Monday, May 24, 2010

Fresh from the oven - Honey Flax Bread & Chocolate Chip Cookies

Honey Flax Bread
by Raechel Medina

makes 2 9x5 loaves
6 c. brown rice flour
1 c. sorghum flour
1/2 c. flaxmeal
4 tsp. xanthan gum
1 Tbsp. salt
4 1/2 tsp. yeast
6 Tbsp. honey
3 1/2 c. warm water
6 eggs
1/2 c. canola oil
2 tsp. vinegar

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Add all wet ingredients.  Beat on medium for about 8 minutes. While the mixer runs, grease two 9x5-inch bread pans and set aside. Scrape batter into pans and smooth the top.  Let rise in a warm place for about one hour. Bake in a pre-heated, 375 degrees for 65 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately take loaves out of pans and let cool on a wire rack.




Chocolate Chip Cookies

William's Snickerdoodles
I wish I knew who to give credit to for this recipe, but I found it online a few years ago and don't have the source. ~Raechel (whose notes, by the way, are in red)
 
(can also be made as sugar cookies, and other variations -see notes at bottom)

These cookies are wheat/gluten, milk/casein, soy, and egg free. They also taste just like traditional Snickerdoodles. No...better! The ingredients may be a bit pricey, but they are so worth it to provide your allergic child with yummy cookies. Most of the ingredients, like xanthan gum, you only use tiny portions of, so they last through lots of bakings. I'll often make a double batch and freeze half the dough for later baking.  I've also made the chocolate chip version egg-free and rolled the dough into little balls, frozen and added them to ice cream as I'm making it for my very own chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.  YUM!

1 2/3 cup white rice flour
1/4 + 2 Tablespoons potato starch (not potato flour!)
3/4 cup sweet rice flour
2 teaspoons xanthan gum (don't omit this, it helps bind ingredients)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2-3 eggs (depending on size of them. If small, use 3, if jumbo, use 2).
OR For egg free recipe, use 3 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer mixed with 4 Tablespoons warm water, then whisked briefly till slightly foamy.
1 cup ghee or other shortening/margarine (I use Spectrum shortening, which is soy free)
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 Tablespoons plain rice or potato milk (I use plain water instead)
6 Tablespoons sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon (stir together to make cinnamon sugar)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Stir the first eight dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream margarine and sugar together till well mixed (using an electric mixer makes this easy.) Add vanilla, milk, and eggs or egg replacer, blend well. Add flour gradually. Make large marble or small golf ball sized balls of dough, roll in cinnamon sugar. Put on greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly with fingers. Bake for 8-10 mins. till bottoms of cookies are golden brown. Enjoy!

The possibilities for this recipe are endless. Leave off the cinnamon sugar, and you have a basic sugar cookie recipe. The dough can be rolled out (coat your fingers with non-stick cooking spray and your counter and rolling pin with a little white rice flour) and cut with cookie cutters. Then make a simple confectioner's sugar and rice milk icing to decorate. Just stir together several tablespoons confectioner's sugar with maybe a half teaspoon of rice milk. You can adjust for thickness. A paste or thick syrup texture are best. Use food coloring if desired.

For lemon cookies, replace the vanilla with lemon flavoring. Make sure it's gluten free if following the gf/cf diet. Frontier makes gluten free lemon flavoring.

For chocolate chip cookies, decrease sugar to 3/4 cup, and add 3/4 cup brown sugar. Stir in a 12 oz. bag of gf/cf chocolate chips (Enjoy Life brand are gluten-, dairy- and soy-free) at the end.

For healthier cookies, add calcium powder (and a touch more rice milk if using more than about 2 Tablespoons calcium). Also brown rice flour can be substituted for the white rice flour to make a heartier cookie with more nutrients.

Add your favorite dry add-ins, like raisins, craisins, nuts. Or leave a little hollow with a spoon on top of each cookie and put a dollop of jam just before baking.

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