Ginger Crunch Squares

Here is another recipe adapted from a classic New Zealand baking recipe. It makes sixteen buttery, gingery, crunchy cookies. I might fiddle with this recipe a bit more another time to perfect the texture, but this adaptation was certainly crunchy and good, a thin ginger shortbread with a chewy glaze. Next time, I might like a teensy bit of chewiness in the bottom layer, though. Maybe some almond flour to replace some of the sweet rice flour? Maybe a bit of brown sugar to make it softer and more molasses-y?

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
2 heaping tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp (scant) baking powder
3/4 tsp ginger
6 tbsp cold butter

Icing:
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp golden syrup
2 tsp ginger
1/3 cup icing sugar

Line an 8x8" metal baking tin with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a medium bowl, combine sugar, flours, xanthan, baking powder, and ginger. Cut in 6 tbsp butter finely. Pat crumbs gently into lined baking tin. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden brown.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter with golden syrup and ginger. When melted, stir in icing sugar until smooth.

Spread warm icing over squares while hot. Spread evenly. Allow to cool about 30 minutes before cutting into 16 squares with a long, thin-bladed serrated knife.

Ideas for Adapting and Successfully Baking Cookie Recipes

* CHOOSING A RECIPE: Almost any cookie recipe will adapt for gluten-free flours, though cookies with a soft texture or that have to be rolled (like ginger sparklers) may be harder to adapt, though if the dough is too sticky to roll, chilling it will probably fix the problem. Cookies that are light and crunchy will turn out even better than usual when they are made gluten-free. Chewy is a bit trickier. I’m still working on it. Nut flours help.
* FLOUR MIX: Replace wheat flour with a blend of gluten-free flours. My favourite: For 1 1/2 cups of wheat flour, use 2/3 cup brown rice flour, 1/3 cup amaranth flour, 1/3 cup potato starch, 3 tbsp tapioca starch, and 1/2 tsp xanthan gum.
* EGGS & LEAVENING: Use extra jumbo eggs and rounded, not level teaspons of baking soda or baking powder.
* BEATING:The more you cream the butter and sugar, and the more you then beat in the wet ingredients, the more your gluten-free cookies will spread and spread. In fact, I don’t cream the butter and sugar first anymore. I just toss the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla or other extracts into a bowl all together and blend them all briefly until smooth.
* BATCHES: Make small batches and make small cookies. They will turn out better and then will keep better.
* FREEZING: Freeze leftover cookies at the end of the day. They lose texture and flavour very quickly.

Shortbread Cookies

These are sweet, sandy shortbreads that dissolve in the mouth. They also crumble in the making and require the patience of Job. But it's a religious season, so make like Job and be patient. For brown-sugar shortbread with a crunch, like my Scottish grandmother used to make, see Rebecca Reilly's Gluten-Free Baking, and roll the dough thin.

1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup gluten-free icing sugar
1 cup white rice flour
3/4 cup butter

Sift cornstarch, sugar, and flour together. Add butter and mix with hands until a soft dough forms. Refrigerate at least one hour. Shape it into 1” balls. This might require patience, since the dough is super-crumbly and might need to warm in your hands before it will hold together. Place cookies 1 1/2” apart on a parchment-paper or silicone-sheet lined unrimmed cookie pans. Flatten very gently with a fork dusted with rice flour, if the cookies are not already too crumbly. Bake at 300F for 20 to 25 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

These are really special if you dip their tops in melted chocolate after they have cooled.

Bruti ma buoni (Almond-Hazelnut Cookies)

These are light and delicious Italian gluten-free nut cookies.

1 cup egg whites
1 3/4 cups white sugar
5 1/3 cups chopped blanched almonds
2 cups hazelnuts, skinned and chopped

Preheat oven to 325F. Let egg whites stand until room temperature. Beat the whites until lightly foamy. Add the sugar gradually as you beat. Beat until soft peaks form. Fold in the nuts. Transfer to a large saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until it thickens and turns a little brown, about 10 minutes. Spoon the cookies onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets by the teaspoonful, about 1 to 1 1/2” apart. Bake about 22 minutes, or until dry. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate-Chili Sparklers

Another cookie recipe, adapted from a seasonal brand promotion for products I am allergic to or don't buy. Still, these cookies are scrumptious -- absolutely gooily decadent fresh out of the oven after a Mexican meal, and still soft and yummy the next day. This is chocolate the old-fashioned way. I mean REALLY old-fashioned, like the Mayans and Aztecs liked it, with cinnamon and hot peppers.

