Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies have to rank right up there with my favorite cookies from my childhood. I love that you can add any kind of jelly topping that you like to them. I was afraid that when I had to go gluten-free that I would miss out on my favorites like these, but, I was wrong. My wonderful Mother has made these every year for me, even gluten-free. She uses Gluten-Free Pantry’s Beth’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour as the flour in the recipe.

Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 cup softened butter or margarine
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
2 eggs, separated
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour (gluten-free flour mix)
1 or 2 tsps xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups finely chopped nuts
Your favorite jellies / jams

Heat oven to 350. Mix thoroughly butter, shortening, sugar, egg yolks, and vanilla. Work in flour, xanthan gum, and salt until dough holds together. Shape dough by teaspoonfuls into 1 inch balls.

Beat egg whites slightly. Dip each ball into egg white, then roll in chopped nuts. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased baking sheet. Press thumb deeply into center of each. Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown. Immediately remove from baking sheet; cool. Fill thumbprints with jelly / jam before serving.

Thanks again for making these, Mom!! I placed half of these in the freezer so I can enjoy them for the next few weeks, too! BTW, don’t freeze with the jelly in them, leave them as is and add the jelly once they are defrosted. 😉

Now, in the picture above I have my new favorite cookies, Peanut Butter Blossoms. They are awesome too!

Old Fashioned Gingerbread ~ Gluten-Free

Another favorite dessert I enjoyed as a child was Gingerbread or Gingerbread Cake. I haven’t had this in years, so I decided that it was high time to make it gluten-free. I took a recipe from allrecipes.com and converted it to be gluten-free. It was a fairly simple recipe and not very time consuming at all. Not only did I sub GF flour, but I cut the butter in half and added in 1/4 cup applesauce, I also doubled the spices. I am only typing out the recipe as I made the cake below.

Gingerbread

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used Bette’s 4 Flour Blend by Authentic Foods)
1 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 350. Pam or grease & flour a 9-inch square pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Add in the applesauce. Beat in the egg and mix in the molasses.
3. In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, spices, xanthan gum. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven. Check after 45 minutes or so, as I didn’t have to cook mine longer than 50 minutes. Allow to cool in pan before serving.

I flipped my cake onto a plate after it cooled and topped with powdered sugar. I served it with Cool Whip.

Weekly Menu Plan ~ December 28, 2008 ~ Last Week of 2008

What a whirlwind the last week has been! Phew! I am glad it is over. I will be even happier when we are back to our normal routine and some of this craziness is gone. Yes, it was wonderful to see our family and spend time with them, but everything seems so chaotic. It will be nice to return to the somewhat predictable schedules that we keep. During the last week we had so many fabulous meals & treats. It all seemed so smooth, too. The meals were all prepared gluten-free or mostly gluten-free to avoid cross contamination. Neither Jon or I got sick, so that is a plus. 😉 We also enjoyed lunch out one day at Red Robin. We had a hard time with the service, mostly just being slow and not following through, but Jon and I felt great after eating there. It was really busy, so that may have been part of the issue.

So, this week is still not back to normal, but we don’t have any real big plans. I doubt that I will even make it until midnight on New Year’s Eve. 😉 I am getting old, you know.

Sunday ~ Burgers with sauteed mushrooms & pepperjack cheese, sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli and salad

Monday ~ Homemade Cheese Pizza (I may add spinach to mine and pepperoni to the kids) and salad

Tuesday ~ Salmon with garlic dill seasoning, quinoa, roasted brussel sprouts & salad

Wednesday ~ Turkey Tacos or Turkey Taco Salads, mexican rice & refried beans

Thursday ~ Pork & sauerkraut, mashed poatoes & veggies

Friday ~ Leftover medley/Breakfast for dinner

Saturday ~ Spaghetti & meat sauce, steamed veggies, foccacia bread (Chebe Mix) & salad

Baked Goods for the Week
I think I am taking a break on the baked goods this week. We have tons of fudge, cookies & cake leftover and I am thinking that my husband will kill me if I make anything else. 😉

I will probably have to make bread, though.

Oooh….I almost forgot. My sister got me the most amazing cookbook for Christmas. She got me Carol Fenster’s new cookbook, 1000 Gluten-Free Recipes. WOW!! This cookbook is amazing! Not only are there tons of baked goods, but the meals…..I am in heaven!

Another wonderful cooking gift….hubby got me a huge griddle for cooking pancakes, bacon & such. This thing is so big that I can cook a pound of bacon on it at one time! OMG! It is amazing! So much easier than standing over a pan going through rounds of 6 or 7 strips at a time.

Don’t foget to pop over to Cooking & UNcooking, M-Elle is hosting this week’s GF menu swap. And, as always, Orgjunkie has tons of menu plans up.

Hope you all had a wonderful Holiday. 🙂