What are those flecks on top? Dried lavender. Not in the original recipe, but I was serving these with honey lavender ice cream, so I wanted to tie the two together. These bars are sinful. Indeed. Tasty with ginger – loved the icing on top. Very simple cookies to make.

My stack of recipes to try is so out of control. I’ve blogged about it before, but there are times when I just deeply exhale and say to myself I’ve really got to do something about it. But what?

(1) I could stop subscribing to all the food magazines I get. But darn it, I enjoy reading them all. A lot. So nope, not an option, I’m afraid! What I DO do, though, is when I start reading a magazine I clip as I go. I sit at our kitchen counter when I peruse food mags and in the drawer next to me I keep a pair of scissors and scotch tape. As you know, they come in handy – I don’t tear out the whole page, just the recipe itself. If I were to just look through a magazine (I used to do this) and set it aside to clip recipes later . . . well, the later never comes, I’ve learned. I used to fold down a page corner, but after 6 months I had this big stack of magazines that threatened to undo me. So that’s why I clip as I read. If a recipe doesn’t make it in the first “cut,” then it’s too bad. I try NOT to clip more than 1-3 recipes in a magazine. Sometimes I don’t find any I want. Usually I find a couple. If I’ve clipped more than 3 I try to hone it down to 3 or maybe 2 max. When I’m finished with the issue, I pull a 1-inch tear in the top edge of the cover – that’s my clue that I’ve read that magazine in full and it’s ready for the trash bin.

(2) I could stop clipping recipes out of magazines or newspapers. Read them, yes; clip from them, stop? Nope, I know myself – I can’t do that either. I have a few recipe contributors (like Grace Parisi, who is a regular in Food & Wine) and I often like her unusual combinations. I rarely cook anything out of Saveur, as much as I like the magazine, they’ve kind of gone to a trend-style or the entire magazine is about a particular cuisine (the most recent issue was about Mexico). I may cancel that subscription the next time it comes up for renewal. I DO enjoy Bon Appetit and Food and Wine, though. And Cook’s Illustrated too.

(3) I could stop reading other blogs. No way, Jose! For sure can’t do that one. When I see recipes there I copy and paste them into my MasterCook software – it’s easy to do and that way I don’t have to print anything (less paper = good for me and my house). When I’m researching something to make, I just refer to my internet recipe cookbook I have in MasterCook. They’re sub-divided by type (salads, veggies/sides, beverages, etc.) so I can easily look up just what I want. Easy to see from the title whether it’s something I want to pursue.

(4) Well, I could just stop trying new recipes  except for what I already have – then I wouldn’t need any more new ideas. I must have a couple of thousand to-try recipes in my arsenal. Way too many. This option doesn’t sound viable to me. I wouldn’t get to try some of the new things that keep arriving in our markets, new produce, new combinations that surprise my palate. I have recipe clippings that go back to the 1960’s. Can you believe that? Well, that gives you a clue as to how old I am! I also have about 300 cookbooks. Yikes. And I keep buying more. Crazy me.

So, what do I do about it? Well, just keep truckin’ I guess and hope I have room for everything. I have a stack of recipes to file that’s about 4 inches high. It’s been months since I “cleaned house” on that stack. Some are recipes from my big binders (my favorites, ones I’ve already made) that I use frequently enough and need a hard copy, but they need to be re-filed in their proper binder (yes, I have 5 binders – 3 with recipes I’ve made and 2 very full binders of clippings to try).

Therefore, we get to this recipe. Finally. I’m so glad I got all that off my chest. Now I can go back to my usual routine of clipping and collecting and not worry about it because I’ve journaled all of you about it! Do any of you have this problem too? What do you do about it?

Ginger Crunch Bars came from a recipe I had printed out YEARS ago from Gourmet Magazine. 1999 to be exact. These are from Skibo Castle in Scotland, and the chef made them often for afternoon tea. They would be lovely for that. I may have to make them again just to serve them with tea. (Sorry, you can’t stay there – it’s a members-only club now.)

