Salted Triple Chip Cookies, My New Favorite GF Flour Mixture, and a Gluten Free Cookie Swap

Salted Triple Chip Cookies are my favorite go to cookie to make.  I've been making them for about a year and I can promise you they are a huge hit wherever you bring them.  Or with yourself if you are sitting home eating them alone. No judgement over here, just know they make A LOT of cookies.  I originally got the recipe from my friend Mallory and instead of re-typing it, here is the link for you.  Seriously, make these.

The only thing you need to do to make these cookies gluten free is swap out the flour.  For a long time I used 3 cups of Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour and 1 and 1/4 cups rice flour.  This works, but I've been meaning to make the gluten free flour mixture suggested by the Gluten Free Girl for a year and I finally got around to it.  You need a food scale for this, and I realize that can be annoying, so don't worry about trying this yourself if you don't want to.  If you do want to, I mixed together 300 grams of millet flour, 300 grams of sorghum flour, 200 grams of sweet rice flour, and 200 grams of potato starch.  This makes a bit more than you need for the cookie recipe, so once it's combined just measure out 4 and 1/4 cups for the cookies.  I also used this mix to make corn bread and it worked really well in both recipes.  Shauna originally said to use 60% whole grains and 40% starches.  In an updated version she uses 70% whole grain and 30% starches.  I'll try this next time.  She also encourages you to play with different kinds of flours. See her post for more information.

I made these cookies for a gluten free cookie swap I went to last weekend.  The recipe really does make a lot of cookies so I also brought a dozen to a holiday party I had the night before and a dozen to a book club I had the next day.  Cookies for everyone!  Speaking of cookies for everyone, there were a whole lot of cookies at this gluten free cookie swap.  We had Jaffa Cakes from Candice, sugar cookies from Molly, and so many more.  There weren't even any duplicate cookies.  It was quite impressive really.  Mmm cookies.

Scalloped Potatoes

I love scalloped potatoes.  We had them tonight for Christmas Eve dinner along with some ham, green beans, and creamed spinach.  I wouldn't exactly call scalloped potatoes a healthy dish, but they sure are good.  This recipe is adapted from this recipe found online.

Ingredients: 
1 medium onion, chopped
5 tablespoons butter
5-6 russet potatoes peeled and sliced thinly
3 tablespoons rice flour 
1 1/2 cups milk

salt and pepper to taste 

1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:

1) In a medium pan saute 2 tablespoons of butter and onions until soft.

2) In a small sauce pan, melt the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter and blend in rice flour. 

3) Whisk in the milk.  Season with salt and pepper

4) Cook sauce on medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally with the whisk.

5) Reduce heat and stir in onions and 1 cup of cheese.

6) Place a third of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased casserole dish.

7) Pour a third of the cheese sauce over the potatoes, making sure they are all covered.

8) Repeat twice: layer of potatoes, layer of cheese sauce, layer of potatoes, layer of cheese sauce.

9) Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.

10) Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350 degrees.

Enjoy and Happy Holidays!

Here's another picture for you.

Christmas Cookies - Gluten Free!

I'm pretty excited about these cookies.  I only like frosted sugar cookies once a year and that's during the holidays.  Well folks, here they are.  Gluten free.  And I'll be damned if they aren't just as good as regular frosted sugar cookies.

I came across this recipe on Gluten Is My Bitch.  I think this lady is hilarious.  She came across this recipe from Good Housekeeping.  Wherever it's from, you need these in your life.

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups GF flour (I used 2 cups Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour and 1 cup brown rice flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Frosting and sprinkles for decorating

Directions:
1. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla.  Beat in the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2.  Divide the dough into four equal pieces, flatten each piece into a disk, and wrap them in plastic wrap.  Put the disks into the freezer for 30 minutes to harden up a bit.

3. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove dough from the freezer.  On a lightly floured surface, using a rolling pin, roll one piece of dough to 1/8 inch think.  Using 3-4 inch cookie cutters, cut as many cookies as possible. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Use the excess dough to roll out for more cookies.

4.  Place cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool before decorating.

5.  Decorate to your heart's content.

I didn't have any cookie cutters on hand so I used the rim of a glass.  It worked just fine.  I was also lacking decorating materials so I used Pillsbury Vanilla Frosting and some nonpareils.  Easy.

These might be my favorite cookies this holiday season.  What are yours?