I won!!!! WOOHOOO!!!

Let me start by saying that I don’t ever win anything. The other night I was surfing the net and reading food blogs, mostly gluten-free, for new recipes and inspriration, when I came across Celiac Chicks running a contest or 2. I entered both of the. One was for free GF Cookies (YUM), the other was for a gift basket from Joan’s GF Great Bakes for bagels, cookies, pizza and rolls. Well, guess what???? I won one of the 5 prizes in the 2nd contest!!! WOOHOOO!!! My GF goodies arrived today. I baked some of the ready-bake cookies right away, but only got a bite as Jon got to them before I did. I didn’t even get a picture of the finished baked cookie! LOL! They were amazing!! Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, buttery…..ooooh….I need to go throw a couple more in the oven before Jon comes back in from playing outside and eat them quickly! 😉 Here are some pics of my loot:

I plan on making some bagels and maybe a sandwich roll tomorrow. I will make sure to take pictures and share once I do. I received 5 bagels, a pack of ready-bake cookies, a sicilian pizza and 6 sandwich rolls. What a great prize! Thank you Celiac Chicks and Joan. You guys ROCK!!!!

“C” is for Cookie…….

Not only is “C” for Cookie, but for Chocolate Chip Cookie! I have been wanting to make these for well over a week and I finally remembered to get sugar when I was out today. I absolutely love Chocolate Chip Cookies, as do Jon, Hannah and Aaron. Being the wonderful person that I am, I not only made GF chocolate chip cookies, but gluten-filled for Hannah and Aaron. Aaron’s were made with walnuts, Hannah’s without. I obviously made the GF ones first, as to avoid any cross contamination. I made most of the GF ones without nuts or oats, but added some Lara’s GF Oats to mine. YUM!!! Here are some pictures of the cookies before they went into the oven:

And after they came out (don’t tell anyone about that one with the bite out of it, I have no idea what happened there 😉 ):

And on a pretty platter:

Here is the recipe that I use for the cookies. I modified it from one that my sister uses (she doesn’t like to use vanilla in her chocolate chip cookies and I do).

Chocolate Chip Cookies ~ Gluten-Free

Ingredients:
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar, packed
2 sticks of butter (1 cup), melted
1 large egg
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 ¼ cup all purpose flour (I use a mix of rice flour, tapioca & potato starch)
2 tsp. Xanthan gum
1 tsp. Baking soda
½ tsp salt
½ package (I used 6 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Nuts (optional, however many you want)
GF Oats (I used Lara’s ~ I only used about ¼ cup or so, but use your judgment) optional

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees
2. Mix sugars, butter, egg and vanilla in large bowl. Stir in flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt (dough will be stiff)
3. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts and/or oats
4. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto un-greased cookie sheet (**I did Pam my sheets)
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool Slightly; remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.

Enjoy with a large glass of cold milk!

I actually considered skipping lunch and sitting down with just a plate of cookies. I couldn’t bring myself to do that though. I settled on 2 for now and froze the rest of the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for later. I am sending one through the USPS to my sister, as she wants to try the GF oatmeal ones. We will see how that fairs from Columbus to Atlanta. Kel, make sure to let us know how that works out. 😉