There’s a shortbread layer on the bottom. Easy to mix up and press into place. I do want to tell you a little about the pan size, though. The recipe says 9×13. I think the shortbread part is too thin using a 9×13. Next time I make these I’ll use that odd Pyrex size, 7×11. I think that would make a little sturdier shortbread (bake it a bit longer AND at 25° lower since glass bakes hotter) and it would hold together better. Made in a 9×13 these cookies are very thin and fragile. VERY fragile. The other little trick I read afterwards on someone else’s version of this was to score the cookies while they’re still warm – they’ll cut cleanly and not crumble so much. Someone else suggested making a foil sling and to remove them when they’re still almost hot – and place sling with cookies on a rack to cool. All good suggestions.

During the last 10 minutes or so of the baking time start making the topping. You really want the topping to finish JUST when you whisk the cookie pan out of the oven. I missed by a couple of minutes, but was able to spread the frosting on with an offset spatula easily enough a couple of minutes later. Part of the great flavor is from the Lyle’s Golden Syrup. If at all possible, don’t substitute – find it if you can. I think it has a kind of buttery-caramel flavor. It tastes nothing at all like Karo syrup. I used dried lavender too – I chopped it up finely with a large chef’s knife – and gently pressed it into the icing. The lavender wasn’t in the original recipe, so if you don’t have that, you’ll still have a fantastic cookie without it.

My DH, who hardly ever eats cookies, couldn’t keep his hands out of the broken pieces and crumbs. He loved these cookies. It also helps that they’re small and maybe just a little bit better for us since you don’t eat all that much of it – unless you go back for seconds and thirds. As I mentioned, I took them to a dinner party and they were well liked by everyone.

What I liked: the ginger flavor. I love ginger, so it’s just a no-brainer that I’d like these cookies. Some people added crystallized ginger pieces to the frosting. That might be good too.
What I didn’t like: really, nothing. A fantastic cookie.

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Think lemon zest. Think sugar cookie. Think almost like lemon curd in a cookie, but it doesn’t have any lemon curd in it. Just lemon juice and lemon zest. Oh, yes, yum. If you look very closely at the photo you can barely discern the lemon zest in the cookie itself.

My friend Peggy made these cookies at a book group meeting a couple of months ago. Normally I pass on by eating sugar cookies. Although good, if I’m going to have cookie calories, I want them to be in something much more flavorful than a sugar cookie, maybe even gingerbread, chocolate or chocolate chip. But some one of the other book group guests standing next to me put the cookie in her mouth and raved about the lemony flavor. I couldn’t exactly think how you could get lemon concentration in a cookie, but it works.

Peggy gave me the recipe, then I found it yesterday at Martha Stewart’s website. Maybe I even have it in my M.S. cookies cookbook. If you read the comments there, you might wonder, as some did, if there is something wrong with the recipe because the batter is very loose and soft. So it requires chilling before you can manipulate the dough. The batter is mixed at a medium speed for awhile, giving it an almost ribbony quality like a cake batter. But no, it’s cookie dough. So, no, I don’t believe there is a mistake in the original M.S. recipe. It makes a very, very  tender cookie. Tender = fragile. The recipe below makes just 30 cookies, supposedly. I think I got 26, so I should have made them slightly smaller to get 30 of them.

The batter has a tiny bit of reduced-down lemon juice in it, plus a bunch of grated lemon zest – that’s how you get the extra lemony flavor in a cookie. Do take the time to chill the batter before trying to roll the cookies in the lemon-zested sugar mixture and baking. I suggest overnight, but I think I was able to make the cookies after about 4 hours of chilling. You roll them in the lemon zest/sugar mixture, then flatten them with the bottom of a flat glass. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Cool on the pan for a bit – remember, they’re fragile – and remove carefully to a rack to cool completely. Then I packaged them into a ziploc baggie, 3 across, 3 down and 3 deep and froze them. They’re actually very tasty frozen, too.

Our daughter-in-law, Karen, dropped by the next day and was preparing a quick dessert to take to a party they were going to near where we live and she left the left overs of the lemon curd tarts she assembled. So, when she saw the cookies she suggested we use the lemon curd and blueberry jam sweetened ricotta cheese on some of the cookies with a fresh raspberry on top. There was dessert for a family gathering we had that night.

