Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Easy, Gluten Free

Project Proposition:
Create an easy snack with items already in pantry for my weekly Avid and Addicted Meeting: Nip Tuck.

My Thinking:
Searched yahoo answers, found recipe for easiest peanut butter cookies.

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 egg
1 cup sugar

Mix all together. Roll into walnut sized balls, gently press them down, typical fork action decor for peanut butter cookies, sprinkle a little bit of sugar, and pop in the oven 10 minutes on 350.

Success:
Tasted great, made about a dozen and half, and were a hit!

Gluten Free:
Best part is I discovered the recipe was GLUTEN FREE! (One of my best friends is gluten intolerant, so I was very excited to confirm this information with her).

She typically uses the recipe I have linked below that is also gluten free and ironically compliments of Paula Dean:

Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

***Gluten Free Friend (my GFF) substitutes an egg white, doesn't grease the baking sheet, and uses natural crunchy peanut butter (pours off the oil from the jar before mixing).

Lesson Learned:
Super easy cookies! And no need to run to the store!


The Ultimate Gingerbread Men Challenge



Yes, this was a complete DIY project!

Project Proposition:
Boyfriend wanted 2 dozen gingerbread men for work due Wednesday.

My Thinking:
Okay, simple enough, will buy a dry mix so I don't have to worry about the combination of spices, etc. And I'll knock the cookies out of the way and get them done Sunday night, prior to due date.

We took a trip to central market, found a great dry box mix (can't remember the brand, box was in shape of a house, white background, green and red pin stripes, seasonal item with special display). I got icing and all the decorations, cutter from Walmart. Successfully made 2 dozen cookies.

Surprise!
Boyfriend tells me I need to make 2 more dozen on Tuesday night, but due date is pushed back to Friday.

Mistake:
Asking him to pick up extra mix because I had to make an additional trip to the store to grab molasses since the dry mix called for more than butter and eggs. He picked up Arrowhead Mills Gingerbread Cookie Mix Organic, it was not good, and not as easy to roll out and cut the dough, and the final baked cookie was super crumbly. I baked the rest of the 2 dozen cookies on Tuesday, Wednesday turned into decorating night, Thursday was packaging, and Friday I was happy like most other men to see them completely gone from my life. (Please Note: The second picture shows about 75%, not all 50 men)

Boredom Calls:
Saturday night, boyfriend and I are not doing anything adventurous, I notice he has flour and all the rest of the ingredients to make gingerbread men from scratch (I really just wanted to know if I could do it or not). I found an AWESOME recipe from King Aurthur Flour. I will use this recipe next year for my endeavours!

Gingerbread Cookies


Lesson Learned:
  • Men are time consuming, especially if they are made out of gingerbread
  • Have 3 or 4 designs (unless your kidos are decorating) but you do run out of ideas if you try to make each cookie an individual, unless you are Martha
  • I would suggest using the super easy recipe from King Aruthur, best dough, best taste, and cost efficent