Tag: cookies (Page 1 of 3)

Winter Days~

February 9, 2015 / Lindsey / 8 Comments

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Lindsey’s Pumpkin Spice Cookies

November 17, 2011 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

I made up this cookie recipe this summer and I’m really loving it; it seems like it’s becoming my new go-to recipe. These are perfect for Autumn, and now that cranberries are in season, I’m loving the bright flavor of those — I chop them up and mix into the batter, and then place a cranberry on top of each cookie. I love the candied ginger in these but I think I love the cranberries even more!

Lindsey’s Pumpkin Spice Cookies

1 cup of cooked & pureed pumpkin or winter squash (canned pumpkin is fine too!)

1/4 cup coconut oil or butter, melted (my tummy’s sensitive to fat right now, so I adjust this to 2 Tbsp of oil or butter + 2 Tbsp more of pumpkin — they’re still delicious!)

Rounded 1/2 cup sucanat (sugar)

2 Tbsp molasses

1 egg

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt (and I use a bit more if I’m making these with unsalted butter or oil)

1/2 cup chopped crystallized ginger OR chopped fresh cranberries, or a mixture of both… or something else like nuts, or whatever you like

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Mix the oil, sugar, molasses, and egg. Stir in the pumpkin. Combine all the dry ingredients and stir into the wet ingredients. Mix in the crystallized ginger/cranberries, too, if you’re using those. Drop rounded tablespoonfulls onto a cookie sheet that’s been greased or covered with parchment paper. Place a whole cranberry or a piece of ginger on top of each cookie if you want. Bake at 350° for about 15 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden on the bottom, and hold together when lifted with a metal spatula.

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Gluten-Free Coconut-Cream Bliss Cookies

July 21, 2011 / Lindsey / 0 Comments

I think it’s time for a cookie recipe, and these are absolutely divine! They’re made with coconut cream concentrate (from Tropical Traditions, a favorite company of mine). CCC has the same fat & calorie content as nut butters do, so I like to use it in place of those sometimes. Plus it’s a delicious way to take advantage of the health benefits of coconut.

Lindsey’s Gluten-Free Coconut-Cream Bliss Cookies

1 1/2 cups coconut cream concentrate*

1/2 cup plain yogurt or kefir

1 1/4 cups arrowroot powder

Rounded 1/2 cup sucanat

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

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Heat the coconut cream concentrate over low heat until softened or melted.

Then melt the coconut oil over low heat; remove from heat and mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.

In a large bowl, mix the arrowroot with the sucanat and salt.

Add the coconut cream concentrate and coconut oil to the arrowroot.

Mix until well combined.

The dough should be very nice and workable, not overly sticky. If it’s sticky, add more arrowroot.

Form dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet (or for easier cookie removal, use parchment paper). Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass.

Bake at 325° for 20-30 minutes or until they hold together and are very lightly browned on the bottom.
Cool a bit and remove from the cookie sheet while still warm. If they cool down and then seem to be glued to the cookie sheet, place them back into the oven to warm up again, and then they’ll be easy to remove.

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* Coconut Cream Concentrate is dried coconut meat which has been ground very finely into a butter, the way nuts would be ground into nut butter. You can cook and bake with it, mix it with water into coconut milk, put it in smoothies, spread it on a tortilla with honey & cinnamon, or eat it plain. The Concentrate will arrive separated into two layers, and you’ll need to mix them first before you use it.

To do that, unscrew the lid and put the jar into a pan of barely simmering water.

Keep the heat as low as it’ll go. This will take a while — you’ll know it’s ready when you stir the concentrate and no chunks remain.

Once it’s smooth, stir it up completely. (I like to dump it all into a big bowl, which makes stirring easier. Then I pour it back into its jar.)

Transfer the jar to the fridge to solidify. Once it’s solidified, you can remove it from the fridge and store at room temperature. It’ll stay mixed in all but the hottest weather.

Warm your concentrate very gently in a pan of water set on the lowest heat.

Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream Concentrate, (c) The Herbangardener

Once it's melted and smooth, pour into a bowl and mix until combined. Pour back into the jar and transfer to the fridge to solidify.

Kitchen Tip: Brown Bag Cooling Racks

June 27, 2011 / Lindsey / 3 Comments

I have a little kitchen tip for you today!

Since we live in a small apartment, space is at a premium and we don’t have room for needless kitchenware. And so, among many other things, we don’t own wire cooling racks. If I need a cooling rack, I improvise.

For cookies, I use what my depression-era grandmother used — a cut-up brown paper grocery bag. Just cut it up and lay it on the countertop, transfer your cookies onto it, and fold it up when you’re done…and use it again and again! It hardly takes up any room, and I get to think of my grandma — and bygone days in general — every time I use it.

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What’s one way you improvise in the kitchen?

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Gluten-Free Chunky Monkey Bars

May 9, 2011 / Lindsey / 2 Comments

Time for a recipe! These “Monkey Bars” are a delicious mid-afternoon or after-school snack for both adults and kids — plus they’re grain free and high in protein!

Gluten-Free Chunky Monkey Bars

(Based on this recipe)

1/2 cup coconut flour*

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 eggs

1/2 cup sucanat (sugar), or 1/3 cup honey

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1 Tbsp vanilla

3/4 cup mashed bananas (~2 standard-sized bananas, or 3 smaller ones)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

1/3 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a cake pan…mine happens to be 12″ x 7.5″, but you can use a different size and just alter the cooking time as necessary. You could also make these into muffins.

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together the coconut flour, salt, and baking soda. Add everything else and mix well. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool and slice into bars. (For muffins, fill the tins 3/4 full. The baking time is the same. Makes 12 muffins.)

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*If you’re not familiar with coconut flour, it behaves differently than wheat flour; it’s high in fiber and is therefore a very thirsty flour, which is why you don’t need much of it to do the job. 1/2 a cup in this recipe doesn’t seem like nearly enough, but it actually is! Coconut flour also requires lots of eggs to achieve the light texture of wheat-based baked goods. But it’s a lovely flour to work with! Just a little different. I love it. In fact, in this recipe I can’t even tell that there isn’t any actual wheat flour; the texture is light, moist, and tender, and the taste is yummmmmmy! Enjoy these!