Lucy's miracle cookies

OK, seriously, these cookies should come with a warning label - open the box of Dr. Lucy's cookies and expect to want to eat all of them. Except, it's not such a crisis if you do because the serving size is 4 cookies for 120 calories!

I tried the sugar cookies - seriously excellent. I didn't even realize they are also made without butter or eggs. I found them in an endcap display at the Kroger in Bedford. These are worth hunting down.

Gluten-Free Halloween party

This is third GF Halloween and I've learned a few tricks for Gluten-Free entertaining.  These are pictures of the sugar cookies I mentioned a couple of posts ago -you can see how they turned out!  Also, the cupcakes and brownies are from Pamela's mixes.  

I think Pamela's products are the most consistently good GF baked goods and mixes I've found.  They taste the most like the "real" thing.  My friends, who are not shy about telling me if I've missed the mark, all thought these cupcakes were an improvement over previous mixes I've tried.  Also, they said these sugar cookies tasted like plain old normal sugar cookies (not like potatoes like last time.)  There were high-fives all around.

Of course, I own 20 gluten-free cookbooks, but if I want to save time for things like decorating sugar cookies, then a good-quality mix helps me get there with less stress and more fun.

Sometimes people ask why I don't just buy stuff with gluten in it and serve it alongside my food. Although, I don't expect the world to change for me, my house is a "safe" place for me to eat.  

Trying to police dips, cheese or other spread that could become cross-contaminated would take the fun out of it for me.  One time I brought a risotto to a potluck. I stepped away from the table and out of the corner of my eye saw someone dipping crackers into it. 

If I have the choice, I'd like to avoid even the possibility of cross-contamination.  So, sometimes it means going the extra mile food-wise to make sure that everyone can enjoy the party.

Gluten-Free roll-out sugar cookies - my defeated foe!

I love making sugar cookies, cutting them out and decorating them with icing for Halloween.  However, last year, was an epic event involving lots of broken cookies and friends who complained the cookies tasted like potatoes.  

The recipe I used, from Bette Hagman's Gluten-Free Gourmet for Old-Fashioned Sugar Cookies, recommends using potato flour to roll them out.  

This year, went a lot more smoothly.  I only rolled the dough out to about 1/4" thickness and I used tapioca starch to keep the cookies from sticking to the rolling pin.  Last year, I was determined to try and get them down to 1/8" which lead to a lot of sticking and cookies that couldn't be transferred to a cookie sheet.

I'm going to try using a Wilton glaze icing to reduce cookie breakage even more.  Spreading icing on with a knife was a tricky proposition last year.  I'll post a photo and let you know how it goes!  Good luck in your own cookie endeavors.