Gluten Free Cookies.....Holiday Edition

I've been doing some experimenting with the cookies I made in the past for Christmas.
So far, so good.

One I'm making this week is a GF version of th Seven Layer Cookie....easy to do as you can buy GF graham cracker crumbs.
[I've since also found GF graham cracker recipes!]
PLEASE limit your recipes to GF versions!!!...and enjoy

7 LAYER GLUTEN FREE COOKIES

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups GLUTEN-FREE graham cracker crumbs
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 1/3 cups coconut flakes
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk, [1 can]

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).

2. Place butter in 13 x 9 inch pan and melt in oven. Swirl to coat bottom and sides with butter.

3. Spread graham cracker crumbs evenly over bottom of pan. Layer chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and nuts over crumbs.. Sprinkle coconut. Pour condensed milk over pan and sprinkle with a bit of nuts and coconut.

4. Bake until edges are golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool before cutting into bars.

5. For perfectly cut cookie bars, line entire pan with foil, extending foil over edge of pan. Coat lightly with no-stick cooking spray. After bars have baked and cooled, lift up by edges of foil to remove from pan. Cut into individual bars

The recipe yield is 3 dozen, but they are so rich, I made MUCH smaller portions....

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I love magic cookie bars!

Our local grocer doesn't carry gluten free graham cracker crumbs (I don't think they do).
I suppose almond flour would substitute? Maybe one would need to add "something" or it would be
sort of "doughy"?

I don't much care for the taste of gluten free cookies. I don't seem to have a problem with gluten though. I do have a problem with most breads though, that is why I designed my own recipe. We just bought six five pound bags of organic all purpose flour at the Super One store. It was $3.33 for a five lb bag of organic Dakota Maid flour. No enrichment and it is pure wheat....no barley or Rye. I am going to experiment with it. I add organic whole grain rye and organic whole grain barley and wheat germ to my bread, so enrichment isn't necessary.

Some people are intolerant to the enriched part of the bread. The vitamins they add can create histamine responses. Wheat itself is a grain that many people are metabolically intolerant to but since these people have been consuming it all their lives, they can't fathom what life would be without this in their diet. Rye contains amylase which can actually break down some of the problems associated with wheat. Barley also has enzymes that can lower intolerance. Wheat germ supplies some minerals to help the body make enzymes to properly utilize the wheat. Highly processed flours lack the right enzymes and necessary proteinases that we need to eat the foods.

Sorry about steering the topic off topic. I am doing some testing to see if maybe getting a right combination may help those who quit eating gluten. There are a lot more people thinking it is the gluten when in fact it is problems with the wheat itself and the enrichment vitamins they add. Also the type of yeast makes a difference.

So are these cookies good or do they taste like gluten free cookies?

a reply to: TNMockingbird

I got them online here
www.vitacost.com...

Also, two recipes, neither of which I have tried yet.
glutenfreeonashoestring.com... ....I'd try this recipe, looks easier
www.food.com... ...this one you have to make the flour blend

NOTE!!!!
One thing I have read in several places, when baking, it is MUCH better to weigh your ingredients...although I would not weigh the eggs. Different brands of GF flour blends weigh different...and could make a HUGE difference in your product!!!!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

That does look fun to try to make them!

That would be an all day event for me. I made shortbread once.
I was (not anymore LOL) addicted to Pepperidge Farm shortbread cookies!

It wasn't "quite" the same.

a reply to: rickymouse

I am reading Wheat Belly....and yeah, that can affect people.
I'm not ready to risk it, last meal I had with gluten, I was "off" for THREE days....but using that flour you found HAS to be better for you!!!!

I did make one recipe of GF cookies.....and we could not tell the difference.
It really depends on the flour blend you use.
Some use garbanzo flour...and it does have a distinct flavor.

King Arthur has a GF cookie mix that I used. Large groceries should carry it, or Vitacost, above, carries it.
www.kingarthurflour.com...
I followed the directions, added 1 cup of dried cranberries, 1 cup of white chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup of chopped pecans. I also chilled the dough.
They are AWESOME!!!!!!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe
Sounds tasty. Would you care to share with the rest of us?

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

We order our wheat germ and barley flour from vitacost. We also get our organic pepper there and our refined coconut oil. Of course I get my multiminerals and a few other vitamins we take there too. It saves quite a bit of money buying from them.

I have ordered many types of different special vitamins and enzymes there to see how my body reacts to them and how they effect my calmness and energy. I also pay attention to how it effects my ability to think clearly and my concentration. Experimenting on myself is time consuming. But I have knowledge of how they effect a person. I also followed up with looking at evidence and searching the net for what people said about the actual vitamin, excluding the brand of vitamin.

a reply to: Skid Mark

I'd gladly pass a plate of them!!!!!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I can't eat much cranberries, they make me extremely thirsty even if they are cooked. I can eat the ones that are made with geletin though. It appears I have the enzyme to pull the cyanide off the cranberries, cyanide makes you thirsty and my breathing gets hard to get air. My wife has no problem with cranberries but she avoids some things with a different sort of cyanide in their chemistry. I don't have a problem with what she has problems with. Strange how people can differ so much.

