Chocolate Chip Cookies Gluten-Free - Version #2

I was beseeched by my kids to make cookies today. They needed to be gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies, like the ones I had made before that were so good. Oh, that made my heart swell...my children were requesting gluten-free cookie rather than the spelt version.

I had made a spelt version of these cookies using brown rice flour, Montina flour and spelt for my family . Since they were low gluten and not gluten-free, I didn't get to try them. This combination of flours got high ratings from my family for taste. Since then, I have been trying to recreate the richness these cookies had using only gluten free flours. I've come close, but haven't quite hit it yet. Try, try, again....

This version looked good on the cookie sheet as they came out of the oven. They held their edges and retained a little loft. This recipe is based on the traditional Toll House Cookie recipe. The main modifications are made in the use of the various flours and adding a binding agent.


Recipe - Version #2

1/4 cup Montina flour
1/2 cup Almond Meal
1 cup Brown Rice flour
1/2 cup Sweet Rice flour
1/2 cup Oat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp kuzu (kudzu) powder, softened in 1 tsp water
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter. Add the sugars and vanilla flavoring and cream again. Add the eggs and blend well after each one is added. Add the rest of the ingredients gradually as you blend. Add chocolate chips and nuts.

Bake on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet for 11 to 13 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing them from the cookie sheet.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Both of my kids said that these were the best yet of all the chocolate chip cookie versions I've made. My husband and I think they're great too.

Chocolate Chip Cookies & Montina Bread - All Gluten Free

For our planned weekend of yard work, I made up several gluten-free recipes ahead of time - chocolate chip cookies and Montina rolls.

We spent the weekend working in the yard trying to tame the overgrowth from all the rain we had in July. We were victorious! The jungle has been tamed! At our house, yard work requires constant infusions of ice tea and fruit pops so we can survive the summer heat. Another yard working necessity is grilling while we work...the aromas of cooking hot dogs and buffalo burgers will keep your mind thoroughly occupied on something other than how your body is reacting to the heat.

To reward us for all our hard work, I made a variety of things this weekend to go with our organic Applegate hot dogs and buffalo burgers. I tried an alternate version of my Montina rolls, made chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream.

I took the traditional Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe and then played with the "flour category" by try a different combination of flours and meals. The recipe calls for 2 1/4 cups of wheat flour which I substituted with 1 cup of brown rice flour, 1/2 cup almond meal, 1/2 cup tapioca flour and 1/4 Montina flour. I didn't use any xanthan gum in the recipe. After mixing up the cookie dough, I put it in the refrigerator to cool over night. The next day, I placed small spoonfuls on parchment paper to cook in a 350 degree oven. Instead of the usual 8 to 9 minutes per batch, this flour combination took 10 to 11 minutes to brown. Needless to say, this combination got four happy votes.

Next came the Montina rolls, I played so much with this recipe that I felt more like a mad scientist than the family cook. I started with the basic Montina Rolls recipe in the Montinia Recipe Booklet by Montana State University at Bozeman by Betty Drummond. After playing with it several times, I've remade these rolls a variety of different ways, one version I've posted earlier. What follows is my attempt at making a rich tasty roll that doesn't have lingering tastes of a bland starch (tapioca or potato) or of xanthum gum (which doesn't agree with me in larger amounts). The resulting roll wasn't large (I hoped they would rise a bit more...but considering the flour combination it is a dense rich bread).

Montina Rolls

1/4 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 package Rize Yeast (an organic yeast by Rapunzel)
1 egg, beaten
1 cup ground oats (ground in my coffee grinder)
1/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup Montina flour
1/3 cup ground white grits (ground in my coffee grinder)
1/4 cup ground flax seeds (ground in my coffee grinder)
1/3 cup or less whole oats (enough to make the dough firm enough to make into rolls)
2 Tb agar agar
1/2 tsp kuzu powder (kudzu)
2 tsp baking powder

Place into a sauce pan the coconut oil, milk, sugar, agar agar, kuzu, and salt. Heat to a low rolling boil for about 3 minutes. This allows the agar agar to begin gelling. Remove from heat and allow to cool for about 15 to 20 minutes. Then add the dry yeast and stir. Give the yeast time to begin to work. Add to the bowl with your flour combination the beaten egg and then the liquid mixture. Add as much of the whole oats until you get a manageable dough. Form into rolls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Allow to rise in a warm place until the dough leaves a dent. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Notes: I used agar agar because of it's jelling properties and I want to see if I can substitute it in some recipes for xanthan gum. Yes, you can use agar agar instead of xanthan gum. Agar agar does have nutritional properties (contains iodine) unlike xanthan gum which doesn't have any. I added the kuzu root to see if the bread would hold together better with two jelling agents rather than one. It did do this nicely, however I could have used more kuzu powder and achieved the same results.

