Almond Flour Flats

I have read that g-free bakers will sometimes used almond flour in lieu of flour, so I ordered some up to give it a try. I knew when I received the almond flour in the mail, that bad times were ahead. Instead of the fine almond meal I was expecting, the package contained what looked like not so finely ground up almonds. I had avoided using the flour for weeks, dreading what was surely to be gritty, crunchy cookies.

I finally gave the flour a whirl today in a g-free choc chip cookie recipe. My fears were justified. The dough looked grainy, the cookies spread out to paper thin wafers, and the texture was like dry meringue. Into the garbage they went! Bleck.

Traditional Choc Chip Cookies

The original recipe for this cookie comes from From Our House to Yours. Again, I used the G-Free Girl's flour ratio of equal parts amaranth, sorghum, tapioca starch, and potato starch. And tweaked the amounts of flour, baking powder, baking soda, etc. As they cooked, the cookies spread and developed a deep, caramelized flavor. They were a little too delicate, though, and tended to break apart rather easily. So not ideal for packaging and shipping.

The monsters you see shying away from these cookies and in the previous post are from a French children's book about monsters who are afraid of the dark.

home on the range cookies

This recipe is based off of my absolute favorite gluten cookie. Walnuts, coconut, oats, 3 types of chocolate chips, yum. I retooled this recipe from Lisa Yockelson's book Chocolate Chocolate and it was a pretty good showing. I used the flour ratios from Gluten Free Girl's 36 hour cookies and adjusted the amounts of flour, baking soda, baking powder, and xantham gum. The cookies were substantial, moist, and not terribly gritty. I even saved a little batter to test some oatmeal raisin cookies. Both choc chip and raisin were delish.