What I liked: the lemony-ness of the cookie. I just love lemon, so it was a no-brainer that I’d like this cookie. Yes, I’d make it again, maybe even to make the dessert I mentioned above. To me it tastes like there is lemon curd in the cookie. There isn’t, but if you like lemon curd, you’ll just love this cookie.

What I didn’t like: if I had to say something, I’d just say they’re almost too fragile. Not impossibly fragile, but they are tender. But that’s part of what makes them good. Don’t mash the cookies too thinly, that’s all.

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If you’re the kind of person who likes the TASTE and TEXTURE of boxed-mix brownies, but really want to make them from scratch, to give them more chocolaty flavor, this will hit all your buttons.

Surely I’ve mentioned before that when I go to sleep at night I usually plug into my iTouch, using my earbuds, to podcasts that I’ve subscribed to through iTunes. About every 2 weeks or so I need to re-charge it and download all the oodles of new podcasts that are in my queue. Recently I heard or read that Cook’s Illustrated, well actually the folks at America’s Test Kitchen decided to start doing a radio show and podcast with Chris Kimball and Bridget Lancaster. I immediately signed up through iTunes. Each episode is about an hour (no commercials on podcasts, either). When I’m ready to drift off to sleep I generally set my iTouch to play for about 15 minutes and 99% of the time I’m asleep by then. The next night I may go back and replay it if I have no recollection of what I listened to.

Anyway, this new podcast is really interesting. I’m liking it a LOT, actually, and it was on a recent show that they talked about brownies. Through some survey they did, it was discovered that many people like the texture – the chewiness – of box-mix brownies. But the chocolate flavor is muted. Certainly not enough chocolate is contained in those mixes. So the C.I. people began a search for the perfect chewy brownie (you do have to have a free membership with C.I. in order to get to the recipe, but that’s the link) with that wonderful crackly top that is so reminiscent of those box mix types. But one that contained some really good, true flavor of chocolate. I enjoyed listening to all the steps they went through to finally discern that they were completely on the wrong track about the fats – they needed to use more oil than butter. They used a combination of Dutch-process cocoa and unsweetened chocolate in the batter and a few ounces of chocolate bits folded in at the end. They also tried baking the brownies on a pizza stone (somewhere they read that increasing the heat on the bottom of the brownie pan helped make a chewy texture). Their tests said no. Another recommendation was to add caramel sauce to the batter, to add chewiness. Nope, that didn’t work either. And lastly, they were advised to put the cooked pan in an ice bath; they didn’t find that was successful in making a chewy brownie either. It took a visit to their science editor to learn more about ratios of fat and they finally got on the right track.

These LOOK like box mix brownies. And they definitely DO have the texture like box mix brownies. And chocolate – that’s in there too. Plus some espresso powder – I just LOVE the King Arthur espresso powder – it’s a fine grind dried espresso – never clumps or spoils (as I write this, their website says they’re out of it . . . check back). What it does is enhance the flavor of chocolate – they just go together like Jamocha Almond Fudge! I watched the interior temp carefully – the directions said to use a toothpick halfway between the edges and middle. I actually took the internal temp there. At 30 minutes it was 208°. I baked another 5 minutes and removed them without taking the temp again. Maybe I should have. I preferred the brownies from the outer edges – they had just a bit of drying edges, which I liked. The interior pieces were on the wet/moist side. Dense, although they weren’t under done by any means. Kind of like in between brownies and fudge almost.

What I liked: all of the things I was supposed to like about this type of chewy brownie – texture, chocolate flavor, crumb and appearance! Will it become my new favorite – probably not (and that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try it, it’s just that I think I prefer a little less sweet brownie and one with a slightly drier texture). I do like those box-mix brownies, although I’ve only made one of them once in many years, so I’m glad I tried these.

