Sunday, January 13, 2013

Cookies!


Please let me offer my most sincere apologies for not posting this in time for the holidays.  I was too busy making and eating these cookies!  (On the positive side, I could eat these year round and the Cookie Cutter Cookies can be cut in to any shape for any holiday or occasion.)  The star shaped cookie and the tea cake cookie are super simple to make and are gluten free and vegan.  The darker brown cookie is a Snickerdoodle from Trader Joe's.  The Snickerdoodle is free from all eight common allergens, but it is pretty high in sugar so I didn't eat too many of those.  The star cookies and the tea cakes are both candida diet friendly!

My Cookie Cutter Cookie Recipe 
adapted from Holiday Cookies in "The Gluten-Free Almond Flour cookbook" by Elana Amsterdam

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour (NOT almond meal)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup hazelnut infused olive oil (regular olive oil or grapeseed oil work as well)
1 TBS sugar-free vanilla extract
3 TBS coconut or almond milk plus 1/2 tsp liquid stevia
Cinnamon and Xylitol to sprinkle on top (optional)

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.  
  2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix well.  
  3. In a medium bowl, combine oil, vanilla, milk, and liquid stevia.  Mix well, and then our over dry ingredients.  Mix all ingredients until fully combined.  Mixture will be somewhat dry- if it is too dry and falling apart, add an extra tablespoon of milk. Be careful not to add too much milk or your cookies will be dense and chewy.
  4. Place the dough in the freezer for one hour.  
  5. Once dough has hardened, take out half of the dough and put the other half back in the freezer.
  6. Carefully roll out the dough on a baking mat or sheet of parchment paper to 1/2 inch thickness.  
  7. Very carefully cut out the cookies, dipping the cookie cutter in cold water between each cut to keep the cutter from sticking.
  8. Put cookies on prepared baking sheet and sprinkle with cinnamon and Xylitol if desired.
  9. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned.  
  10. While first batch of cookies is baking, take second half of the dough out of the freezer and repeat steps 6-8.
  11. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for ten minutes, then move to cooling rack.  Cookies can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks*.  
*Because these cookies use almond flour, they will spoil if left at room temperature for extended periods of time.  


My Tea Cakes
adapted from http://www.elanaspantry.com/pecan-shortbread-cookies/

Ingredients
2-1/2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 cup grape seed oil or EVOO
1 TBS sugar-free vanilla extract
3 TBS coconut or almond milk plus 1/4 tsp liquid stevia

Directions
  1. Preheat oven to 400*F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.  (I use a wire whisk in the dry ingredients to make sure they are fully blended.)
  3. Mix wet ingredients in a medium bowl.  Add to dry ingredients and mix well.  Mixture will be fairly dry and crumbly.
  4. Roll dough in to 1 inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheet.
  5. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until they begin to brown.
  6. Allow cookies to cook on baking sheet for 10-20 minutes before moving to cooling rack.  Cool completely and then store in air tight container in the fridge for up to two weeks.
These cookies remind me so much of my mom's Russian Tea Cakes, minus the powdered sugar coating.  I was so excited to find a familiar (all be it altered) Christmas cookie that I didn't even care about the missing sugar.  You can also roll them in a cinnamon/Xylitol blend for a little added flavor, but I like them just the way they are.  Served with a cold glass of almond milk, I could eat these every day, all year long!

*To make Snowball cookies, make powdered sugar by pulsing Xylitol in a small food processor or coffee grinder. (I have a small coffee grinder that I used exclusively for making flax seed meal and it worked perfectly for making the powdered "sugar.")  Allow cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes after taking them out of the oven, then roll in the powdered "sugar."  Xylitol has a naturally cooling taste, hence the new name, Snowball cookies!  My gluten & sugar loving hubby keeps snitching them, so they must be good! :)


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