cookie link (& love)

Kim here again.  Guest posting, uninvited, on my sister's blog.  (Watch out, Kate! Although I just started out with the occasional comment and random 'like' on Patrick's Facebook, well, you can see where gradual beginnings got me . . . Just so you know, I never intended to take over.)

My husband, Patrick, doesn't really bake. He's great on the stove top, can roast a bird, and like many men before him, is a grilling master. You can imagine my surprise then, when he executed these gluten free, corn free, dairy free, and egg free chocolate chip cookies.

Here's the link to his recipe:

  Chocolate Chip Cookies 

Patrick's g.f. flour blend, based on ingredients available to us here locally, is 1/2 cup potato starch, 1/2 cup buckwheat flour, and 1&1/4 cups white rice flour.

 
This is our gluten free, corn free, dairy free, and egg free daughter Keturah awaiting her made-especially-by-daddy cookies.  Keturah has big issues with milk, but no reaction at all to butter, so at this point we have no need to find a butter replacement in our kitchen.  (Yay!)

 

Are these masterfully baked cookies not one beautiful representation of the love of a daddy for his daughter?

Patrick scored double on this labor of love, though, because his g.f. wife not only appreciates the lengths gone to for our second-born, but for me as well.

 

You'll have to head on over to my blog to read that version of cookie-love, though.

a bit of cookbook love... Artisanal Gluten Free Cupcakes

My number one cookbook Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking now has a bff, the kind of friend that likes to stay in on a Friday night and make sweet treats that make you feel like it's a special occasion- even when it's not. A friend that will skip one of the biggest festivals of the year in Telluride then tell you that your baked goods are wonderful (thanks Dave).
Artisanal Gluten Free Cooking now shares my cookbook stand with Artisanal Gluten Free Cupcakes which are both by Peter and Kelli Bronski. Team Bronski developed my favorite flour blend which I rock in 24 cup batches (tightly covered and stored in my fridge) which I tend to fly through during my baking extravaganzas.
Dave even ventured out of the baked goods section of AGFC and made the Lime Cilantro Chicken last week for dinner.

He made the marinate the night before and let the chicken swim for 24 hours then after bit of time on the grill and a pairing with little green trees and our gabo gato and it was confirmed- the Bronski's are not just good bakers but great chef's as well. (and Dave is good at following directions)

They've also converted to the popular "bake by weight" method. I ordered a scale last week and it came in handy for both this baking venture but even more so for measuring out my latest batch of AGF Flour. I've never mixed 24 cups up so quickly. The scale was so much fun to bake with and blend flour with.  Good thing as I was excited to measure out 403 grams for my first batch. Kellie and Peter even though ahead and added altitude adjustments for those of us living at 9,000 feet, that's the bonus of cook book authors who also used to live at altitude.

 My first venture was the Snickerdoodle cupcakes. Dave and I both love the Bronski's cookie version and thought the cupcake would be fun. My kitchen aid whirred into action as I mixed the wet then combined with the dry. The batter was fluffy and I spooned it into the cupcake tins, put into the preheated oven and forgot to set the timer... disaster on my first batch didn't sit well with me or my sweet tooth but thankfully I recalled the fuzzy photo I had taken as I put them in the oven. I took a quick shot to gauge the camera clock then set a timer. They were a touch overdone but a cupcake fiasco had been adverted thanks to my Nikon.

These cupcakes were WINNERS among my gluten eating friends that enjoyed them the next day. Dave wanted to try vanilla frosting but since I wielded the knife I grabbed a can of chocolate (yes, Betty helps me cheat and save a few steps.) Dave and I had even cheated and each ate a warm cupcake with frosting and the cinnamon flavor made me feel like I was eating a happy memory.
These snickerdoodles were a great start to a beautiful friendship. I'm looking forward to making friends with the mojito, strawberry and mocha cupcakes as well. It's a simple and straightfoward book that agrees with my baking style and uses my favorite flour blend. 
I was feeling such a rush after a few cupcakes that I didn't let my good times stop there... I pulled out AGFC and flipped to the cookie page and whirled the kitchen aid back up and made up a batch of...

Chocolate Chip cookies. It was as bad as "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" but thankfully I cleaned up the kitchen a flopped into bed so I could wake up to this the next day...

what is this "saturday" you speak of? I'm ready for my walk now.

