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!

Shortbread Cookies

gluten free shortbread cookies

It's that time of year again... when you allow yourself to splurge on butter... and lots of it! At first I was planning to make this recipe with margarine (since that's what I had), but my mom adamantly informed me that shortbread is made with REAL BUTTER, and anything less is sacrilege. It's Christmas after all, and buttlerless shortbread cookies are not an option. And I'm not sure that eating less of them is an option either... these things seem to call your name from the freezer.

tea time

These light (and no, not in the fat content sense), buttery, sweet little wafers will melt in your mouth. Plus, shortbread is perfect for making gluten free because it's supposed to be a little crumbly. I don't even bother making wheat shortbread cookies anymore because everyone likes these just as much, if not more. Shortbread is my husband's favourite Christmas treat, and he is just as happy with these GF ones instead.

These cookies are really easy to make and keep very well in the freezer (next to the fudge... oh dear). I often just eat them frozen. You can also just let them thaw at room temperature, but I'm not sure how they would hold up in the microwave. I use rice flour, corn starch and tapioca starch, but they can also be made without the tapioca starch (see alterations in recipe). Some people do fancy things to shortbread like dipping them in chocolate. We like them plain, but if you're gifting these cookies, chocolate might be a nice touch.

freeze in a festive tin

Indulge with me in buttery goodness this Christmas season!

(makes 30-40 cookies)
Ingredients

1 cup Butter, Softened
1/2 cup Icing Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup White Rice Flour
1/2 cup Corn Starch
1/2 cup Tapicoa Starch (or another 1/2 cup Cornstarch)

Directions
(note: I have also been told that these cookies work well with a cookie press)

Whip or beat butter until smooth.
Add icing sugar and vanilla. Beat until smooth.
Sift together corn starch, tapioca starch, and rice flour. Slowly incorporate into mixture.
Roll batter into 1" balls and place on a cookie sheet with 2" between them. (Dough will be soft but shouldn't stick to your hands because of the butter)
Flatten balls with a fork dipped in icing sugar.
Bake at 325 for 20-25 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown slightly.
Let cool completely on baking sheet before moving them. Otherwise they might crumble.
Store in airtight container on the counter for 1 week or freeze for up to a few months.

butter

butter and icing sugar

with starches and flour added

balls of dough waiting to be pressed

cookies before baking

after baking

remove from pan only after completely cooled

Thai Soup

Gluten Free Thai Soup with Rice Noodles

Both my husband and I love Thai food. I love the ginger, coconut milk and lemony flavours. One of our favourite restaurants in Saskatoon is Thai (Keo's). We like it so much that I sometimes try to recreate their menu items. To this point my (re)creations have been unsatisfactory and rather unidentifiable. My tamarind is too sour (maybe I used too much?), I don't have any lemon grass, I have no idea what kind of curry they use and where to get it, and I am receiving most of my Thai cooking classes from Google. So I gave up trying to recreate, and instead started to create. Using my new found knowledge of basic Thai flavours (yes, from Google), I got cooking. (I really doubt that I had this all planned out like I'm making it sound, and I'm pretty sure this recipe was more of a delicious accident than anything, but I'll still take the credit!)
This delightful Thai soup recipe is what I came up with. My husband literally jumps for joy when I announce I am making it for supper.It's a little labour intensive with all the julienning of the veggies, but it's totally worth it. The secret (Thai) ingredients are fresh ginger, Asian fish sauce (which sounds and kind of smells disgusting, but trust me, it adds the perfect flavour), peanut butter, and lime or lemon juice (I think Thai food usually uses lemon grass, but I don't really know where to get it). You can substitute different vegetables based on what you like and what you have on hand.

This is what I had on hand

I hope you love this soup as much as we do!

(serves 3-4 people)
Ingredients

1 Tbsp Olive Oil
4 Cloves Fresh Garlic, minced
1 Small Onion, minced
1 Tbsp Fresh Ginger, grated or minced
1/2 tsp Freshly Ground Pepper
1 1/2 cups Chicken Stock
1 cup Coconut Milk
1 Tbsp Asian Fish Sauce (you could probably sub soy sauce but it wouldn't be the same)
2 Tbsp lime juice (or lemon juice)
3/4 cup Water
2 Carrots, julienned
1 cup Bean Sprouts (or Cabbage, julienned)
1/2 Red Pepper, julienned
2 tsp Chili Flakes
2 Tbsp peanut butter
1 tsp Lime Zest (optional)
Salt to taste
1-2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs, chopped into bite sized pieces (Tofu works good here too)
3-4 cups Cooked Thin Rice Noodles

Garnishes:
  Cilantro
  Chopped Peanuts

get your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking

Directions

Cook rice noodles according to package directions and divide between 3 or 4 bowls.

Heat oil on medium heat in a large pot.
Saute minced onions until translucent.
Add garlic, ginger and pepper. Saute for another minute or two.
Add chicken stock, coconut milk, fish sauce and water. Bring to a boil.
Bring soup down to a simmer and add carrots, chili flakes, chicken. Cover and simmer for 5-7 minutes.
Add cabbage or bean sprouts, red pepper and peanut butter. Let cook for another 3 minutes.
Add lime juice and zest (if using). Salt to taste.

Serve soup over cooked rice noodles.
Garnish with chopped peanuts and cilantro.

onions, garlic, ginger and pepper

coconut milk and chicken stock added

Add chicken and firmer veggies

cover and simmer for 5-7 mins

serve over rice noodles and garnish with peanuts and cilantro... i didn't have any :(