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.

Tate's Bake Shop

Tate's cookies have been sold at gourmet markets in the city for as long as I can remember.  Mostly, I remember because my brother loves them.  He's tall and very thin, yet he has been known to eat an entire package in one sitting.  I recently got to try Tate's because they introduced a gluten free line and I saw them at a market in Astoria.  They have chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate chip cookies, ginger zinger cookies, and brownies.  I tried the chocolate chip and they were delicious.  All are baked in a dedicated gluten free facility.  I hope to see the brownies around sometime because I'd love to try them!

Sweet Christine's Bakery

Awhile back I received a box of samples from Sweet Christine's Bakery in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Summer is the crazy busy season at my job so I am quite late on writing this post.  In fact, things have been so busy that I haven't even been able to try everything I was sent!  In early August Sweet Christine's sent me: a loaf of bread, a baguette, 6 small pizza crusts, a cookie, and a brownie.  The day I received the package I immediately opened and shared the cookie and brownie with my stressed co-workers.  The brownie was good and as I sit here writing this I wish I had another (ignore the fact that it's 9 am).  The cookie had the taste and consistency of what I remember Chips Ahoy cookies tasting like, which isn't my preferred cookie, but for a prepackaged cookie is pretty good.

I must say I don't love the bread.  It is a bit sweeter than I like.  I haven't tried the baguette yet but it looks great and I'm keeping it in my freezer until I cook something worthy of serving it with (I'm imagining lasagna).  The pizza crusts are interesting because it says you can use them as pizza crusts, or as wraps or quesadillas.  It suggests to use a pizza stone or right on the oven rack versus on a baking sheet.  I don't have a pizza stone and I was weary of cooking them right on the rack so I opted not to try them as pizza crusts.  First I tried them as soft taco wrappers which didn't work so well, but as quesadillas I really liked them.  I don't think I've had any quesadillas since going gluten free and these were great.

Sweet Christine's has a storefront in Kennett Square, but after doing some research on their website they do so much more.  They are partnering with schools, colleges, and stadiums to get gluten free products available in places they traditionally aren't, which I think is great.

Healthy Living Market and Cafe

I was in Vermont again last weekend.  This time I went for work.  I had to sit at a table in Burlington for several hours and hand out information about my company.  Not my normal job, but I'm always willing to help out when needed...especially when it means I get to go home for free.

Knowing that I was going to be sitting at a table for the majority of an afternoon, I wanted to bring lunch with me.  I went to the trusty Gluten Free Travel Site and searched Burlington, VT.  It was there I stumbled upon a review for Healthy Living Market and Cafe across from the University Mall.  It was a perfect quick stop before I headed downtown for an afternoon on the waterfront of Lake Champlain.

At the risk of sounding like the dorky gluten free person I am, Healthy Living Market was amazing.  They have an entire gluten free section when you first enter the store.  I don't mean a small section of an aisle.  I mean a whole mini store within the store.  It gives G-Free NYC a run for it's money.  Here's a low quality picture I took in my excitement:

You can't really tell how amazing it is from the picture, but they have everything.  What you see here are mostly the dry goods.  There is a row of freezers all along the left hand side with only gluten free stuff.  To the right before the food there is a section with gluten free magazines and books.  In the middle there is beer and behind that fresh baked goods and bread.  Nearly every gluten free product I've ever seen was here.  I even saw (and purchased) the new New Planet beer everyone's been talking about.  I also got the Bakery on Main instant oatmeal I've been wanting to try.  Seriously, this store has everything I could ever want for my gluten free needs.

But that's not all!  That only covers the market part.  They also have a cafe with lots of gluten free goods.  I got a gluten free raspberry muffin that was great.  And then... I was able to order a sandwich from the deli for the first time since I was diagnosed with Celiac 2 years ago!

For those of you that don't know me, this is very exciting.  I miss sandwiches and being able to order them for lunch.  We had to play an icebreaker with the summer interns at my job in June.  Everyone had to write down a t-shirt slogan that describes them and then other people have to guess who's slogan goes with who.  Mine said "I miss sandwiches."  I hate icebreakers.

