Happy election day, USofA! Today is a stressful day for millions of Americans – those especially whose rights, to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (and love) are teetering on the edge of oblivion. We have already voted, in two different states – Kendra in Oregon and me in California. Ballots cast into the great pit of representative democracy (heads up, the US has never been a true, cut and clean direct democracy, for better or for worse). We voted on behalf of so many who aren’t eligible but who support every detail of the running of this country nonetheless and deserve our support in kind. We voted on…
-
-
Chewy Gluten Free Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Green has almost always been my favorite color. Pink was the star of the show when I was in about 1st grade and, upon moving into a new house in Eagle Point, Oregon, I was given the massive responsibility of choosing a color for carpet in my room (out of some of the cheaper options) that my dad installed along with all of the other work my parents did on that house by hand. A deep pink was the winner, though I questioned my choice years later when I was stuck with it and had shifted back into blues and greens (my sister apparently had the foresight to choose a…
-
Black Lives Matter Glazed Gluten Free Chocolate Shortbread with Cacao Nibs
Black Lives Matter. Breonna Taylor was 26 when she was murdered. If any of you are parents, let me ask you – if your child was killed by police, what would you do? How would you feel? While she was sleeping. I’d hope you’d want your child, presumably one of the people you hold most dear in this world, to sleep safely every night of their lives. What explanation would placate you if you were told your child was now dead, having been shot to death by people (police – those meant to “protect and serve”) entering her home while she slept and firing into her sleeping body? Would there…
-
Gluten Free Lady Fingers
These gluten free lady fingers are an homage to the original recipe and a desperate attempt to slake my desire for coffee flavored desserts. They’re a fairly easy cookie to make, as you can see by the few ingredients and even fewer steps. These gluten free lady fingers can be used as a base for trifle of Tiramisu, or you can live out your inner fantasy of being a fancy French person and dip them in your coffee like biscotti while staring nostalgically out the window. Ladyfingers, also known as British sponge fingers – sometimes known by their Italian name savoiardi or their French one boudoirs – are those little things that make up your…
-
Gluten Free Tahini Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ever heard of pan-baking cookies? It might sound like they’re so good you just can’t help smacking the pan of right-out-of-the-oven beauties on the counter. It might be a little bit of that, but it’s a tried and true baking ‘technique’ that creates little ripples around the edge of your cookies as the center, still-gooey dough settles in. These are our first take on those – a bit stiffer because they’re tahini-packed, so they don’t have the most destinct ripples like the famous pan-banging chocolate chip cookies by Sarah Kieffer (we REALLY want to try out recipes in her book, “100 Cookies”) but they’re a start! What these cookies do…
-
Gluten Free Monster Cookies
These were, perhaps, the trickiest cookies I’ve made to date. I had a grand plan for creating some kind of “kitchen sink” gluten free cookie with pretzels and chips and chocolate chunks and, my favorite, chocolate/candy-covered sunflower seeds. I’d been planning to make these darn cookies for over a month, tinkering with the recipe idea on paper and waiting for ingredients to arrive, when I finally got the chance to make them this weekend. I optimistically tossed in all of the add-ins and, like most of my other cookie recipes, I chilled the dough in the fridge before baking. In the midst of an already-busy baking weekend, I missed my…
-
Gluten Free Oatmeal Cream Pies
In fifth grade, my teacher had a system of points you could accumulate for helping other students or cleaning up the classroom or doing generally nice things for the other 10 year olds packed into the first-floor learning space. At first, she would give you small pieces of paper that noted that you had “done a good dee” or something like that, but then, she leveled up the playing field and gave away Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies (this was only a year before the celiac diagnosis). Now, if you’ve never had the pleasure of biting into the unbelievably softy, slightly chewy, deeply sweet and molasses-y thin sandwich cookies that…
-
Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Mud Cookies
These cookies are for Hope. You know those friends who, even after years of losing track of each other, you fall back into friendship with so easily it’s like coming home? Hope is one of those friends. We hadn’t even seen each other since high school, back when we were both feeling a bit stuck in a rut in tiny Oregon towns, finding our outlet in community theater productions (I think we met on the set of West Side Story, so many years ago) and figuring out who we were. Fast forward nearly ten years and after watching her lay a foundation in actually writing, singing, and producing her own…
-
Gluten Free Caramel Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
The macadamia nut is such a divine little bauble. What a nut! Buttery, with a slight tang and a delicate crunch that most nuts just dream of. And, unbeknownst to me (until about 10 minutes ago), they’re indigenous to Australia! Typically, when I think of these expensive, tiny, orbs, I think of neatly-packed Hawaiian Host boxes with sleeves of caramel and chocolate-enrobed salted, roasted macadamia nuts – the classic gift that numerous friends in college would bring back from Maui after winter breaks at home on the islands. But no! Like so many foods, the origin and original champion of these nuts was not the region that eventually made them…
-
Gluten Free Almond and White Chocolate Sprinkles Cookies
These are the happiest cookies I’ve ever made. It’s amazing how gleeful you can get tossing cookie dough into heaps of rainbow sprinkles. Sprinkles! They’re such a great invention! These cookies are an homage to the incredible Liz of Cup of Ambition – another stellar baking blog that you should absolutely check out right now. It’s not all gluten free but it’s super inspirational and has some great gluten free options! She has an awesome Sprinkles Cookies recipe over there and after staring at her photos and wishing I had one of those pockets-of-sunshine on my brief lunch break (here’s to working from home and having a “home office” right…
