Monday, June 21, 2010

American Cookie Allstar gets delicious glutenfree update

This past weekend was the first aerobatic flight contest in the Pacific Northwest and Hubbers packed up his gear and headed across the mountains for the 25th Annual Apple Cup in Ephrata, Washington.  It seemed like a good time to stick around the homestead and get some things done, so I did.  I had planned to bake some luscious Vanilla Glutenfree Cupcakes from a GlutenFreeGoddess recipe and I was looking forward to it.  Her recipes are always so delightful!


But first, a wee spot o' lunch was in order.  I pulled out the airtight container in which I store my home-baked bread, made from Pamela's Amazing Bread Mix, and rendered a slice.  This was ceremoniously dropped into the toaster while I reached for a jar of peanut butter.  I was expecting a full jar, but this one was definitely lighter than I had anticipated.  Screwing off the top, I was surprised to discover that SOMEone had devoured almost all of my Earth Balance Crunchy Natural Peanut Butter w/ Flaxseed.  This is my new favorite because it is lightly sweetened with agave, so it has very little impact on my blood sugar (AND it is gluten free delicious-ness).


Since our home is shared primarily between two people and I know it wasn't I who ate the good stuff inside this jar, there was no real mystery about where the goodness had gone.  The surprise was this: I thought he didn't LIKE peanut butter until he recently bought his own jar at Whole Foods.  So why did he devour MY chosen delicacy?


Pragmatism won out over analytics and I realized that Father's Day was almost upon us.  Hey!  My dad loves peanut butter.  Apparently, Hubbers does too!  Why not bake up a batch of peanut butter cookies as a Father's Day treat?  I've been wanting to test the versatility of Pamela's Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix in a good, standard cookie recipe anyway.


So I changed my baking plan and went online to find a wholesome and simple recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies.  I reviewed several and selected Mrs. Sigg's Peanut Butter Cookies from allrecipes.com (a local, Seattle-based, woman-owned business).


I took Mrs. Sigg's recipe and laid out the adaptations, checking to be sure I had all the necessary ingredients.  I had a moment of mild panic thinking I would be short one egg, but a quick investigation revealed that all was well in the organic egg supply.  I had more than enough local, organic butter, certified free of rGBH.  I abstain from artificial flavors as much as possible, so I replaced the butter-flavored shortening with Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening.  I love that this product is (reportedly) sustainably produced on family farms in Colombia.


The sugar was overly generous for my taste, so I cut that in half, then added back 1/2 Cup of Zero.  In retrospect, I would probably prefer to omit the white sugar entirely, go with the half cup of organic brown sugar and the half cup of Zero, as I really don't enjoy it when my mouth tastes like a sugar bowl.  I'll try that modification the next time.  (And there will definitely be a next time.)  My Singing Dog vanilla extract is organic and gluten free.  I generally pick this up at Whole Foods Market and it will soon be time to buy another.  I wouldn't need the baking soda or the salt that Mrs. Sigg calls for, since these ingredients are incorporated in Pamela's mix.


Okay! Let's bake!






INGREDIENTS:


1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Zero low glycemic sweetener
2 eggs
1 cup gluten free crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon gluten free vanilla extract
2.5 cups Pamela's Ultimate Baking & Pancake Mix


DIRECTIONS:

  1. Cream the butter, shortening and sweeteners.  Add eggs and blend.  Add peanut butter and vanilla.  Add dry ingredients and mix until well-blended.  (I did all the mixing with my handheld mixer and didn't need to break out the Kitchen Aid standing mixer at all.)
  2. Measure out tablespoonfuls of dough and roll into balls.  Place 3 inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets.  Flatten gently and imprint criss-cross pattern with fork.
  3. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees F, 10-12 minutes until set but not hard.  Do not overbake.  Leave on cookie sheets for 2 minutes after removing from oven.  Then transfer to cooling racks, cool, and store in covered container.  LOVE these!

As for Hubbers, he informed me that Peanut Butter Cookies are an "American" thing and that his British palate cannot appreciate the combination of sugar and peanut butter in any form!  In that case, I'll be shipping his portion to my dad!  Happy belated Father's Day!