Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookies

February 12, 2010 · Filed Under Suite of Sweets, camping, dessert, easy, flourless, gluten free, recipe, treats · 44 Comments

This post is linked to Ellen’s Valentine’s Day roundup at I Am Gluten Free.

Today is the final day of SSS—A Suite of Sweets for Sweethearts. (I know it’s sad, but not to worry . . . we’re never short of treats here at gfe.) Chocolate is often synonymous with Valentine’s Day, and, well, love … quite honestly. Gosh, I can’t imagine why that would be, can you? (Okay, this is one of those times where a sarcasm font would sure come in handy!) I have only included a small amount of chocolate in the SSS roundup so far … the mini chocolate chips in Monday’s recipe—Surprise Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. So I’m here today to share two lovely chocolate treats.

As you all have figured out, I love to bake. I especially love to bake cookies. Well, we’ve gone all week without a cookie recipe, so let’s fix that right now by giving you a rich, “make-you-fall-in-love” chocolate cookie recipe. I’m not talking about falling in love with another person. I’m talking about falling in love with this cookie. Is it really so wrong to love a cookie? There’s no need to buy a card or send flowers after all. Of course, if someone bakes these cookies and presents them to you for Valentine’s Day, you may actually fall in love with that person, and not the cookies. But, it could be a close call. An important note: The batter has to be refrigerated overnight. I don’t want you to go to make these on Valentine’s Day and find out you have to wait until the next day to enjoy them.

Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookies
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp butter, room temperature or softened (but not melted)
2 eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar (plus more for “decorating”)
3/4 cup ground almonds (I used Honeyville Blanched almond flour)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Melt chocolate in double boiler and stir in butter.

Beat eggs and add sugar gradually.

Continue beating until eggs are very light. Gently stir into the chocolate-butter mixture.

Add ground almonds, combining well, but gently.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Form into 1-inch balls and roll in bowl of granulated sugar as shown.

Place on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set.

Makes about 3 dozen.

From Canadian Celiac Association (CCA)

Shirley’s Notes: This recipe appears to be an adaptation of Thomas Haas’ (the famous “chocolatier”) Chocolate Sparkle Cookies. His cookies were billed as the world’s best cookie by Saveur magazine a few years back. His original recipe has a few more ingredients as I understand, including gourmet chocolate, honey, and coarse sugar (for rolling). Haas sells his version at his Vancouver gourmet chocolate shop. I’d love to try them one day. But, this version from CCA is simpler and much less expensive to make, and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I take these cookies with us when we’re having guests join us to camp on our mountain/river property. The recipe makes 2 – 3 dozen (depending upon how large you make the balls before you bake them). That’s plenty as they fit in a smallish cookie tin and take up less room when packing—always a plus when camping. And, really, folks are extremely satisfied after just eating a few.

Can you tell that I just love doilies? (And, not just for Valentine’s Day. I love all kinds of doilies, for all seasons, and when I taught elementary school, many projects involved doilies. Mr. GFE and I host a big Valentine’s Day party every other year as a gift to ourselves and our friends. Tomorrow would be the night if we were having it. However, this is an “off” year and while I’m grateful that we don’t have to worry about hosting with snow and limited parking, I will miss the anticipation and excitement.

As the bonus recipe, I’m also sharing a chocolate version of the POMerdoodle ice cream recipe. It’s gluten free, dairy free, and refined sugar free. You can view that recipe with more photos here on my Out and About page.

Here’s the complete SSS–Suite of Sweets for Sweethearts roundup:

~Surprise Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

~Cinnamon-Sugar Crusted Almond Popovers

~Perfect Pound Cake

~Pleasing Pecan Pie

~Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookies (this post)

~Chocolate POMerdoodle Ice Cream

Off to have one of these Flourless Sparkling Chocolate Cookies to brighten my Valentine’s Day weekend … hope you have a great one!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Tags: chocolate, cookies, easy, GFE, gluten free, peanut butter, recipe, Valentine's Day

Flourless Oatmeal Cookies

January 27, 2010 · Filed Under Friday Foodie Fix, GAHIGF, Slightly Indulgent, What can I eat ..., easy, flourless, gluten free, recipe, treats · 33 Comments

I’ve been waiting to make oatmeal cookies for a while now. I use a Washington Post recipe that I found online a few years back. I’ve adapted the directions to meet my needs for gfe and added a few ingredients from time to time. Finally, my certified gluten-free oats arrived! (I buy my Gifts of Nature certified gluten-free rolled oats through the large Gluten Intolerance Group I belong to. The large group order means a discount price with free shipping.) Let’s talk about certified gluten-free oats, and what that means exactly, for a moment.