What I didn’t like: nothing, really, if you prefer this type of brownie. That almost sounds like it’s a negative comment – it’s not meant to be. I might possibly bake them to 212° next time just to see what happens since at 210° the interior pieces were still very moist for my taste.

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There’s a rather long and complicated story about how the recipe for these bars came to be. First, some weeks ago my friend Cherrie and Jackie came to my house and we baked cookies. We made 4 kinds, two from years past, and 2 new ones. My new one was something called Ginger Crunch Bars. If you do a search for it online you’ll find several versions. We made them, and they were less than successful as far as the texture was concerned. Once cooled, for me  the cookie base stuck to the pan, and the icing/topping shattered into funny, jagged pieces when cut. A dismal failure all around. But, all 3 of us agreed, the flavors were great.

The next day I really thought about it and decided to try something altogether different. But with similar flavors – particularly the ground ginger in the cookies and crystallized ginger in it as well. Because my cousin Gary is visiting from Northern California, as he does nearly every year at Christmastime, I knew I needed to think about some GF (gluten-free) treats. Some years he tells me not to make anything special for him (sweets) because he’d rather not have them to tempt him. This year he said yes, he’d like to help me make/bake some GF things.

I decided I wanted to make a ginger riff on my old recipe for New York Special Slices. These are bars that resemble Nanaimo Bars (which contain mint).  They’re a 3-layered cookie/bar and ginger generally plays no part in it. And the base contains graham crackers, which my cousin can’t have.To make those for him would be useless – as the recipe reads.

So, I’d read about a GF ginger cookie over at Christie’s Corner some weeks ago. I emailed Gary and asked him if he had some of the unusual flours required (sweet white sorghum, bean flour and brown rice flour). He said he did and brought them with him. Christie wrote in her blog post that she was following the new GF flour combination from a cookbook she’d discovered  and she dubbed it GEMS Flour (from the cookbook Gems of Gluten-Free Baking: Breads and Irresistible Treats Everyone Can Enjoy). All the other ingredients were normal pantry items, so the other day Gary and I made the cookies. They were definitely a find. Delicious. Even for me who doesn’t need to eat GF. Gary thought they were wonderful. Not exactly crispy crunchy like a flour-based ginger snap, but the cookie definitely met all requirements in the taste department. They are crispy on the outside, but soft on the inside – just so you know.

Now, back to the dessert bars. Can you see where this is going? I replaced the graham crackers with crumbs from these GF ginger cookies and made the base (the cookie crumbs, ground ginger, an egg, butter, chopped walnuts and some melted semisweet chocolate). I also didn’t include coconut, because it didn’t sound like a right combination. I did add in about 1/2 cup of finely chopped crystallized ginger, though. Next, I made the custard layer (using Bird’s custard powder dry mix for the custard layer) which is mixed with powdered sugar (and here’s where I added ground ginger and some finely minced crystallized ginger for that over-the-top ginger flavor) and a bit of milk to thin it to spreading consistency. These layers are refrigerated until they set, then you melt some unsweetened chocolate and butter to spread thinly on top.

My cousin was wow-ed by these. Both the cookies and the ginger bars. As a celiac, he doesn’t very often get to have dessert because so often desserts are flour-laden. The bars became the GF dessert taken to our family Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations. So Gary was able to partake of some delicious desserts too. He made the cookies himself – he bakes some when he’s at home – but I gave him plenty of good instruction along the way. The GF ginger bars I made for him – he was out with my DH on an errand. My DH’s 15-year old BMW convertible appears to be in its death throes, and the repair shop was performing CPR on the car. I think he’ll be doing some car shopping in the next week or so.

What I liked: the ginger flavor, and the chocolate didn’t overwhelm. It could have, but didn’t seem to. Do understand there’s raw egg in these. The cookie base is not baked or cooked, yet it contains an egg. Use pasteurized or just egg whites, if you have any concerns. The GF ginger cookies are delicious. Worth making even if you’re not wheat intolerant.

What I didn’t like: well, it was a fairly laborious process to first bake GF cookies and then use part of them to whiz up into crumbs to make this dessert. But if you’d seen the smile on my cousin Gary’s face, you’d have done it too.