I wish I could tell you I loved my sandwich, but I wasn't that happy with the bread. I did really really appreciate it though.  They have a hot bar with lots of gluten free options and I hear they even have gluten free pizza sometimes.

If you are gluten free and live within an hour of this place you have to go.  Or, if you are visiting lovely Burlington, VT, make sure to stop by.  Honestly, it's better than Whole Foods.  That's right, I said it.

Wow Baking Company

I was at LaGuardia Airport last week and came across some gluten free cookies from Wow Baking Company in the Cibo Express. They had individually packaged chocolate chip, peanut butter, ginger molasses, and snickerdoodle cookies. I had a hard time deciding between the chocolate chip and the peanut butter but finally went with the peanut butter because it looked so soft and chewy. It was really good.  Surprisingly good for a prepackaged cookie.

When I got home and looked this company up I found they use all natural ingredients with no hydrogenated oils or refined sugars. In addition to individually wrapped cookies they have bags of cookies, cookie dough, and cake mixes.

This was a great gluten free treat to find in the airport. My only problem with it was it was marked as being two servings. Who, besides my dad, eats half a cookie? Other than that, if you see these cookies in the airport, or elsewhere, I suggest you give them a try.

Main Line Baking Co.

Ok, so my last post was about eating healthy on the road, and this one is about a bakery...oops?  But everyone needs some sweets in their lives, and this is just what I got at Main Line Baking Co.  I have tried a few of Main Line Baking Co.'s treats at G-Free NYC, but this was my first time visiting.

The bakery is very simple and located inside the Wynnewood Train Station in Wynnewood, PA outside of Philly.  They have cupcakes, muffins, cookies, brownies, pound cake, coffee cake, and they even cater.  Everything they have is gluten free and dairy free.  There is nowhere to sit, but it's a great treat for people commuting into Philly - gluten free or not.

I tried a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting.  The cupcake was very light (compared to many gluten free cupcakes that are often too dense) and the frosting wasn't too sweet.  I also got a piece of coffee cake to take with me.  They were both very good.

If you aren't in the Philly area, Main Line Baking Co. treats are also offered at other locations in PA, NJ, and NYC.  Enjoy!

Mile End Bakery

Now's the time for my BIG REVEAL: my friend Mallory over at Total Noms and I have started our own cookie company!  Mile End Bakery offers gluten free cookies as well as cookies made with wheat flour.  We have chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, ginger, oatmeal, nutella, and peanut butter cookies for your enjoyment.  If you can't choose we also offer a sample pack of all six.  They look like this:

Clockwise: Ginger, Snickerdoodle, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, Nutella

Mallory makes our regular cookies and I make our gluten free cookies.  Our gluten free cookies are made in a different kitchen with dedicated gluten free utensils and quality gluten free ingredients.  You can order these delicious cookies on our Etsy store.  We ship anywhere in the continental US.

Mallory and I met in college at McGill in Montreal, Canada.  Stemming from our love of Montreal, we decided to name our company Mile End after a cute neighborhood in the city.  I am very excited about this new venture and I highly suggest you give our cookies a try!

You can see us on Facebook here or follow us on twitter here.

And now for a shameless plug: My man friend and I were feeling ambitious at the same time and while I was starting a cookie company, he started his own personal training company.  If you find you are eating too many cookies and need some help to balance it out, check him out at jtwfit.com.

Enjoy!

Le Pain Quotidien

You wouldn't expect to find gluten free options at a place called Le Pain Quotidien (The Daily Bread).  But, you also wouldn't necessarily expect gluten free cookies to taste great and they can (more on that later).

Last weekend I was meeting a friend for a quick lunch before a movie and we decided to go to Le Pain Quotidien near the movie theater.  I hadn't been in years, and I wasn't expecting anything other than a salad, but lo and behold they have a few options for us gluten free folks after all.  I tried the chicken curry salad tartine served on gluten free crackers instead of bread.  It was pretty good.  They also have a six-vegetable quiche served on a gluten free buckwheat crust that I would be interested in trying.  Their salads are also safe without the bread and I bet if you asked really nice they'd give you some of those gluten free crackers with it.  Maybe.