You’ll see lots of discussions on oats and their safety for those on a gluten-free diet on the web, with, of course, some wonderful recipes. In fact, Ellen, of I Am Gluten Free, recently had a great post (including a video) on making gluten-free granola. She talked about using gluten-free oats and the discussion continued in her comments section.

Here are the facts as I see them. There are six companies whose oats are certified gluten free by the Gluten-Free Certification Organization (GFCO). (In gathering data for this post, I found two more that I didn’t know about.) They are Gifts of Nature, Only Oats, Gluten-Free Oats, Cream Hill Estates, Montana Gluten-Free Processors, and Montana Monster Munchies (Legacy Valley Oats). The GFCO, which is a program of the Gluten Intolerance Group, has rigorous testing and standards, certifying to less than 10 ppm gluten. You can read more here in their FAQs. You might be wondering about the 10 ppm requirement. Isn’t that less than 20 ppm, the accepted level? you might ask. Well, less than 20 ppm is the level that the FDA has talked about establishing as the threshold for a “gluten-free” label, but this requirement has not actually been established. In fact, the FDA announced a few months ago that they are gathering more data through a survey before making this decision. You can read more about the basis for their additional fact gathering in a post by Amy Ratner at the Gluten-Free Living blog, if you are interested. It’s the best write-up I’ve seen about what seems to be going on regarding establishing the definition of ”gluten free” at the moment.

I am extremely sensitive to gluten. The mainstream cereal and baking mix products that have recently entered the market as gluten free have made me sick. Repeatedly. I do not plan to try them again. Apparently, less than 20 ppm is not a safe level for me. (I’ve heard the same reported by many others on blogs and forums. Some who are eating these products, with no noticeable issues, have stated that folks may be reacting to preservatives versus in these products. However, I don’t see how a dermatitis herpetiformis reaction—that many have experienced—can be tied to a preservative. However, that’s a discussion worthy of another post.) Therefore, personally, the very few gluten-free specialty products that I do consume will contain less than 10 ppm of gluten; i.e, those certified by the GFCO.

If you eat gluten free, but have continued to eat mainstream oats like Quaker or McCann’s and say “they don’t bother me,” please seriously consider the following.

Tricia Thompson, MS RD (who is also known as The Gluten-Free Dietitian), did a study on the amount of gluten in oats in 2004. Not only have the results of Tricia’s study been widely reported on numerous sites and in Gluten-Free Living magazine, but she spoke to my support group last year about a safe, healthy gluten-free diet. Therefore, we had an opportunity to hear her speak on her study at length. Specifically, her study, which was published in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed high amounts of gluten in Quaker, McCann’s, and Country Choice oats. Sure, there were some samples that contained less than 20 ppm, but, and this is a big BUT, others contained varying levels from 23 ppm to 1807 ppm. If you continue to eat these mainstream oats, one might say that you are playing the oats version of Russian Roulette with your health. Remember … not all reactions and symptoms of gluten exposure and damage are readily apparent. In fact, there was a Q & A in this month’s issue of Gluten-Free Living that applies directly here. The reader inquired about the impact of cheating occasionally. Ivor Hill, MD, responded as follows:

“Continued or repeated cheating on the diet will lead to progressive damage, and we know that in some cases, this can be fairly extensive for some years before clinical signs develop.”

Whatever the threshold that you have decided not to surpass in your own gluten-free eating, less than 10 ppm or less than 20 ppm, anything over that amount would be cheating. So, again please consider Tricia Thompson’s study and Dr. Hill’s warning. You don’t want the first sign of a problem with mainstream oats to be the development of a much more serious condition (caused by continued gluten ingestion) a few years down the road.

To further confuse things, not everyone who eats gluten free can tolerate even GFCO-certified gluten-free oats. While studies have shown that certified gluten-free oats are largely safe for those with celiac disease, a small percentage of those with celiac cannot tolerate the gluten-free oats. These issues almost certainly extend to those who have non-celiac gluten issues as well, but apparently no studies on the effects of gluten-free oats on these individuals have been conducted. In our support group, there are a handful of us (myself included) that either cannot eat gluten-free oats at all or can only tolerate small amounts from time to time. For me, that means a few cookies occasionally. I cannot eat oats on a daily basis, even the 1/4- to 3/4-cup that is often considered safe for adults who have been gluten free for some time, and introduced gradually. Gluten-Free Living has a comprehensive article, All About Oats, in this month’s issue if you’d like to read more.

