Someone told me we put a lot of sweets up on this blog.  While that is very true, we don't always eat our desserts.  Some we make in tiny batches to enjoy.  Otherwise, they end up in the freezer or in someone else's mouth.  The freezer option drives my mom crazy, so I prefer the latter.  My stomach has been making it very clear lately that it hates sugar.  I already knew the two were enemies, but it has been harder to ignore nowadays.  It punished me on Easter for eating jelly beans and cake.  While I'll be staying away from that white goodness in the future, I can't help post some sweet treats.

I made a double recipe of these Thin Mintz, knowing anything that came from Manifest Vegan's blog is simply amazing.  I made way too many cookies, and I ended up taking them to three different get-togethers.  I conveniently left the rest at my sister's house, removing all temptation.  These were so yummy that I had "normal" people asking for the recipe.  That was why I could not trust myself with the delicious devils.


Thin Mintz

3/4 cup df margarine, cold
1 1/2-2 tsp pure peppermint extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup sorghum flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup potato starch
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 cup almond milk
2 cups df, gf chocolate chips
1 T. shortening (optional)

Cream together margarine, peppermint extract and sugar together until creamy and smooth.

In separate bowl, sift together sorghum flour, cocoa powder, potato starch, xanthan gum and baking soda. Use your hands to thoroughly get all of the lumps out so that the flours are very well mixed with no clumps of cocoa powder remaining.

Gradually add flours to margarine/sugar mixture until crumbly. Continue mixing while adding in the almond milk. The dough will seize up and become stiff. Make sure all flour is well incorporated and knead briefly. Press into a disk, wrap loosely with saran wrap or wax paper and chill in freezer for about 15 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350 °F.
Pinch off sections of the dough to make about 3/4″ round balls.  Flatten dough ball between your palms and shape gently to form a flat cookie. (The warmer the dough gets, the easier it is to work with. Don’t let it get too warm, though.)

Place onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet (or silpat mat) about 1 inch apart until cookie sheet is covered.  Flatten the cookies a second time until they are about 1/4″ thick.

Bake for about 15 minutes.  Allow to cool completely.

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave (slowly and at a low temperature to ensure that the chocolate does not seize).  Stir in shortening.  Evenly coat each cookie with melted chocolate, putting them on wax paper until they are hardened.  I put mine in the freezer for a few minutes to help speed up the process.

Try not to eat them all at once!  Note: I varied the sizes of my cookies, making some larger than what they should be.  People seemed to prefer it this way.  For a picture, go here.

These don't have to be just sandwiches.  The chicken tarragon can be put in a lettuce wrap or a tortilla (rice, of course).  If you feel naughty, you can simply take a fork and eat it out of the mixing bowl.  Or, if you happen to be civilized or need to share the chicken with others, you can do the latter on plates.

Chicken Tarragon

2 1/2 lb. cooked chicken breast, shredded into size pieces
1 c. celery, diced
1 c. egg-free mayonnaise (like Vegenaise)
2 T. gf worchester sauce
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
2 T. fresh tarragon leaves, minced
1/2 c. toasted almonds
Mix the chicken and celery together.  In a separate bowl, blend all remaining ingredients except the almond.
Add mayonnaise mixture to the chicken.  Stir in almonds.  Serve whichever way fits your fancy.

We tried to make traditional dishes for our high tea party.  Supposedly cucumber sandwiches fall into that category.  I used to hate cucumbers.  A small part of me still shies away from them out of habit.  I was not so thrilled to make these sandwiches until I tried them.  They were so small and dainty, yet so addicting.

The recipe is so easy.  That is, if you can call it a recipe.  As I have mentioned before, we can eat goat cheese.  I used that instead of the traditional cream cheese.  I mixed salt, pepper, and dill weed to taste with goat cheese (I went pretty heavy on the spices).  Peel and thinly slice the cucumber.  Lay the cucumber, overlapping the slices, on gluten-free bread, and spread the goat cheese on top.  I cut the sandwich in quarters to make it more dainty.  It's that simple.

First time around Katie made these scones, I forgot to get a picture of them.  We were gone on our annual mother/daughter weekend getaway, and I valued having the scone for breakfast more than I did saving it for a photo.  Taking it home would have been dangerous anyway, seeing as our daddy also thought they were highly scrumptious.  I might have had to share it with him, and I had such an urge to enjoy it with a nice hot cup of tea.

We made these again for Katie's party.  This time I more than shared with Daddy.  There were plenty left over for me to savor some with my hot tea.  If the tea tax of 1773 had not gotten Americans to boycott tea, might we have tea time still today, as the British do?  Perhaps we could reinstate tea time?

This last time around Katie had the bright idea of using a heart shaped cookie cutter on the scones.  They were very cute and little enough you did not feel guilty eating two (or three). 

They are best eaten fresh.  They become stale quickly, so the best means of storing them is in the refrigerator. Recipe adapted from giddy up gluten free.

