mmmacaroons

Along with gift buying, card making, preparing for company coming, and the need for a dessert plan for the holidays, the kitchen has been cranking out the creations of various reworks and twist of the old holiday classics.

Out of this came- macaroons! Some might write off a vegan sugar-free macaroon, since eggs and sugar are two of the three ingredients in the traditional version. Of course, I had to prove them wrong and create something that would taste good, and I hope you'll agree I succeeded. I have made these with brown rice syrup as well, which makes for a crunchy cookie on the outside. My taste testers (aka family members) preferred it with agave, so I went with that. Besides, brown rice syrup can spike blood sugar in diabetics, whereas agave nectar won't as much.

Macaroons
Gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, oil-free

1/4 c. hot water
2 tablespoons ground golden flax seeds
1/4 c. agave nectar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 c. unsweetened coconut shreds

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet.

In a medium sized bowl, blend together the hot water and ground flax until smooth. Allow this mixture to sit for a few moments to gel up into a nice goop. At this point, beat in the agave nectar and vanilla. Thoroughly incorporate the coconut shreds. Press some of the "batter" into a small ice cream scoop and drop onto the cookie sheet, repeating this with the rest of the "batter", packing the cookies together onto the sheet as needed, since they won't spread. Alternatively, you could use a spoonful of "batter" and shape it into a mound for your cookie. In any case, bake the macaroons for about 20 minutes, until the bottoms have browned, and turn the heat of the oven down to 300 degrees F, without taking the cookies out if the oven. Let them dry out for an additional ten minutes or so, when the tops of the macaroons are tanned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Great eaten hot or cooled.

Makes 18 macaroons

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Breaking all the Rules

When you are gluten-free, some aspects of baking just get missed altogether. Like, for example, kneading dough. I have very fond memories as a small child- kneading my own little bread dough ball, for my own personal bread loaf. Gluten-free dough is generaly too sticky. And rolling out dough- you can just through that out the window. If you ever roll out a gluten-free dough, it's between wax paper and it's really difficult. Reminiscing about these things, I seem to have accidentally made a baked good that does both, breaking all the seemingly inescapable "laws" of gluten-free baking! Oops!



The fun about his cookie is that you have to work it into a ball, roll it out, "cookie cutter" it, and then you can enjoy a tasty snack 20 minutes later (which, by the way, are delicious with a cup of hot chocolate.)



I have never been too fond of ginger snaps, but this particular cookie won my heart at once. Thinking I was making a spicy snicker doodle, what slid out of the oven was most certainly not a snicker doodle, but spicy gingersnaps! I have high hopes for this particular concoction, as it could be the base (without the spices) for a cracker. Only time will tell.....

Snazzy Spicy Gingersnaps
gluten-free, vegan, sugar-free, oil-free

1/2 c. soy flour, lightly packed
1 c. sorghum flour
1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 c. whole almonds, ground OR 1/4 cup leftover almonds grits from Basic Almond Milk, dried out and ground down
1/4 c. + 2 tablespoons brown rice syrup
2 tablespoons fresh ginger root, diced
scant tablespoon agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and get out a cookie sheet. You don't need to grease it.

Heat a pan over medium heat. Once hot, add the ginger and agave nectar until the ginger has absorbed all the nectar and has begun to brown. Scoop out of pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the soy flour, sorghum flour, ground almonds or almond grit, cayenne, curry, cinnamon, and salt. Add the brown rice syrup and the candied ginger and mix/knead the dough with your hands (yes, your hands. Just wash them before you do this) until it forms into a ball. This can take 3-5 minutes, so don't give up or be tempted to add extra liquid.

Place the dough ball on a floured surface (use more sorghum flour) and roll the dough out anywhere between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. If if begins to crack, dab a bit of water on it and continue rolling. The thinner the dough, the more crispy a cookie you're going to get. Using your choice cookie cutter(s), shape the dough and place them on a cookie sheet, you can pack the raw dough together, since the cookies won't spread. Re-roll the leftover scraps and "cookie cutter" them, you may have to add a bit of water to get it the dough to hold.

Bake the cookies for 15-20 minutes, until they become firm and, if you have a thinner cookie, begins to brown on the edges. Let cool briefly before serving, so the cookies can become firm and crunchy.

Makes 20-25 cookies (depending on the size of your cookie cutters)

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Simple peanut butter cookies

These peanut butter cookies are gluten-free, vegan, soy-free, sugar-free, low-fat and fantatic tasting, if I do say so myself. They aren't technically fat-free, since the peanut butter is, well, nuts. But the oils and fat in peanut butter are very nutritious.

SIMPLE gluten-free, vegan,
soy-free, sugar-free, low-fat,
fantastic peanut butter cookies

1 c. sorghum flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. agave nectar
1/2 c. water

1/4 c. chocolate chips (optional)

Grease 2 cookie sheets and pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Sift the sorghum flour and salt together into a bowl and set aside. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter, agave nectar, and water together until smooth. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and combine thoroughly. Add chocolate chips if desired.

Take your prepared cookie sheets, and drop the dough onto them by the spoonful, spaced evenly. Press down each cookie with a wet fork. (Note: you don't need much space between the cookies, since they won't spread)

Slide the cookies into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Check them after 10 minutes, since our dinky old oven from prehistoric times doesn't hold heat well, so it takes way longer to bake in our oven than it would in a newer one. You know they are done when they are firm to the touch. Serve hot or cooled.

Makes about 32 cookies

Enjoy your cookies,
VEGirl

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