Gluten Free Product Review Thursday

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The Virtual Cookie Exchange was a smashing success.  I have recipes squirting out of my ears.   Of course some of them will have to be re-worked to make them gluten free, so you will see them at a later date on this blog. 

So I am off today to bake Christmas cookies with my daughter and granddaughter.  My granddaughter is 2 1/2 and at the age where she loves to bake with Granny (that’s me)

This is a picture of Eilidh, helping me with a recipe for a  Gluten Free pumpkin roll that I was working on for my Holiday Cookbook, the day after Thanksgiving.  (Just in case you’re wondering, Eilidh was born in Scotland.  Her name is Scottish Gaelic and pronounced (Long A-Lee.)  I love cooking and baking, and doing both with my granddaughters just makes it more fun.  Today we are not making a gluten free cookie because these are for my daughters’ cookie exchange at work.

We tried a cookie from the cookie exchange.  They were Russian Tea Balls, from Kathie at The Creation of Possum Manor.  This was the first time I had ever made these kind of cookies.  They turned out really well and according to my daughter tasted really good.

As I mentioned in my blog on Monday, I want to make my blog fun as well as informative, so starting in January Thursdays will be Product Review Thursday.  Since I babbled away today about baking cookies with my girls, I will be reviewing a Gluten Free Hamburger Helper type product tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

The Virtual Cookie Exchange

My friend, Susanne Myers, The Hillbilly Housewife, is hosting a virtual cookie exchange.  The following cookie recipe is my contribution.  I hope that you enjoy them.

                                        Gluten Free Mock Thin Mints

1 Cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1/2 Cup Unsweetened cocoa powder + some extra for dusting
1/4 teaspoon Rumsford Baking Powder
6 Tablespoons butter softened to room temperature
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Large Egg
1/2 teaspoon gluten free Vanilla extract

Sift together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter & sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer.  While still mixing add in the egg and vanilla.  Set mixer on low speed and slowly add flour mixture,  so as not to have it pouf out at you.  Mix on medium high speed until all ingredients are incorporated.

Dough will be very soft so cover bowl with plastic wrap and refriderate at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  With a teaspoon,  scoop up a teaspoon size piece of dough and roll in your hands to form a ball.  Place on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart.   

Dip the bottom of a glass into the extra cocoa powder and flatten dough balls into 1 1/2″ rounds (about 1/4″ thick).

Bake 8 to 10 minutes, until slightly firm to the touch, rotating cookie sheets half way through baking time.

Transfer cookies immediately to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

Replace parchment paper on cookie sheets.

                                  Chocolate Coating for Cookies

One – 12 ounce bag semi sweet morsels
1/2 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
1 Tablespoon sweetened condensed milk
1/8 teaspoon salt

In a double boiler or a heat proof bowl,  set over (not in) a pan of simmering water, combine the chocolate morsels, peppermint extract, salt, and the sweetened condensed milk .  Heat,  stirring occasionally until smooth.

When cookies are completely cool, hold each cookie with a finger and thumb and frost with chocolate mixture.  I use the tines of a fork instead of a knife, so as not to get too much chocolate on each cookie.  Coat both top and bottom.  Place frosted cookie on parchment covered cookie sheet and repeat until all cookies are coated.

Place in refrigerator until chocolate has hardened, at least 1 hour.

Cookies can be refrigerated up to 5 days in an air tight container between layers of parchment paper.I hope you enjoy these cookies and all the others that you will find at the Virtual Cookie Exchange.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free

Gluten Free Menu Monday

I thought that I would start blogging more frequently, but I didn’t know just what I would be blogging about. 

Those of you that know me personally, know that I rarely run out of things to say, but I want my blog to be informative and fun.  So I decided that I would have a couple of theme days every week and encourage you to join in.

This will start in full after the holidays.  If you’re like me right now, the holidays aren’t just creeping up on you, they are flying at you with the speed of a freight train.  I can’t believe Christmas is just 10 days away.  I still have shopping to do.  

I have baking to do also.  Because we had a night of freezing rain Saturday night into Sunday morning, church services were cancelled, interstate 376, commonly called here in Pittsburgh, The Parkway, was closed.  That hasn’t happened since the snow storm of 1993. 

 So I thought it would be a perfect day to do some  baking. I made Gluten Free Mock Thin Mints.  If you have a Girl Scout in the family, then you know what Thin Mint cookies are.  I think that was one of the things I missed most after going gluten free.

I will be posting the recipe here later today.  The reason I will be posting later is because my friend Susanne Myers, The Hillbilly Housewife came up with a great idea. 

Since alot of us are work at home moms, she came up with the idea to have a Virtual Cookie Exchange.  So if you are looking for some great cookie recipes check out the Virtual Cookie Exchange.  I think this will be alot of fun.

Feel free to post your favorite cookie recipes in the comments section below.  I look forward to a lot of great recipes.

Also, if you would like some more information on Celiac Disease, be sure to check out my Squidoo Lens.

Mary Blackburn

Living Gluten Free