Oatmeal Cookies

My dad ate oatmeal for breakfast every morning when I was growing up. It always made sense that he would love oatmeal cookies too & my mom made them the best. She always added raisins for him & sometimes nuts, but would have to leave some separate without for me. I still don't like raisins & neither does Tink. I often make them with chocolate chips instead, which Tink enjoys, but craisins are good too. Make sure you buy gluten free oats & don't add too many mix-ins or you risk your cookies falling apart. Sometimes baking without gluten does suck, but at least the cookies taste the way they should.

Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup shortening or butter
1 ½ cups brown sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp gluten free vanilla
½ cup buttermilk
1 ¾ cup gluten free flour
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
3 cups gluten free oats
1 cup raisins, nuts, chocolate chips or craisins or mixture thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Cream sugar, shortening, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in buttermilk. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir in oats and any optional ingredients. Spoon onto cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool slightly before moving to wire rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container for 4 days or longer in the refrigerator. * For puffier cookies, chill dough before baking

M&M Cookies, revisited

While we loved our old M&M cookies, something was missing. I don't like crunchy, flat cookies. I never have. And I especially didn't like crunchy chocolate chip cookies. I tried adjusting temperatures and cooking times and flour content, but it wasn't that simple. My first recipe change was to swap out some shortening for applesauce. From my previous gluten free baking experience, I knew it would add moisture to the finished cookie. I also upped the xanthan gum by a bit, not much, but enough to add chewiness. Then, to keep them puffy, I refrigerated the dough for at least 30 minutes and between baking batches. It worked! When I pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven, I was pleasantly surprised. They were definitely puffy. I let them cool slightly and the first bite was chewy and soft. I was in heaven. I knew I had to let them cool completely before I'd know if I was truly successful. I was nervous, but I had succeeded. When the Hubby took a bite, all he could say was "mmmm." I think he ate the majority of them and kept telling me they were the best he'd ever had. So please, if you like soft, chewy, puffy chocolate chip cookies, you've gotta try these!

 

M&M/Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup shortening
1/3 cup applesauce
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 T vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups GF flour blend
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/8-1/4 tsp cinnamon
12 oz chocolate chips or M&Ms

Cream shortening, applesauce and sugars. Blend in eggs and vanilla. In separate bowl, whisk together baking soda, flour, xanthan gum, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips or M&Ms. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop by tablespoonfuls on a baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes. Let cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. Cool completely on wire racks before storing.

 *Sorry there's no picture of the cookies. I just realized I never took one and they disappeared so quickly, I didn't get another chance.

M&M Cookies

When Tink was first diagnosed with a gluten intolerance, I mourned chocolate chip cookies. How can you be a kid and not have chocolate chip cookies? It just didn't seem fair. I tried adapting my old chocolate chip cookie recipe, but the cookies were a disaster. They spread across the cookie sheet, were wafer thin and horribly crunchy. I don't even think we ate them, but just tossed them in the trash. I was so frustrated and upset. Tink HAD to have chocolate chip cookies. Then my mom gave me "Gluten Free Baking Classics" by Annalise Roberts. (I highly recommend that cookbook for any one who bakes gluten free. Her recipes are super easy and they taste good and work.) The first recipe I tried in it was the chocolate chip cookie recipe. It tasted delicious, but the cookies were still somewhat flat and crispy. I'm a fan of soft, cakier cookies so I made a few adjustments so they were the right texture and tasted more like my normal cookies. I also needed to adjust the baking time and temperature. I use a oven thermometer, but the original temperature just seemed too hot. I altered the sugar amounts, added some cinnamon, adjusted the amount of flour and went for M&Ms over chocolate chips.

Tink loves M&Ms. They were one of the first candies she ever had and they have a special place in her heart. It helps that her Grandpa always has some to share since he can't share his oreo cookies. I love changing the M&M colors to go with the season. Halloween M&Ms for October, red and green for Christmas, pink for Valentine's day. It's pretty easy to grab a bag in the seasonal department. Tink has fun with it too. She's also a total chocoholic so she likes the chocolate chocolate M&M version as well. After making the cookies multiple times, I soon learned that if you refrigerate the dough, your cookies come out puffier. I now always refrigerate before baking. Most gluten free cookie recipes work better than way. It's also essential that you use shortening and not butter. I'm sure you could use butter flavored shortening if you'd like to, but no butter.

M&M Cookies
1 cup vegetable shortening (Do NOT use butter or margarine) 
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 T gluten free vanilla
2 ½ cups gluten free flour mixture
1 ¼ tsp xanthan gum
1 ½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp cinnamon
12oz chocolate chips or M&Ms (about 1 ½ cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. 2. Cream sugar and shortening in large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. 3. Add flour, baking soda, xanthan gum and salt. Mix until well blended. Stir in M&Ms. Refrigerate 30min. 4. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake in center of oven for 8-10 minutes. Let cool slightly before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container for up to 3 days on the counter or 2 weeks in the refrigerator.
Variation: add 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

Rolled Sugar Cookies

When first going gluten free, I mourned not being able to bake and decorate sugar cookies for Christmas the most. I did use a sugar cookie mix that tasted pretty good, but it was much too gooey to roll out or cut with cookie cutters. That seriously frustrated me. It wasn't until October that I worked up enough courage to attempt a recipe from scratch. Tink was super excited, even though she didn't know what sugar cookies were, let alone what frosting them meant, but they were cookies and that was enough. I scoured the internet for a recipe that would work and had good reviews. I finally found one and after mixing up the dough, it had a good texture. I could tell I could roll it out, but it didn't taste right. Actually, it was pretty awful. It definitely didn't taste like any sugar cookie I'd ever had before. That's when I had to start tweaking the recipe, comparing it to the gluten filled recipe I used to always make before. I added more sugar, more vanilla, some cream of tartar and it started to resemble the sugar cookies I was used to, but the dough became too dry. More adjustments had to be made until I ended up with the recipe you see below. It tastes exactly as it should, rolls fairly easily and the cookies hold their shape. Be careful not to use too much corn starch for rolling or the dough will become too dry. They puff a bit in the oven so very intricate cutters won't work well. The come out of the oven crispy, but after cooling and frosting, they soften. These have quickly become Tink's favorite cookies to make, but I think it's only because she likes to eat the frosting. As for frosting, I just buy a can of Betty Crocker vanilla frosting and color as desired. Betty Crocker now labels their frosting gluten free even!

Rollable Sugar Cookies 1 1/2 cups rice flour (I used white rice flour) 1/2 cup tapioca flour 1 cup corn starch 1 tsp baking powder 2 1/2 tsp xanthan gum 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 cup sugar 1 cup shortening 1 egg + 1 egg white 1 T vanilla extract 1/2 tsp cream of tartar corn starch for rolling dough Preheat oven 350F. Cream sugar and shortening. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until combined. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine until the dough forms a ball. Working in batches and with starched hands, roll to 1/4″ thickness on starched wax paper. Cut into shapes using cookie cutters. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Cool on rack. Decorate with your favorite icing and sprinkles.