Ginger Snaps

Gluten Free Ginger Snaps

It's time to break out the Christmas baking! I've never made good gluten free ginger snaps, but my great aunt gave me this recipe the other day and they turned out amazing! Light and crispy and great for dipping in tea, milk or eggnog. I often find that gluten free cookies are quite crumbly, but these hold their shape really well.

This was my first experience baking with lard. The idea kind of grossed me out, but my aunt said that it was the best fat for this recipe, so I gave it a shot. The lard gives the cookie more of a "snap", but margarine or butter are totally fine too!

I froze about a third of the dough to bake later. It's nice to have fresh cookies without all the work (and it will keep me from eating all of them before Christmas). Just thaw the dough in the refrigerator and proceed as usual.

Happy gluten free Christmas baking!

makes 3 1/2 dozen
Ingredients

1/2 cup Lard (or substitute Margarine/Butter)
1/4 cup Margarine or Butter
1 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Molasses
1 Egg
2 1/4 cup All Purpose Gluten Free Flour recipe here
2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground Cloves
1 tsp Ground Ginger
1 1/2 tsp Guar Gum (or Xanthan Gum)

Directions

Cream together lard, margarine, sugar, molasses and egg.
Add dry ingredients and mix well.
Make 1 1/2 inch balls and roll in white sugar.
Place on parchment lined baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches between balls.
Bake at 350 for around 12 minutes.
Let cool and move to wire rack.
Freeze in an airtight container.

Ginger snap dough

Make balls and roll them in sugar

////Place balls on parchment lined baking sheet (leave lots of space)

Bake for 12 minutes at 350

/ 

Freeze in an airtight container

Monkey Bread

Gluten Free Monkey Bread

I really don't know where the name "Monkey Bread" came from, but it seems to be what everyone calls this delicious mass of sticky bun balls all stuck together. I actually use the same dough recipe for this as I do for my cinnamon buns.

I have started a tradition of monkey bread for Christmas breakfast. It's great because we can make it the night before and take it out of the fridge to rise first thing when we get up. Just remember to give it a little extra time to rise. If you have little kids, they can get help make the balls of dough and dip them in the butter and sugar. It's also great for dessert or brunch any time of the year!

This recipe is enough for 2-3 people and is made in a loaf pan. You could easily double the recipe and cook it in a tube or bundt pan with a hole in the centre (or 2 loaf pans)

Ingredients

1 1/2 tsp Yeast
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Warm Milk

1 1/4 cup All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour Blend (see Flour Blends page)
1/4 cup Tapioca Starch
1/4 tsp Salt
2 tsp Guar Gum (or 1 1/4 tsp xanthan gum)
1/2 tsp Baking Powder

3 Tbsp Oil
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vinegar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Base Sauce:
3 Tbsp Melted Butter or Margarine
1/4 cup Brown Sugar

1/3 cup chopped Pecans, Almonds or Hazelnuts (optional)

Dipping Sauce:
1/4 cup Melted Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon


Directions

In a small bowl, combine yeast, sugar and warm milk. Set aside to proof for 5-10 minutes.
Using a stand mixer or by hand, mix dry ingredients (first 5 ingredients) in large bowl.
Mix remaining 4 wet ingredients separately.
While mixing, add wet ingredients and yeast mixture to dry ingredients. Let mix for 2-3 minutes (or mix well by hand)

Monkey Bread Dough

Prepare your loaf pan by buttering the sides

Base Sauce:  mix together 3 Tbsp butter and 1/4 cup brown sugar in a bowl, microwave until bubbling (about 20 seconds) and pour into loaf pan. Sprinkle nuts all over the bottom.

Base Sauce and Chopped Hazelnuts

Dipping Sauce: place 1/4 cup melted butter in a small bowl. Combine 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon in a separate small bowl.

Form small balls (1 1/4-1 1/2 inches in diameter) from the dough. (this is the part the kids can do!)
Coat the balls in the melted butter, then roll in the brown sugar/cinnamon mixture and place in loaf pan, leaving a tiny bit of space for rising.
Continue until all the dough is used up.

Dip Balls in Butter then Sugar/Cinnamon Mixture

Place in Prepared Loaf Pan

Let rise until roughly doubled in size.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins or until top starts to turn brown.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes before turning out on a plate (this will help the balls stick together better)

Monkey Bread Before Rising

After Rising

After Baking

Let cool 5-10 mins and turn out (we didn't wait long enough and it kind of fell apart... not a huge issue for me!)

Enjoy!

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!

