Cookies

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play and play and play

I’ve been playing a lot lately. When Lucy is home, she mostly wants to play hide and seek with me. (And with her daddy when he is home. That’s a fine game.) Generally, she doesn’t quite understand the concept: “You count, Mama, and I’ll hide in my room!” I play along because she takes such [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free soft molasses cookies

gluten-free soft molasses cookies

Every Christmas, my mother made batches of soft molasses cookies with sweet vanilla frosting on top. Talk about sugarplum fairies — these were the cookies of my dreams. You can make a chocolate chip cookie all year long and still love it. But there’s something to be said for pulling out a cookie recipe once [...]

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gluten-free ice cream sandwiches

For awhile there, we were giving you recommendations here, of foods we like and products that arrived at the house that we would buy again. You can see the tab up there, the one that says RECOMMENDATIONS. However, we sort of tailed off eventually. This morning, I was trying to figure out why. Then it [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free quinoa cookies

gluten-free quinoa cookies

Yesterday, Lu threw her first big temper tantrum. For a week she snuffled along with a cold, then pneumonia. Thankfully, we caught it early, so I didn’t have to worry about her lethargy and sadness for longer than a night. (That night — when she coughed every two minutes and cried in between — seemed [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free shortbread

gluten-free shortbread

I made three batches of shortbread yesterday. Yes, I’m a little nuts. It’s the last day of posting holiday cookie recipes around here. After jam tarts, gingerbread men, coconut sugar cookies, cannolis, plus 8 more, you think I’d be done. That’s an even dozen, right? (Plus, if you go over to our friend Silvana Nardone’s [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free Mexican wedding cookies

gluten-free Mexican wedding cookies

Mexican wedding cookies. Of all the requests people had for gluten-free holiday cookies, I think this was the most requested. Finely ground nuts, butter and shortening, gluten-free flours, and powdered sugar. It isn’t much more complicated than that. All that deliciousness and it’s easy too? Sign me up. Now this cookie, with tiny variations of [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free cannoli

gluten-free cannoli

“Leave the gun. Take the cannoli.” I’m tempted to write only this. After all, it’s the only phrase I hear in my head when someone says cannoli. Probably you too. (And if you don’t know what it is, look here. Watch out — you’re going to want spaghetti and meatballs after watching this movie.) However, I [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free spritz cookies

gluten-free spritz cookies

We are coming into the home stretch of holiday cookies and goodies around here. I don’t want to think about how many pounds of butter, flours, and sugar have been used in this kitchen the past month. I can’t even calculate how many times the paddle of the KitchenAid has whirled around these weeks. Every [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free honey-spice madeleines

gluten-free honey-spice madeleines

All of Proust’s remembrances began with one bite of a madeleines. I have a confession. I still haven’t read all of Proust’s books. Try as I might, several times, I could never make it past the first 60 pages. Well, you’re saying, most of us haven’t. I know. But I was a literature major, an [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free coconut sugar cookies

gluten-free coconut sugar cookies

These cookies may not look like much, but they are really quite wonderful. They are also gone. Danny and Lu nibbled them during an afternoon snack, after my photo session, as they lay on our bed together reading an I-Spy book. Weak winter sunlight spilled into the room and on their toes. I had so [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free pine nut cookie

gluten-free pine nut cookie

When Danny and I tried to decide all the cookies we would bake for the cookie-baking extravaganza here, we pulled down all our baking books and cookbooks with baked goods. We ran our fingers down the index of each one, looking for baked goods that appealed to us both. Quickly, we realized we had a [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free snickerdoodles

gluten-free snickerdoodles

Okay, I’m going to call an audible here. (Is that a football term? I sort of have this vague feeling that it is, but I don’t want to google it and spend any time looking at football terms. I have to admit, I’m totally indifferent to football. I was going to type that I loath [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free pistachio-cranberry cookies

gluten-free pistachio-cranberry cookies

As you have probably guessed, I have been baking cookies and more cookies for weeks. Nuts and flours spill on the counter. Lu is frequently reaching for a piece of dried fruit or a chocolate chip. We are making memories, she sitting on the kitchen counter, wanting to crack eggs with me, still amazed when [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free gingerbread men