1/3 cup butter
1/4 cup lard or shortening
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 extra large egg

2/3 cup cocoa
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
3 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne

1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs.

In a small bowl, whisk cocoa, flours and starches, xanthan gum, soda, cinnamon, and peppers.

Blend dry ingredients into butter and sugar mixture; mix in chocolate chips.

Roll into small (3/4"); roll balls in cinnamon sugar (3 tbsp sugar mixed with 1/2 tsp cinnamon). Place on parchment paper or a silicone baking pad on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes, until somewhat cracked and flattened but still soft in the middle.

Makes 3 dozen.

Ginger Sparklers

Yes, more cookies. Is there such a thing as "too many cookies"? I used to make hundreds of these at a time. Now adapted for gluten-free. The many-flour blend in this recipe seems to preserve the texture better in these soft-doughed cookies than fewer-flour blends. Lining the baking sheet is an absolute must in this case.

3/4 cup shortening or lard
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
3/4 cups amaranth flour
1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
extra sugar (for rolling)

Cream shortening and sugar until light. Mix in eggs and molasses. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients. Mix well and combine bit by bit with the creamed mixture. When well mixed, roll into small balls. Roll balls in white sugar. Flatten lightly with a fork and bake at 350F for about 10 minutes (until they are no longer pale).

Fruit and Nut Christmas Crostini

Christmas baking season looms. So many cookie recipes to try, and so little time . . . This was a recipe from Canadian Living a few Christmases back. It adapted beautifully to gluten-free flour.

4 egg whites
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/3 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup pistachios
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried currants
1/4 cup dried cranberries

Line bottom and sides of a 9 x 5” loaf pan with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Beat in sugar 2 tbsp at a time, until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla.

In a small separate bowl, whisk together flours and xanthan gum. Sprinkle half of flour over the egg white mixture and fold in. Repeat with remaining flour. Sprinkle with almonds, pistachios, raisins, currants, and cranberries; fold in. Scrape into prepared loaf pan; smooth top.

Bake in centre of 350F oven until firm and pale golden, about 35 minutes. Let cool on rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and peel off paper. Let cool completely.

Using serrated knife, level top. Cut crosswise into about 1/8” thick slices. Arrange, 1/2 inch apart, on cookie pans lined with parchment paper. Bake one pan at a time at 300F, turning cookies once halfway through, until crisp and golden, about 20 minutes. Let cool on pans, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Makes about 3 dozen.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe can be doubled or tripled for special occasions. No one will know there chewy crisp cookies are gluten-free unless you tell them.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup potato starch
3 tbsp tapioca starch
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup fine unsweetened coconut

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone sheets. Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and other dry ingredients. Stir dry ingredients into butter mixture until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips and coconut. Drop by 1 tbsp about two inches apart on prepared pans.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until light golden. Cool cookies on racks, if they last until cool.

Makes almost 3 dozen cookies.

Ginger Crunch Cookies

Another adapted New Zealand-type cookies -- slightly short, not too sweet, and crunchy without being crumbly or too tooth-achingly crisp. These cookies will not spread much or rise much (they contain no baking powder or baking soda). They have a mildly gingery taste at first, but the ginger gives a pleasantly hot kick on the aftertaste. Custard powder adds colour and a small amount of flavour. Make sure your custard powder is made of corn starch and contains no gluten.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg

1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup potato starch flour
3 tbsp tapioca starch flour
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

5 tbsp custard powder
1/2 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1 cup cornflakes, slightly crushed

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar, and egg until well blended. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, starches, and xanthan gum. In a small bowl, toss chopped crystallized ginger in custard powder until well coated.

Blend flour mixture into butter mixture, then blend in ginger mixture. Roll by the tablespoonful into 24 balls, and roll the balls in cornflakes to coat crunchily. Place balls on a parchment-paper or silicone sheet-lined baking pan. Flatten with your fingers or with a fork.

Bake for 20 minutes in an oven preheated to 375F, until firm and lightly browned. Allow to cool on the pans until cool enough to transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 24 cookies.

Soft Apple-Nut Spice Cookies

Adapted from an unpublished recipe by local cook and cookbook writer extraordinaire, Joanie Sutton.

