Cookies

I've decided that baking with gluten is for wimps.

Gluten is cheap, easy, gives the right texture and best of all tastes great.

Boy, do I wish I could still be wimpy.

But my digestive track thinks otherwise.

With the drizzly weather yesterday, I stayed inside and baked.  I'm trying so hard to perfect gluten free cookies.  I want cookies that taste great, but that also look like their gluten filled counterparts.  

I'm getting closer every time.

Peanut butter cookies also known as "The Cookie"

This recipe is from Steve's sister.  It is fantastic made with wheat flour...fantastic.

I've found that peanut butter cookies are the easiest to transition to gluten free.  The peanut butter adds stability and texture, so I started with these.   I tried a new medium and used Pamela's Gluten Free Baking Mix for flour.  We have used Pamela's for pancakes and have found it has the best flavor and texture (not grainy), aka- my kids will actually eat them.  I had to use a few extra tablespoons of Pamela's to get the right texture of cookie dough, and then I cut the leavening agent in the recipe by 3/4th.  Pamela's comes with baking soda already.  I was thrilled with the result.  The look right, and they taste pretty close to the real thing.  Most gluten free flours have a wang to them that reveals itself as an aftertaste.  Pamela's pulled through and the aftertaste was minimal.

My second challenge yesterday was Molasses Cookies- Steve's favorite.

I have tried a few times with this recipe and have been unhappy with the grainy cowpie results. 

I used my knowledge with the peanut butter cookies and cut the baking soda by half.  It was worth a try after so many failures.  I also used a new flour called Maninis.  It is not rice flour but a combination of crazy grains I don't know how to spell.  On the packaging, it recommends using 1/4 oat flour if making cookies or brownies for a denser texture.  I used in one molasses cookie recipe 2 1/4 c Maninis flour and 1/2 plus 3 tbls oat flour.  The above picture was the result.  The cookies were a little dry and HAD to be loosened from the hot pan as soon as possible or they stuck like crazy.  But...after adding a layer of vanilla frosting and sitting overnight, these babies are perfect.  (as perfect as you can get without wheat flour.)  They are a little grainy however due to the oat flour, but it's not rice flour grainy so I'm happy.

 And the resident cookie monster is happy too.

Two recipes down...hundreds to go.