Gluten-Free Gingersnaps

 

Grandma's birthday is coming up! Since she needs to eat wheat-free and dairy-free foods, we're making these gluten-free gingersnaps. I'm busy getting other stuff done though, so I wrote out a recipe in very kid-friendly terms, gathered some young bakers, explained a few points about the recipe to them, and sent them to work.

I headed out shopping and came back an hour later to find some beautiful, crisp gingersnaps that Grandma will absolutely love!

They can be taught!

(Apparently, Dad helped them mix just a little bit and then he also helped get the cookie sheets in and out. The rest was done by the 8 and 10 yr olds.)

Here's the recipe:

Grandma's Gluten-Free Gingersnaps (Kid-Friendly recipe)

1. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

2. Put 1/4 cup margarine and 1/2 cup white sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix with a fork until it is all creamed together.

3. Add 1 egg and 2 Tablespoons of molasses to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix together with a fork.

4. Add 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup corn starch, 1/4 cup potato starch, 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp cinnamon to the mixture. Mix well with a fork or wooden spoon.

5. Line three cookie sheets with parchment paper.

6. Drop by spoonfuls (about a rounded teaspoon's worth for each cookie) onto cookie sheets, about 12 cookies per cookie sheet.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until crisp around edges.

8. Move cookie sheets to hot pads to let the cookies cool before serving them or storing them for later.

(I cannot vouch for how closely this recipe was followed this time, but the kids' results are very tasty.)

Sneaky Soup

My friend, neighbour, and owner of my oops-I need-something-spare-pantry-down-the-street passed along a recipe for baked potato soup.  It's such a simple recipe and it has a dirty little secret.  I'm not going to tell you the secret yet.  I'll let you try to figure it out.

So I made it last night.  I asked my family what they thought of the soup.  I didn't tell them what was in it right away.  I waited until after they oohed and aahed and declared it their favourite soup ever.  That's quite a winning commentary since my kids don't typically rave about soup.

Here's my friend's picture.  Ours got devoured too quickly and I don't want to wait to get the recipe up here since it was just so good!



Here's how I made it:

Boil one head of cut up cauliflower until very soft.  Drain.  Add 4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock.  Add  4 Tbsp cream cheese.  Add 1/4 tsp pepper.  Blend with a hand blender.  Top with cheese, bacon, green onions...  Whatever your favourite baked potato toppings are.  Listen for all the slurps and yums as your family happily devours the Baked Potato Soup.

I'm sure you've figured it out by now...  There are no potatoes! 

My husband continues to be amazed by the diversity of cauliflower.  It's becoming my favourite veggie!

Pumpkin Spiced Latte

I admit that I have not ever had a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks or any other fancy coffee shop.  I usually choose to waste my frivolous money on something with coconut in it.  But I was inspired by our upcoming Thanksgiving celebration and this recipe which I found on Pinterest, so I decided to give it a whirl.  I am very satisfied with this recipe!  I'll probably tweak it a little for my tastes (I already have, but it'll change according to my mood) but it's a great place to start.

Pumpkin Spice Latte 

Yield: enough pumpkin spice mixture for 7 or 8 homemade lattes

Ingredients

7 oz pumpkin puree
1 c. whole milk
1/4 c. sweetened condensed milk
3 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground dried ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
 1/8 tsp. allspice
 
Mix pumpkin mixture with hand blender.  

Add 1/3 cup mixture to 1 cup coffee.  Heat as needed.   Top with whipped cream, cinnamon, chocolate, whatever you wish!

Freeze what you don't want to use today by scooping leftover pumpkin mixture into applesauce cups or similarly sized Tupperware, 1/3 cup at a time.  To use, just pop one into a mug, heat in microwave, and add coffee.