I made these cookies partly to use up an over-stocked fruit bowl and partly in hopes the cookies might be slightly more healthful than my usual cookies. I don't know about the health factor, but the cookies were delicious, and the fruit bowl was happily diminished of its oversupply of apples.

I have to admit, these are a bit more healthful than I usual like my cookies to be -- they're more like muffin tops!

3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup almond flour (ground almonds)
1/2 cup potato starch flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch flour
1/4 cup flaxseed meal
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup buttermilk

2 cups grated apple (about 3 medium apples)
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line three cookie pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flours and starches, xanthan gum, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt until well blended.

In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.

With the electric mixer running, beat in the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk. Gradually add the grated apple, mixing well to combine. Stir in the chopped pecans.

Drop by the tablespoon onto the prepared cookie pans and bake 12-14 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned and centre springs back from a light touch. Allow to cool on the pans for 5 minutes, or until set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 40 cookies.

Mocha Refrigerator Cookies

These are adapted from a recipe by pastry chef Anna Olson from Canadian Living’s December 2005 issue. These cookies are not too sweet -- a bonus in my books. After being puverized in a food processor, they also make great chocolate/mocha cookie crumbs to use as a base for cheesecake.

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup GF icing sugar
1 tbsp instant coffee
1/4 cup hot water
4 tsp GF vanilla
1 cup brown rice
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Line cookie pans with parchment paper.

Dissolve coffee in hot water.

In a large bowl, lightly beat butter with icing sugar; beat in dissolved coffee and vanilla.

In a small bowl, whisk flours and xanthan gum with cocoa and salt. Stir into butter mixture and stir until combined. Divide into three parts. Shape each into a log one inch around. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour, until firm.

Slice logs into generous 1/4” thick rounds. Place 1” apart, on parchment paper-lined pans. Bake one pan at a time at 325F until tops of cookies are firm to the touch, about 25 minutes.

Pour sugar into shallow dish. Coat warm cookies, a few at a time, in sugar. Let cool on rack.

Makes about 5 dozen.

Lemon-Coconut Cookies

These icebox cookies are like light, lemony-coconutty shortbread. They aren't sugary -- the natural sweetness comes from the coconut.

Fine coconut makes an interesting and flavourful addition to flour mixes for cookies.

1/2 cup unsweetened flaked or medium coconut
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Zest of 1 lemon, finely grated
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup potato starch
1/4 cup fine coconut (like coconut "flour")

First, toast the flaked or medium coconut on a cookie sheet in a preheated, 300F oven (3 to 4 minutes, until fragrant and lightly browned -- keep a close eye). Allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, lightly cream butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest. In a small bowl, whisk rice flour, amaranth flour, potato starch, and fine coconut. Blend flour and starch mixture into butter mixture. Blend in toasted coconut.

Form dough into a 7" log, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one hour. Log will have gotten flat on one side. Either roll the log on the table to make round cookies or flatten all four sides against a hard surface to make the log rectangular. Return to refrigerator until dough is full chilled, approximately 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350F. Cut logs into 1/4" slices and place cookie slices on a cookie pan lined with parchment or with a silpat sheet. Place cookies in preheated oven, reduce heat to 325F, and bake 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool five minutes on pans before transferring to racks to cool completely.

Makes about 28 cookies.

Molasses Ginger Cookies

One of the best things about Rebecca Reilly's wonderful book, Gluten-Free Baking, is that the recipes hail from Maine and share heritage with the recipes of Atlantic Canada that my family grew up with and that we continue to crave despite dietary limitations. Her soft molasses cookies taste like my grandmothers' kitchens used to smell and are every bit as good as the wheatier variety, especially fresh out of the oven. This recipe is adapted, but not by much, from her book. But buy the book. You need it.

3/4 cup amaranth flour
3/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup soy flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 rounded tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat the oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar; mix in sugar, molasses, and egg.

In a small bowl, whisk together flours and starches with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and xanthan gum.

Add dry ingredients to molasses mixture alternately with the buttermilk, in three additions.

Refrigerate dough for an hour, if you have the time and patience. (I didn't, and no loss to the cookies' quality.)

Spoon rounded tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicon baking sheet. Bake for approximately 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When done, the cookies will spring back blithley from a light touch.

Allow cookies to cool on pans for five minutes, then transfer to racks to complete cooling.

Makes about 32 cookies.