Butter Tart Bars

gluten free butter tart bars

Everyone seems to have their favorite Christmas treat... the one thing the holidays just wouldn't be complete without. For my husband it is shortbread, my brother in law needs his sugar cookies, I have a weakness for caramel corn, and my dad craves his butter tarts. I have to admit, they are definitely one of my favorites as well. Thankfully for us celiacs and gluten avoiding Christmas tree huggers everywhere, my mom has developped a great gluten free version... in the form of bars. Let's face it, no one really has the time or energy to make those little individual butter tarts anyway, especially in December. The butter tart bar version is much faster and easier to make (especially if you're working with finicky - aka crumbly - gf flours).

I really couldn't let Christmas pass without posting our recipe for this sweet, delicious, raisin studded square:)

(makes 8x8 pan)

Ingredients

1 cup gf pie crust dough (recipe here)

1/3 cup Butter or Margerine
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbsp Milk or Cream
1/2 cup Raisins (you could substitute pecans)
1 Egg, beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions

Crust

Grease an 8x8 baking dish.
Press the pie crust dough into the dish so that it comes up the sides 3/4 inch.
Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350, until barely firm but not brown.
(if you made the whole crust recipe and have leftover dough, use it for small sugar cookies or freeze for future use)

crust before baking

crust after baking

Filling

Melt butter or margarine in a saucepan.
Mix vanilla, egg, milk and brown sugar and add to sauce pan, stirring constantly.
Add raisins to pan.
Bring to a boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Pour into prepared crust.
Bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes, or until crust begins to brown.
Let cool for 20 minutes, then cut into small squares.
Let cool completely and remove from the baking pan.
Freeze to keep fresh (separating layers with parchment paper). Let thaw at room temperature to eat.

melt the margarine

mix other ingredients separately

add to the melted margarine

add raisins and boil for 1 minute

pour into prepared crust

after baking

cool for 20 minute and cut into squares

Almond Biscotti

gluten free biscotti

I've been wanting to try gluten free biscotti for awhile now, but I couldn't seem to find a recipe that I liked. I took a chance and decided to develop a recipe on my own with a little input from various internet recipes, both traditional and gluten free. The biscotti turned out delicious, but a bit crumbly. Not all of the pieces stuck together (well like half did), so I had a lot of little biscotti chunks by the end of it. I considered leaving this recipe off the blog until I could perfect it, but everyone who tried the biscotti really liked it and said I should post it, so here you go.

Just for the record, next time I try it I will make a few changes. I think it might help the pieces stick together if the loaves aren't completely cooled before you slice it. Another egg or some extra guar/xanthan gum might help it keep it's shape too. Or maybe thicker slices is the answer I'm looking for. When I make it again I will report back!

I usually avoid recipes with almond flour because it's so expensive, but I thought I would splurge a little for this biscotti. This recipe uses 1/2 cup of almond meal (almonds ground in a coffee grinder) and 1/2 cup of chopped almonds. I think next time I make biscotti I might try replacing hazelnuts for the almonds.

making almond flour in the coffee grinder

You could definitely alter this recipe with your own add ins. A popular Christmas biscotti includes red cranberries and green pistachios. You could also drizzle dark or white chocolate over the cookies. The possibilities are endless!

some of my more intact cookies

I'm not exactly sure how many cookies this recipe makes because so many of them broke. Probably close to 30 depending on the width of your slices.

Ingredients

1/2 cup Ground Almonds/Almond Flour/Almond Meal (I just ground whole almonds in the coffee grinder)
1 1/2 cups All Purpose GF Flour Blend
1 tsp Guar Gum (or 3/4 tsp Xanthan Gum)
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 cups Sugar

2 Eggs (next time I would try 3 eggs)

1/4 cup Margarine softened

1 tsp Vanilla Extract (or Almond Extract)

1/2 cup Chopped Almonds

Directions

Cream together sugar and margarine.

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

Grind almonds in your coffee grinder and sift out large pieces. (or use almond meal/flour)
Add flour, almond meal, salt, guar gum, and baking powder.
Mix until it forms a dough, then mix in chopped almonds.
Scoop dough onto greased (or parchment lined) cookie sheet in two equal portions.
Grease hands and pat the dough into 2 logs about 3/4" high, 3 1/2" wide, and 7" long.
Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Let cool on sheet for 5-10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.
Once completely cooled, cut into 1/2" slices.
Bake slices at 350 for 10 minutes per side. Let cool on sheet.

homemade almond meal

adding the almonds into the batter

scoop dough onto cookie sheet and form into logs

bake until loaves start to brown

slice into 1/2" pieces... a little crumbly

bake for 10 mins on each side

they will brown and get a little crispy

I like to dip them in tea or hot chocolate

These cookies aren't quite as chip-a-tooth crispy as regular biscotti, so dipping them in tea is optional!