gluten-free gingerbread men

“Hey sweetie, do you want to read books?” Lu bounces across the room, almost skipping. Her eyes grow wide and she shouts, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” We go over to the mound of books that are always spilling from the blue and red tubs in the corner of the room. The bookshelf in her room is [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free jam tart cookies

gluten-free jam tart cookies

I still miss Gourmet. I know that it has been gone for more than a year, and I’m supposed to have moved on by now. And frankly, it’s not as if I had time to read every article those last couple of years, or even most of them. With a newborn, who became a toddler, [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free holiday baking, 2010

gluten-free holiday baking, 2010

Let’s bake, shall we? It’s December 2nd. Most of you have probably gathered your recipe cards around you to take notes and make substitutions, pulled out the butter to soften on the kitchen counter, and started planning on sending boxes full of crisp cookies and soft squares of gingerbread to friends and family across the [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free Oreos

gluten-free Oreos

A few days ago, on Twitter, someone I follow linked to a recipe for homemade Oreos. Now I have to tell you, I wasn’t a huge Oreos fan when I was a kid. The cookie part of the sandwich always crumbled tough against my teeth. More than any other packaged cookie, Oreos tasted like they [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

gluten-free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

We’re awfully fond of Sesame Street around here. Every morning, at 8 am, we turn on the television, find the kids’ section from On Demand, and choose a Sesame Street episode. Should we watch Elmo learning salsa? Or Baby Bear trying to rid himself of hiccups? We three settle in on the couch, Lu on [...]

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Ready for Dessert

I love David Lebovitz. Have I mentioned this? Well, apparently, I have mentioned how much I love David Lebovitz, just a few times in the last five years. Why do I keep wanting to tell you about how great this man is? It could be his charm, his debonair style, his kindness, his sharp wit, [...]

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Thumbnail image for world peace cookies, gluten-free

world peace cookies, gluten-free

I love so much in this world. I love the feeling of warming dirt underneath my bare feet, as I walk around our garden in February. (February!) I love seeing the first vivid unfurlings of the rhubarb plant emerging. I love the hope of spring, the anticipation of gardening, all that dark black soil waiting [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free graham crackers

gluten-free graham crackers

Graham crackers dunked in a glass of cold milk. I sure have missed this small, sweet treat at the end of an evening. There’s something humble about a graham cracker. (And terribly mis-named. These are only cracker in shape. Really, these are a slight sweet cookie.) It stands at your side, waiting for your attention. [...]

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Thumbnail image for gluten-free rugelach

gluten-free rugelach

I’ve been wanting for weeks to tell you about these cookies. And now that it’s time, I find that I don’t want to say very much. You know how some meals deserve elaborate place settings, candles lit, and a hushed expectation so your guests will say ooh when you proffer the platter? Others taste best [...]

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The New Portuguese Table

(We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) I imagine Portugal is warm most of the year. That’s probably not true, and I’m worse in meteorology than I am in geography, so don’t trust me. That’s only how [...]

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Thumbnail image for David Leite’s chocolate chip cookies, gluten-free

David Leite’s chocolate chip cookies, gluten-free

(We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) “This recipe is being featured atOprah.com. For more of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef’s featured posts,visit Oprah.com”See that cookie? That chocolate-oozing, warm-in-the-hand cookie? The cookie I was mean enough to [...]

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Thumbnail image for lemon-pecan biscotti, gluten-free

lemon-pecan biscotti, gluten-free

(We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) I made you this delicious biscotti. (The book is due frighteningly soon. No time for a story this week. Sorry.) LEMON-PECAN BISCOTTI, adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours [...]

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Thumbnail image for sugar cookies and slowing down

sugar cookies and slowing down

(We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) We returned from Tucson on Monday, tired and amazed. Little Bean did not cry once, on any of the flights we endured going to and fro. Instead, she looked up [...]

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making cookies, spontaneously

“Sweetie, what day is it?” I whispered to the Chef in bed, as Little Bean fell asleep between us. She had been up for nearly an hour, kicking and smiling at the light fixture above us, cavorting at the sound of our voices. “It’s Thursday, I think,” he said, scrunching up his face with the [...]

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Thumbnail image for how connections led to chocolate chip cookies

how connections led to chocolate chip cookies

This afternoon, a fellow writer and food-lover friend spotted something on the menu I might like. A crispy duck salad with green lentils, red cabbage, winter pears, and some kind of creamy vinaigrette. Before I could even coo over the idea of it, Jess looked up at the waiter and said, “Does have that any [...]