Okay, let’s get to the fun part—the cookies! I was on Twitter the other night and I decided to get some baking input from my friends there. Here’s an excerpt of the conversation (reprinted with permission from the participants):

@Shirleygfe–My #gfree oats are in. Making flourless oatmeal cookies. Plain? With raisins? or with chocolate chips? What’s your vote?
@jenniferGFinGA–I vote for plain; I don’t care for added stuff in my cookies; mucks up the process
@celiacteen–Everything. Whatever strikes your fancy. I just open my cupboards and hope for the best!
@pilateschik–I prefer oatmeal raisin!! Please & thank you!
@PoeticDreams–why not both, Raisins & Chocolate Chips?
@cook4seasons–How ’bout dried cranberries? btw – is there any texture/flavor difference with #GF oats? (Shirley’s Note: Certified gluten-free oats are grown in dedicated fields and processed on dedicated equipment. Both are constantly inspected and tested to ensure no gluten. Otherwise, these are oats like any other oats, so there are not taste differences between gluten-free rolled oats and mainstream rolled oats.)
@celiacteen–What about all of those together? I would eat it =D
@ErinElberson–I think I have eaten them all together…without waiting to cook!
@Shirleygfe to @celiacteen–Hey that sounds like a cookie version of ur date truffles … sort of. The everything cookie … similar 2 the everything bagel.
@celiacteen–Didn’t think of that, but I like it. I really like it =D.

Finally, Amy weighed in.

@Amys_SSGF–I think you should bring those cookies to my house.

The girl knows how to get to the point, doesn’t she?

In the end, I went with Jennifer’s advice—plain–—for several reasons. First, I discovered that I didn’t have any mini-chocolate chips on hand after all. Second, Mr. GFE is not particularly fond of cranberries. Third, my package of raisins yielded raisins that were too dried up, even though it had not been opened previously. (The package of raisins from which I give our pet chinchilla his daily treat yielded much juicier raisins. However, too many little “feeding” hands had been in that package of late for me to feel comfortable using any of them for my own consumption. I should have just soaked my “new” raisins a bit, but I didn’t think of that until later.)

These cookies are so easy to make and, of course, are gfe worthy because they are also flourless. The middles are delightfully chewy, but the outer edges and bottoms are caramelized and, therefore, crispier. Note that the cookie batter must be chilled for about 30 minutes. That’s not a big deal if you know that ahead of time. I took the opportunity to get a fire going in the wood stove and catch up with my good friend, Rodney Yee. Rodney promises a “smooth transition from sleep to activity.” He and his A.M. Yoga routine always deliver.

By the way, if you’re finding flourless and crustless baking to be your thing, please check out the many flourless recipes here on gfe, like Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (even a variation with Nutella), Coconut Meringues, flourless chocolate cakes (the classic, 3-minute wonders, chocolate banana honey walnut, double-chocolate Clementine), and even Flourless Pizza. Looking for more ideas? My friend, Chaya, of Chaya’s Comfy Cook Blog, is posting a whole month of flourless recipes. Chaya is a cooking and baking fanatic … and I mean that in the very best way! She posted a flourless cashew butter cookies recipe not too long ago that I really want to try soon.

Flourless Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)

1/3 cup unsalted butter (I believe coconut oil will work, but I haven’t tried it yet)
1 1/2 cups certified gluten-free rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips; finely chopped raisins; finely chopped dried cranberries; 2/3 cup finely chopped nuts; or, combination of all these ingredients that equals no more than 2/3 cup total (optional)

Melt the butter and set aside to cool slightly. Place oats in a medium-sized bowl. Stir in both sugars and the salt and blend to break up any lumps.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the melted butter, vanilla extract, and egg. Stir this egg mixture into the oat mixture and add chocolate chips or raisins (if used), mixing with your hands or a large wooden spoon to work in the ingredients. Form into a large ball of dough.

Chill the dough about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Meanwhile, prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper.

Chilled dough will still be somewhat soft. Form the dough into 1-inch balls (or lumps; don’t stress) and place on the baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball down very slightly.

Bake for 10 to 13 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned (but not too brown; mine actually are too brown in these photos) and the tops of the cookies are medium golden in color.

