ALMOND + OAT GINGERBREAD WITH MAPLE ICING

I love a cut-out cookie, especially when it's as festive and Christmas-y as these ones.  Besides being adorable - they are chewy, nutty and topped with a simple maple icing.  Check out the post on Clementine Daily! 

ALMOND GINGERBREAD COOKIES WITH MAPLE ICING (gluten-free, dairy-free0 Makes 3 dozen cookies

• 1 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup sorghum flour or oat flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon xanthum gum
• 3/4 cup brown or coconut sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (or butter)
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 egg

For Icing:

• 1 cup confectioners sugar
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 teaspoon coconut milk

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  IN a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, starch, baking powder, xanthum gum, sugar and spices (all dry ingredients). 

In another mixing bowl, combine melted coconut oil (or butter, with molasses, vanilla, maple syrup and egg.  Mix until well combined.

Combine wet ingredients into dry, mixing well until cookie dough forms.  Chill dough (in the bowl) for 25 minutes.  

Once chilled, roll out dough between two pieces of parchment, using a bit of tapioca to flour the surface and between parchments.  Roll out until around 1/4in. thick or so, then use cookie cutters to make shapes.  Add cut out cookies to a parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat until all dough is gone.

Bake cookies in batches, 12-15 minutes or until browned and dry to the touch.  Set on a bakers rack to cool completely before icing. 

To make icing:  Add powdered sugar to a medium mixing bowl.  Whisk powder well until “sifted” and smooth, breaking up any   Whisk in maple syrup, coconut milk and stir well until icing forms.  If it’s too dry, add a little bit of water, if too watery, add a little more sugar.  Then, drizzle cooled cookies with icing or just dunk them straight in ;) Happy holidays!

See more images and recipe HERE!

SALTED CARAMEL ROSE APPLE PIE + CHERRY WALNUT CRUMBLE

Last Thursday, I spent the entire day surrounded by people I love while doing the things I enjoy.   I prepped, shopped, styled and cooked my heart out, somewhat seamlessly, thanks to insane amounts of listmaking and feverishly re-reading my "hosting tips" post.  Everything turned out, my pie-anxiety finally subsided and we feasted on a huge meal followed by too many cocktails. 

SALTED CARAMEL APPLE ROSE PIE (Gluten-free) Serves 6

To make crust:

• 2/3 cup brown rice flour
• 1/3 cup oat flour
• 1/4 cup sorghum flour
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon xanthum gum
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold & cubed
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon tapioca starch

1.  In a large food processor, add flours, powdered sugar, xanthum gum and salt.    Pulse a few times until well combined.  Carefully add in 1 egg and cold, cubed butter.  Pulse until the mixture comes away and forms a dough.    Use your hands to form a disk, dust with tapioca starch and wrap in syran wrap.  Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

2. Once your crust is chilled, roll out your dough between two pieces of parchment paper, making sure to flour EVERYTHING well.  I used brown rice flour and sorghum.  Roll out to about 10 inches or so, adding more flour if your dough gets sticky.  Peel off the top parchment layer, put your (GREASED) pie plate face down on the dough.  Hold the pie plate and one hand under the parchment (use help if you have it!) and flip the pie plate right side up, making sure to keep the pie as flat and intact as possible.  I did this in one go, so the method worked well for me!  Use whatever works for you.  

3. Peel off the last sheet of parchment and fit your dough to the pan, using your hands to press into the pan.  Choose your favorite pie crust design, I did a "pinch" design, shown visually here, along with other ideas.

To make caramel:

• 1 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (maldon)

Combine sugar and water over medium low heat in a medium saucepan until sugar dissolves.  Add unsalted butter and bring mixture to a low boil.  Let dissolve and keep at a low boil until mixture darkens to a copper color.

(Note: this may take a while, don't turn up the heat! If it's too hot, it will burn and be ruined. Be patient)

 Once the mixture reaches it's golden color, remove from heat and slowly pour in heavy cream.  The caramel will steam, so be careful -- it's hot.   Bring saucepan back to the stove over very low heat and stir in sea salt.  After 5 minutes, remove from heat and let cool for at least 30 minutes.  (This recipe will make a large amount of caramel, you might have some leftover, but I made extra so I could drizzle on each pie slice upon serving.  Plus, if you have leftover apples, you have yourself an indulgent snack.)

