Sunday, December 02, 2012

Spiced Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Buttercream

We started with this recipe.  But we weren't too crazy about the egg nog and we wanted to de-gluten-ize the recipe.  So we picked up some King Arthur Gluten Free mult-purpose flour and gave it a shot.

Note that when you de-gluten-ize a recipe, the product tends to stick to the pan - a LOT.  I used my silicone muffin pans, with non-stick spray and that worked well.  They stuck, but not too bad.

Also, baking time was significantly longer.  I did 12 minutes, then another 3 and another 3 and another 3 before they were done (using the toothpick method).

We decided to make the buttercream - sans egg nog - and decide on a flavor later.  We decided on 1 tsp of peppermint and just a bit of green food coloring.

The end result was very good.  Moist cupcake with a good chocolate flavor and the mint was just right - not overpowering.


Spiced Chocolate Cupcakes with Mint Buttercream

Yield: 18 cupcakes

Tender chocolate cupcakes spiced with cinnamon and cloves topped with rich buttercream flavored with eggnog. A perfect treat for the holiday season.

For the spiced chocolate cupcakes:
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons hot coffee
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup gluten-free all-purpose baking flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup sugar
3/8 cup egg substitute
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons greek yogurt
1/2 cup vegetable oil

For the eggnog buttercream:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

To make the cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a muffin pan with cupcake liners or grease and flour.

In a small bowl, whisk together the hot coffee and cocoa powder until smooth and no lumps remain. Set aside to cool slightly.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the egg, egg yolk, and sugar on medium high speed until pale yellow in color. Add the yogurt and mix until combined, followed by the vegetable oil. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix until combined. Add the cocoa mixture and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Fill the cupcake liners 2/3 full with the batter and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, 15-20 minutes. Let cupcakes cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the buttercream:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together the butter, powdered sugar, salt, nutmeg, vanilla, and mint (You can add some food coloring too if you want), mixing on medium high speed until desired consistency is reached. Increase speed to high and beat for a few minutes until smooth.

Frost cupcakes with the buttercream. The cupcakes should be stored in an airtight container and will keep at room temperature for several days and about a week in the fridge.

Saturday, November 24, 2012

Dawn's Parsnip Bake

400 grams of shredded parsnips.
1 cup of baby spinach (uncooked)
Eggs

We took a 9x9" pan and sprayed it with a bit of non-stick spray.  Then put in the shredded parsnips.
Baked for 30 minutes in a 400F oven.
We pulled out the pan and put on the spinach, then dropped the eggs (we normally do only 4 eggs, but we had 6 left over from baking) on top of the spinach.
Cover and put back in oven for another 10 (for cooked, but still very soft eggs) to 15 (for completely set eggs) minutes.

Dawn: a little chives and salt and pepper.
Me: Bacon salt.

We should have diced up the leftover garlic and put it in with the parsnips.  But it was still good.

Sunday, November 04, 2012

Autumn Vegetable Soup

Autumn Vegetable Soup

1 tbl olive oil
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper
1 tbl minced fresh rosemary
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 lb hard-shelled squash, such as butternut, peeled, seeded and cut into ¾ in pieces
salt
pepper
4 cups low-sodium chicken broth, plus more as needed
200 g cooked chicken chunks (I used a bag of precooked, diced chicken - about 250 calories)
1 cup spinach, cleaned

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onion, bell pepper, rosemary and red pepper flakes, and saute until the onion has started to caramelize and pepper is tender - about 20 minutes.

Add the squash, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring frequently, until the surface of the squash starts to soften - about 2 minutes.

Add the chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the squash is tender - about 25 minutes.

Add the cooked chicken and spinach and simmer until the spinach is wilted - about 3 minutes.

Thin the soup if desired, by adding more broth. Adjust the seasoning by adding more salt and pepper.

4-6 servings.

Notes:
  • Originally, the recipe had you cook the onions until just tender.  I found that the taste of the caramelized onions were much better.
  • Also, the original had beans instead of a meat.  I substituted some chicken.
  • The overall result was very good.  Smooth taste, with some good after-heat from the red pepper flakes.  Wonderful for a cold, Autumn day.


