Peanut Butter Blossoms (Chickpea flour)

This is a new cookie to me but I think it's been around for quite awhile. As I searched through various peanut butter blossom recipes I read stories about this cookie being a Christmas tradition for many people. After making them I understand why! They are delicious!! Peanut butter and chocolate... how can you go wrong? 

They work great with chickpea flour; dense and chewy in the centre and a little cracked and crunchy on the edges. The sugar gives the cookie interesting texture and the kiss on top adds extra indulgence to your basic peanut butter cookie. I think these would also be great if you switched out the kiss for a rosebud chocolate or a wafer melting chocolate. Basically anything that you can use to press down the cookie and that will stick to it once cool. 

Makes around 3 dozen

Ingredients 

1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, softened

1/2 cup White Sugar

1/2 cup Brown Sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter (not natural)

1 Egg

2 Tbsp Milk

1 tsp Vanilla

1 3/4 cups Chickpea Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 cup White Sugar for rolling 

1 200g bag Kisses (rosebuds or other chocolate would work too)

Directions

In a bowl, cream sugars and butter (by hand or with electric mixer).

Thoroughly mix in peanut butter, egg and vanilla.

Add chickpea flour, then salt and baking soda on top. 

Mix dry ingredients a bit then stir everything together until the dough is smooth.

Refrigerate at least 1 hour (I did 24) - this keeps the cookies from spreading out too much. 

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.

Bake on a parchment lined pan for 8-9 minutes at 375 

As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, press a kiss firmly into the middle of the cookie (they will likely crack a bit around the edges - totally fine)

Let cool on a wire rack or cold baking sheet. 

Once the cookies are cool you can put them in the fridge to resolidify the chocolate.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature or freeze. 

Cream together butter and sugars and mix in peanut butter, eggs and vanilla

Add dry ingredients and mix a bit.

Mix to form a dough and refrigerate for at least an hour

Form into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar

Place on parchment lined baking sheet

Bake at 375 for 8-9 minutes

Immediately press a kiss into the middle of each cookie

Maple Walnut Biscotti (Chickpea flour)

I have been working on my Christmas baking this last week and I am so happy I have discovered chickpea flour for cookies! Every recipe I've substituted it in so far has turned out great, including these maple walnut biscotti :D

I make biscotti every Christmas, but it's not usually gluten free. I often give it out as Christmas gifts and everyone loves it, but I'm always a bit jealous that I can't partake. Every now and then I try a new gluten free biscotti recipe, but it's always too breakable to cut properly and I'm left with mostly biscotti crumbs. Lame. 

This is the first time a gluten free biscotti recipe has actually worked for me, and I'm over the moon!! It's good enough even for gluten eaters so I don't have to make multiple batches with different flours, just multiple batches of different flavours because they seem to be disappearing a little to quickly... 

Bonus: chickpea flour is very healthy and fairly affordable. I hope you will give it a try and let me know what you think!

makes 30 pieces 

Ingredients 

1 3/4 Chickpea Flour

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

3/4 cup Sugar

2 Eggs

1/4 cup Melted Coconut Oil or Butter

1 tsp Maple Extract

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)

1/2 cup Walnuts, chopped

Directions

In a mixing bowl, gently beat together eggs, sugar, extracts and coconut oil.

Add chickpea flour to the bowl. Put baking soda, salt and spices on top.

Stir the dry ingredients together a little bit (so the baking soda and salt are spread around the flour) then incorporate everything together.

Stir in Walnuts. Mixture should be fairly stiff.

Divide dough into 2 equal portions on a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into rectangles 2 1/2 to 3 inches wide and 12 inches long. Leave at least 3 inches between rectangles. 

Pat the dough smooth with slightly wet hands.

Bake at 300 for 30-35 minutes, until the middle is set.

Let cool on the pan for around 15 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board. 

Slice on an angle into 1/2-3/4 inch pieces.

Place on the baking sheet, cut side down and bake at 300 for 8 minutes.

Turn biscotti pieces over and bake an additional 8 minutes.

Let cool and store in an airtight container. 

Store at room temperature or in the freezer.

Wet ingredients

Dry ingredients on top

Mix together and fold in walnuts

Shape into 2 rectangles

Bake at 300 for 30-35 mins

Let cool 15 minutes and slice on an angle

Bake 8 mins per side

Let cool and store in an airtight container 

Sugar Cookies

gluten free sugar cookies

This recipe is very similar to my pie crust recipe. The only difference is more sugar and part of the rice flour is substituted for tapioca starch. The tapioca starch isn't necessary, but I think it helps with the texture.

To avoid crumbling cookies, make them small and fairly thick. It also helps to use shapes that don't have small parts that stick out and can easily break off (like snow flakes or candy canes... mine broke). Christmas Trees, snow men or bells would probably work well.

some of my intact cookies... i had to icing-glue the candy cane back together

These cookies freeze nicely and are fun to decorate. I use a simple icing made from powdered sugar, milk and food colouring, but you can get fancy and do the royal icing thing.

(makes 30 to 40 cookies depending on the size)
Ingredients
1 cup Rice Flour
1/2 cup Tapioca Starch (or 1/2 cup rice flour)
1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 1/2 tsp Guar Gum (or 1 tsp Xanthan Gum)
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup cold Margarine
1/2 - 3/4 cup Sugar (based on your preferences)
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract


Directions

Mix together flour, starch, tartar, baking powder, guar gum, and salt.
Cut in margarine until it's small pea sized.
Beat sugar, egg and vanilla separately. Add to dry ingredients.
Mix dough until it forms a clump (use your hands)
Roll onto rice floured counter and cut into cookie shapes (smaller is better).
Bake on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet at 350 for around 8 minutes or until just starting to brown on the bottom.
If you have trouble removing from pan after, wait until cookies are completely cool to remove.
Decorate with icing of your choice.

I use powdered sugar mixed with a little bit of milk and food colouring. You can dip the top of the cookies in the icing or use a little paint brush or knife/spoon to apply.

cut in butter and add wet ingredients to dry

roll out dough on floured surface

rolled out

cut out (maybe leave out the candy cane...)

place on greased cookie sheet

after baking

candy cane fail... it kind of exploded

decorate with icing

The gingerbread men and candy canes didn't hold their shape well. Probably because they were too big and had skinny parts that are easy to break off. You can see that the leg of the man is breaking in this picture. I glued it back together with icing, which worked fine, but it is much easier if you use smaller cookie cutters.

Next time I will try using parchment paper to line the cookie sheet to help with the breakage!