Gluten Free Ginger Molasses Cookies

Once again I have taken my favorite orange raisin cookie recipe and made some changes to come up with a totally new cookie. This ginger molasses cookie might be lacking gluten but it is certainly not lacking in flavor and sweetness!

This recipe is easy, it is relatively quick, it is gluten-free, egg-free and nut-free (and with a couple of simple substitutions it can also be dairy-free  and corn-free).

Gluten-free Ginger Molasses Cookies (20 small)

Ingredients:

100g gluten-free flour (my gluten-free flour is here) 

1/2 tsp baking powder (or corn-free substitute)

1/2 tsp xanthan gum (can be omitted but this makes cookies more crumbly)

50g cane sugar

1 Tblsp molasses

50g soft butter (or dairy free margarine)

1/2 - 1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger

1/4 tsp dried ginger

a pinch of salt

(a few drops of water if needed to make the dough stick together)

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, dried ginger, xanthan gum and salt. In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and molasses until well combined. It should resemble slightly wet brown sugar. Add the sugar to the flour mixture with the butter and fresh ginger. Rub all the ingredients together with your fingers until they are crumbly. 

Continue to use your fingers to mix just until a dough forms. Do not work it too much, simply combine. (You might have to do just a touch of water if you cannot get it to stick together at all).

Form the dough into a long, narrow log and cut it into 20 (more-or-less) equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Using your fingers or a fork, slightly flatten each cookie.


Bake in the middle of the oven for 13-15 minutes until nice and golden around the edges. Cool the cookies on a rack and store in an airtight container or freeze them. 


Enjoy!

My New Favorite Flourless Chocolate Chip Blondies

A friend of mine sent me a recipe for Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt from Ambitious Kitchen and I made them for dessert yesterday. I am in love!!

The recipe is grain-free and gluten free and it can be dairy free, corn free and egg free etc. but what it lacks in ingredients it makes up for in flavor, gooey-ness and deliciousness! And, it is actually pretty healthy too so I hope you give it a try :)

Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies

Ingredients
Cooking spray (or butter if not dairy free)
1 can (15oz) chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup all natural almond butter or other nut-butter (I used almond)

Creamy Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding

I came across a recipe for avocado chocolate pudding by Martha Stewart and, though extremely skeptical at first, I decided to give it a try. It was easy and quick and I have to say I was pleased by the end result. And yes it is dairy free but not calorie free :)

Here is my modified recipe:

Creamy (Dairy Free) Avocado Chocolate Pudding

1 serving

Ingredients:

1/2 large avocado, ripe

2 - 2 1/2 Tblsp light brown sugar

1/4 - 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 Tblsp unsweetened cocoa powder

sprinkle of sea salt

Jan 5th - The first phase of the challenge has come to an end

Even though we still technically have food left in the fridge, freezer and pantry I have decided to wrap up the challenge for this time.
I finally headed to the grocery last night and I will post about that later, but for now here are the details about the day yesterday:

Breakfast:
- oatmeal waffles (new batch made with flaxseed instead of egg)
- sun butter
- almond butter
- home-canned pear

Jan 4th - Meals prepared ahead of time is the way to go!

Today was a relatively "easy" food day because all our meals were in the fridge, more or less ready to just heat and serve. I have vowed to myself many a time to cook in bulk, freeze meals and be better prepared. And I will try again :) New year, new chance!

I would like to note that my husband was not there for neither breakfast nor lunch today, which made those meals stretch a bit further. 

Also, even though today's meals seem entirely devoid of vegetables I will note that the besides the soup being a veggie soup the meatballs have both mushrooms and carrots in them already. But do not worry, of course I will not keep our vegetable intake this low forever, but for now I am convinced we will be A-OK :) 

Jan 3rd - Still Cookin'

3rd day of the food clear-out challenge......our meals are definitely taking on some character but we are not starving :P 

As I am preparing meals and all 5 of us are eating I am amazed at the amount of food we still have. I am thinking I might stretch it past Monday.....we will see, as there is a limit to the amount of beans we can eat in a row.

