A Miracle !

[Joefnh]

OK maybe not a miracle for most who can cook, but for me its pretty miraculous... Until these past months if I couldn't cook it on a grill... well is wasn't cooked, I ate out for dinners almost all the time - MC changed all of that.

Thanks to MC and some guidance from you kind folks I have had to learn some kitchen skills, and may actually be learning how to cook. At this point I can cook various meats, veggies, chips and even a stir fry pretty well, but have not ventured beyond that until today.

It was a gray cold yucky day here and I wanted something different than my normal GF/SF/DF meals and I finally was able to make some homemade baked good, chocolate chip cookies!

Ever since I discovered that I could no longer tolerate the small amount of soy in the Leda 'Tim Tams' (gf copies) cookies I have been looking for something in the desert category that I can eat.

In my weekly shopping rounds I found some chocolate chips and a cookie mix that is gluten-free, dairy-free, peanut-free, tree-nut free, soy free, egg free and casein-free.


The chocolate chips are from:
http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/our_foods ... chips.html

The mix is from:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/ite ... cookie-mix

For the butter I made a batch of ghee (clarified butter)

I did cheat a little and added a small amount of shaved almonds into the mix. I have had these recently and they seemed to be tolerated.


The results:




These are great and would recommend them to anyone. Almost as good as grandmas and they even look good... now I have to rescue my kitchen

These really are good for the soul.

Its the small victories that make our days.

--Joe

[tcorbett]

CONGRATULATIONS!

Those look so yummy - I could just dive in and grab one! I love those chocolate chips - I could eat them straight out of the bag! Could you share your recipe? I am hoping once things settle down that I can (as my college daughter said) "Eat normal GF foods"!

Good job - life is good!

Theresa

[Joefnh]

Theresa follow the links I posted for the mix and the chocolate chips. For the butter I made ghee (clarified butter) and I added a few shaved almonds. These mixes are available at most health food stores and I have seen at least the cookie mix at a local Shaw's food store. I wish i could say they were made from scratch, that may be next.

I cant believe how good these make the house smell

--Joe

[Zizzle]

Those look delish. I'm a cook but a non-baker. I have a bunch of GF baking mixes in the cupboard and am yet to try one! Instead I buy gf cookies that never fully agree with me.

You've given me the will to bake something this
weekend!!

[hoosier1]

Joe!

I'm in. Those are on my shopping list.

My mom made me an apple flat cake from King Arthur flour over the holidays. It is excellent too. If anyone wants the recipe, just let me know and I will post it.

Rich

[Gloria]

Congratulations, Joe! Homemade GF cookies taste so much better than store-bought. You are on your way to becoming a chef!

Gloria

[hoosier1]

Leave it to me to admire Joe's photography as well. Nice lighting Joe.

[nancyl]

Joe,
I'm not sure if I have a gluten intolerance or not. I seem to be able to eat wheat products, but those cookies look good and are much more healthy than the regular chocolate chips cookies. I am going to give them a try. Thanks for sharing the websites. Good thing to do on a cold New England day.

Nancy

[harvest_table]

Oh my gosh, those look amazing!

Enjoy every single bite and crumb. I can almost "smell em" in Fergus.

Love,

Joanna

[MBombardier]

Wow, Joe! Great job!! And don't worry about the kitchen, lol. My father used to say the dinner wasn't ready until my mother had used every dish and utensil.

[grannyh]

They look fantastic.. wonder how good the dough is raw?:)
grannyh

[Kari]

Joe - congrats on your cookies!!! Couldn't agree more that those things which on the surface might appear small can be HUGE in someone's life. I also struggle a lot in the kitchen, as I have never had to learn to cook. I have now been forced to take it up, and do occasionally experience those small, but very meaningful "victories".

The cookies look absolutely delicious in the picture - thanks so much for your "miracle" post, it is so awesome to be able to share in positive accomplishments by a fellow PP family member - YEAH!!!!!

Love,
Kari

[tex]

Great looking cookies, Joe - in fact, they look perfect. Congratulations on such a successful outcome for your first try.

And I noticed the same thing that Rich mentioned - superb lighting for the photo.

Tex

[Celie]

I made some brownies with King Arthur Flour Brownie mix yesterday and they are wonderful. I also found a great choc chip cookie recipe at elanaspantry.com. The cookies are wonderful (I can't keep my DH out of them - he says he has to suffer with me). They are GF, dairy free, soy free, yeast free and egg free. Here is the link: http://www.elanaspantry.com/dairy-free- ... ip-cookies

YUM!

Celie

[Gloria]

Celie,

Thanks for the recipe! It's hard to find cookie recipes that don't require eggs.

I've bookmarked the recipe and will try it as soon as I can eat chocolate again

almond flour adds color, texture, richness, flavor, body, and binds ingredients in baking applications.

http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/blanch ... ur5lb.aspx

Perhaps this is why I'm able to bake muffins without eggs. Almond flour is expensive to purchase, but I make mine virtually for nothing by dehydrating the pulp leftover from making almond milk. Once it's dehydrated, I chop it into a fine powder in the blender.

Gloria