To make filling:

• 6-7 apples, sliced paper thin (I used a mix of granny smith and honeycrisp)

• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup turbinado sugar
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• Pinch of salt

Using a mandolin, slice your apples into paper thing slices and add to a large mixing bowl.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon and mix very carefully with your hands.  Add sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.  Mix again with your hands making sure not to damage your apples (we're making roses here!).  

To assemble roses:  Lay out about 4-5 apple slices in a line.  Once you lay one down, overlap the next one about 1/2 inch and continue doing so for each slice you add (overlapping each just slightly).  Then, you will roll up the line of apple slices tightly making sure to carefully keep the "rose" in-tact.  Place each rose in your pie and continue until filled!  This process takes patience, but it's not hard.  Just go slow, and experiment with adding different sizes or colors :)

 As soon as you fill your crust with apple roses, drizzle caramel over top and garnish with a pinch of sea salt.  Chill the entire pie in the freezer for 25 minutes or so, before baking.  While you wait, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Once pie is chilled, add to 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender.  Be sure to drizzle more caramel over top once pie is cooled and again before serving ;)  Serve a la mode or with fresh whipped cream (or both).

CHERRY AND MIXED BERRY OAT WALNUT CRUMBLE (Gluten-free) Serves 6-8

For Filling:

• 12 oz. raspberries
• 10 oz. sweet cherry (fresh, or frozen and thawed)
• 12 oz. blackberry
• 2 teaspoons flour (I used sorghum)
• 4 teaspoons tapioca starch
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt + cinnamon

Add all berries and sweet cherries to a large colander and rinse well.  Let drain for at least 25 minutes.  Once drained, add fruit to a large mixing bowl.  Stir in tapioca starch and flour first, making sure to fold in and coat the mixture well.  Then mix in sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.  Immediately add to a cast-iron skillet and set aside.

For Topping:

• 1/2 cup sorghum flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• Pinch of sea salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, frozen & grated or chilled and cubed

In another large mixing bowl, whisk together all flours well, then add sugars, spices, and salt.  Combine well making sure everything is evenly distributed.  Add walnuts and grate in frozen stick of butter (if you use chilled butter, cut in butter to the mixture and mix well).  Use your hands to mix the topping until butter is evenly distributed and mixture is crumbly.  Top your fruit filling with the crumble evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, then up the heat to 375 for 10-12 minutes or until topping is browned and fruit is bubbling.  Serve warm!

BUTTERSCOTCH, CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES WITH SEA SALT

One of my first memories in the kitchen was of baking cookies. Even though my baking endeavors often involved a Betty Crocker box mix, I was always proud of the achievement.  Despite not doing any "real" baking, it was my first experience with the accomplishment that comes from cooking.  I know I'm not the only one who feels like a more legitimate and powerful human being after making a pie or conquering an especially difficult recipe.  This is why failed recipes hurt...so bad.

The challenges of the kitchen are my favorite kind.  Although I've had failures (many) and infamous defeats (bagels), I believe the gluten-free battlefield is one that makes us stronger.  We can try to avoid mistakes, but sometimes the dough doesn't rise.  So, when I experience those baking-disasters or recipe heart-ache, I turn to this fail-safe recipe that never lets me down.  There's nothing butterscotch and sea salt can't fix.

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BUTTERSCOTCH CHOCOLATE CHUNK SEA SALT COOKIES (Gluten-free)

1 cup all purpose gluten-free flour (I used Bob’s)

2/3 cup oat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

1 teaspoon maldon sea salt (and more for topping)

1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

6 tablespoons butter, melted

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons agave nectar or maple syrup

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or 8 oz. chopped bittersweet chocolate

1/3 cup butterscotch chips, chopped

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together both flours, baking soda, and xanthum gum.  Once mixture is combined well, add the sugar, salt, chocolate chips, nuts and butterscotch.  Mix well.

2.  In another bowl, combine agave, butter, egg and vanilla extract.  Mix well before combining with dry mixture.

3.  Since there are so many “chunks” in this recipe, you may find it a little dry, but don’t panic.  Mixture should be moist enough to pack into shape and bake.  Use a measuring spoon or your hands to shape cookies and add to baking sheet lined with parchment paper .  Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes or until they are golden brown and hold their shape.  This recipe makes approximately 24 cookies.