Chocolate Cherry Scones

3/4 c millet flour
1/2 c almond flour (finely ground)
1/2 c sorghum flour
1/2 c potato starch
1/4 c tapioca starch
¼ expandex flour (optional)
2 tsp xanthan gum
5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c organic cane sugar/ agave syrup
1/2 c dairy-free butter or margerine, cold, cut into chunks
3/4 c  Almond Milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp GF vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 c dried tart cherries
1/2 c dark or milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3 c powdered sugar
2 T almond milk
1/8 tsp GF almond extract

Preheat oven to 350° In bowl combine dry ingredients. Whisk until combined, sift into another bowl. Add margarine and cut in with pastry blender until mixture resemble coarse meal. In small bowl whisk milk, vinegar, vanilla, and egg. Add to flour mixture with cherries and chocolate. Stir with fork just until evenly moistened. Don’t over-mix. Scrape onto floured surface - dough will be sticky. With lightly floured hands, work into 7-in square. Cut into 4 equal squares, then cut squares in half diagonally to get 8 triangles. (These make big scones. If you want smaller scones, cut each of the eight triangles in half to make 16 triangles.) Arrange triangles 2 in apart on parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until tops are just brown, 20-25 min. Let cool 10 min. Meanwhile, stir together powdered sugar, coconut milk & almond extract. Drizzle over warm scones.  Best served warm.

As I posted a little while back, Katie had her birthday.  We managed to make an almost allergy-friendly cake.  She put eggs in it (meaning I had to make my own cake, but whatever), and the food coloring and sprinkles weren't corn free.  She had dreamt up a cake that was a brighter green with orangey-red petals and gold sprinkles.  I, being the main cake decorator in the family, was not envisioning this cake working out.  But she walked me through it, and my mom was a huge help and encouragement.




A few weeks later our two older sisters helped throw Katie an elegant afternoon tea party for her birthday.  It was very elegant thanks to everyone BUT me.  I am not very creative.  I can do elegant on cake, but mostly I base my creativeness off others.  My sisters made it all fabulous.  The light was fading, so I put my camera down after doing a poor job on the food (as you will see). I failed to get any pictures of the actual party.

As I believe we have mentioned before, pancakes are a Sunday staple in our house.  Ever since I can remember, the first thing my daddy does when we come home from church is start the pancake batter.  They were always made from scratch.  We even ground the wheat that went into the pancakes.  His only deviation from the routine was to sometimes make waffles.  The rest of us would race to change our clothes, hoping to be the first one down to make the side dish of scrambled eggs.  The losers had to cut the grapefruit or set the table or, worst of all, do the dishes.  If you were lucky, you might also beat everyone else at grabbing the milk so you could be the one to pour it into all the glasses.  If you were extra lucky, you would even remember not to drink from your glass of milk before eating your grapefruit.

These memories developed such a love for pancakes and Sundays that I could have cried the first time I tried to make egg-less pancakes.  Not only was every food mentioned above now off limits, but now I thought I was doomed to eat gummy, flat pancakes for the rest of my life.  Eventually I found the joy of cooked flax seed and was happy for a while.  Next came my gluten restrictions.  Somehow, the gluten-free flour did not seem to work as well with the flax.  It was only recently that I realized taking the flax out and adding lots of baking powder may be my best bet.  This is my favorite recipe so far.




2 c. gluten-free flour mixture
1 t. baking soda
2 T. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
2 c. almond milk
4 T. canola oil
1/2 t. apple cider vinegar
1 T. agave syrup (optional)
2 c. fresh fruit
1/4-1/2 c. nuts (optional)

Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together.  In a separate bowl, mix almond milk, oil, vinegar, and agave together.  Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until ingredients are mixed.  Fold in fresh fruit and nuts.  Let sit for a few minutes until mixture is bubbly.  When ladling onto a griddle, make sure you keep pancakes on the thin side.  This helps the pancakes be evenly cooked.

My favorite are banana or blueberry-walnut.  If you want, you can add allergy-friendly chocolate chips instead of nuts because, hey, what isn't better with chocolate?

I have a good excuse (or so I like to think) for not posting a recipe yet.  My newest niece decided to make her arrival on Monday.  She is so sweet and beautiful.  I could go on and on and on about her, being the prejudiced auntie I am.  I confess I haven't spent enough time with her for this to be my main excuse, but I love to brag about her to anyone who listens.  I've always been terribly busy in other ways, but that is the only one worth telling you about.



You can't tell here how incredibly precious she is.  She was too curious to sleep when I met her right after she was born.  She kept looking at whoever was holding her, probably trying to figure out what on earth was happening.  Imagine if you woke up on Mars, with giant green men holding you and talking another language.  That is how I think babies must feel when they are born.  This picture was taken the day after, when she managed to sleep through my whole visit.  She likes to pucker her eyebrows, giving her such a cute grumpy face.  The position I am holding her in doesn't help, but I haven't seen her since to take a better picture.

ANYWAY, back to what this blog is supposed to be about. We haven't made much this week.  A friend of mine with gluten and dairy allergies had a birthday, and I was very happy I had an excuse to make some cake.  I only used a cake mix, but it was still yummy.  We made fish sticks again, too.  Those are so delicious.

Tonight Katie made a play on apple crisp using pears.  Find your favorite apple crisp recipe.  Make sure you use gluten-free oats and dairy-free butter.  Substitute the apple slices for pear slices.  We topped it with SO Delicious vanilla ice cream.


We made homemade ice cream for the boys (since they can have dairy).  It gives me a hankering for homemade coconut milk ice cream.  And homemade allergy-friendly cones.  Hmmm...