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Really, I thought I’d posted this recipe before. I searched all over my own website because I was certain I had. Nope. So, I’m rectifying that right now. I’ve made these several times (usually around Christmastime), maybe not in the last couple of years, though. They’re worth making. Not all that hard, either, although you might think so by looking at them.

First you make a rich pastry crust that is a cinch to press into the bottom of a 9×9 pan. Not the least bit difficult or time consuming. That shortbread layer is baked for 10 minutes and cooled. Then you spread a thin layer of apricot jam (I used blackberry preserves, actually, though really you want some kind of seedless variety or a stone fruit jam). Then you mix up a flourless chocolate mixture with a whole lot of walnuts in it, and spread that on top of the preserves. That gets baked for a short while and is allowed to cool. The chocolate icing is also cinchy-easy to make – some chocolate chips are melted, then you add a jot of corn syrup (for smoothing it out), a tiny jot of rum (or espresso), a tiny sprinkle of hot water and that’s done. Spread it on top of the cooled bars. Then press in 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and kind of press them into the icing (otherwise they tend to fall off). That’s it. They don’t need refrigeration. If you have them more than a day or two I’d recommend you put them in an airtight container and freeze them. They keep in the freezer for a couple of months.

The recipe came from Maida Heatter’s book, The Book of Great Cookies. It’s out of print, unfortunately, but after looking online, I see that she’s got a new cookie book out – just out, actually, in March, 2011. (Do read the Amazon reviews – it appears there are some editing errors – recipes printed in wrong categories according to two commenters.) All the recipes come from her previous cookbooks. One reader suggested trying to find Heatter’s older books in used book stores instead – I’d recommend that too.  Maida Heatter is just the queen of cookies and desserts, more often chocolate. She’s authored several cookbooks. I’ve never had a failure with Maida Heatter’s recipes. Ever. That says something, although cookies are a little hard to bungle. I only own one of her cookbooks, a chocolate dessert one from 1983. And this recipe isn’t in it – I found it online at a couple of sources.

What I liked: the ease of making them; how pretty they look; and how deliciously chocolatey they are.

What I didn’t like: nothing at all. Just be a bit careful removing them from the pan – the pastry is very tender and will crumble easily – use a big spatula to get them out.

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The other day I was thinking about chocolate. Of late, I haven’t had much chocolate except in an occasional cookie. And what I was craving was a brownie. Then I recalled this recipe, one that was originally published in Chocolatier magazine a very long time ago. A magazine that is no longer, unfortunately. I never subscribed, but occasionally bought an issue. I did a search on the internet just in case it still existed, but could find nothing concrete.

Don’t you just want to reach right into the screen and grab that piece? Way back in about 1989 Chocolatier published an article about the best of the best brownies. We’d been to the home of some business associates of my DH, and the wife, Karen, served these incredible brownies to us, with some good vanilla ice cream. I was smitten with them. Karen kindly snail-mailed me a photocopy of the recipe a week or so later (email didn’t exist back then), and over the years I’ve made these a few times. I’ve just never blogged about them before, so that means I haven’t made them in over 4 years!

You do need both semisweet and dark chocolate to make these. Other than that – and some corn syrup, walnuts and a few eggs, the other ingredients are regular staples in most kitchens. What makes them different? I have no idea, except the combo of the dark and medium chocolate seems in just the right proportion. They’re not overly sweet, which is something that’s important to me. I’m not so much a candy-type person – except for very small pieces, even fudge is too sweet for my taste buds. But these are rich with chocolate, no question about that.

It’s best, really, if you bake these the day before you need them, as they’re more easily cut into bars or squares after they’ve set overnight on your kitchen counter. They like to have a rest (and firm up just a bit) before you easily remove the entire pan full using the foil sling (see photo) and set a knife into them. They keep (closed up in an airtight container) at room temp for about 5 days. Otherwise, freeze them if you think the recipe makes too much for you to eat in that time period. I do love these brownies. Here on my blog I do have another brownie – called Classic Brownies – The Best Ever. And my Heavenly Cream Cheese Brownies too. Oh, I do love those as well. Sigh. I just love chocolate! Anyway, the Classic Brownies are one of my favorites, but they’re quite plain. These, on the other hand, contain nuts and chocolate chunks. There’s a place in my repertoire for both!

