Saturday, September 7, 2013

Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Gluten free baking: take one.

The hubs is a cookie fiend.  Love loves cookies (especially chocolate chip cookies), cookie monster style. Sadly since I've been cutting out gluten, his weekly cookie consumption has also taken a hit.  So I figured I should do right by him since he's been so wonderful about this diet change and work on perfecting his chocolate chip cookie.

While I'm anxiously awaiting my shipment of flours and new digital kitchen scale, I was shopping at Costco the other day and came across one of their new products, Namaste Perfect Flour Blend.  Each of the flours in this blend are ones that I ordered so I figured for $10, I should try their perfect blend (and ended up buying two bags in case it really was perfect).

First batch of cookies, I used a recipe I found online that called for coconut milk, a few different types of flours, and less eggs.  I followed the recipe exactly except for using the Namaste flour blend.  The blend is pretty dense, so I ended up cutting the amount of flour down.  When I get my kitchen scale, I'll actually measure out the flour by grams which should be a little more accurate.

Batch 1: Overcooked and crumbly.
Batch 2: (same dough) Cooked for less time, better right out of the oven, super crumbly the next day.



Day 2, I decided to "make" my own recipe based on what I had read for GF baking and going off of my favorite Tollhouse recipe.  Result: awesome.  You'd never know they were gluten free.  Even the dough was dare I say pretty much identical---even better after it was chilled for a few hours. To combat the "crumbly" day after cookie, I let them cool almost to room temperature then packaged them away and put them in the freezer.  The days following, we would grab a few and let them come to room temp microwave them for immediate enjoyment and they were perfect.

And to kick things up a notch, I made some this Salted Caramel Coconut Ice Cream on Labor Day to make sandwich cookies out of.  Also great to just scoop out onto warm, microwaved cookies---truth be told, that's what I had for breakfast after I worked out this morning.  That's okay, right?


Tips and Tricks for GF Baking I tried:
  • Bake at a temperature 25 degrees lower than regular recipe
  • Chill dough prior to scooping and baking
  • Use brown sugar for chewy cookie and more egg yolks
  • Beat butter and sugar longer than normal
  • Use room temperature ingredients

All in all, GF baking round 1 = success.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups Namaste Perfect Flour Blend
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl and set aside.  Beat butter until light and fluffy ( I used my paddle attachment).  Add brown sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.  Gradually add in flour mixture until well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Chill dough for 1-2 hours.  Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Slightly press down tops of cookies.  Cook for 8-10 minutes. I cooked for 8 minutes then let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 2 more before moving them to cooling rack.

Eat or freeze!

***I also made gluten free pizza crust with the Namaste Perfect Flour Blend and it turned out fabulous.  Nice and chewy and delicious!***