Gluten Free Gabber

For most of us Christmas Day is filled with family, food, presents and laughter.  At my house it also includes “craft time” with grandma.  My mom always has some sort of craft for the girls (my nieces) to do when they come visit.  This year I came up with the craft idea of Almond Joy Rudolph bites.  These adorable goodies are fun to make and create many laughs while making them too. Rudolph Treats Ingredients: 12 miniature GF pretzels halved (now mine broke so I just used the pieces that I could, which I think made them kind of “crazy/silly” looking – in a good... 

Before I took on this cookie I probably should have researched it a bit first.  For any of you who are familiar with this famous New York cookie, you know that it’s supposed to be FLAT, yet somehow mine aren’t.  I’m not sure if that is from the conversion to GF flour that has something to do with it, or if I forgot something in the methodology or what the heck happened.  But I do have to say that even though they don’t look like traditional Black and White Cookies, they still taste pretty darn good.  They have a sweet biscuit taste to them and the texture is a cross... 

Looking back, I should have made these more exciting with Champagne or something like that.  Doesn’t “spritz” sound bubbly or effervescent or something fun??  Anywho – instead of being overly effervescent, these are light and fluffy and they actually melt in your mouth.  So I guess in a way they are effervescent and definitely fun. Holiday Spritz Cookies Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened 2/3 cup sugar 1 egg, lightly beaten 2-1/4 cups GF All-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon almond extract (this is where you could substitute for something really fun) 1/2... 

I thought these might be fun because they had the Christmas Tree impression lightly tattooed on the top of the cookie.  But I didn’t have the chocolate syrup that the recipe called for so I used caramel syrup instead and as you can see (or not see) that trees impression turned out a little faint.  So lesson learned, use the chocolate syrup to get a good impression. White Chocolate Christmas Tree Cookies Ingredients: 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened and divided (I used butter for mine) 1/4 cup vegetable shortening 1/2 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1 egg yolk 1/2... 

So according to the recipe, these are supposed to be a lower-calorie cookies.  I can’t yet see where the low-cal comes in, but hey, I’ll go with it.  The toffee and chocolate chips make these little morsels anything but light on taste.  And they have a very nice crunchy edge to them, which makes them perfect for dipping in milk. One of my favorite past-times with cookies. Toffee Chip Cookies Ingredients: 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup packed brown sugar 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup canola oil 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2-1/2 cups GF All-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1... 

To be honest, I’m not a “huge” peanut butter cookie fan, although I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE peanut butter by itself or with a banana.  Not that it makes any sense to love one and not the other, but I do have to say I LOVE these cookies.  So maybe we all can change – one cookie at a time. Peanut Butter Maple Cookies Ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup peanut butter 1 cup sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tablespoon maple syrup 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2-1/4 cups GF all-purpose flour 3/4 cup GF oatmeal 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoons baking soda 1 teaspoon...