What did my poor guinea pig family think about my edible science experiment? I got 3 thumbs up. What did I think? It was a bit more work to put things together, but the result was a rich tasting roll. It was very satisfying with it's slightly sweet and rich undertones without any funky after taste that you get from xanthan gum.

Montina Almond Bread - Gluten Free

I returned to working on my flour combination for my tastier gluten-free bread. This is a variant on my previous post on Montina rolls, but much better. Even my kids said it had lots of potential - fancy that!!

This variation is not only gluten-free, but dairy-free too. We have a number of food related issues at our house: lactose & soy intolerant, gluten-free and now an allergy to the nightshade vegetables. Some days it feels like I'm learning to cook all over again.

I used homemade almond milk (1 cup Almonds, 2 cups Water, 1 Tb Agave Syrup) in this recipe. Plus I wanted to try using Agar Agar as the binder rather than xanthan gum. Agar Agar contains iodine and has nutritional value unlike xanthan gum. I used Agave Syrup to keep the glycemic index of the bread down and coconut oil for its contribution of medium chain fatty acids.

Here is the variation on the recipe:

1/4 cup Coconut Oil
1 cup Almond Milk
Not quite 1/4 cup Agave Syrup
1 Egg, beaten
1 cup Oat Flour
1/2 cup Montina Flour
1/2 cup Almond Meal
1/4 cup Tapioca Flour
3 Tb Coconut Meal
2 Tb Agar Agar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1 package Dry Yeast

Heat the milk, coconut oil and agar agar until boiling. Cook for three minutes stirring constantly. Then turn down the heat. Add the agave syrup and salt. Stir until dissolved. Turn off the heat and add the yeast. Stir and then allow time for the yeast to begin working. Add the beaten egg and mix together. Then add each of the flours and baking powder and beat until combined. Knead in the bowl for about 3 minutes. Place the batter (it should not be runny) into a parchment lined baking dish. Shape into a loaf and sprinkle the top with whole oats. Place in a warm location to allow it to rise for 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 to 30 minutes.

What did we think? Everybody said it was a nice bread, but still a little bland. They want me to try again and beef up the flavor. I agreed with them. How did the agar agar work? It did pretty good. It worked better when the bread wasn't toasted. When toasted the bread was more fragile and broke apart easily.

You can find agar agar in the Asian food section of your grocery store. The brand I purchased by made by Eden Foods.

Gluten Free Flour Combinations - Back to Testing

I've been working to create a decent gluten-free flour combination that tasted like a rich whole wheat (or what I remember to be a rich whole wheat) taste. I've been searching for the last 8 months to find a blend that all of us would like and wouldn't be another contribution to the ranks of yuck & chuck.

I started with Montina flour. I like the taste of Montina...it has a naturally sweet yet robust taste. To keep it mild enough that the kids will eat it meant that it had to contribute 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the total flour used. It's good to remember that Montina is high is fiber and some folks are sensitive to lots of fiber. (note: Montina is really good in chocolate chip cookies). In this recipe I used 1/2 cup of Montina.

The next addition was a mild flour that everyone enjoys -- I chose oats. I took my bag of rolled oats and ground them up in my little coffee grinder (I do have one just devoted to coffee beans.). Oats have a natural sweetness and blended nicely with the Montina. I used oats at 1 1/2 cups.

Now I needed that third starch and choose tapioca. I thought it would blend and mellow the other flours. I used 1/2 cup in the recipe.

The recipe noted that this should be a knead able dough...mine wasn't. So I worked in some cornstarch to keep the dough from being so sticky. It looked good and I moved on and finished the rolls. They looked lovely when they came out of the oven.

But how did they taste? Actually, not bad. This flour blend has potential....although it still needs some adjustments. The family vote was 4 in favor of keeping this blend as a basic, but it was a little bland. They wanted a richer taste. So back to the kitchen...

Montina Bread Gluten Free - Try, Try Again

It was time renew my search for a gluten free bread that didn't make me want to chuck it in the garbage. At our house these experiments are called, 'yuck & chuck.' I chose for my bread baking challenge my bag of Montina flour (a gluten free Indian rice grass). A rich grainy flour that has a lot of nutritional value when compared to the traditional rice, tapioca & potato mixture -- not to mention fiber. When I ordered my Montina flour and I also picked up a copy of their recipe book. The book has quite a few gluten free and gluten containing recipes for the adventurous spirit.

I chose as my candidate the Montina Yeast Bread recipe, which won 2nd prize in the Montina Flour competition. I have made this recipe before and it turned out nicely -- so I decided to try substituting brown rice and millet flour for the white rice & tapioca combination. The batter was supposed to get sticky, but never made it. It stayed very liquid -- so I added about another 1/3 cup of millet flour. It didn't help, but I was hesitant to add too much more.

How did it taste? Rather like pumpernickel bread -- dark and intensely flavored. It tasted better with jam and butter rather than just the butter. What did the kids think? After a tiny nibble they put it down and said, 'ick.'

Back to the planning stages and this bread can head out to the compost pile.