Soft Lemon Drop Cookies

This recipe is adapted from Gluten-Free Girl's wonderful lemon olive oil cookies and makes soft, chewy, intensely lemony cookies. Like little pillows of lemony goodness. I haven't managed to share these cookies with anyone outside our house yet. They seem to disappear before we get outside the door.

1/4 cup plain unsweetened yogurt (soy yogurt works A-OK, too)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 large egg
1 tsp pure lemon extract
zest of one medium lemon, well-washed and scrubbed before grating
juice of one medium lemon
1/2 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Combine dry ingredients in a smaller bowl. Whisk well.

Combine wet ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk well, as well.

Stir dry ingredients into wet with a rubber spatula, scraping the sides well.

Spacing them 2" apart, drop cookies by the gooey spoonful onto parchment paper- or silicon sheet-lined baking sheets to make 20 to 24 cookies. Bake 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until cookies are set and cracks in the surface no longer look wet and doughy.

Allow to cool on the pans for five minutes, then cool on a rack.

Makes almost 2 dozen cookies.

Chewy Chocolate-Butterscotch Chip Cookies

An adapted version of a recipe from an old Harrowsmith recipe. These were popular when I made them yesterday, though I can't comment on how well they might keep, since they didn't last long enough . . .

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups ground oatmeal (gluten-free oatmeal pulverized in a food processor)
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
4 oz chocolate chips
2 oz butterscotch chips
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a large bowl, cream butter, sugars, then eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, whisk oatmeals, flours and starches, xanthan, soda, and baking powder.

With the electric mixer running, blend flour mixture into butter mixture. Add chocolate and butterscotch chips, coconut, and almonds and mix with the electric mixer until well combined.

Roll into balls, one large tablespoonful at a time, to make 36 balls. Place 2" apart on a parchment paper-lined or silicone sheet-lined pan. Flatten balls slightly with your hand. Bake for 10 minutes, until beginning to brown lightly. Allow to cool a few minutes on the pan before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Golden Cornmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies have a lovely buttery taste, like chocolate chip cookies should, but they also have a hint of corn flavour that is very pleasant. Corn flour, which is like very fine cornmeal, is best; cornmeal is a little grittier, though equally nice in flavour. This is a great recipe for someone who is baking for a celiac friend and usually has cornmeal and other baking goods in supply -- the only "special" flour is the rice flour. The parchment paper is absolutely necessary, unless you have a silpat nonstick baking mat.

6 tbsp butter (1/3 cup)
1/4 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup rice flour
3/4 cup fine cornmeal or corn flour (very fine cornmeal)
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.

Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, cream sugars and butter until light. Beat in egg. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix well, then add chocolate chips.

Form into cookies by the tablespoonful. Place on the parchment paper-lined pan about 1 1/2” apart. Cook about 12 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on pan before transferring to a rack.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Opposite Cookies

White chocolate chips in a chocolate cookie -- the opposite of regular chocolate chippers.

The dough for these cookies will be a very stiff and a little sticky, and the cookies will not spread a lot change shape much from the shape you drop onto the pan, so you might wish to roll tablespoonsful of batter and then slightly flatten them.

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg (extra large)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth or sorghum flour (or more rice flour)
1/4 cup tapioca starch
1/4 cup potato starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and then vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk up flours, cocoa, soda, and salt.

Beat flours into butter mixture with an electric mixer. (The dough will be too stiff to stir.) Mix in white chocolate chips, also using the electric mixer on its lowest setting.

Divide dough and roll into 30 balls, each a scant tablespoon or heaped teaspoon. Place 2" apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes at 350F. The cookies will sink towards the pan at their edges and will crack attractively on top. Cool on a rack -- or eat warm. These are chewy and moist when warm, crunchy and dense when cooled.

Tea Wafers

Yes, more cookies. It's not that I don't bake other items -- breads and quick breads and whatnot -- it's just that few of the savoury items are receipes of my own devisement or adaptation.

These cookies, adapted from A New Way to Cook, are really only “wafer-thin.” They practically have to be painted on to parchment paper for baking. They are perfect with a cheese tray or a glass of warm milk. I keep meaning to try them with good-quality green tea, but I am seduced by the scent of bergamot.

The recipe makes dozens, but I forgot to note the yield last time I made them.