Cool well on the baking sheet (about 10 minutes) before attempting to remove, using a spatula. (I placed mine on my cold screened porch for 10 minutes as they were already sufficiently cooked and I didn’t want them to bake any further on the cookie sheet.)

Recipe makes 1 1/2 dozen cookies.

Shirley’s Notes: If you add any of the optional ingredients, it’s very important that the pieces be finely chopped or already small, like mini chocolate chips (which, of course, also melt and hold things together). These cookies come out pretty flat and the dough is not substantial enough to include whole raisins, whole dried cranberries, etc. The original recipe states that the dough can also be brought to room temperature and flattened more when placed on the baking sheet to make a large, crisp and lace-like cookie. I haven’t tried this method yet, but you do get the lace-cookie look and taste from the edges of the cookies made as shown above. I love lace cookies though, so I do plan to try that version, too. Last, if you are not eating gluten free, you can use any brand of rolled oats.

Adapted from The Washington Post

What else is happening?

Today, Wednesday, January 27 (9:00 PM Eastern), is the last day to enter the giveaway of Stephanie O’Dea’s Make It Fast, Cook It Slow cookbook. Visit my Out and About page.

Kim Bouldin at Gluten Free is Life is doing an iHerb giveaway. Be quick; it ends today as well—Wednesday, January 27, at midnight! Kim is a new writer for Celiac-Disease.com. Congrats, Kim! She still writes for The Examiner, as well. She’s running these days for sure, but not just for her gluten-free pursuits. She’s training for a marathon. Do any of us who blog gluten free just mope around? I don’t think so. LOL Kim—You go, girl!

By the way, I won the iHerb giveaway that Amy held this past week at Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free and am tickled pink that I’ll get to do some free shopping for products that fit the gfe approach. Thanks to Amy and iHerb! This post is linked to Amy’s weekly roundup, Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays. Amy is super busy these days … she’s going to culinary school! Woohoo, Amy! She’ll be teaching us more than ever folks.

Speaking of The Examiner, Heather Collins of life, gluten free is also now one of their writers. She is the Boulder Natural Health Examiner. You can check out her first article here. Congratulations on the new gig, Heather. We’ll be looking forward to your articles!

This post is linked to Linda’s weekly Wednesday roundup, What Can I Eat That’s Gluten Free? Next week, the theme will be casseroles. Be sure to note that on your calendar and join in or gather some great new gluten-free casserole recipes.

Tomorrow, Thursday, January 28, is the last day to enter The Gluten-Free Lifestyle blog carnival originated by Kim Hopkins (The Food Allergy Coach). I’m hosting this month. You can submit your entry here. You don’t have to include a new post; an old one that fits the definition of “tips, recipes, health information, and support for people adjusting to life with celiac disease, gluten intolerance, or gluten sensitivity.” will work just fine. Just update your post to include a link to the carnival once it’s up (around February 1).

Tomorrow (Thursday, January 28) is also the final day to enter the Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free (GAHIGF) carnival. You know how fond I am of that fun, monthly event, started by one of my favorites, Naomi (Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried). Laura at Mouthgasmic is this month’s host. Her theme is Stews from Around the World. Many of us have been in stew and soup mode that last month (as demonstrated in the Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party held last week), so I’m sure we can find a post that works for GAHIGF. Again, if you use an older post, please remember to update your post to include a link to the carnival. You can submit your entry per Laura’s guidelines shown here. Snow is in our forecast, so I actually have more stews and soups planned for this week … maybe one of each!

Friday is Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix (FFF) over at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang. The “secret” ingredient is beans. If you have a stew that calls for beans, perhaps you can link it up to both GAHIGF and the FFF. For the trifecta, submit your entry to The Gluten-Free Lifestyle carnival, too. Back to the beans, I think this FFF might get as many entries as the previous one featuring chocolate, and of course, there are always cacao beans. I wonder if Diane thought of that!

Next Friday, is Flipping Fast Fridays over at Chelsey’s—The Crazy Kitchen. This event is always held the first Friday of each month. Your entry should be for a recipe that can be made in 30 minutes or less. We all need those types of recipes, right? Incidentally, Chelsey very graciously featured me on her blog this week. If you want to read more about me and the gfe approach, please check it out here.

Please support your wonderful fellow bloggers and readers by sharing great recipes and info via these carnivals/roundups; it’s easy enough to do. Now, once you’re caught up with those events, you’ll want to bake these Flourless Oatmeal Cookies. Okay, maybe you’ll want to make the cookies and enjoy them while you catch up. I had two of these great cookies and some raw almonds as my breakfast. Hey, spread some peanut butter between two and you’ll have your own gluten-free version of the Girl Scout Do-Si-Do cookie—just soooo much better.