With several locations in New York City, and in other places around the county and globe, Le Pain Quotidien provides another good light lunch option.

Gluten Free Oreos

Ok.  I did it.  I broke down and bought a food scale.  I used to be annoyed by all the gluten free recipes posted in grams.  Mostly annoyed because I wanted to make them and couldn't.  And then I asked for 10 different kinds of flour for Christmas and realized that without a food scale I couldn't use the flour in all these recipes that I've been wanting to make.  So now, here's my first recipe in grams.  I'm really sorry.

Oh, it's also my first recipe using sweet rice and teff flour.  There will be many more different flours to come.

I adapted this recipe from the Gluten Free Girl.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
80 grams sweet rice flour
60 grams white rice flour
35 grams teff flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
10 tablespoons butter, softened
1 large egg

For the  filling:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1) Preheat the oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2) In a large bowl combine the flours.  Whisk in the cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

3) On low speed, beat in the butter and egg.  It will look dry, but keep mixing, it will come together.

4) Scoop 2 teaspoons of batter and form a ball.  Flatten the dough in the palm of your hand into a round disk and smooth the edges.  Place on prepared cookie sheet.

5) Bake cookies for 5 minutes.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees and bake for another 5 minutes.  Remove and allow to cool.

6) Beat together all frosting ingredients until smooth.

7)  When the cookies are cool spread some frosting onto one cookie and then top with another.  Repeat.

That's it.  Oreos.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are another thing we made in my high school F&CS class that I have continued to make over the years.  As you probably don't remember, when I first went gluten free I was worried I'd never be able to make these cookies again and Richie Fries would take back his marriage proposal, even if he didn't remember making it.  Well, don't worry, I made these last weekend and they were just as good as their gluten filled counterparts.

I used Cup4Cup for this recipe.  It worked really well.  I also used the cream of tartar for the first time.  I usually omit it because I've never had any before.  Quite frankly, I didn't notice much of a difference with it in there, so feel free to go either way on that one.  Remember, this recipe was originally gluten filled, so if you aren't gluten free go ahead and use regular flour.

Ingredients:
Cookie -
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups GF flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

Topping -
3 T white sugar
1 T cinnamon

Directions:
1) Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees (this is not a typo)

2) In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugars with an electric mixer on high speed.  Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.

3) In another bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt.

4)  Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix well.

5) In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon for the topping.

6) Roll dough into one inch balls.  Roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.

7) Bake for 12 minutes - no more.  They will look a little underdone, but they'll crinkle and set perfectly as you let them cool.

Enjoy!  Let me know if these get you any marriage proposals.

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?

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

These cookies are intense.  In a peanut butter and chocolate goodness kind of way.  This was my first time making this kind of cookie and it was incredibly easy.  I based it off this recipe on allrecipes.com.  Oh, and it's naturally gluten free.  #winning

Ingredients:
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
15-20 Hershey Kisses

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl beat together the sugars, peanut butter, and egg.
3. Roll into one inch balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and press a chocolate kiss into the center of each warm cookie.  Allow to cool before eating.

The Hershey's people, and my friend over at Total Noms, add a lot more stuff into their version of this cookie.  I'd like to try those as well.  Has anyone tried both versions that could enlighten me on which route to take next time?

Bob's Red Mill

Bob's Red Mill is my favorite overall company for GF products.  Bob has all types of flour, gluten free oats, and baking mixes galore.  His products are available all over the place making them not only good, but very convenient.  And he looks so nice, how could you not love Bob?

You may have noticed that I use Bob's All Purpose GF Flour Mix for most of my baking.  It has done pretty well by me thus far, but I think I'm just about ready to branch into trying my own flour mixes.  For Christmas this year I have asked my mom to get me all the gluten free flours I'm too cheap to buy myself - which is basically all of them except rice flour.  I finally want to try baking with almond, coconut, millet, amaranth, quinoa, teff, etc. flours.  Bob has them all.  I'm very excited.

