Vegan, Gluten Free Oat-less Raisin Cookies

Cookies can be a hard thing to master when you're allergic to cane sugar. Substituting with agave, maple syrup or honey often lends to overly moist, gooey cookies that just don't hold up. I've tried using date sugar, which is granular, but I am not a huge fan of it's intensely sweet flavor. My next try was beet sugar. It is another granular sugar and I was able to find a bag of it in Whole Foods. It turns out that beet sugar was just the magical ingredient I needed!

So the other night I whipped up a batch of these oat-less raisin cookies. Andrew and I loved them so much, we considered not taking them to a get-together with friends. But as a budding blogger, I wanted the feedback. And good feedback it was!

PS - You can simply replace the raisins with chocolate chips, if you fancy.

Oat-less Raisin Cookies

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Canola Oil
3 tbs Unsweetened Applesauce
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbs Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Beet Sugar
1 cup Bob's Red Mill GF All Purpose Baking Flour
2 tbs Flax Meal
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
1/2 cup Raisins

Makes 1 Dozen Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
3. In a small bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce and salt.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, flax meal, baking soda and xanthan gum.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the the dry ingredients and mix until dough is formed.
6. Fold the raisins into the dough.
7. Scoop spoonfuls of the dough onto the baking sheet.
8. Bake on the center rack for 15-20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through.
9. Remove from the oven when the cookies are soft in the middle and crisp on the edges. Let stand for 5 or 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy!

M.I.A/Gluten Free, Vegan Personal Berry Cobblers

So... I epically failed at my blog. I was missing in action for oh, like, 3 months. That's the equivalent of 5 years in the blogging world. But hey! I was graduating college and nannying through out the summer and then getting a job and being a grown up!

But in all honesty, I am really disappointed at myself. I love to cook and bake and I get so excited and proud when I make something I can actually eat. I want to blog to help others find recipes that fit their diets, whether it's because they have allergies or avoid certain foods. I also want to give people resources. So I am bummed at my lack of blogging.

But this is my personal statement: I vow to change that.

I'm back baby! And I am ready to get in the kitchen! So in honor of the grand re-opening... here is a recipe for people who love cobbler and are OCD about serving equal portions (like me).

* * *

Personal Berry Cobblers

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons Bob's Red Mill GF all-purp flour, divided
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup canola oil
¾ cup almond or soy milk
½ cup + 2 tablespoons agave syrup, divided
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups strawberries
2 cups blueberries

To Make:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, whisk 1 1/3 cups of the flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. Add milk and oil and 2 tablespoons of agave syrup to the flour mixture. Mix with a spoon until thoroughly combined.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remainder of the agave and flour, plus the cinnamon and berries. Toss until berries are coated.

4. Pour berries into 8 ramekins. Then scoop lumps of dough on top of berries.

5. Brush the top of the dough with extra almond milk and brush with agave.

6. Bake for 45 minutes (rotating ramekins halfway through) or until dough is baked and lightly browned on top.

*The topping will collapse a little into the berries when cooling, but it's okay because it leaves room to top with your favorite non-dairy ice cream or whipped topping!

Gluten Free and Vegan Carob Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ooooh baby! Life can’t get any better when I have warm gluten free, dairy free, egg free and cane sugar free cookies cooling on a wire rack in the kitchen. I have been making variations of these for over a year now and I have always just made them by randomly throwing some things into a bowl and somehow it has always worked, but now I have formulated an actual recipe to share! It’s still a little rough around the edges, but I really love it! If you aren't a fan of carob and can do sugar and dairy, you can always replace with chocolate chips. This recipe makes a dozen cookies, so it's not a huge batch (you can always double it!) but just enough if you aren't making them with the intention of sharing...

Carob Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Preheat oven to 350

In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients:

½ cup Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Flour
¼ cup Sorghum Flour
½ tsp Xanthan Gum
½ tsp Baking Powder
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg
¼ tsp Salt

½ tbs Ener-G Egg Replacer mixed in a separate bowl with
1 ½ tbs warm water. The mixture will become frothy and then add the other wet ingredients:

½ cup Agave Nectar
3 tbs Olive Oil
½ tbs Vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir to combine until smooth. Then add:

1 ½ cups Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Rolled Oats
½ cup Dairy and Sugar Free Carob Chips (available at Market of Choice)

Spoon the dough onto a cookie mat that is lined with a baking mat or parchment paper. Bake on the center rack for 12-15 minutes until they are the texture you desire and then cool on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!