She was thinking I was crazy about the cranberries till I showed her a few major research institutes articles on the fact that many people have problems with the cyanide foods because of their metabolism and the problems are different for different people. I told her I was going to make her eat one of the foods she couldn't eat to see what it does. Of course, that didn't go over so well. Darn women just have to take things too serious.

Just because I gave her AFIB by boosting the niacin content in food doesn't mean I am trying to kill her. Four doctors appointments, three heart tests and two grand out of pocket copay got her pills that made her feet swell and she quit. I told her I caused that unintentionally, she wasn't supposed to be eating my soups I made special, I was trying to experiment on myself. At the same time she was going nuts over my son-in-laws salsa. she got a big bowl of it.

Not everyone will get AFIB from a high niacin diet, only maybe half of northern European. I like alchemy, but my wife knows she should ask me if it is safe before eating some of the foods I make. I sure don't want to kill her, she is the one who writes out all the checks to pay the bills, I don't want to be doing that anymore.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Those cookies sound heavenly! YUM! Love your avatar by the way!!!!

a reply to: rickymouse

Try cherries....



a reply to: Night Star

Thanks!
And I have more recipes coming......

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I have no problem with Cherries even though they have a decent amount of cyanide in them. We have around four gallons of tart cherries in the freezer from my brothers tree. We also have homemade freezer jam.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I really needed this today thanks! You are an inspiration.
Our old go to Christmas cookie was always the oatmeal scotchie because it is my husband's favorite. I haven't made one in two Christmases now. I haven't tried this recipe yet, but my youngest and I were looking through an allergy friendly cookbook we have and found this recipe for maple oatmeal cookies. I'm thinking today will have to be the day we try them!

From Allergy Free Recipes for Kids cookbook

Maple Oatmeal cookies

1/2 cup dairy free soy free margarine ( or softened butter if you can have dairy)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 cups gluten free old fashioned oats, *with approx 1/4 cup pulverized
3/4 cup flour (this is where it's tricky, the recipe call for ap flour, but I substitute gf, the results aren't always the same though) *attempt #1 will be 1/2 cup coconut flour and 1/4 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F, line baking sheet with parchment paper

Place margarine, brown sugar, and maple syrup in large bowl, beat with mixer on med until creamed together
Mix oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a med bowl. Combine and then slowly add to creamed sugar mixture, beating after each addition, add in raisins

Drop by heaping Table spoonfuls 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Flatten to 1/2 inch thick. Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until golden. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, move to wire rack

* my own alterations

Right now my oven is in self clean mode for a few hours, when it's all nice and clean we will bake up a batch and report back on which flour I used. Baking is tougher with some of the substitutions, but in this case the oatmeal will fill that void. Intuitively I honestly think I will pulverize part of the oats to help bind a bit and use either coconut flour or arrowroot flour. Possibly a combination of both, see above.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Almond flour has been a mainstay in my kitchen for two years. Try it like a graham cracker crust, use the almond flour like pre crumbled crackers and mix in butter and sugar, par bake for just a few minutes until it's browned a bit. It works beautifully! Sometimes I even add in a sprinkle of coconut flour.

a reply to: woodsmom

Please completely disregard the above recipe. It was a horrible disaster.
I tried a straight flour substitution for simplicity sake and within five minutes they spread and were dripping off the side. So much for a clean oven. This is the reason I haven't made cookies in two years. I even took a picture of the carnage but ATS uploads doesn't seem to like my picture files now either. Some days are best left behind us I suppose.

Thanks DTOM for the reminder of magic cookie bars. I think I will just make those with the almond crust, because of course the gf graham crackers aren't safe for my son.

That really does look good, and makes me want some magic cookie bars.


Something I like to use as a "sub" to lower carbs (which typically lowers gluten, unless you use a product that has wheat glutens added, like "low carb baking mix" from Bob's Red Mill) is almond flour. I bet you could sub at least half of the graham cracker with almond flour, and increase the fiber while also adding great flavor.

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Oh man! I think I have everything in the kitchen to make those. Maybe in the morning? MMMMM. I bet the kitchen smells good too while they are baking.

DTOM, I've been having some weird reactions to food lately, what is the test for gluten allergy? Can my regular doc do it, do I need to go to an allergist, or is it by personal experimentation?

a reply to: woodsmom

How did they turn out?
And I'm not familiar with arrowroot powder....

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

I tried hem with millet flour instead, and used a straight across substitution. They tasted great but melted everywhere off the edges the sheet.