Sunday, October 21, 2012

Peanut Butter Temptations

Peanut Butter Temptations

Gluten-free

1 stick butter, room temp
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
48 mini peanut butter cups
1/3 cup chopped peanuts as garnish

Gluten-free:
Replace flour with sorghum flour and add 3 tsp of dried egg whites.

Cream butter, peanut butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Stir in dry ingredients until blended. Chill 1 hour.

Shape dough in 1 inch balls. Press into mini-muffin tins lined with paper liners. Bake 350F for 10-12 minutes.

Remove from oven and press a peanut butter cup into each hot cookie. Top with chopped peanuts when chocolate is melted.

Makes 3-4 dozen

Notes:
  • I purchased 4 mini-muffin pans for this recipe. Fill two and place them in the oven. While they are cooking, fill the other two pans. When the first two are done, take them out and place the other two pans in the oven.
  • I place the pans in the 'fridge to cool them faster.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Apple Crumble Bars


Apple Crumble Bars

These bars run a very close second to the classic American apple pie. However, not only can you use apples in them, you can also try making them with ripe quince or firm pears for variety.

MAKES ONE 17  1/4-BY-11 1/2-BY-1-INCH PAN

2 1/4 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) plus 1 tablespoon light brown sugar, lightly packed
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Cinnamon Crumble

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Lightly coat a 17  1/4-by-11 1/2-by-1-inch jelly-roll pan with nonstick vegetable spray. Lay a piece of parchment paper in the pan, taking care that it fits neatly at the sides and corners. Set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Put the butter in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle. Begin beating on low speed. Increase the speed to medium and beat for about 3 minutes, or until light and creamy.

With the motor running, gradually add the cup brown sugar, beating until very light and creamy.

Add the egg, beating to incorporate. When blended, slowly beat in the reserved flour mixture. When the dough is well blended, remove the bowl from the mixer and scrape the paddle clean.

Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and, using your hands, carefully press it into a thin, even layer.

Combine the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar with the granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Set aside.

Place half of the apples in an even layer over the dough. Sprinkle with the lemon juice and then with the cinnamon-sugar. Top with another layer of sliced apples. Sprinkle the crumble over the top in an even layer.

Place in the oven and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden, the apples are bubbling, and the crumble is lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool.

When cool, use a serrated knife to cut into bars.

Store in a single layer, airtight, at room temperature for up to a week.

Cinnamon Crumble
1 cup (4 ounces) all-purpose flour
2/3 cup (4 ounces) light brown sugar
2/3 cup (4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes

Combine the flour with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon in a small mixing bowl. Add the butter and, using your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients until coarse crumbs are formed.

Store, airtight, in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to a month.

Ron's Notes:
It's like a apple pie in a bar.
We used Better Batter to make them gluten-free and it worked out well.
The cookies are rather fragile, though.

Applesauce Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting


Applesauce Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting

24 cupcakes

1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Frosting
1/3 cup butter (do not use margarine)
3 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 to 4 tablespoons skim milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Line 24 regular-size muffin cups with paper baking cups or grease cups with shortening or cooking spray. In large bowl, beat granulated sugar, applesauce, butter and eggs with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy, scraping bowl occasionally. On low speed, beat in flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and nutmeg just until well blended, scraping bowl occasionally. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.

Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Remove from muffin cups. Cool completely, about 30 minutes.

In 3-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly and watching closely, until butter just begins to turn golden (butter will get foamy and bubble.) Remove from heat. Cool 15 minutes.

With electric mixer on low speed, beat in powdered sugar, vanilla and enough milk until frosting is smooth and desired spreading consistency, adding 1 or 2 more teaspoons milk, if necessary. Spread frosting on cooled cupcakes (if frosting begins to harden, stir in an additional teaspoon milk).

Ron's notes:
The recipe made only 21 cupcakes.
We used Better Batter and it worked out very well to make them gluten-free.

Saturday, October 06, 2012

Raspberry Banana Ice Cream

4 bananas (frozen)
1 pint raspberries (also frozen)

It turns another nice shade of pink and it's very tasty.  Almost no banana flavor.  The raspberries really overpower it nicely.

Thursday, October 04, 2012

Boysenberry Banana Ice Cream

The name doesn't sound very good, I know, but it tastes great.

