New cookies and an awesome craft fair.

Karli and I have been brainstorming about a lot of things lately: packaging, gift boxes/sets, displays, getting our own kitchen space, buying our own freezer - (which we did today - woo hoo!), but most importantly, we brainstormed about cookie flavors. I've been working on new vegan-friendly cookies and continuing the gluten free cookie challenge. We thought a macaroon would be a nice addition to our arsenal - delicious and gluten free to boot.

Everyone knows that the best recipes always start with chocolate. How can you go wrong with that?!

Macaroons are made with egg whites, so I had to seperate the yolks. You have to be very careful not to get any yolk in the whites. Also, make sure that your bowl and wisk are very clean and oil/grease free. Otherwise, the egg whites won't fluff up.

No flour here. This recipe called for almond meal. I love nuts. They are just so versatile!

Cute little plops of macaroon.

So this is the finished product. I don't even know what a proper macaroon should look like...or even taste like. The taste is reminiscent to Nutella, though almondy instead of hazelnuty. They are chewy and slightly tough. I think I was a bit rough with those egg whites. Need to do some more research.

On another note:

The Hot Cookie will be rockin' out at the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange this Saturday from 10am to 11pm at the Harrison Center in Indy. Check out all of the other awesome vendors here. I, personally, am TOTALLY excited.

PS - If you are on Facebook and are not currently in our The Hot Cookie fan group, you can be. Join us here.

Gluten Free Thumbprint Cookies

I am totally down with thumbprint cookies. They are both appealing to the eye and to the taste buds. I attempted to make a gluten free thumbprint this evening. I think it was a good shot. I have not had many gluten free cookies, so it's hard for me to tell what is good or meh. I'm going to need some taste testers.

I was perusing the bulk bins at Good Earth in Broadripple and found some awesome gluten free ingredients. I picked up some brown rice flour and some buckwheat flour. Got them home and the experiment began.

I substituted the buckwheat and rice flour for the all purpose wheat flour that I ususally use in our Thumbelinas. I found that the dough was too loose. It needed more flour. I was worried that it would be too floury, so I threw in some powdered sugar, too.

The touch test never fails.

My guess work paid off. This is what the consistency should look like.

I would have prefered using blueberry jam, but there was none to be found in my pantry. Regular, boring, ol' grape had to do.

Here are these earthy looking, gluten free bites. My roommies said that they looked like stone. Yes, slightly. They held up well - no crumbling. The taste - grainy... (Can this be avoided with gluten free cookies?) but not bad. More feedback after some taste testing. Overall, not a bad attempt.

Gluten Free Cornmeal Cookies

I've had a few requests for gluten free cookies, so I'm going to try out a few recipes. My gluten free cookies will be just as tasty as my regular ones. I will not let taste and texture slide just so that they can be gluten free. Taste and texture will prevail!

I had to get rid of the wheat flour to make this batch gluten free. I decided to use brown rice flour instead. This recipe is called Cornmeal Cookies, so the cornmeal is ultra present.

Here are some salvaged eggs. The bagboy at the grocery store decided to put my brand new carton of eggs in the same bag as two liters of juice. Awesome.

I do love the color and fluffiness of creamed sugar, butter, and eggs.

Zee dry ingredients: the colored flecks are freshly grated nutmeg and cinnamon.

I had to break the shell of the nutmeg with a hammer to get to the center. This may be my favorite spice. It's so cool!

These are refrigerator cookies, so they must be chilled.

I rolled them into a log shape and put them in the freezer. I think the refrigerator would have been better though. Next time.

After a sufficient amount of chilling, slice, slice, slice.

These will spread quite a bit because they have LOTS of butter.

So here they are. They look good enough, but what about the taste?! The verdict: crisp, sweet, gritty. I will use a finer grind of cornmeal next time - easier on the teeth.