Ugly Apple Cookies

They say baking is a precise art, but nothing in my kitchen is precise. I bake the way I cook, glance at a recipe to get an idea and then start putting things together until they are the way I want them. Most of the time it works. Sometimes I fail but sometimes I come up with something good enough to document so I can put it in my 3 ring recipe binder and forget about forever. 

I had a little extra time this evening, which is a rare thing. The boy child was enjoying what was possibly the last nice day of fall and my man was working late in the shop downstairs. I thought it would be nice to have some of his favorite Oatmeal Raisin cookies ready when he was done but I soon realized I didn't have any raisins... or butter... or eggs... and only 1/2 cup of brown sugar.  Hmmm...

What I did have was 2 mushy bananas, a freezer full of apples from our woods and some dried cranberries. I combined my favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipe from Paula Deen with the ingredients I had on hand, a glass of wine in the other hand, and a "devil may care" attitude and ended up with a pretty darn good (and healthy) cookie. Because there is no butter and very little sugar they didn't spread like cookies usually do. They almost have the texture of a muffin. Maybe next time I'll try them in a muffin pan and see what happens.

Ingredients:

2 over-ripe bananas

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup rice milk (or any substitute)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp ground flax

1 cup diced apples

3 cups flour or GF all purpose baking flour 

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups old fashioned oats 

2 tsp cinnamon, apple pie spice or any combination of cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice

1 cup dried cranberries

*walnuts would be a nice addition but my kiddo is allergic

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Peel and mash bananas in a mixing bowl. Add apple sauce, vanilla, rice milk, brown sugar and flax. Stir well. Add apples & combine.

In a separate bowl combine all other ingredients.

Stir together wet & dry ingredients. Add a little more flour or oats if it's too wet.

Drop spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen. Yummy.

Gluten Free Blueberry Scones

I took the day off work to sleep off this cold or flu or whatever it is dragging my butt down today. After almost an entire day on the couch watching back to back episodes of NCIS and compulsively checking Facebook for activity I got an uncontrollable craving for Scones.

I couldn't find a recipe that was free of all the things I needed it to be (wheat, eggs, dairy, nuts, potato flour or starch) so I pulled up a few and used them to come up with my own. I don't consider myself a baker and GF baking without eggs is very hit or miss for me so I am amazed at how well they turned out!

Servings: 12
Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Category: Breakfast
Ingredients
3 cups Gluten Free flour blend
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp arrowroot starch
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg or egg replacer, i use ground flaxseed in hot water
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup, warm
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2-1 cup warm water
2 small flats blueberries
cinnamon/sugar blend
Notes / Directions
Preheat oven to 350

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

Slowly add melted coconut oil, stirring continuously

Add remaining ingredients except water & stir

Add water 1/4 cup at a time until a firm dough forms

Remove 1/2 of the dough & form into a ball (be careful not to overwork dough)

Place on a cutting board & roll or flatten to 1 1/2 inch thick circle. Cut into 6 & arrange pieces on a baking sheet.
Repeat with remaining dough.

Brush with a little coconut oil & sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 20 mins

Pumpkin Biscuits

I started with the basic biscuit recipe on the package for Bob's Red Mill Biscuit Mix and added a few things. The insides stay moist so this would probably also work pretty well as muffins or a bread.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Biscuit Mix
• 1 cup canned or pureed pumpkin
• 1/4-1/2 cup rice milk or milk substitute
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp Galangal (opt.)
• handful of roasted pepitas

Preheat oven to 350. Combine biscuit mix with pumpkin until crumbly. Add rice milk a little at a time, stirring until the dough is smooth but firm. Stir in spices and maple syrup. Drop spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet and top with a few pepitas. Bake 25-30 minutes.