July 4th Party!

We had a great party, I hope you did! Sorry I'm late for posting. The party was hosted by some great neighbors. We were in charge of most of the desserts ;). My sisters made cupcakes, a flag cake, a grain and sugar-free cake topped with (goat) cream cheese and berries and grain and sugar-free banana bread. I made M&M cookies (CCC's made with M&M's instead of chocolate chips), some filled with fresh marshmallow, and 3 cheesecakes - blueberry (that lemon recipe adapted, omitting the zest and using ground blueberries instead of the lemon juice), vanilla, and strawberry/raspberry (again, the lemon recipe adapted, omitting the zest, using ground strawberries instead of the lemon juice and adding some chopped raspberries). I added a topping to all of the cheesecakes (cream cheese, sugar and vanilla blended up, berries also if it was a berry cheesecake) because a couple we're so pretty :).

grain and sugar-free cake topped with (goat) cream cheese and berries

~ Peace,
Hanunyah

July 4th Pictures

Some pictures from yesterday -

Click here for pictures from when we went fishing

A goodie tray I brought - red, white and blue Neopolatin Cookies, and in the middle, Fondant - blue is flavored maple, white lemon, and red peppermint. Almost all of the cookies were gone, and the candy was well liked.

Freshly caught catfish!

Homemade goat milk blackberry and vanilla ice-cream

Blackberry cobbler

Fireworks

~ Hanunyah

Happy July 4th!

I hope you have a happy July 4th!

     We are going to a soccer game today (which we must win to be in the playoffs!), and have a busy but, fun day planned tomorrow . . . do all the chores in the morning, go fishing and maybe swimming, then going to a party/barbecue at the neighbor's place!

These are some Neapolatin Cookies, colored for the 4th of July. I'm planning on bringing them to the party.

Have a nice weekend!

~ Hanunyah

Black Gold Cookies

Note: Even though I am on the GAPS diet, I still bake for everyone else who's not on the diet (there's only me, my brother and dad on the diet). It's not really a big deal for me, because I like doing it and they like to eat what I make. That said, I'll still be posting recipes here, Lord willing.


Thursday I made some Chocolate Chip Cookies (I baked most of them as bars, spread on a cookie sheet - they baked way better, browned beautifully and looked more chewy) , Gingersnap Cookies, Gingerbread (it was a creation, but a success - I made it from some of the Gingersnap cookie dough with another egg, a chopped apple and milk), Neapolitan Cookie dough for the 4th of July (without the food coloring because my sister forgot it Thursday in town, I finished those this morning), and Flourless Oatmeal Cookies (that me and my little 6 year old sister went crazy on - we added a shredded carrot, chopped banana, ginger, poppy and flax seeds. Why did we add all that? We were having fun ;-) ).


     Anyway, a couple of months ago, my grandma brought us some Gluten-free Black Gold Cookies (with the ingredient list) that she bought somewhere (I think the brand was BriarPatch) so we could taste them and create a copycat recipe for them. I found a couple Black Gold Cookie recipes online. With the amount of chocolate chips in the recipe, it seemed like you couldn't go wrong. So I gave it a shot.
    They were a big hit here at our house, but I haven't ran them by grandma yet (I'll probably do that tomorrow after a soccer game when we go to her house). The only difference I think there was (without tasting them ;-) ) was that they weren't as thick as the ones she bought. I may need to add a little more flour, or bake them as bars in a pan (so they can't spread, only rise).

*Update - July 28, 2011: A couple weeks ago Grandma came to our house . . . and I was baking these cookies. She tasted one, and REALLY liked them! She and everybody else gave lots of compliments. They went over very well!
     But I experimented some and was able to make them thicker (the first batch I changed things on turned out great). So, I have changed the recipe to what worked.

Black Gold Cookies (Gluten-free, Corn-free)
Adapted from Food.com

6 tablespoons (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) GF flour (I use rice or oat)

1/2 teaspoon guar gum (xanthan gum, if not corn-free)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder (or 3 to 4 tablespoons regular cocoa)

2 cups safe chocolate chips, divided

6 tablespoons (1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) lard

2 large eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (optional)

1 1/2 cups walnuts (optional)

1. Mix together flour, gum, baking powder and cocoa, set aside. Melt 1 1/4 cups of the chocolate chips in the microwave (you could use a double boiler) for 1 minute, just until melted. Stir until smooth.

2. Beat the lard, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a medium bowl until well combined and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate and beat. Add the dry ingredients, remaining chocolate chips, and walnuts. Refrigerate the dough for about 20 to 30 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place heaping tablespoons of the dough on greased cookie sheets (do not flatten them). Bake for about 9 minutes (do not overbake). Cool on wire rack.

~ Hanunyah


Linked to Gluten-Free Wednesdays by The Gluten-Free Homemaker

GF Neapolitan Cookies

Well, I made these a couple weeks or so ago, but we've been busy lately, so I haven't posted for about a week.

     Ok, I know, the color isn't right, but I didn't have any red food coloring, so I used blue. These were a bit grainy, but still yummy and they got eaten up. I didn't use nuts. I used I think about 3 Tablespoons chocolate chips (melted) for the chocolate layer. I also added a handful of chocolate chips, not melted, to the chocolate dough. I think next time I make these I'll only use about 2 cups of flour (gluten-free, of course), and 1/4 cup of potato starch and/or cornstarch (because the mixture seemed a little dry, and I added a tablespoon or so of lard). The recipe said this makes 72 to 84 cookies. I found this recipe in a Dessert cookbook by Better Homes and Gardens.

Gluten-Free Neapolitan Cookies
2 1/4 cups to 2 1/2 cups gluten free flour, and use some starch so the cookies aren't grainy
about 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup margarine or butter (I used lard)
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
5 drops red food coloring
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled to room temperature

1. Line a 9x3x3-inch loaf pan with waxed paper (I used foil because we don't have waxed paper), allowing the ends of the paper to hang over the sides of the pan.

2. In a small bowl, stir together the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and salt.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the margarine or butter with an electric mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds. Add the sugar and beat until the mixture is fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat just until the ingredients are combined. Slowly add the flour mixture, beating on medium speed about 3 minutes or until all the ingredients are combined.

4. Divide the dough into 3 portions and place each in a separate bowl. Stir the almond extract and red food coloring into 1 dough portion. Stir the chopped walnuts into the second portion and the melted chocolate into the remaining portion.

5. Pat the pink dough evenly into the bottom of the prepared loaf pan. Pat the dough with nuts over the pink dough. Top with the chocolate dough. Cover the pan and chill in the refrigerator at least 4 hours or in the freezer a few minutes, until the dough is firm enough to slice.

6. Preheat oven to 350 F. Remove the chilled dough from the pan by lifting the waxed paper ends; remove the waxed paper.

7. Using a sharp knife, cut the block of cookie dough lengthwise in half. Cut each cookie block crosswise into 1/8- to 1/4- inch-wide slices. Arrange the slices about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

8. Bake in the 350 oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are firm and light brown. Cool the cookies on the sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

*Update: Here are some updated pictures - I made them again.