Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

As I continue to delve deeper into the world of Gluten and Dairy Free life, I am starting to realize something; I could live on the desserts I am baking at rapid fire pace every day.  Unfortunately, my body just does not agree.
 In the past I have spouted the great advantages of cooking with Agave Nectar instead of other sweetners, including the amazing ability this amber colored liquid has of working just like sugar without any funny flavor profiles.  In my sugar-crazed binging I have come to realize that my headaches have returned with avengeance, which can mean only one thing:  I am eating an allergen.  Sigh.  Upon performing a whole series of high tech and intriguing lab test at home (not really, but it sure sounds cool) I realized that I am also allergic to my BFF Agave.  The sugar gods have it out for me.
After spending a couple nights crying myself to sleep. (Sigh... yes another one, this is serious business afterall) I decided that I can probably modify all my recipes, again, to allow for my probable allergy to the Agave Nectar.

Below you'll find the recipe for my personal flour blend (which I use in everything).  You'll notice, unlike others, it does NOT leave that dry sawdust feeling in your mouth. I am also sharing my sugar/snickerdoodle recipe.  I know this one is a hit because my 3-year old (who only eats white rice, I kid you not) loved these.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice Cookies

1 1/2 C Powdered Sugar
1 Stick Earth's Balance Butter Substitute
1/4 C Grapeseed Oil
1 Egg
1 tsp GF Vanilla Extract
1/2 tsp GF Almond Extract
2 C Amber's Flour Blend (below)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Cream of Tartar
Couple Tbsp Sugar for coating.

1. Preheat the Oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream together the butter, oil, and powdered sugar, until smooth.  Add the egg and both extracts, blending again until smooth.
3. Blend in the Flour blend, cream of Tartar, and Baking Soda.
4. By rounded Tbsp (or with a cookie scoop) roll in palms of hands to round dough, then roll in the sugar granules and flatten with hand before putting on a cookie sheet that is sprayed with grapeseed oil.  (If you don't already own an oil sprayer, I suggest buying any type of spray bottle for the job)
5. After repeating the above process until all dough is used (should make 24 Tbsp size cookies that get pretty big when cooked), bake for approximately 7-10 minutes.  It only took 8 in my oven.  You want the cookies to still look white and not really browned except slightly on the bottom.  This allows for a soft and delectable bite each time. YUM!

Amber's All Purpose Flour Blend
*I'm including the recipe for a single batch, but I make multiple batches usually, so if you want those number just let me know and I can pass them along.*
About 3 Cups Worth

1 1/4 C Rice flour
1 C Almond Flour
2/3 C Cornstarch
1 tsp Xantham Gum

I throw all my flours in a Ziploc bag and shake before using.  Pretty easy and not a lot of crazy flours that cost a fortune.

A note about almond flour:  This flour is my favorite ingredient of all time, as it is very heathy and contains all kinds of nutrients we need.  I try to substitute a portion of any recipe with almond flour when I can.  I am very picky about which brand, however, because it makes the difference of success or failure. I have tried several brands, but the one that I prefer is Honeyville Blanched almond flour.  They produce a GF product that is the finest and highest quality I have found, plus it is the cheapest.  I highly recommend buying from them online.  http://store.honeyvillegrain.com/   Also, if you think I am crazy for spending about $30 to obtain 5lbs of this flour at a time, remember if you buy a lesser brand at the store it cost around $12/lb here in Indiana, while the Honeyville is only $5.34/lb.  Quite the savings.  Since I do use so much almond flour, and it us great for so many things, I would really consider the company above. 
Okay, rant over.

On a separate note this week, I would love comments and feedback about these recipes and any changes you find beneficial.
God Bless,
Amber


*Disclaimer*  All recipes and ingredients used are marked 'gluten and dairy free' at time of blog, but check manufacturers each time, as standards and methods do change.  I hold no responsibility for any food that the reader consumes and furthermore release responsibility of any recipe reproduced for personal use.  The recipes on this site are all created and the sole property of Amber Ross, and any reproduction other than for personal use is illegal.**