Breakfast: 

- Oatmeal Waffles that were pre-made and in the fridge

- Sunbutter

- boiled apple

Norwegian Sweet Rolls (Boller)

Ok, so time and time again I have tried to make these traditional Norwegian sweet rolls and most of the time they have turned out rather blah. But, this recipe might be the key to success....at least this last batch was fluffy and soft and perfect in my opinion! They are not overly sweet, but they are not meant to be savory dinner rolls either. 

And sorry, but the measurements are metric....

Boller

Ingredients:

500g all purpose flour (plus a little extra if dough is too wet)
100g sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
100g salted butter, a little soft
3 1/4 dl milk (2% or whole)
6 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Banana Bread

This banana bread recipe is one of my all time favorites! 

Most of the time I make mine in muffin tins but a loaf pan is also great. The original recipe is from a beautiful blog called Attic24; however, as with most of my cooking, I have made a couple of substitutions in order to make it more allergy friendly.

I will give you the original recipe first and then the tweaked one after.

Banana Bread (or Muffins) - Original 
100g soft butter/margarine
175g light brown sugar
2 ripe bananas
2 eggs
225 g flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
50g chopped walnuts (optional)
2 Tblsp milk (only if adding nuts)

Brownies with fudge icing

This brownie recipe came about because I got a craving for donuts....logical right? Well, I really wanted donuts but was not about to start a hunt for some dairy free ones at the store because I knew I most likely would come up short and be disappointed. Therefore I searched for a dairy free donut recipe in order to try to make some. Well, I do not have a fryer so I modified my search for the baked kind and I came across a recipe on brooklynfarmgirl.com which seemed very promising.

I made a couple of modifications and decided to try to bake them in a brownie pan since I do not have a donut pan anyhow. Despite them not having any resemblance to a donut they turned out a success if I may say so myself.

They are a cake-like, not fudge-like, allergy friendly and very good brownies! They are quick and easy and they are dairy free, corn free, egg free, nut free and salicylate safe. They could probably also be chocolate free if you use carob powder, and gluten free if you substitute the regular flour for gluten free. And even though they are free of a lot they are full of chocolaty flavor and they were a hit with both kids and adults at our house.

Valentine's Day Treats

My daughter has been in preschool for a whole 5 months or so and I feel like there is always something "special" going on. A special craft, a special program, a special snack, a special lunch and so forth an so on. As a mom of a child with allergies these special events turn into a bit of a production for me since I do want to try to provide a very similar, allergy-friendly alternative for my daughter. To be honest, I would be quite ok if there were less "special" things and more of the "normal" things. 

Anyhow, to recap some of the events we have had in these 5 short months...there are of course all the birthdays with a special birthday snack. Then there was the hot-dog lunch, the Christmas party (which I still intend to post about later on), and father's night. All of these required a special meal or snack or treat. Oh and not to forget the firetruck craft and the gingerbread decorating. The firetruck was made from graham crackers, oreos and pink icing. Thankfully there are allergy-friendly alternatives to both grahams and oreos and beet juice makes icing pink, so after a get-your-kids-piled-in-the-car-and-run-into-the-specialty-grocery-store-with-all-three-in-tow-BEFORE-school-starts-in-the-morning scramble we did manage to make it happen on short notice. And as far as gingerbread goes, mamma can stay up and make dough the night before, sure thing! 

Texas Sheet Cake

If you do a search for Texas Sheet Cake there are a lot of different recipes that come up. This one, from Southern Living’s Best Ever Cakes and Pies Magazine, is my favorite. It is moist and chocolaty and just the way a chocolate sheet cake should be.

Texas Sheet Cake with Fudge Frosting

Make the frosting before taking the cake out of the oven, and spread it on the warm cake.

Sheet Cake Ingredients:

2 cups sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 (8oz) container sour cream