Make It Snappy!

Everyone has a favorite food memory. Can you remember yours?

For my oldest son, Josh, it has always been gingersnap cookies. We used to make them, together, his little hands rolling the dough into misshapen, sloppy rounds, licking the remnants of the sugar from our sticky, dough-covered fingers as the cookies baked. Ok, so maybe they're one of my favorite food memories, too!

Since cookies contain two ingredients that I can't have, and, thus, don't usually have in the house, I haven't made any for a long time. Too long, according to Josh.

Today, I was really thinking about my son, and how mature he's become this past year. I found myself wishing for those mornings when he was little, when it was the two of us making cookies on a wintery day. Wanting to show him that, even though he's not a little boy, and even though I have to accept that, some things will never, ever change: my love for him, and gingersnaps.

I began by searching the interwebs (Oh! Interwebs, how I love thee!), and found a recipe that seemed pretty close to the one I remember using. I needed to make a few adjustments. The recipe called for butter, which is a no-no for me. It also called for a flour blend that I did not have in my pantry.

Here is the recipe with my own adjustments:

                                Josh's Favorite Gingersnaps

                                               
                                                3 3/4 c GF All-purpose flour blend (I used 2 c King Arthur, and 1 3/4                                                          c     brown sorghum and chickpea flour blend.)
                                                 1 tsp xanthan gum
                                                 1 1/2  tsp baking soda
                                                 2 tsp ground ginger
                                                 1 tsp ground cinnamon
                                                 1/4 tsp ground cloves
                                                 3/4 c butter-flavored shortening + 1 1/2 T water
                                                 2 c brown sugar
                                                 1/2 c molasses
                                                2 eggs (I used 3 large egg whites)
                                                 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
                                                1/4-1/3 c granulated sugar
                                               
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium-sized mixing bowl. I only had whole cloves, so I ground them in my coffee grinder. The upside is that this gave my cookies a slight, pleasant coffee flavor. The downside is that anyone who uses my coffee grinder for actual coffee is going to get more than they bargained for! Mwahahahahaha!

 In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, water, and sugar together. Add molasses, eggs, and vinegar, blending each ingredient until well-combined.
Slowly, pour dry ingredients into wet mixture, beating with a mixer until dough becomes too stiff. Blend the rest by hand. Come on! This is where you get your workout by which you are able to justify eating all of those delicious cookies!

Once dough is stiff and sticky, using your hands, roll it into 1 inch balls, dredge through granulated sugar, and place on a cookie sheet, 2 in apart.

Bake at 350 degrees for roughly 8 min. Check around the 7-8 min mark. If your cookies have nice, little cracks forming across the tops, they're ready to come out!

I tried to time the first batch so that it would be ready at the same time my children arrived home from school. I must be a fast cookie baker. I finished batch #1 around 3:40, looked out the window.....no kids.
Batch #2 came out of the oven. I was hungry from all my waiting, so I ate a cookie. Boy! They were so moist and chewy! Still, no kids.

Copper was waiting for the kids to arrive, too.
Batch #3, the final batch, came out of the oven. I placed some of the cookies on a plate, and stood at the door, waiting for Josh to come home.

TOTAL SUCCESS!

Cody, my youngest, also approved, as is evidenced by the cookies in both hands. (Thought you pulled a fast one on me, didn't you, Cody?)

Thanks to www.glutenfreegirl.com for the parent recipe as well as other great recipes and resources. Happy Friday, everyone!

~Katie~

I have a confession to make...

I love food. Like-love-love. As in "Katie and food, sitting in a tree" love it. Those who know me, know.

However, like most great loves, there is a dark side to this relationship. Here, in this blog, I will reveal the more challenging aspects of me+food.

A little more than a year ago, I learned that I have a wheat allergy. This should not have come as a surprise as most of the women in my family have some form of gluten intolerance, but it did. And it was rough.

A self-proclaimed foodie and lover of the culinary arts, my challenge became to create gluten-free reproductions of my favorite meals from all of the restaurants I would  no longer be able to enjoy. Ever.
It was a challenge, but I was making progress, and then came another blow: no dairy.

 (Cue: Wailing and gnashing of teeth)

Let me be clear: I love me some dairy! Butter, cream, cheese: these were staples of my kitchen. Wheat-less, I could handle, but how on Earth was I going to make anything without dairy?!?!?! 


Clearly, ordering take-out was not even an option, and, as a full-time student and single mother of four, I didn't have time to take cooking classes. So, I turned to that all-seeing, all-knowing oracle of wisdom: The interwebs. There have been some really awful recipes, but, also, some terrific ones, as well as a wealth of gluten/dairy free resources.

Rather than see my food allergies as a life-sentence of rice cereal and celery dinners (ick!), I've chosen to view this as an opportunity to explore different cooking styles as well as reinvent some of my old favorites with healthier, leaner ingredients. That it allows me to thumb my nose at those who exclaim,"Well you just can't eat anything!"is a bonus.

Some time ago, I began to post pictures and descriptions of the meals I was creating around my allergies on my Facebook account. As a result, I've had several requests for recipes and information about the food I make. Because blogs are where I find most of my resources, it occurred to me that it might be helpful to create a blog of my own. My friends can access the recipes and resources I find useful, and it will allow me to give the impression that I have interests beyond making messes in my kitchen.

I do, you know.

I hope you enjoy this account of my journey.

~Katie~