Gluten Free Oreo Cookies

So, there are these things out there called Whoopie Pies. While tasty, I've always thought that they are way too huge. Of course, when I started making them, I didn't even realize that's what they were called, and I definitely made them smaller. I just called them Oreo Cookies. Back in the days when we could eat wheat, I used a box of Devil's Food cake mix to make them, but obviously that won't work now.

Today we went to a wedding, and I wanted to make sure I would be able to eat dessert. So last night I mixed up the dough, and this morning I baked cookies. Considering I just slightly modified a wheat-based recipe, these turned out very well. Note that in order to keep these cookies from turning out too "cakey" you don't use an electric mixer. So, without further ado (or more rambling), I give you...

Gluten Free Oreo Cookies

2 cups gf flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 tablespoons gf baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1 2/3 cups brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/3 cup hemp or rice milk

Put flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix with a whisk. In a separate bowl, stir shortening and egg with a rubber spatula until mostly blended, then add sugar and vanilla and stir until fully mixed. Add milk and 1/3 of dry mixture, stir until fully blended, then repeat with two more additions of 1/3 of dry mix, stirring until all mix is incorporated. Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Put parchment paper on two cookie sheets.

Using a teaspoon and your hands, roll dough into balls. Each ball should have the diameter of a quarter. Flatten each ball slightly. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to cooling rack. When all cookies have finished cooling, match cookies into pairs based on size. Put a small amount of icing on one cookie and place other cookie on top.

Dairy Free Cream Cheese Icing

3 tbsp Earth Balance or dairy-free margarine, softened
1/3 package Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese
approx 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

Mix all three together with electric mixer. Add extra sugar if necessary to achieve a spreadable consistency. So easy!

Banana Bread

Every Wednesday, we have friends over for 2-ish hours of anime watching. It usually falls to us to supply the snack, since we have our crazy restrictions. I was going to make bread yesterday, had even pulled out and separated the eggs, and then realized I was missing 2 rather important flours. So I stuck the eggs back in the fridge and decided I would make banana bread for this week's anime night.

I found a recipe that started with 3 eggs and 3 bananas (cuz that's what I had) and went from there. I used this recipe as my starting point and went from there. Its currently baking in the oven, but I'm taking the time to write this recipe now or I'll forget exactly what I did. Also, we have about 3 tbsp of sugar left in our house until I get to groceries later this week, so I went with alternate sweeteners.


Banana Bread

Dry Ingredients

1 cup sweet rice flour
1/4 cup each quinoa flour, chickpea flour, amaranth flour and potato starch
1 tbsp potato flour
2 tsp gf baking powder
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
pinch salt

Wet Ingredients

3 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup light agave nectar
1/4 cup fancy molasses
3 ripe bananas, mashed

Optional

Up to 1 cup total of chocolate chips, chopped nuts or raisins, in any mixture/amount.


Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour (I used sweet rice flour) a loaf pan, or line it with parchment paper.

Mix all your dry ingredients in one bowl with a whisk. In another bowl, mix all wet ingredients except bananas with a hand mixer for about a minute. Add in bananas and beat until there are no large chunks left. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips/nuts/raisins to wet ingredients and mix by hand with a rubber spatula until all the flour is incorporated. Pour into your loaf pan.

Bake for 60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Blueberry Muffins

When we first realized we needed to go gluten and dairy free, I decided it was important to find a new muffin recipe for easy breakfast, since I basically lived off Cheerios and the occasional bagel. I went right back to the family cookbook my mom compiled when I was 2 years old. (My mom has 10 siblings, with 34 children between them at the time she made the book, so there were lots of people to contribute to said cookbook.)

I took the blueberry muffin recipe we have been using since before I can remember, and with a few small tweaks I had a muffin that was very close to the "real" thing. A few important things:
- my gf flour mix already contains xanthan gum. If yours doesn't, add 1/2 to 3/4 tsp when you add the flour.
- I have corn free gf baking powder. If you use "normal" baking powder you only need 1 1/4 tsp.

Blueberry Muffins



1/2 cup uncontaminated rolled oats
1/2 cup sweet citrus juice (like orange, pineapple)
1/2 cup white or light brown sugar
1/3 cup canola oil
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups your favorite gf flour mix
2 tsp corn-free gf baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 to 1 1/2 cups blueberries
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line tin with paper muffin cups. Combine rolled oats and orange juice, stir well and let rest 2 minutes. Add sugar, oil and egg, stir. Add flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda, stir until just incorporated. Add blueberries, stir to achieve even mix. Dole out mixture evenly into 12 muffins. Mix 2 tbsp sugar and cinnamon, sprinkle on top of muffins. Bake 18-20 minutes, check at 15. Let rest at least 5 minutes, then enjoy!

These muffins will last about 1 day if left on the counter, about 3 days if refrigerated in an air-tight container.

Starcraft 2

I'm sure anyone who likes Starcraft is aware by now, but there is finally a release date for Starcraft 2! Dad has loved the original for a long time, and when the beta for SC2 was released earlier this year he was all over it. In fact, right now he finds it more compelling that Blizzard's other huge game, World of Warcraft.

I think that come July 27 we'll be seeing less dad for a week or two.