Mayhem and his more reserved old brother Chaos have been on morning wake up duty each day at 7am. We're back in summer mode with a daily walk on the trails behind our condo. The boys love this and hate to miss it- especially for something as trivial as a Saturday.

Chaos's Gluten Free Cookies

Today I took a break from baking for humans and made some cookies for Chaos and Mayhem. It's not the first time I've made them but it's been a while and it was my first time making them gluten free. We've banned gluten flour from the house as it gives me a migraine to bake with it and Dave isn't much of a baker.
I'd love to give credit but the recipe has been in my book since at least 2006 and I have no idea where it came from. We've dubbed them Chaos Cookies and they were very well received by a tough panel of judges, Chaos, Mayhem and their friend Stella.

Chaos's Gluten Free Dog Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup flour (I used my old batch of Gluten Free Featherlight)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup milk
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix Flour and baking powder then add peanut butter and milk. Combine then roll out on floured surface to 1/4" thickness. Cut out your pups favorite shapes or keep it simple. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. Cool before serving to your pup! Keeps best in fridge or freezer.

I've found that a simple shape makes for the best cookie cutter. We had a skinnier dog bone cookie cutter but found that the bones broke easily. I also made some triangles for smaller treats for toy stuffing.

 The judges all agreed- they loved the peanut butter flavor and the smells that came out of the kitchen. They couldn't even tell that the cookies were gluten free.

cookies and holiday madness

As the holidays approach I'm working on perfecting my cookie skills. I've been playing with some new recipes, mixes and flours.  I wish I could say I've been so busy baking that I haven't had time to post but that would be such a fractional truth. I've also been busy knitting hats, working, dealing with change, skiing, enjoying happy hour, watching world cup snowboardcross races, working too many days in a row, grey's anatomy and many reruns of,  waking up to happy puppies, testing out new gluten free offerings at Telluride Ski Resort, skiing, playing with the puppy monsters... you get the idea. If I could I'd narrow this list down to playing with the dogs, baking, knitting while watching grey's anatomy and skiing but I have other obligations in life as well. It's sad, even the camera doesn't reflect half of the things we've been up to since the mountain opened on Thanksgiving. 

I've long since given up on being able to send holiday cards. I realize that the compressed season of the ski industry and the vast amount of work to be done in the short time between pumpkin carving and Christmas trees barely allows time for posting and puppies, let alone a night of holiday cards. 

I also made the best apple pie ever for turkey day... I was inspired by a pie on the cover of Yankee Magazine and did a snowflake crust for our holiday celebration. 

The winner of all my baking has been the snickerdoodles from the Bronski's cookbook Artisanal Gluten-Free Cooking. I'm a big fan of their flour blend and their book seems to be my go-to for everything from pizza dough to pie crust to cookies. I've also started flirting with dairy and ultimately cheating and went back to real  butter for baking. I've got to be careful with how much I consume but have found that it makes things much prettier and the taste is much better as well. Yes, I cheated for a prettier pie crust and cookies that wow people.

mixing almond flour with the wet stuff

almond flour cookies

cherrybrook sugar cookie mix

mixing snickerdoodles

the cookie dough scoop makes things so pretty

snickerdoodles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the best part about coming home again...

From think outside the breadbox

Was these cookies waiting for me on my doorstep! I'm a member of the Liz Lovely fan club and when they had a free shipping promotion I couldn't resisit and ordered a mixed case of cookies. My friend Carol found these for me when I visited her on my trip through the East Coast. Carol and the cookies are both Vermonters and wonderful.

Ok, it was also nice coming home to dave and these furry monsters too...

From Chaos & Mayhem

off season?

Life in a ski town is funny. The year has a different flow and feel to it. Telluride is no exception to this and right now we're in an off season phase. Winter has ended and the ski resort has commenced operations for the season. Mother Nature didn't get the memo and it's been colder this week and we've had more snow. School has let out for two weeks and the entire pace of town has slowed dramatically... except at work. We've been busy tying things up and getting ready for summer. Most ski towns have slow summers.... here we have a festival almost every weekend starting with Mountainfilm on Memorial Day.
I made a huge batch of gluten-free Tollhouse Cookies last weekend to help celebrate the end of ski season and just subbed GF Artisan flour and 1 teaspoon xanthum gum for wheat flour.