Mr. GFE was so happy to see these cookies in the snowman tin when he got home yesterday. Please report back on any variations you make. I’m definitely going to be making that Everything version soon … and the lace cookie version … and one with coconut oil and honey, and another with …

Enjoy!

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!

Tags: breakfast, brown sugar, cookies, easy, gluten free, recipe

Current Events—Some Delicious, All Worth Noting

January 19, 2010 · Filed Under Progressive Dinner, dairy free, dessert, easy, flourless, giveaway, gluten free, recipe, treats · 19 Comments

More info on photo at Flickr

This post is linked to What can I eat that’s gluten free?

I had a different post planned, but current events are much more important. I know all of our hearts are going out to those in Haiti right now. Lovely Lauren, Celiac Teen, is compiling an e-book of recipes to raise money for the Haitian relief effort. She’s hoping for a great response. Please consider supporting Lauren’s efforts; read more here.

Today we remember Martin Luther King, Jr. Probably the best article on Dr. King that I read today was one by Scott Eblin. Scott is an executive coach, author, and speaker. His words at his Next Level blog post come from that perspective. You can read what he has to say here. There is no gluten connection here … well, other than the fact that Scott Eblin just happens to be the fine husband of our beloved gluten-free, dairy-free Diane over at The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.

Many times those of us who blog get to read and drool over great recipes on others’ blogs, but don’t actually have time to make them. That can be a little frustrating, so I really enjoy it when I do find the time to make my friends’ recipes. In the past week, I’ve made three such recipes. (I’m sorry I don’t have photos to share. My camera is still being repaired.)

First, there were Linda’s Cashew Coconut Clove Cookies. I had originally planned to make these no-bake cookies over the holidays, but just plain ran out of time. The ingredients (cashews, coconut, cloves, and sweetened condensed milk) still sat on the counter when we returned from our vacation. So I made them for Mr. GFE to take to his hand bell choir practice last week. That was a good thing for many reasons: his hand bell choir loves treats, the members often need a little reward for all their hard work, the members are willing (and grateful) guinea pigs, and last, because the recipe didn’t make a huge amount, there were only two cookies left for me to eat—that number was just right (channeling Goldilocks here). I made two changes to the recipe—one accidental, and one purposeful (but caused by the accidental change). I had scrawled down the recipe on the back of an envelope (too rushed to go downstairs and actually print it out). I read “7 ounces of coconut” as “2 ounces of coconut,” so I actually used only about a fourth of the amount required. The cookies had a clove flavor slightly stronger than I liked—in hindsight, that was clearly caused by not adding enough coconut—so I decided to roll them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar versus just granulated sugar. The cookies came out wonderfully and the hand bell choir members loved them. Be sure to check out Linda’s original recipe here.

Last week in Linda’s weekly roundup, What can I eat that’s gluten free?, Winnie’s Coffee Almond Cookies showed up. Winnie blogs at Healthy Green Kitchen. I had seen her post earlier via Twitter and was totally seduced by her photo of these cookies. (Go look … you will be, too.) While I don’t drink coffee, I love the aroma and sometimes I enjoy coffee in desserts. I pilfered one tablespoon of some Dunkin Donuts dark coffee from the kitchen at our office. I already had the other ingredients: almond flour, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and sea salt. I could barely wait to get home from work with my “lifted” coffee to make these cookies, but then I ended up working late. So, I didn’t get to make them until the next morning, but they were totally worth the wait. These cookies are fantastic, really. I made a few changes like using whole eggs versus egg whites, adding some additional almond flour to compensate for the extra liquid of the whole eggs, using a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar, and adding a few chocolate chips. Who can resist chocolate with coffee? Next time, I might just add a little cocoa versus using chocolate chips, which would keep these cookies dairy free, as well as gluten free. I followed Winnie’s suggestion and ate some—three, in fact—for breakfast. What a great breakfast! The rest I took to my health initiative group’s retreat. None came home with me; that tells you how good these cookies were. And, Mr. GFE liked them more than my brown sugar chocolate chip cookies—now that’s high praise! He said they taste like really good, conventional cookies. I have to agree. So I made some more for him today—this time with some decaf Folger’s coffee. As someone who prefers no caffeine these days, this last batch was the best.

