Leila's Sandwich Cookies

These tasty and adorable cookies came from a wonderful partnership between my sweet seven-year-old daughter and myself. She dreamed up the kind of cookie she wanted to make, and together we brainstormed about what the recipe should include. We set aside time for a "Mommy date" on the weekend to work on them, and all week the anticipation was killing her. When the time finally came, we had such a good time working on this project together. ("Mommy dates" are important to me and my daughters, since they don't get a lot of quality time with me due to their brother's special needs.)  So, not only are the cookies in the shape of a heart - by her request, of course! - but they really do come from the heart. There's a lot of love in this recipe. Happily, they turned out pretty amazing on our first try. Must have been that extra love we threw in!

The cookie ended up being a cross between a sugar cookie and shortbread, with a delicate texture and almond flavor. After the dough spent an hour in the fridge, we were able to roll them out and cut them into shapes. We used plenty of tapioca flour to keep the dough from sticking to everything. They were not difficult to make and are very allergen-friendly...not to mention grain-free and refined sugar-free! (Okay, for all you detail-oriented people out there, the recipe is: grain free, wheat free, gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free, and ALMOST nut-free - just substitute the almond extract with vanilla or coconut extract and it's completely nut free.) You can fill them with anything you like. I happened to have some homemade raspberry jam on hand, but you could fill them with just about any kind of preserves, frosting, or sweetened nut- or seed-butter spread.

Leila's Sandwich Cookies

1 1/2 tablespoons ground chia seeds (preferably white, but black work too)
3 tablespoons water
1 cup coconut flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup shortening or butter (we use Spectrum shortening)
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon alcohol-free almond extract (replace with more vanilla extract, or coconut, if you are avoiding nuts)
8 drops Vanilla Creme Stevia

1. Mix the chia seeds plus 3 tablespoons water together and set aside. (This is your egg replacer.)
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, salt, baking soda and set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and the honey. Add vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), stevia, and chia mixture.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl and mix until well combined.
5. Form the dough into a patty, wrap in parchment paper, and refridgerate at least one hour or until firm.
6. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dust your counter and your rolling pin with tapioca flour (arrowroot would probably work just as well).
7. Roll dough fairly thin - ours was only about 1/4 inch thick.
8. Bake for about 8 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden brown.
9. Let the cookies cool for ten minutes or so, then spread with the filling of your choice.

Enjoy (and don't forget to throw in the extra LOVE, baby)!!!

Linking up to Allergy Free Wednesdays

Peanut Butter Truffles

These make great gifts! I packaged these as a gift for someone by using a cute patterned box in the shape of Chinese takeout containers…line with parchment paper, put in a few truffles, tie with baker’s twine. Sweet and simple.

Peanut butter truffles get along nicely with coconut almond truffles...but that's for another post!

Peanut Butter Truffles
gluten free, dairy free, wheat free, egg free, corn free, soy free

Filling:

1 cup chunky peanut butter

1 cup organic powdered sugar

½ tsp. GF bourbon vanilla

Coating:

1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips

1.       Mix filling ingredients. I actually used my hands for this as it was much easier than a spoon. Nobody will blame you if you have to lick your fingers when you’re done mixing!

2.       Use a small scoop (mine is a melon- baller, about 1 ½ inches across) to scoop filling onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

3.       Cover with tin foil and place baking sheet in freezer for 20 minutes.

4.       Pull out the baking sheet and roll the scooped filling by hand into smooth little balls. When this is done, put them back in the freezer for at least another 20 minutes (although I found that freezing them a few hours or overnight was even better!).

5.       Use a double boiler to melt the chocolate chips. If you are like me and don’t own a double boiler, you can create one by boiling a small amount of water in a saucepan on the stove. Once the water comes to a boil, set a heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan (the rim of the bowl should be wider than the rim of the pan, and the boiling water should not touch the bottom of the bowl). Put the chocolate chips in the bowl and stir them constantly until they melt. (Note: Don’t walk away during this process because it’s easy to have the chocolate seize up on you. That is hard to recover from. If it happens you can add some milk and stir like crazy until it gets glossy and smooth again. This will save you from having to dump out the chocolate – but your truffle coating will be a bit softer. I don’t mind this, because chocolate is chocolate, but you might.)

6.       Drop in one of the frozen peanut butter balls. Roll it around with a spoon until evenly coated. Then deposit it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. At this point, I like to put sprinkles on top (I use the all-natural, organic ones, colored with things like beet juice.) But you could also sprinkle chopped nuts on top or whatever your little heart desires. Put the baking sheet into the fridge or freezer until firm. (This won’t take long, so hold on – you’ll your first truffle in mere moments!)

7.       EAT. LICK FINGERS. REPEAT. (Or not. These are extremely rich and dangerous for me, I can really only handle one. And even that’s a bit much, since I don’t tolerate chocolate very well. But sometimes a girl’s just gotta have chocolate.)