Cranberry Almond Flour Cookies

Why did I decide to bake today? I was so humid you couldn't even take a deep breath. It was just one of those days I wanted to be in the kitchen. This is what I decided to do on my break from working. This is the second set of cookies. The first set are below, the rice flour cookies. These were really good too. Just not on a day like today. The top cookie has sparkling sugar and the bottom does not.

1 cup almond flour

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

1/4 cup melted butter (I use Smart Balance)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cut almond cranberry mix

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Mix everything together and drop 2 tablespoons of the mixture on an aluminum disposable tray or parchment lined cookie sheet. Flatten out the cookies a little because they will not spread out on their own. If you would like, sprinkle some sparkling sugar or regular white sugar on top of the cookies before baking.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until brown.

Rice flour cookies...

Who would have thought? I had some white rice flour just sitting around. The reason I got it was to make gravy, which happened once or twice. I was trying to think of something to do with it. Well, I really do enjoy warm cookies, so I started playing around and came up with this. A rice flour based cookie. Not only is it a rice flour based cookie, it's a maple syrup, cinnamon, walnut, rice flour cookie and it came out fantastic! Next to Betty Crocker's GF Chocolate Chip Cookies, this may be the runner up for me. I am not even sure if anybody is even reading this, but just in case someone is and you would like to try it, I have the recipe below. Thank you if you are reading this.

1 cup white rice flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 egg

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon maple syrup

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts

extra maple syrup for the top of the cookies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Mix all the flour, baking powder, brown sugar, and cinnamon together. Then add the egg, vanilla extract and maple syrup. Mix well then add the walnuts. Let stand a couple minutes to firm up a little before placing on a baking sheet.

Evenly distribute about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the mixture on parchment paper. I did not grease mine. After you evenly distribute the cookies, if you would like, add 1/4 teaspoon or more on top of each cookie before baking.

Bake for about 20-25 minutes until light golden brown.

I hope you enjoy this recipe if you try it. I was pleasantly surprised.

Strawberry Shortcake

This is the first time I had strawberry shortcake in over two years. I got a little impatient waiting for the cake to cool so some of the icing melted a little bit. It really did taste like strawberry shortcake.

Today's experiment

Chicken, broccoli, and squash baked with gluten free cream of chicken soup. This came out very good for a first try.

This is chicken and saffroncooked with in rice with some of the left over gluten free cream of chicken soup. I split the chicken in half and put a piece of chesse wrapped in salami in the middle. My only complaint about this dish is that I over cooked the rice a little bit.

Onion rolls and sesame bread

My day of baking yesterday. I made onion rolls and sesame seed bread. No too bad. The onion bread came out better. It still does taste like gluten free bread, but not the worst I have had.

What was for dinner tonight

Steak and cheese fries. I did not take a picture of the cheese fries, but they were very good!

New to blogging

This is my very first blog and blog entry. I am here because I love to talk about food. I love to cook and would be in the kitchen all day if I could. When I found out I could not have gluten I pretty much gave up food. When I gave up food, I gave up cooking. I did not know how to cook gluten free. After several months I wanted to start cooking. I missed it. I am now making and experimenting like I never have before. For the most part, it is turning out good. I thought becoming gluten free was some kind of a punishment; especially because I love, love, love to eat and eat unhealthy. I have come to realize being gluten free has challenged my way of thinking about food and my approach to it. On most days it is a blessing in disguise.

So here I am now, a little over two years gluten free. I hope you enjoy my blog and what I have to contribute to it. Thank you for reading.