1 bag Earl Grey tea, steeped in 3/4 cup boiling water and set aside to cool

3 1/2 tsp loose Earl Grey tea leaves
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup butter
1 large egg
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup white rice flour
1/4 cup amaranth flour (or more white rice flour)
1/4 cup tapioca starch

In a blender or food processor, blend tea leaves with sugar until powdery. Beat butter and tea sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, 3 tbsp of the cooled steeped tea (use the rest for another purpose), vanilla, salt, and flours. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 30 minutes, to let the tea flavour develop.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line cookie pans with parchment paper. Drop batter by the scant teaspoonful onto the paper. Spread into 2” circles with the back of the spoon. This will be finicky. Trust that it will be worthwhile.

Bake for 9 or 10 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Keep a close eye on the cookies, since they will burn quickly. Allow cookies to cool on the pan until handleable, then finish off the cooling on racks.

Afghans (Chocolate Crunch Cookies)

When I lived in New Zealand, longer ago than I care to admit, my flatmates told me about afghan biscuits, the chocolate-cornflake crunch cookies their mothers made for them. I told them about the afghan blankets my mother knit and crocheted for me. Strange uses of the word "afghan" in this world. I wonder what Afghans think.

New Zealand "biscuits" are quite different from Canadian-style cookies: crisp and crunch and fairly short. Afghans have the distinction of also being frosted. These are like not-too-sweet chocolate shortbread cookies with lots of cornflakes. They are frosted with a light-coloured cocoa icing, to more than make up for the not-too-sweetness.

These adapted very well to gluten-free flours, and I might try more New Zealand biscuit recipe adaptations in coming weeks.

3/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
2/3 cup white rice flour
1/3 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup potato or corn starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup cocoa
3 cups GF (malt-free) loosely packed cornflakes crushed slightly to make 2 cups

Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Whisk together flours and starches, xanthan, and cocoa until well mixed. Beat into creamed mixture. Fold in cornflakes, or mix with your hands.

Take small handfuls of dough and squeeze into balls to make 30. Set the balls 2" apart on the prepared cookie trays. Cook for five minutes, then remove from oven and lightly press down the warm cookies to flatten them slightly. Return to the oven for 10 more minutes, to set. Remove from oven and cool, first on the pan, then on racks when cool enough to move. Frost with a swoosh of chocolate icing.

Chocolate Icing: Sift 1 cup of GF icing sugar with 1 tbsp cocoa. Blend in 1 tbsp softened butter and 1/2 tsp vanilla. Add 1 tbsp milk (or more, a wee bit at a time) to make icing of a spreadable consistency.

Makes 30 frosted cookies.

Lemon-Lime Refrigerator Cookies

As I did Christmas baking with a newborn baby in the house, I found I couldn't always (or ever!) finish what I started, so I made a lot more refrigerator cookies than I had ever made before. I loved that I could mix the batter and put it in the fridge until the baby fell asleep, but I also discovered that refrigerator cookie recipes adapt very well to gluten-free flours.

These lemon-lime cookies were the biggest hit of the Christmas season in our gluten-free family. This recipe is adapted for gluten-free flours from a recipe originally published in Canadian Living, a fantastic source of reliable recipes.

1 cup softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp finely grated lemon rind
2 tsp finely grated lime rind
1 cup brown rice flour
1/2 cup amaranth flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
4 oz finely chopped white chocolate
1 egg white
1/2 cup ground almonds

GLAZE:
1 cup GF icing sugar
3 tbsp whipping cream
1 tbsp softened butter
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp grated lime rind

In a large bowl, very lightly cream the butter with sugar. Beat in egg, lemon rind, and lime rind. In a smaller bowl, whisk flours, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt. Stir into butter mixture. Fold in white chocolate.

In a separate small bowl, beat egg white until foamy. Sprinkle almond meal on waxed paper. Set both aside.

Divide dough into four parts. Place one at a time on a large piece of waxed paper. Using paper as a guide, roll and press firmly into a 6” long log. Remove paper. Brush with egg white and roll in about 1/4 of the almond meal. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about three hours, rerolling as logs harden to keep round shape.

With serrated knife, cut into generous 1/4” thick slices. Place about 2 inches apart on parchment paper-lined pans. Bake at 375F until bottoms are light golden, about 10 minutes. These cookies burn easily, so watch them carefully and help keep the heat consistent. I found it best to cook just one pan at a time in my oven.

GLAZE: Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the icing sugar, cream, butter, and lemon and lime rinds until smooth. Spread over hot cookies. Transfer to racks to let cool.

Makes 60 cookies.