Mock Oreo Cookies

I haven't made these in awhile, but someone was asking me for the recipe the other day, so I thought I'd share.

Mock Oreo Cookies
from 'The Gluten-Free Gourmet Makes Dessert' by Bette Hagman


DOUGH:
2 1/4 c. Featherlight Mix 1 egg
1 scant tsp xanthan gum 1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp Egg Replacer 1-2 Tbsp milk or nondairy substitute (*3 Tbsp hemp milk)
2/3 c cocoa
1 tsp baking powder 

FILLING:
1 tsp baking soda 2 c. confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp salt 3 Tbsp shortening
3/4 c. margarine (*shortening) 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 c. sugar 2 Tbsp hot water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour mix, xanthan gum, Egg Replacer, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of your mixer, cream the margarine and sugar until light. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients in 3 additions. If the dough becomes too stiff, add the milk as needed. Shape the dough into two 10: x 1 1/2" rolls. Wrap in foil and chill. Cut into 1/8" slices and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes. (*I had better luck rolling the dough out and using a small cookie cutter.) Let cool for only a few minutes before removing from the cookie sheet. Cool thoroughly on a rack.

For the filling, combine the confectioners' sugar, shortening, vanilla, and hot water (use enough to create a good spreading texture). (*I made it quite thick, so it could be rolled into little balls and flattened onto the cookie.)

Makes about 45 filled cookies.

*notes added by Raechel Medina

What's for dinner? Tacos al pastor

Tacos al Pastor

My husband was the cook the other night and surprised us with this wonderful dish, which I had never had before.  The picture does not do it justice!  It was deliciously spicy and the pineapple added a nice dimension to it. He used the Epicurious recipe (above), other than the chipotle chiles with adobo sauce - since adobo sauce has gluten (at least the ones I can get here), he opted to use re-hydrated morita chiles, an amazingly fragrant, smoky chile.

Along with the pork and pineapple, we had Mexican rice, fresh-made corn tortillas, re-fried beans, guacamole and an assortment of salsas (which I really should have taken pictures of).

More school lunches

A few more lunch ideas...

Crisp taco with Daiya cheese, lettuce and fresh salsa; beans, Mexican rice and taco meat in the thermos.  Fresh pineapple wedges, red grapes, cherry tomatoes

Egg salad sandwich on Honey-Flax bread, chocolate chip granola bites (from anotherlunch.com), cucumbers, cherry tomatoes and a strawberry-pineapple smoothie.  I made the smoothies the night before and froze them; tucked them into the lunch bags in the morning - boys said they were still cold and a decent consistency at lunch time.

Quesadillas made with homemade corn tortillas and Daiya cheese, fresh guacamole, chocolate chip granola bites, walnuts & raisins, and a checkered apple (another wonderful idea from anotherlunch.com -thank you! - the boys got a kick out of it).

Nothing too fancy this morning, as we didn't plan ahead.  Peanut butter sandwiches with raspberry jam, mixed grapes, Pulparindo (tamarind fruit leather dusted with chili), and homemade chocolate pudding (yum!).



Chocolate Pudding
3 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. cocoa powder
2 Tbsp. canola oil (I'm guessing this may be optional, but I haven't tried it without yet)
2 c. milk substitute (currently I'm using homemade cashew milk)
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the dry ingredients together with 1/4 c. "milk".  Heat the remaining "milk", then slowly whisk in the cornstarch mixture, stirring constantly. Add oil. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly, in a heavy-bottomed pan over moderately low heat.  Continue to cook for about 15 minutes so that the raw cornstarch taste disappears.  Let cool, then whisk in the vanilla.  Store in refrigerator.

Vanilla Pudding variation:
Reduce sugar to 4 Tbsp and leave out cocoa and oil from above recipe.

 

School Lunches, 1 & 2

I actually got this week's school lunches pre-planned, with help from the boys, so the lunch-packing has gone off without a hitch.  First day of school was mini meatballs, rice, waldorf salad and mini chocolate chip cookies.  Here's the at-home version (with tomatoes added) - the ones that went to school had the rice and meatballs packed into thermoses.

Today, Day 2's lunch was pizza pockets, green salad with vinaigrette dressing and ice tea.  The pizza pockets are filled with basil & sun dried tomato chicken sausage, mushrooms, pizza sauce and Daiya mozzarella cheese.  Vinaigrette dressing is olive oil, pomegranate-infused red wine vinegar, honey, salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.

Pizza Pockets

Using a double batch of Bette Hagman's Featherlight Biscuit dough, add a little extra flour mix to make a workable dough.  Split into five pieces and roll/press each out between two sheets of plastic wrap. Take top plastic off and spread pizza sauce over half of the circle of dough, staying back from the edges by about 1/2".  Add the rest of your toppings to the same side of the dough, being careful not to add too much.  Fold the plain half over the fillings and press edges together.  Remove from plastic wrap and place on baking sheet (I use a Silpat mat on mine so I don't get a baked on mess if they ooze).  Bake in a pre-heated 450 degree oven for about 15 minutes.  Remove and serve, or, to pack for lunches, let cool before packing so they aren't soggy.  These freeze very well after they're baked, too - I re-heated ours in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes (already thawed).

Featherlight Biscuits

from Bette Hagman's 'The Gluten-free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods'

7/8 c. Featherlight Mix

1/2 tsp. xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

3 Tbsp shortening

1/2 c. buttermilk (*I use water with a tad bit of vinegar added)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt.  Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in the buttermilk and work gently until the dough forms a ball.

Turn out onto a surface dusted with sweet rice flour and pat or lightly roll to 3/4" thickness.  Cut the dough into 2 1/2" squares or form round biscuits using a 2 1/2" round cutter.  Place 1" apart on ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Makes 8 biscuits.

And we're back

to school!  First day went well - Yay!  I'd forgotten how quiet the house is with only one child here!

I got the idea a few days ago to make cloth placemats and napkins for the boys' lunches. (Place mats so they have a safe/clean spot to eat at, and napkins since I'm striving toward the goal of a zero-waste lunch.) So, we perused the fabric store - they each chose one print for their place mats and they both liked the same print for the napkins.

The red swirls and the planetary motif are the place mats - 3 of each design (they measure about 13" x 10").  The skulls are the napkins - there are 4 of them (which are about 9" x 8").  All I did was cut them to size and zig-zagged around all sides.  Today I made 5 more napkins (10"x10") - two in plain blue, two in plain red and one half green/half little frogs.