Saturday, June 2, 2012

Gluten Free?

Yesterday's baking was for BakingGALS. A group that I just joined. I will do a final post later when I get the projects packaged up for sending. Basically I have joined two teams this month. Each team has a different soldier assignment so now I have a way to send baked goods!

I am very new to BakingGALS but really enjoying the experience so far.

Goals: items that will survive shipping, be enjoyable to all diets, but at the same time experiment a little for an upcoming local bake sale.

There is such a demand for gluten free in this area. Now I am not a gluten free kitchen so for some allergies, despite cooking gluten free first, I will not be able to accommodate. Basically, I wanted to play with recipes!

Recipes for this experiment:
Soft Chocolate-Chip Macadamia Cookies (second recipe this week banished to my growing list of desserts to only make when I am ready for massive consumption...they are unbelievably addictive)
Flourless Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies
Flourless Chocolate-Chip Cookies (Personal staple)


First I mixed up a double batch of those Chocolate-Chip Macadamia cookies and quickly hid the dough in the back of my fridge for chilling.

Then I moved onto the flourless "experiment." This is my problem: when I buy oat flour I specifically buy gluten free, so we are covered there however for oatmeal I buy Quaker. Basically it is one of the cheaper options out there especially if I go to Costco. However, they can't certify their kitchen gluten free because of all the grains that go through processing with them. And gluten free oats are expensive.

So first I tried the flourless oatmeal raisin substituting a little less than 3/4 oat flour for the rolled oats. They were fine, but I didn't love them. Photo above.

I am scrapping the oat flour option. And I returned to what I knew works.
This is a bowl of the flourless chocolate chip made with ground rolled oats. I also substitute peanut butter for the oil. These are one of my favorite cookies and I don't go crazy when I make them. :)

This is a flourless oatmeal raisin next to my oat flour attempt for comparison. When I make the flourless oatmeal raisin I do add cinnamon.
With the flourless batches done...double on both. I went on to bake the chocolate-chip macadamia which should come with a warning when suddenly it hit me...I will just use this recipe and turn it into raisin. Problem solved.

I now officially have 3, all gluten free ingredients recipes planned for my local bake sale. Baked in a non-gluten free kitchen! :) We will talk about the third later...also banished to my list. It has been a rough week.

Then I made myself some more mint chocolate chip ice cream for cookie eating later.

And moved on to the staples: chocolate chip (tollhouse recipe)...

...and oatmeal (batch with cinnamon-raisin, and batch without). This recipe comes from the Quaker oatmeal container. I strongly prefer quick oats for these cookies, but Costco sells rolled oats and the deal is just too good. They are still a very good cookie. :)

In non-baking related news: the Quilt Festival is over and I didn't win. :) HOWEVER, I already met some great people and great sites so no complaints.

Favorite line from her post: "...and get yourself a prize if you didn’t win." Needless to say I have been on vendor sites most of the morning!

12 comments:

  1. My mouth is watering from all your baking.

    Cindy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope I am not torturing you. :) It has seriously been a lot of fun...and the month has just started!

      Delete
  2. Buy Trader Joe's GF oats, it's in a blue & teal bag near the other oats. It's an old fashioned kind, not quick cooking. Hope this helps!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK...I totally read this on the way out the door and despite my general annoyance with the TJ shopping experience I did go there this afternoon and grabbed a bag! Thank you. I totally forgot about them as an option and they do a lot of GF stuff. You are a hotbed of knowledge! :)

      Delete
    2. Glad I could help! I'm gluten intolerant, and allergic to eggs (and bananas and some other minor things). I also quit cane sugar a bit over a year ago...so I'm reading your cookie experiments with great interest!!!

      Delete
    3. Oh my gosh...allergic to banana! I thought that was a myth. :)

      I am having a good time. There is so much out there I still have to learn. Thankfully no allergies but I could always stand to eat a little better.

      Delete
  3. And if you ever need to bake in a GF kitchen, I'd share mine! I scoured this place when we bought it 10 years ago, and I was GF before that, and don't have gluten in the house except for my husband's beer, LOL.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If I ever get a request I will totally take you up on it. It is such a strange allergy with so many degrees. I am definitely learning a lot.

      Delete
  4. first of all, that bunny picture is terrific.
    second, I say buy the cheaper oats, because they are not cheap and you can go through quite a bit when baking
    third, pat yourself on that back that you even entered the festival and use your newfound knowledge and experience to really get em??? at the next one :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't he cute! I have such a love-hate relationship with those bunnies. They are adorable and their babies are so much fun but Rusty was such a predator I got sick of bunny check before I marched him out the door.

      I laughed about the cheaper oats comment because yup...that is what happened. I was all ready to get GF and just couldn't stomach the cost. And as you guessed...I go through a ton! These ones I got from Trader Joe's will be a good playing option for my GF dabbling but that is about it for now. I am glad I don't have the allergy.

      Thank you! I really do feel great about entering the festival and the little store quilt show earlier in the year. This is all stuff I NEVER would have done in the past and it is a good way to push myself, get out there, and meet new people.

      Delete
    2. like I said, I will be commissioning a sakura quilt from you when you have the free time to dedicate to it because I know it's a lot of work

      Delete
    3. I think it will be a lot of work too. :)

      I thought of you the other week because I bought cherry blossom stamps.

      Delete