Today I did the banana ice cream recipe, but I added 1 oz of the freeze dried boysenberries from nuts.com.

Wow!  Little banana taste but plenty of boysenberry flavor.  The container I got has 2 oz, so I have enough for another batch when I get some leftover bananas.

Sunday, September 09, 2012

Pumpkin Pie Banana Icecream

I got this idea at a party last night.

4 bananas.
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon

I'll let you know how it tastes when it's done freezing.

Update: Successful!  It tastes like pumpkin pie.

Monday, August 20, 2012

Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting


Banana Bread Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

Gluten-free

From The Girl Who Ate Everything

1 ½ cup sugar
1 ½ cup greek yogurt
½ cup butter, softened
2 eggs
3-4 ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup Better Batter
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Brown Butter Frosting:
½ cup butter
4 cup powdered sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
3 tbl milk

Heat oven to 375F. Line 15x10-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together sugar, greek yogurt, butter, and eggs until creamy. Blend in bananas and vanilla extract. Add Better Batter, baking soda, salt, and blend for 1 minute. Stir in walnuts, if desired.

Spread batter evenly into pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Meanwhile, for frosting, heat butter in a large saucepan over medium heat until boiling. Let the butter turn a delicate brown and remove from heat immediately.

Add powdered sugar, vanilla extract and milk. Whisk together until smooth (it should be thicker than a glaze but thinner than frosting). Using a spatula, spread the brown butter frosting over the warm bars (the frosting will be easier to spread while the bars are still warm).

Yield: 2 dozen large bars

This recipe turned out very good.  Moist, soft, chewy.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Swedish Chocolate Cake - De-gluten-ized - first attempt


Swedish Chocolate Cake

15 tbl salted butter
½ cup cocoa powder
1 ¾ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs

Preheat you oven to 350F. Butter and flour a 6-8" cake pan, it needs to be quite deep.

Melt the butter. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Pour into the cake pan, and bake

30-35 minutes for 8" pan
35-40 minutes for 7" pan
40-45 minutes for 6" pan

Let the cake cool completely in it's pan, then run a dull knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen the cake. Turn the cake out onto a plate. Dust with powdered sugar.


I just saw this recipe on Google+ via Bridget Davis - The Internet Chef - and I gave it a try and de-gluten-ize it in the process.  For this attempt, I used Better Batter and upped the butter by 50% (according to the instructions on the Better Batter box).

The result is between a brownie and a cake.  Not quite as dense as a brownie, but not as fluffy as a cake.  The one slice was quite satisfying - for both my chocolate hunger as well as normal hunger.

Analyzing the recipe, it seems that most of the structural integrity comes from the eggs - not the gluten.  So using something like rice flour or oat flour should be possible.  When I get some time, I'll do a second attempt.  I'm thinking of oat flour, reducing the butter back to 10 tbl and adding 1 more egg (actually, I usually use egg substitutes)

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Cookies - Gluten Free

This was the first recipe I de-gluten-ized.  The eggs create enough structural integrity and you don't need the gluten protein.  In my opinion, the change to brown rice flour made the texture better.

In the picture above, the two in front were made with the creme-de-menthe chips.  The two in the back with the dark chocolate chips.

Deep Dark Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Gluten-free

8 oz Semi-sweet chocolate - broken into 1/2 oz pieces
4 oz Unsweetened chocolate - broken into 1/2 oz pieces

1 1/2 cup All purpose flour or gluten-free rice flour
1/2 cup Unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt

1 1/2 cup Tightly packed light brown sugar
12 tbl Unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 tsp Pure Vanilla extract

2 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
or
10 oz bag of Andes Crème De Menthe baking chips

Start melting chocolate in double boiler.

Sift all dry ingredients together and set aside.

Cream butter with light brown sugar, then add eggs and vanilla to this mixture. Add the melted chocolate next and after that is completely mixed, add the dry ingredients. Mix well and add chocolate chips (or mint chips).

Chill.

I've found that using a #50 disher (a small ice cream scoop with the number 50 on the "paddle" inside it) makes a very nice sized cookie. Not too big and not too small. If you don't want to use the disher, just use a heaping tablespoon to measure each cookie. Or if you are really lazy... er... pressed for time, just put the batter in a 10x15 pan and bake them like brownies.