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Thumbnail image for Oatmeal cookies, again.

Oatmeal cookies, again.

The warmth of brown sugar, wafting to the nose. Crisped edges, chewy centers, a tug of something more substantial than simply flours and sugars together. Flecked through with raisins or wondrously crunchy with walnuts? It doesn’t matter to me. Sometimes, I like them plain and simply. Two kinds of sugar, fat yellow eggs, a pinch [...]

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Thumbnail image for even with the deadline, there are cookies

even with the deadline, there are cookies

(We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) No time to write a story. Pushing against the deadline, Christmas. Breathing. Still refusing to grow frantic. Instead, I will stay mostly silent here. I will simply say… these are [...]

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Thumbnail image for on loving a man and his mother’s cookies

on loving a man and his mother’s cookies

Rosemary’s Christmas cookies II, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. (We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) When you choose to love someone, you accept more than one person in your life. Truly loving someone means inheriting an entire [...]

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Thumbnail image for almond butter cookies + choocolate chips = good

almond butter cookies + choocolate chips = good

almond butter cookie, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. There’s an old hostessing adage that says when you are having people over for a party, you should only serve them tried and true favorites. In other words, never conduct food experiments on your guests. Well, we don’t live by that rule in this house. This afternoon, the [...]

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more sweetness for the weekend

lemon olive oil cookies, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Yesterday, the skies lowered with grey clouds all day. Busy writing, I didn’t consciously look up for nearly an hour in the middle of the afternoon. When I did finally raise my head, I noticed that the window screen before me was flecked with raindrops. The trees [...]

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Thumbnail image for yum yum — peanut butter

yum yum — peanut butter

peanut butter cookie stack, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Look at those cookies. Aren’t they gorgeous? Can you believe they are gluten-free? So many people settle for lousy food with no real taste, because they believe that is all they will find when they have to eat gluten-free. I’m here to tell you — silly. These [...]

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Thumbnail image for crisp, buttery bites on a wintry night

crisp, buttery bites on a wintry night

chocolate shortbread III, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. It’s a dark and stormy evening here in Seattle. (Remember how Snoopy began every novel he attempted to write, while perched on the sloping angles of his doghouse, with “…It was a dark and stormy night.”? As a little kid who wanted to be a writer someday, that [...]

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Thumbnail image for ooey-gooey goodness

ooey-gooey goodness

gf choc chip cookie IV, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Sometimes, you just need some chocolate chip cookies. For the past four or five days, I have been trying my best not to complain. I have also not been writing here, even though I have wanted to post new recipes and delighted paragraphs about the sensory [...]

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guess what these are….

gf fig newtons, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. (We’re thrilled that this recipe is being featured at Oprah.com’s roundup of holiday recipes for 2009. For more of our featured posts, visit Oprah.com today.) Lately, I’ve been thinking about all that processed food I ate as a kid. TV dinners, bad candy bars, Oscar Mayer meat packs, [...]

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Thumbnail image for may you have a house full of laughter

may you have a house full of laughter

poinsettia, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. In just a few moments, I’m leaving my home to climb in my car and join the masses trekking south on I-5. It’s Christmas Eve morning, and I’m going to my parents’ house. Normally, I adore Christmas. For years, my parents referred to my brother and me as the Christmas [...]

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I can’t believe I forgot my camera.

David takes my photo!, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Okay, I’m so in love with David Lebovitz now. The man is hilarious, like David Sedaris hilarious, with a thousand tiny asides that made me squeak with laughter in the middle of his chocolate cooking class, sometimes too loudly. And then, oh my god, he knows how [...]

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a return to baking

ginger-molasses cookie, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. When it comes to cooking great, gluten-free food, I have all the enthusiasm in the world. In the past year, I’ve found this avid passion for food, health, and living life well. Every day, I troll websites for more accurate information on what I can eat, where I can [...]

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Feeling like Mr. Rogers

Ener-G donut holes, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Do you remember watching those Mr. Rogers’ episodes where he led his television audience through a factory that made toys or bass cellos or our favorite foods? I loved those. And last week, when I visited the Ener-G foods warehouse and company store, I felt like I was [...]

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