Christmas Cookies - Gluten Free Old Fashioned Tea Cakes

I have been busy creating and modifying cookie recipes for Family get-together on Christmas Day.

An issue with gluten free cookies is that they can be very brittle, if the correct mix of alternative flours isn’t used. At first, I put peanut butter in everything, because it will ‘glue’ everything together. Then I progressed on to honey, which also helps the cookie not crumble. I also used finely chopped nuts to prevent cookies spreading too much.

I try to use flours other than white rice; so as to get some nutrition is an almost nutrient devoid treat. I use my newly purchased cookbook software to calculate nutrients.

My favorite flours are sorghum and oat. Sorghum flour is the newcomer on the market for gluten free flours. It is so new that the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, does not have it in the database.

Another issue with plain gluten free cookies like sugar cookies is they are usually bland. I tended to use several extracts to hide the bland taste. Yesterday, while browsing the local Gluten / Alergen Free grocery store (Tailor Made Nutrition), I saw Vanilla Powder by Authentic Foods. I decided to try it. It is a little pricy, yet worth the cost in flavor.

I mixed up a batch of Old Fashioned Tea Cakes, AKA Sugar Cookies, AKA Snicker doodles. I did not journal the process with pictures as I was mixing, because these are simple cookies.

Old Fashioned Tea Cakes - Gluten Free (AKA Sugar Cookie, AKA Snickerdoodle)

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar - (packed)
1/4 cup honey

1 cups sugar

2 eggs
3 1/2 cups sorghum flour
1/2 cups chickpea flour
1/2 cups sweet rice flour
1/2 tsp GF vanilla powder (Authentic Foods)
1/2 tsp Ginger, Ground
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
2 Tbs granulated sugar (optional) for rolling balls in
No gum needed

 Procedure

1. Mix the flours with the vanilla powder, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda and cream of tartar, shake in a container to thoroughly mix and set aside
2. Cream butter, sugars and honey. Beat in eggs one at a time into creamed mixture. Add about half of the flour, continue mixing with mixer. Stir in the remainder of the flour with a spatula.
3. Shape into 48 1-inch balls. Optionally roll each ball in granulated sugar.
4. Place on parchment covered cookie sheet 2 inches apart. The cookie will spread, but not run. Flattening slightly is optional.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F until lightly brown - (12 to 13 minutes). If rolled in sugar, cracks will appear. If the cracks seem a little wet, leave in the oven a little longer.
6. After removing from oven, lift with a lifter to another cookie sheet to cool completely as they will be a little brittle while warm.

Servings: 48 Yield: 4 dozen 3 inch cookies

Preparation Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes

Author Notes

 If you have powdered flavorings, they work best with this cookie.  Honey  and brown sugar helps with keeping the soft center.

Nutrition Facts

 Serving size: 1/48 of a recipe (1 ounce).

 Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

 Amount per Serving

 Calories 111.07

 Total Fat 4.42g

 Saturated Fat 2.5g

 Cholesterol 18.98mg

 Sodium 30.99mg

 Potassium 36.16mg

 Total Carbohydrates 16.69g

 Fiber 1.05g

 Sugar 7.17g

 Protein 1.81g

 I made an earlier version with 2 tbs of honey.  This is that version.  It did not spread as much.  The additional honey keeps it soft in the center.