Bake 18-22 minutes in preheated 325F oven.

Source: "Death By Chocolate" TV show on the Learning Channel

Notes:
  • I use Ghirardelli 60% chocolate chips to give it more chocolate power.
  • Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder also works better for a more chocolately flavor.

Tiramisu Jello Cake

I some coffee jelly (i.e. Jell-O) on J-List and couldn't resist trying it out.
So I picked up a Betty Crocker SuperMoist French Vanilla cake mix.  The mix calls for 1 cup of water.  I replaced that with 1 cup of strong coffee and baked the cake in a 9x13 inch pan.
Baked and cooled according to the directions on the mix.
Then, like other Jell-O cakes, I punched holes in the top of the cake.
I made the coffee jello according to the directions (I had to guess a bit because I can't really read Japanese - but, seriously, how hard is it to make Jell-O?) and poured it over top of the holey cake.
Then I put it in the fridge.
After a while (an hour or so), I topped it with 1 small container of Cool Whip.

The result was a light tasting, vanilla-coffee cake.  Very yummy (and a nice break from all the chocolate that I was using today)

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Cinnamon Sugar Squares


Cinnamon Sugar Squares

½ cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
½ cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
½ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9"x13" baking pan with parchment paper, ensuring there is an overhang.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, oil, eggs, milk and extract until thoroughly combined.

Continue beating and add salt, baking soda and flour. Mix until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly using a spatula.

Mix ¼ cup sugar with cinnamon.

Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar evenly over the top of the batter and bake for 25-30 minutes; the edges will be lightly browned.

Cool, then lift the dessert from the pan using the parchment overhang and cut into bite-size squares.

Gluten-free
Use Better Batter (see http://betterbatter.org/) gluten-free flour.

Snickerdoodle Blondies


Snickerdoodle Blondies

Original recipe from Dozen Flours

2 2/3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs
1 tbl vanilla
3 tbl white sugar
3 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well blended.

Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

In a small bowl, combine the white sugar and cinnamon.

Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the baking pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the surface springs back when gently pressed. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. When cool, cut into squares with a sharp knife.

Gluten-free:
Use 2 2/3 cup4cup (See http://cup4cup.com/) flour or Better Batter (see http://betterbatter.org/) gluten-free flour.
Add ½ cup applesauce.
Increase baking time to 35 minutes.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

More Banana Ice Cream

More combinations:
4 frozen bananas.
2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
Splenda (to taste)
Chocolately, but you can still taste the banana.

4 frozen bananas
1 cup blueberries
Wonderful!  You really can't taste the bananas, but you CAN taste the blueberries.

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Banana Ice Cream Experiments

Start with 4 ripe bananas.  Peel them and place them in a baggie in the freezer for a while (like a day or 2).  I usually put the bananas that are too ripe to travel or are getting too soft to eat in a bag.  When I get to 4 I make ice cream.

Break them up and put them in your food processor.  Let them sit for a bit.  You actually have to let them thaw a bit or they'll get stuck.

Now, think about your additions.  So far, we've experiments with:

  1. Peanut Butter.  About 1.5-2 tablespoons per 4 bananas.
  2. Cinnamon.  1/2 tablespoon per 4 bananas.  I tried 1 tablespoon, but the cinnamon was overpowering.  I used the Chinese cinnamon from Penzeys since that pairs well with fruit.
  3. Honey Ginger.  1 tablespoon honey.  1 tsp of ground ginger.  Sweet with a hot after taste.
  4. Orange.  2 tablespoons dried orange peel from Penzey's plus 1 tsp orange extract.  It was OK, but I think I'll do it differently next time.
  5. Cocoa.  1 tsp was not enough.  The next time it will be 2.  More on this later.
I've 2 batches staged in the freezer.  One will be the new cocoa attempt.  I haven't decided on the other one yet.  Maybe banana/blueberry this time...  Hmm...

Thursday, July 05, 2012

Applesauce Bars - Gluten-free


Applesauce Bars

Gluten-free

¼ cup butter or margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 can frosting

Gluten-free: Gluten-free Cup4Cup flour can be used here.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease or parchment-line a 9x13 inch baking pan.

