like soft pretzels and sometimes bread, not cookies - for texture, flavor and to enhance the rice flour and its lack of gluten. They don't use xanthan gum in this mix, so I am guessing that's why they chose potato flour, plus potatoes tend to be pretty allergy-friendly. Not always, but quite often, in comparison to so many other flour or starch choices. The downside is potato flour (not starch, which has no real flavor) has a very distinct flavor and I think works best in savory goods. Too much potato flour has a slightly sour flavor when you can taste it. In a soft pretzel or bread, it's perfect because it adds just a hint of sour like a gently sourdough. In a cookie, it's sour meets sweet - and not in a good way. So, bake this mix longer to get the best flavor integration.

Another slight oddity in the recipe is what it says after you mix all the ingredients together. The box states that the dough will be crumbly. Uh, okay. That turned out to be true, but they don't tell you what to do about it. It goes on to tell you to then drop the dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet. Big question mark here. This is nearly impossible feat based on their directions. I don't see how what I mixed together would ever have stayed together on a spoon or stayed together long enough to actually bake into a cookie. That part thoroughly confused me.

Luckily, I happen to know something about gluten-free baking and well, baking in general, but mixes are supposed to cater to those who don't like to bake or just don't know how to do gluten-free baking. I think this step could cause a huge problem for gluten-free toe dippers. After I mixed the wet and dry ingredients, the dough was a slightly glorified bread crumb mixture. If I had seen this and was trying to go gluten-free, I would have become incredibly discouraged and would have probably thrown the dough away or tried to add things not knowing what else to do. The one exception would be if I had used a stand mixer. Since I don't have one, I relied on the old-fashioned spoon and arm method. I mean, it is just a cookie mix after all.

I think the mix would have come together better with a stand mixer, but the biggest distraction was that on the box they tell you the mix should be crumbly. And they don't tell you to use a stand mixer.

Serious problem. And I completely disagree with the directions here. I should have taken a picture so you could see what I saw.

My description will have to suffice. Crumbly, crumbly mixture. Fall apart, bread crumb, cobbler topping-type mixture. Messy and not really functional. So, I did the next best thing.

Dropped the spoon and stuck my hand into it.

I started to mix the dough with my hands to really squish all the various components together until, yes, it turned into cookie dough. Real, honest to goodness cookie dough. Looked like cookie dough. Tasted like cookie dough. Baked like cookie dough.

Problem solved. We need to alert Betty.

From here, I rolled the dough into little balls and cooked them two inches apart as the rest of the recipe calls for. The rest of it came out just fine. I believe, however, that Betty Crocker needs to make an adjustment to their recipe and make it clear that a stand mixer will work best and if not, then you need to work the dough just until it is really mixed well and holds together. Once I was done, the dough was not crumbly or falling apart. It looked and felt like any other cookie dough, wheat-made or not. I don't see why they didn't just state that. It would relieve a lot of gluten-free newbies and even us old hands.

On my gluten-free goodness scale, I give Betty Crocker's Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dessert Mix a 4 out of 5 for taste and a 3 out of 5 for ease of use for slightly confusing directions and the potato flour that needs to be a little overcooked to golden brown to get the best flavor.

Happy eating!