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A year ago: Chocolate Chip Cookies – Silver Moon Bakery (a real favorite)
Two years ago: Cornflake Crusted Halibut with Aioli Sauce
Three  years ago: Shrimp Bacon Veggie Chowder

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Our freezer has been bare of cookies for awhile. And I was craving a little something chocolate. So I decided to make these cookies, based on the original recipe for them – called One Bowl Thin Chocolate Chip Cookies. But I wanted to give them an extra chocolate kick, so I substituted some cocoa powder for some of the flour and made these, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.

They are mixed all in one bowl (I used my Kitchen Aid with the beater blade) and I made a couple of alterations – I reduced the amount of white sugar and salt. And because of the cocoa addition, I reduced the amount of chocolate chips too. Anna’s original recipe, from over at Cookie Madness, didn’t use walnuts, but I like CC cookies with nuts, so I’ve always added them. If you’re not so crazy about them, just don’t put them in.

These are relatively fragile cookies. They’re almost under-baked – so I have to leave them on the hot baking sheet to cool before I even remove them to a rack. The cookie kind of slumps – that’s about the only way to describe them. If you eat them when they’re freshly baked they are almost molten inside. I always freeze my cookies, so I don’t notice that if eaten from a frozen state. But the taste is just great. These are richer (because of the cocoa) than the original version. Both versions are good. Just different.

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A year ago: Our visit to Taliesen West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s home in Arizona
Two years ago: Margaritas
Three years ago: Chocolate Chunk, Dried Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

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Do you remember me mentioning that the scenery in New Zealand was just beyond words? The mountains, the streams, the rivers, the snow, the peaks, the green pastures. All of it. Every day, every hour, it seemed like. It was cool while we were there, just warm enough in the daytime in the sunshine and cool at night.  Of course, we were there during a really long spell of good weather, and I don’t suppose it’s that way all winter. Or even all summer, although New Zealand is known to have lovely summers. Not too hot, they say.

We drove through the Otago Valley in our travels, and the pictures up top came from there. It was just stunningly beautiful.

Clockwise from top left: Ginger Beer, a very popular soft drink in both Australia and New Zealand, with a lot more zip to it than ginger ale; ANZAC biscuits (cookies); freshly made apricot ice cream cone; and a sumptuous BLT.

Our guide, Marilyn, was born and raised in New Zealand. Not far from where most of these pictures were taken. Once she went away to college (in Sydney) she never returned and continues to live in Sydney. But she is still a Kiwi at heart, and uses a NZ passport. We had the opportunity to meet her mother, father and sister while we stopped briefly in one of the small towns for lunch and some shopping. And her sister Colleen made us some biscuits (cookies) for our afternoon journey. And she shared the recipe too (below). I haven’t yet made these, but I’ll tell you, they were gosh-darned good. Very crispy and chewy at the same time. ANZAC means Australian New Zealand Army Corps.  According to Colleen: During WWI the wives, mothers and girlfriends of NZ soldiers were concerned for the nutritional value of the food being supplied to their men. They came up with this recipe – a biscuit (cookie) with all the nutritional value possible. The basis was a Scottish recipe using rolled oats, flour, sugar, butter, golden syrup and coconut. Eggs were too scarce to be included but these cookies kept well when packed into airtight tins and were thus shipped to soldiers.

One of the ingredients called for in this recipe is golden syrup. That’s not a normal ingredient we Americans know much about. Perhaps you’ve seen it in the imported food section in your local supermarket.

In appearance it looks something like Karo (corn) syrup, but it’s NOT Karo syrup, and do NOT substitute. It’s a more flavorful kind of sugar syrup – maybe in between Karo and molasses. If you can’t find Lyle’s Golden Syrup anywhere, do substitute light molasses.