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in applesauce. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and pumpkin pie spice; stir into the applesauce mixture until well blended. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Cool in the pan over a wire rack.

Spread frosting over cooled bars before cutting into squares.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Oatmeal Cakes

We adjusted the gluten-free Oatmeal Cake recipe this weekend.

For this experiment we changed:
1. Replaced the butterscotch chips with dried fruit (blueberries and raspberries).
2. Instead of a 9x13 pan, we used 2 muffin pans.  It made about 18 "cakes".  I should have used a smaller disher and did a full 24 cakes.  But they turned out well.

Baking the cakes in a muffin pan made the gluten-free version more stable.  Dawn and I decided that the frosting was redundant and you can safely eliminate it.  The cakes were moist, chewy and sweet.  The addition of the frosting really didn't do much.


Oatmeal Cakes

Gluten-free

1 ¼ cup water, boiling
1 cup oatmeal, old fashioned, uncooked
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup gluten-free oat flour
¾ cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup dried fruit of your choice. Blueberries or raspberries work well.

Preheat oven at 350F.

Pour boiling water over oatmeal and set aside for 20 minutes.

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs. Beat well. Add vanilla and oatmeal mixture. Add flours, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well. Stir in fruit.

Put in greased muffin pans (makes about 20 cakes). Bake for 30 minutes.

Notes:
  • I used the extra fancy cinnamon for a stronger cinnamon flavor.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Oatmeal Cake


Oatmeal Cake

Gluten-free
Based on this recipe.

1 ¼ cup water, boiling
1 cup oatmeal, old fashioned, uncooked
½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
1 cup butterscotch chips (about ½ a bag)

Gluten-free:
Substitute ¾ cup gluten-free oat flour and ¾ cup coconut flour for the 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour.
And make sure that you use gluten-free oatmeal.

Preheat oven at 350F.

Pour boiling water over oatmeal and set aside for 20 minutes.

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs. Beat well. Add vanilla and oatmeal mixture. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix well. Stir in butterscotch chips.

Put in greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake at for 30 minutes.

Notes:
  • I used the extra fancy cinnamon for a stronger cinnamon flavor.
  • I used parchment paper to line my pan to make it easier to remove the cake. When you de-gluten-ize a recipe, some structural integrity is lost and it's harder to get the cake out of the pan.

Monday, May 14, 2012

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Cherries


Gluten-free
Makes about 40 cookies. Adapted from Cooks Illustrated.

1 ¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
8 oz dried sour cherries, chopped coarse
11 oz dark chocolate chips
1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (or gluten-free oat flour)
¼ cup whole wheat pastry flour (or gluten-free coconut flour)
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
12 tbl unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1 ½ cups packed dark brown sugar
1 extra large egg or ¼ cup egg substitute
1 tsp vanilla extract


In a food processor, chop the cherries so that they are a little smaller. About the size of raisins. You might want to coat them in a light dusting of the flour to keep them from sticking. In a bowl combine the oats, dried cherries and chocolate.

In another bowl, sift together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a whisk and a strong arm, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Slowly add the egg and vanilla, and beat until incorporated.

Gently sift, or with the mixer down to low, add the flour mixture to the bowl. Stir until just combined. Finally incorporate the oats, fruit and chocolate.

If using the oat flour, let dough rest for about an hour. Oats absorb moisture very slowly. Letting the dough rest will result in fluffier cookies.

Preheat oven to 350F, with rack in the middle of the oven. Use parchment paper to line several standard baking sheets and set aside.

Using a #50 disher made nice sized cookies. Place the scoops on each baking sheet, spaced evenly. Bake the cookies, in a preheated oven for 13 minutes or until the cookies are uniformly golden, but still wet in the middle. They should appear slightly undercooked.

Variation:
For a reduced calorie version, or one that contains no nut products: Eliminate the coconut flour. Reduce the butter to 8 tbl and the brown sugar to 1 cup. Mix and bake as normal.

Notes:
  • I use Ghiradelli 60% chips for the chocolate chips.
  • I use one 8 oz tub of Shoreline Meijer Dried Cherries.
  • Some oats are processed in the same machines that process wheat, contaminating the oat product. Make sure that the oat products are gluten-free.