Gluten Free Christmas Cookies

When I was younger, I was a baker. The weeks before Christmas our house was filled with the aroma of fresh baked cookies. We filled tins of cookies so we could give them to our friends as gifts. My mother and my aunt made their tried and true favorites and I always was looking for "new" recipes to try. My Mother's signature cookie recipe and the only cookie she made, was "Russian Rocks". These were little crispy nuggets of walnuts, raisins and a brown sugar dough.  My Aunt had a bigger repertoire of recipes, I loved her fig filled cookies the best.

After I was diagnosed with Celiac, I stopped baking, especially cookies. I was busy trying to figure out what foods I could eat without getting sick, trying to figure out baking was not a priority. Last year was the first year I made cookies for Christmas, my gluten free version of Italian Ricotta Cookies. They were as good as the originals I used to make. This year, I decided to try making a few more favorite recipes from my past gluten free, Biscotti and Magic Bars.

Although I still find it very difficut to not get sick eating out at a restaurant, the "gluten free food fad" has made it much easier to grocery shop. There are so many more gluten free products available, and almost everything is marked gluten free if it is.  And there are many more gluten free flour mixtures available, including ones that can be substituted 1 for 1 in your recipe. And that's what I'm looking for, I don't have the time or know how to create new recipes.

The original Magic Cookie recipe from Eagle Brand calls for a graham cracker base, every other ingredient is gluten free. So searching around the gluten free community, I found that gluten free rolled oats are a good substitute. The only other thing I changed was to use butterscotch chips in addition to the chocolate chips. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Hershey's now makes their butterscotch chips gluten free! But be careful, because other brands are not.





Gluten Free Magic Cookie Bars
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups Gluten Free Rolled Oats( I use Bob's Red Mill brand)
1/2 cup melted butter
1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup Hersheys's butterscotch chips
1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, use what you like)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 baking pan.
Mix together melted butter and oats. Press into the bottom of the pan.
Pour the condensed milk over the oats.
Next, sprinkle the chocolate and butterscotch chips.
Next, the coconut.
Next, the nuts.
Press down with a spatula.
Bake 25 minutes  until browned.
Cool completely before cutting into squares. Makes 20- 2x2 squares.

Next Biscotti, my all time favorite cookie!!!

I found my old recipe and I decided to try the 1 for 1 substitution with the flour. I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour. This blend already has the xanthum gum included.  It worked beautifully! The cookies were crisp and delicious!

Gluten Free Biscotti
Printable Recipe

1 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 Baking Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup slivered almonds
3 eggs
3 tsps vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt and almond. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine, Best to use your hands here. Shape the dough into a loaf (should be about 1 inch thick, 3 inches wide). Bake about 25 minutes until firm.
Lower your oven temp to 300. Cool cookies until they are just warm and slice on a slant into 1/4 inch pieces. Place flat on the cookie sheet and put back into the oven for about 10 minutes on each side until the are browned.


I doubled the recipe and made 2 logs, which made 16 large cookies. I had a jar of homemade chocolate ganache that was giving to me as a gift-it was perfect to dip the biscotti!


And, of course I made my Gluten Free Italian Ricotta Cookies, I used the 1 to 1 flour so I didn't add the xantham gum, and they were perfect!





My cookie experiment was a success and they were delicious enough to bring to Christmas Eve dinner with the family!

Buon Natale!