Bob also has gluten free oats for my winter breakfasts.  In case you don't know, oats in of themselves are considered safe for people with celiac to eat, but because they are usually grown on the same fields as wheat in alternating seasons, they are deemed too cross contaminated to eat.  Bob gets his from fields really far away from wheat.

And now for the mixes.  Sometimes you want homemade products but don't know exactly how to make them.  Bob makes it easy with his gluten free pancake, biscuit, bread, corn bread, brownie, cookie, cake, and pizza dough mixes.  I've tried several of them and they are all really good.

So head on over to Whole Foods or your local health food store and stock up on Bob's.  Then let me know which your favorite is.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough by French Meadow Bakery

I love cookies.  In fact, I kind of have a problem with cookies.  As in, I eat too many of them.  As a result of said problem, I'm not allowed to have cookies in my home.  I try to only make or buy them for special occasions or when I have people around to share them with.  Otherwise, I will, without a doubt, eat them all.

Despite my problem, I love baking.  I've toyed with the idea of opening a bakery for awhile so I can bake for other people.  I have also thought of making gluten free cookie dough so people can bake up fresh cookies whenever they want.

One day I came across French Meadow Bakery online and saw that they have Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough.

I immediately sent my parents this email: "These people stole my idea!  Are you guys sure you don't want to support me for the rest of my life so I can just bake and hang out?"  It turns out they don't.

I, of course, still wanted to try these cookies.  I was getting together with some friends on Friday and decided it was the perfect time to try them.

Short story short, they were great.  My man friend and I tried a raw one before baking the rest and it tasted just like regular cookie dough.  The baked cookies were just as good.  Even though making your own cookies is easy and fun, I was excited to have hot out of the oven gluten free chocolate chip cookies without any of the work.  So excited that I accidentally ate most of them even though I got them to share with everyone.  Which is exactly why I never bought them on my own.  You should, though, because they are really good.

Mozzarelli's Pizza

I've been meaning to try Mozzarelli's for a long time now.  Today, after my unfortunate lunch experience, I decided it was a good day to try it.  Mozzarelli's is a regular New York pizza place with a pizza counter and a few seats.  They serve pizzas, pastas, salads, calzones, and desserts.  They also have gluten free pizzas, pastas, salads (of course), and desserts.  There were three gluten free choices: cheese, pepperoni, and veggie.  I got one pepperoni and one veggie slice.

Look I actually took a picture.

The pizza was surprisingly good!  In fact, it was the second best gluten free pizza I've ever had (the pizza I had in Albany still places #1 in my book).  Not only that, but they had a huge selection of gluten free desserts from My Dad's Cookies.  I had never tried any of these products before so of course I had to try something.  It was a tough decision between the cake and the cookies, but I decided to try the black and white cookies.  They were pretty good.  In general I'm not sure who needs dessert with their pizza, but that's ok.

My favorite part of this place is that it really is just a regular casual pizza place.  I haven't been able to stop for a slice like this in almost a year.  I'll be back, and next time I plan on trying the gluten free baked ziti.  Mmm.

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Someone please teach me how to take pictures so I can stop stealing them from the internet.)

I love warm chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven.  Before going gluten free my baking specialty was chocolate chip cookies.  I say specialty, but really the recipe came from the back of the Nestle Toll House chocolate chip package.  I was so nervous they wouldn't be the same that I avoided making them for the last 9 months since I went gluten free.

I finally made them last week though.  I decided to just follow the recipe like I always had while swapping the flour and hoping for the best.  Phew, they were still delicious.  Whether you need gluten free or just regular chocolate chip cookies, this recipe is so easy and really good. 

Anya's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies (i.e. Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies)
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (for gf I used 1 1/2 Bob's Red Mill and 3/4 rice flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (12 ounce) package Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions: 
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees 
2) Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl
3) Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large bowl
4) Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg
5) Gradually beat in flour mixture
6) Stir in chocolate chips
7) Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheet
8) Bake for 9 minutes (they say 9-11 minutes, I suggest 8-9 minutes to make them extra gooey)

Honestly, these cookies are amazing.  Go make them right now.