the day {the one where i went gluten free}
marked clearly on my calendar with a big red circle, is the day. january 6, 2009. it was the day that i went gluten free. only for a trial period, right? or so i thought.
i was 4 weeks postpartum with my first son and suddenly all my tummy troubles were back. my sister had been diagnosed with early signs of celiac damage earlier that year and was already well into her gluten free journey. i made the decision, i was done. so what did i do? well naturally i bought a cookbook {1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes (1,000 Recipes)
as soon as my cookbook arrived, i chose a few recipes to try and headed off to whole foods. and there i stood. i think i was there for over 2 hours, just reading labels. never fear, i had my trusty list in hand with all the words that could mean “gluten”. a few hundred dollars later, i came home with all sorts of gluten free items. i had sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xantham gum…and on and on, armed and ready to bake.
i have to admit that the first thing we ever baked gluten free was actually a huge success. though we now eat a very limited amount of gluten free starches and grains, i still thought this recipe should be shared. these little cookies, offered me the encouragement i needed as we dove into changing everything about the way we knew how to cook.
- ¾ c. sorghum flour
- ¾ c. potato starch
- ½ c. tapioca starch
- ½ c. earth balance (for dairy free) or butter
- 1 tsp. xantham gum
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. unrefined sea salt salt
- 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
- 1 c. evaporated cane sugar
- 1 flax seed egg* (for egg free) or 1 free-range egg
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- (sugar and cinnamon for coating cookies)
- *flax seed egg (heat 3 Tbsp. water + 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed, until mixture gels)
- mix together dry ingredients (sorghum flour, potato starch, tapioca starch, xantham gum, salt & baking powder) & set aside
- with mixer on low blend butter until smooth & then beat in sugar, flax seed egg, brown sugar, vanilla & almond extract
- slowly fold in dry ingredients
- remove dough from bowl and knead dough with hands until smooth
- divide into two balls and pat into flat disks between plastic wrap or parchment paper
- chill in refrigerator for one hour
- cut each disk of dough into 12 equal pieces
- roll each piece into balls & coat with cinnamon and sugar
- place on parchment lines cookie sheet & press slightly to flatten
- bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes
