The 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

Whew! It's finally time to unveil my cookies for the 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

One of my recipients self-identified as gluten-free, so I needed to find a recipe was either already gluten-free, or could be altered to accommodate this allergy. Happily, cookies are quite forgiving when using alternate baking flours, and there are some pretty good commercial GF flours on the market now, so it is no longer strictly necessary to spend an entire paycheque on buying various bags of GF flours and playing mix-and-match.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, not at all!  In fact, I'll be doing some more research on making my own GF flour for any future commissions.

However, I felt it was important that this cookie recipe be as accessible as possible for anyone who wanted to recreate it, and so I went with a well-trusted GF flour that seems to be available in at least the large grocery stores and health food stores in the mid-to-major cities across North America.

I looked through a LOT of cookie recipes, both mine and others', to research ideas and techniques for an awesome cookie that would fit the bill. In fact, I developed a couple of different recipes before I decided that the recipe below was my favourite. I've made changes so it can be either GF or not, depending on your preference/needs; just sub out the gluten free flour 1:1 with all-purpose flour.

Gluten Free White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Cookies

Yield: about 36 small cookie, 24 medium cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 8 minutes

Note: all ingredients are presumed to be at room temperature

• 1¼ cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour)
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (Tahitian vanilla is best if you have it)
• ½ cup white chocolate chips
• ½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
• ½ cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped

Assemble your ingredients mise en place style.
Prepare two baking pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk GF flour, baking soda, and salt. 

With mixer at medium speed, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. 

 Reduce speed to low and stir in flour mixture until just combined. 

 With a wooden spoon, stir in white chocolate baking chips, cranberries and macadamia nuts. 

Chill dough in fridge, covered, for a minimum of 20 minutes. 

At this time, start the preheat of your oven to 375˚F.

Scoop teaspoon-sized quantities of chilled dough and gently roll into balls; place on prepared baking pans about 2” apart. Lightly press each dough ball down with the smooth, flat bottom of a clean glass that has been dipped in white sugar.

 Bake until golden around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans and switching them between the upper and lower oven racks halfway through baking. 

Remove and let cool on pans for a few minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely; store tightly covered. Keeps for 5-7 days.

These cookies tend to taste better the next day after baking. Like they'll last that long!

Good luck, and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this recipe, or any cool tips for gluten free baking!

Recipe and Tutorial: Gluten Free Coconut Macaroons with a Twist!

Several posts ago, I wrote about my experience making macarons, those delicate yet luscious whipped egg white and almond meal cookies sandwiched together with a rich filling.

These are not them.  This post is about coconut macaroons, which are rich, weighty, gluten-free morsels of coconut, egg whites and condensed milk. They are considered "cookies", but my opinion is that they're so sweet that they could also count as candy!

These coconut macaroons in particular are delicious (but then, I wouldn't usually post about something I made that *wasn't* delicious, now would I?). Until a friend and I made these, I hadn't thought of adding different ingredients to macaroons such as dried fruit; the "craziest" I had ever gotten was to drizzle melted chocolate over the finished product and call it a day.  Once I had these macaroons, however, I knew I had found a new favourite!

Tropical Coconut Macaroons

Original Source: Canadian Living
Yield: 50

• 2/3 cup (150 mL) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 egg white, room temperature
• 1 pinch salt
• 2-1/2 cups (625 mL) unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) each slivered candied pineapple and mango or papaya

Line rimless baking sheets with parchment paper or grease; set aside.

In bowl, whisk together condensed milk, egg white and salt. Add coconut, pineapple and mango; stir to coat evenly. Drop by rounded teaspoonful (5 mL) onto prepared pans.

Bake in centre of 325°F (160°C) oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden and no longer sticky to the touch. Let cool on pans on racks for 5 minutes. Transfer to racks; let cool. (Make-ahead: Layer between waxed paper in airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month.)

The variations with this recipe are only limited by your imagination and the availability of ingredients. Below are some suggestions, but feel free to try something else that tickles your fancy; just keep the ratios of the ingredients in mind, and substitute only "like" for "like".

• Tropical Coconut Macaroons with White Chocolate: Dip baked and cooled macaroons into melted white chocolate to coat bottom or half of each.
• Ginger Coconut Macaroons: Add 1/4 cup (50 mL) chopped crystallized ginger to batter.
• Apricot Coconut Macaroons: Substitute tropical dried fruits with 1 cup finely diced dried apricots
• Colourful Tropical Coconut Macaroons: Divide shredded coconut into three baggies; drop two drops of liquid food colouring into two of the baggies (red and yellow, for example), seal and shake until colour is evenly distributed throughout coconut. Recombine coconut and continue with recipe.
• Harvest Coconut Macaroons: Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg to recipe, and substitute slivered tropical fruit with 1 cup of a finely diced mixture of between two and four of the following: dried cranberries, dried blueberries, currants, raisins, dates, dried plums.
• Christmas Coconut Macaroons:  Substitute tropical fruit for 1/2 cup each slivered green pistachios and finely diced dried cranberries.
• Chocolate Lovers Coconut Macaroons: Substitute tropical fruit with 1/2 cup mini white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup mini dark chocolate chips. Add 1/4 tsp instant espresso to the mix (optional).
• Dulce de Leche Coconut Macaroons: Substitute dulce de leche for the condensed milk, omit the tropical fruit and add 1 more cup of unsweetened shredded coconut.