Sugar Cookies: gf, df, vegan

A good sugar cookie is hard to come by. You know the kind… Chewy  with a crunchy edge. Mmmmm.

It’s nearly impossible if you’re gluten free, dairy free, and egg free. I will tell you right now, that these sugar cookies are perfection. They fool even the “normal” cookie eating folk. My hubby will eat at least 5 straight out of the oven… I won’t tell you how many I devour. I also won’t tell you how many times I’ve made these beauties in the past few months. It’s shameful.

I adapted this recipe out of my Better Homes & Garden cookbook. It is actually supposed to be a recipe for snickerdoodles, so if you prefer cinnamon to sugar- roll these bad boys in a cinnamon sugar mix before you bake them (and add 1/4 tspn of cream of tartar to the dry ingredients).  I’ve done them both ways.

I almost forgot: I did not make these vegan because I used regular sugar, which is not vegan. If you are so inclined, use vegan sugar!

Sugar Cookies:
whatcha need
Preheat the oven to 350 F

1/2 c butter (dairy free), softened
1 c sugar
1/4 c applesauce
1/2 tspn vanilla
3/4 c asian rice flour
1/2 c brown rice flour
1/4 c sweet rice flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn xanthan gum or guar gum

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together your dry ingredients. Set aside.

Using a handheld mixer, beat your (dairy free) butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. I used df/sf butter (me +soy=blah).

Scrape down the sides of your bowl and beat in your applesauce and vanilla.

Once again, scrape down the sides of your bowl. Carefully dump your dry ingredients into your wet. Mix well until everything is incorporated. I chill my dough into the fridge for about 30 minutes.

On a parchment lined baking sheet, scoop dough and roll into balls (I just use a cookie dough scoop- a little less than 2 TB- and don’t worry about rolling them) about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten the tops a little and put them in the oven for 10-12 minutes. You want them to look lightly browned and not gooey.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle with sugar or sprinkles. Let them sit for 3 minutes on the baking sheet. Using a nice spatula (I use stainless steel) put them on a baking rack to cool. If you don’t have self control (raises hand…) try one when they’re still warm and gooey. Otherwise you can wait for them to cool.

If these last more than a day, I store them in Tupperware at room temperature. This has only happened once. 🙂

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was having friends over to work on our first big masters program project and wanted to make some delicious, homemade chocolate chip cookies. It’s a comfort food. To avoid working. Right? Okay, maybe not. The work is done and the cookies were demolished. Mission accomplished.

Whatcha Need:

Preheat oven to 350

½ c tapioca flour
1 ½ c Bob’s Red Mill all purpose gluten free baking mix
1 tspn baking powder
¾ teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons xanthan gum
¾  tspn salt
1 ¼ stick butter, softened
2/3  c brown sugar
½  c white sugar
1 large egg
1 tspn vanilla
1 c chocolate chips/chunks

In a bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter and both sugars together for about 2 minutes. I used my hand-held mixer. Mix in the egg until it is combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in the vanilla.

Gradually mix in the flour mixture, starting with adding only a third of the flour mixture. Mix until combined and add another third. Scrape the sides of the bowl and then mix in the last third of the flour.

Stir in the chocolate chips/chunks. (I used about 1 cup of Ghirardelli Semi-Sweet chips and chopped up a little chunk of a bittersweet chocolate bar I wanted to use up)

I put my dough into the fridge for about 30 minutes (so the cookies would still be warm when company showed up). This is optional. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and scoop whatever sized dough balls you like onto the paper about 2 inches apart. These bad boys expand. Bake for 12-15 minutes (it varied for each batch).

I think this recipe made between 24 and 30 cookies. (I’m not sure because my friend scarfed a handful down before I was able to count).