Thursday, December 17, 2009

Gluten-free 'Butter' Cookies


I mustn't linger here, today. I am afraid something else may happen to pull me away before I'm finished. It's been quite a week, but I think I will recover.


I thought about butter cookies for a couple of weeks. They are a traditional Christmas cookies in my husband's family. I have put together a recipe I am very pleased with and want very much to share it. They are light crispy and very much like real cookies.


Without further adieu:

Butter Cookies

Make 3 dozen


Blend together:

3/4 c. brown rice flour

¼ c. tapioca flour

½ millet flour

½ c. almond flour*

1 c. white sugar

¼ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. sea salt

2 tsp. guar gum


Add and mix well:

1 tsp. vanilla

5 Tbs. coconut oil or shortening

5 Tbs. butter or butter substitute


These cookies spread when baking so place small spoonfuls 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

Bake in preheated oven at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.


Because of the way this dough spreads it is not worth your time to use cookie cutters on it. See the picture to the right? That's a star.


*If you cannot have nuts try flax seed meal instead of almond. Because of flax's thickening tendencies cut the amount of guar gum in half.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Waffles! or maybe not.




I've been thinking about writing a blog post about waffles for some time. I receive a waffle iron for my birthday back in September. I was excited about the idea of doing more than pancakes as a substitute for bread. Sometimes I would open the waffle iron to find a perfect waffle. With the next batch I would open the iron to find not my idea of a good waffle. See picture to the right.

I thought I, finally, came up with a really good waffle recipe, but I g

ot the notion to experiment with the effects of almond meal and flax seed meal on the recipe. This is where I learned to use almond meal or flax seed meal, not both, in a recipe. Also that flax seed meal doesn't need as much guar gum as almond meal. It was like peeking into a treasure box every time I opened the waffle iron was it going to be a crispy waffle or was it going to be a pile of not waffles.


So, although I went to bed Monday evening with good intentions of w

riting about waffles the next morning, I woke up to feeling not up to par. In the end I rested on Tuesday with the intent of writing today. When I woke up this morning all I could think about was all the things I had to do that didn't have anything to do with writing and how that this is my writer's group night and I'm not ready for it. So laundry or blogging or something anything thrown together for my writer's group, which is a bad thing to do, or grocery shopping, which I have put off for a little to long and I don't want to do because of the weather?


I got up determine to at least write to tell you that like most people I'm so busy on the Holiday season that there is no way I'm going to post until maybe the end of January. Then I remembered something Steve Martin said. He said something to the effect that if you want to get creative quit working. That was something he had done a few years back. He had decided to take a break and in the end he had written several plays and a book or two. I know he is right. My most creative thoughts come when I'm too busy to stop and write them down. With my hands deep into dish water I'll think of something I simply must write down. I'll dry my hands, go write it down, return to my dirty dishes, and plunging my hands into the water with the intend of finishing the job, only to think of something else I simply must write down.


So, while I think that I'm too busy to bother to write today or during the months of December and January, somewhere amid working on Lisa's school records, cleaning the house, tree trimming, and baking a Christmas pie my mind will be loaded with ideas for that next great novel I think I'll probably never finish. Or at least I'll write a blog post or two. So who knows maybe I won't post again this month, but then again maybe I won't be able to help myself and go on a blogging frenzy this month. After all, I thought I was only going to write a paragraph, now I have babbled off five.


For today, I'll leave you with two recipes, one is a good waffle recipe, the other is making the most of my not waffles.


Good waffles

makes 4


blend together:

½ cup brown rice flour

½ cup millet flour

¼ cup flax seed meal*

½ teaspoon guar gum*

¼ cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon sea salt


add in and mix well:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 egg

1 cup water


To cook follow the manufactures directions of your waffle iron.

*You may use almond meal instead, just be sure to increase the guar gum from a 1/2 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon.










Flipped Flopped Waffles


(as in flip this flopped waffle into something edible)

Makes two patties


Whip well together:

1 egg

2 tablespoons of (your choice) milk

a dash of cinnamon

½ teaspoon vanilla


Break one waffle into little bits and add to egg mixture. The smaller the bits the better the patties work out. Mix until the waffle bits are well coated. Using a large spoon scoop half the batter onto a hot-greased griddle, then scoop the other half onto the griddle.. You may need to flatten and shape the patties a bit. Each side cooks up in about a minute, otherwise brown each side. Serve hot with syrup on top.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

A Gluten-Free Website worth Your time



Amid Curtain washing, rearranging to fit a Christmas tree in the living, dusting things, and having my husband throwing a ball at me so he can play fetch with the dog in the house, I'm popping out a quick blog post.


Who would think tofu, sage, thyme, and pumpkin puree would make a fantastic non-dairy Alfredo sauce?

The Gluten-free Gidget that's who. This is the only cheese alternative recipe I have found that did not include yeast. Her Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta with Kale recipe is so delicious and such a wonderful surprise that after cooking up some of it I just had to share it with you. I also thought I would pour some of this sauce over green beans instead of pasta and kale. Is was good, but it didn't taste much like green bean casserole. I think I'll pick her brain on how to make a sauce taste like mushroom soup without the mushrooms.

I didn't tell my husband the sauce was made from pumpkin puree, and tofu, or sage, which he hates. He is my picky eater, yet he thought the sauce was good. He still has no idea what is in the sauce. I think I'll keep it that way, so I don't spoil it for him. My teenage daughter loves the sauce and even thinks the kale and pasta part was good. So I have a new standard to cook with and experiment with.

I love digging around Gluten-free Gidget, or Katrina's blog. It is has great pictures, it well written, many of the vegetarian food dishes will work with my family, and and the food ideas help me move from foods I can't have to to good choices and good substitutes I can have. To check out Gluten-free Gidget's blog and and her fabulous Pumpkin Alfredo Pasta with Kale click here. Check it often, she blogs more frequently than I do.