Golden syrup isn’t something I have on my pantry shelf, but I know a market where I can buy it, so I’ll be doing that sometime soon.

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A year ago: Chicken with Sage and Pesto
Two years ago: Yams, Carrots and Ginger

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Why, oh why, did I wait so long to make these cookies? My friend Ann N. (I have several friends named Ann, with a few having shared recipes with me – this is the first Ann N recipe on my blog) gave me this recipe a year or so ago, after she served them at one of our book club meetings. I thought then – as I do now – these are just great cookies.

They get toasty brown from the molasses. They have bold (the molasses) and subtle (ginger and cinnamon) flavors. I just love these cookies. They bake up ultra-thin. I like that too, about them. Each cookie is about 89 calories. Anytime a cookie is less than 100 calories I’m happy!

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If I were to do a blind tasting of these cookies, next to some traditional chocolate shortbread cookies, I think I’d choose these as the best. And certainly I’d think these contain flour. But no, they have no wheat in them. My cousin Gary (from the Bay Area) eats GF (gluten free), and he’s visiting for the weekend (by the time this posts, this will have been last weekend) with a group of his close friends who came for a college graduation. When Gary comes to visit I try real hard to make things he might not prepare himself at home or get out at a restaurant. Not only does he love cookies, but he loves chocolate. And there aren’t all that many GF cookies out there, or recipes for such. But GF AND chocolate, I knew this was a match!

Most of the GF people out there are allergic to gluten (an ingredient in wheat and lots of other things related to wheat), so the food manufacturers lump all of them together and make things GF. Gary thinks he’s allergic to wheat only, but he prefers to not test that theory. He eats lots of GF products. Thank goodness the food producers do make them. Like the latest GF pasta, for instance. And crackers. And a variety of bread products made from some of the weirdest stuff.

Anyway, I had eyed this recipe over on Kalyn Denny’s blog, Kalyn’s Kitchen. And looking at her cookies, they sure looked like regular cookies to me. Except they’re made with almond meal. She makes these because it’s a low-carb cookie (and she uses some Splenda in it). Gary doesn’t so much like the artificial sweeteners, so I made this batch with white and brown sugar. But what makes these GF and low-carb is the almond meal (a protein rather than a carb). Thank goodness for me, (and for Gary) almond meal is available and not that hard to find anymore at some markets (Trader Joe’s always carries it) and health food stores. Almond flour is another GF baking staple, but in this recipe you want the almond meal. It’s like finely – really finely – ground almonds, whereas almond flour is milled – like flour is – and it’s much lighter and fluffier – like flour. If you look very carefully at the photo at top you can barely discern lots of tiny flecks of almond in the middle.

This recipe starts off with a cube of butter and 2 cups of almond meal. Plus a bit of sugar, salt, vanilla and cocoa. That’s it. These are SO easy to make. The dough is quite soft, and my handy-dandy cookie scoop was a huge help in scooping about a scant tablespoon of the dough. You roll them, then press them down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The recipe makes 20 (I got 21, even with the bit of dough that I sampled). I flattened each cookie with my hand, then gently pressed a fork across the tops (as in peanut butter cookies). I forgot to do the cross-hatching on the 2nd tray of cookies, and that’s what I photographed above. You don’t have to do that step, but it makes a more interesting looking cookie. They bake for 30 minutes (yes, 30, a whole lot longer than you’d bake a regular flour-laden cookie), then cool for another 10 or so.

The cookies are as tender as can be. Like crumbly light-as-a-feather shortbread cookies. They’re fragile, a bit, so be gentle with them. Even if you can eat flour and gluten and wheat, I’d recommend these cookies. I liked them a lot. I ate one cookie and gave the rest of the batch to Gary to take home with him (he and the family friends left the next day for the return drive). Kalyn said they will keep for a few days in a plastic container. They’d likely freeze just fine too. I doubt they’ll last long enough for Gary to freeze them at home.
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A year ago: Celery, Date, Walnut, Pecorino Salad
Two years ago: My mother’s (old fashioned) Nut Chopper
Three years ago: Apricot Ice Cream

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