Yes, I’m the “goodie girl” when it comes to our health initiative group meetings. Others provide main dishes, salads, and such (an incredible antipasto platter, awesome marinated tuna steaks, fabulous prosciutto and cheese crostini, etc.), but they look to me for the gluten-free, dairy-free, and often refined sugar-free treats. Some of my best blogging buddies have featured raw truffles on their blogs the last few months. There were Amy’s elegantly presented Raw Date Truffles (Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free); Lauren’s wonderfully simple Date Treats (Celiac Teen); Karen’s festive Goji Berry Truffles (Cook4Seasons); Diane’s Cranberry Chocolate Nut truffles, which speak for themselves; and most recently Ali’s “snow”-covered Cinnamon-Sunflower Truffles, an acceptable treat for the elimination diet that she and Tom are currently featuring at The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. Because I decided I wanted to make truffles at the last minute, I had to go with a recipe that included ingredients I had on hand. Lauren’s Date Treats won out based on that requirement. Her recipe contained dates, dried cranberries, hazelnuts, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. I substituted walnuts for the hazelnuts and used slightly less of the dried cranberries. I ran my ingredients through the food processor until they were pretty well blended. You roll them into small balls and they look just like traditional truffles. So easy. To pretty mine up a bit, I rolled them in coconut like Ali did with her truffles. Everyone agreed these were amazing. They are gluten free, dairy free, and sugar free, yet decadent-tasting and very healthy. I will be purchasing dates whenever possible to make these raw truffles and I hope to eventually try out the other great truffle recipes I mentioned. So many delicious flavors in a healthy treat. Any would make lovely desserts for Valentine’s Day … now less than a month away.

I made one more dessert for our retreat. I made a variation of the Double-Chocolate Clementine Cake. This time around, I just had three Navel oranges so I used those versus Clementines. (I’d thought I’d use these oranges for Pete’s Orange-Cranberry Sorbet; however, since I didn’t have any fresh cranberries, I decided to make that another time.) Because I was headed to work and couldn’t wait for the oranges to simmer for 2 hours, once they were boiling in the stockpot, I poured the oranges and hot water into my crockpot and set it to high. I was gone for 3 hours and when I returned the oranges were perfectly cooked. I let them cool, plucked out the hard ends and a little bit of the pith, then proceeded with the recipe. Three oranges provided a lot of “meat” and juice; two would work just fine. This time around I used honey versus granulated sugar. I used ¾ cup, but one might have to adjust to taste and the amount of liquid provided by the oranges. This cake was more mousse like than cake like as the previous version was, but using two oranges (or the amount of Clementines in the original recipe) would solve that “problem.” I also added one teaspoon of cinnamon because the cake had a more pronounced orange flavor and, therefore, just seemed to call for cinnamon. The resulting cake was quite a bit different from the previous version, but still loved by all.

As one who is still recovering from a cold, Amy’s Immunity Booster Cookies sound and look like the way to go to me! Check out that recipe and her iHerb giveaway here. There are five ways to enter! My other wonderful blogging buddy, Kelly at The Spunky Coconut has an amazing raw-inspired Goji and Cacao Pie plus an iHerb giveway, also. Check it out here. Note: Kelly’s giveaway ends Wednesday, January 20, and Amy’s goes through Sunday, January 24.

Last, another Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party has begun! Considering the excesses of holiday eating, but still acknowledging the chill of winter, the theme is Light Winter Warmers. Diane, of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang, is our very lovely host of this monthly event. Here’s the schedule with a heads up on some of the dishes:

Monday, January 18–Karen from Cook4Seasons with Creamy Potato and Leek Soup and Roasted Cauliflower Soup by Alison from Sure Foods Living

Tuesday, January 19–Winter Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup with Prosciutto Topping from Diane of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang

Wednesday, January 20–Mexican Seafood Soup from Diane of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang and Seamaiden from Book of Yum with an Un-Chicken Vegan Savory Soup

Thursday, January 21-–Amy from Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free and me—Shirley—here at gfe–gluten free easily

Friday, January 22–Ali from The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen

Most of the bloggers will be sharing lighter soups and stews, but I’ll actually be sharing a hot beverage recipe on Thursday. It’s one I’ve made several times before. I’ll actually be making it tomorrow for our support group meeting because our members enjoy it as much as I do. My post will share the beverage recipe as well as a giveaway of the cookbook it comes from—an autographed copy, no less. So be sure to check back and please check out the other links shared here, especially Lauren’s A Hand for Haiti.

Shirley
Not just gf, but gfe!