They were great but it's the second time I've made them and they tend to spread quite a bit.

They're already gone and now I need to come up with a few other snack ideas for our upcoming trip out of town. We're taking Chaos and Mayhem to Summit County so that Mayhem can meet their human cousins and their good doggie friends. We're looking forward to a bit of time away. Our last trip was a 23 hour whirwind in a snowstorm. I'm hoping for some sunny skies this time around!

lobster night

I am a native Mainer that does not like any type of seafood. I can't stand fish, clams or crustaceans. I even tried a small bite about two years ago. I was at Beaver Creek and everyone was raving about the fish that "didn't taste fishy", I tried a small bite and was overwhelmed by the fish flavor. (yuck) I do appreciate how much others love the stuff and our crew was lucky enough to enjoy a feast of it.
Our buddy Big Dave moved out here with us and comes from a fishing family. He used to spend his summers clamming before moving to Colorado. His family over at The Clam Hunter just outside of Bath, Maine shipped him out a dozen lobsters and a ton of clams for the holidays and he had some folks over on New Year's Day for a lobster bake. The crew devoured the feast, while I can't stand seafood I do enjoy time with friends and quickly made Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cookies and some Cherrybrook Gluten Free Brownies for the New Year's Day lobster bake and the gluten eaters all enjoyed them. They managed to make room in their seafood filled stomach to first sample then demolish the gluten free treats.

betty's gluten free cookies

I miss a good cookie... Bob's Red Mill does a nice mix but the cookies have a crumbly texture and taste almost good for you. Betty's came out a little crumbly but had more of a cookie flavor.

I would definitely purchase Betty's Gluten Free Cookie mix again but may try baking gf cookies from scratch next time. Out of the three Betty Mixes I found at my local foodstore the yellow cake was my favorite followed by the brownies then the cookies. Cheers to Betty on a job well done for all the mixes!

things to love about food shopping....

while traveling back east I ventured into many food stores. Part of this was need and part was a desire to see what different areas would have to offer me. I was amazed at the GF selection in Bangor, Maine and planned on some serious stock up trips to Portland if I move back to Sugarloaf since the Hannaford in Farmington left a lot to be desired!

I have to say after visiting over a dozen grocery stores that I have it pretty good. Although I live in Telluride I do most of my food shopping in Montrose, which is a larger city about an hour away. (Telluride is a resort town and can be expensive.) My City Market in Montrose has a good variety of GF and wheat free products and I've been able to try many of them.

I became obsessed with Whole Foods on my trip and am now living 6 hours from the closest store so I have to enjoy the things I can find...and make my own fruit packs of red berries and fresh pineapple for breakfast. I've been working on my hummus recopies for summer gatherings and baking wheat free whoopie pies for birthdays.

This summer I should be able to find some more products to test.... Betty Crocker is going GF! That's right... my former birthday cake mixes can once again grace my pantry. Plus this fall they plan on labeling all the frosting as Gluten Free as well. I can only hope these hit shelves before my birthday this summer... perhaps they will be a bit more moist then some other GF brands....

Plus Chex Cereal is certifying more flavors as GF! I never realized that they had a strawberry chex cereal and now I have big plans for it... i believe it will lend itself to really good rice crispy treat substitutions.

One of the best products I found in my east coast travels were Liz Lovely Cookies that Carol found for me. They are made in Vermont are vegan and GF! One cookie makes a great snack for two or provide all day snacking for a drive from Connecticut to South Carolina.

But kate, why are you so excited for all of these new GF products? I thought you were just wheat free? True, I am "just" wheat free but in the months since being wheat free I have learned that it isn't much more of a stretch to be gluten free as well. Plus it's not bad for me to avoid gluten.

Cookies!

Who doesn't love cookies? I do but find that a whole batch of my wheat free wonders sometimes go to waste. I was pumped to stumble upon these frozen goodies at the store. I can make one or 12 in the toaster oven or real oven. Dave likes them too which means they do taste good and it is not just me wishing them to be yummy.
Glutenfreeda's real cookies are pretty tasty and according to Dave don't taste wheat free. They are also super easy- just take the desired amount, place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 18 minutes at 325 degrees.
There are a few flavours at our grocery store and I can vouch for the sugar cookies and the chocolate minty python. I love that I don't waste any since I only bake what I am ready for.
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