treat tuesday#1, 2013 GF series

our hands are clean and we are ready for some summer treats! this summer my boys wanted to bring back treat tuesdays. who wouldn't, right?!
 
i've read a lot about how the food we put in our bodies can effect us, mentally and physically... short-term and long. i find that it's pretty easy to locate supportive evidence that eating a certain kind of diet can do this or that... pretty much whatever you are hoping to cure or make better, there's a diet out there to make it all better! it can be difficult to sort through fact and fiction, and being that i am not a dietary expert and don't always get the science behind the claims, sometimes i just have to try out something that interests me.

cue this summer's treat tuesdays.

this summer we will be making all things gluten free (GF).

i have been eating gluten free on and off since october and then consistently since march. honestly, i just wanted to see if i felt better for it. i wasn't feeling poorly to begin with, but i was curious to see if i would somehow feel better. i can't say that i feel any different eating a gluten free diet, but i can say that i now feel downright miserable if i eat something with gluten. enough so that i just may be gluten free for life!

i am also curious to see if a gluten free diet will have any impact on the behaviors of my son with ASD and my son who is possibly likely ADHD. having been GF for so many months, my family already gets at least 50% of their meals without gluten. the biggest challenge isn't finding or preparing GF products, it's paying for them (so expensive!) and then there is the convenience factor--eating out GF is especially challenging. try  convincing taylor (autism spectrum disorder) that eating a hamburger without a bun is acceptable, because in his brain, it totally isn't! i can buy GF hamburger buns for home, but when you are out and about and want to spontaneously stop by in-n-out burger, i would be setting myself up for a world class tantrum. no thank you!

so that is the back story on how i came to plan for GF treats this summer... just in case you were wondering!

finally, i am no top-chef. i am handy in the kitchen, but i do not create my own recipes. i scoured pinterest high and low for delicious-looking GF treats. talk about torture during my late night snack-attack hour! i have not previously prepared any of these treats, so i will provide recipes, links to the original sites where they are posted, and provide you will some honest and fair evaluations. let me know if you try something and how you liked it. OR if you have a suggestion for an upcoming treat tuesday, leave a comment and tell us what you would like to see us make!

i hope you enjoy my GF series!

today's treat is not only GF, but dairy free, as well. it's  nothing fancy, but a family favorite. chocolate chip cookies! it also happens to be the only treat i filed away that i had all ingredients on-hand for. no shopping with four kids required. bonus! it comes from michelle at i heart wellness. check out the site for lots of other healthy recipes and more!

Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cup Brown Rice Flour

1/2 tsp Sea Salt

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Xantham Gum

1/2 cup Grapeseed Oil

1/4 cup Earth Balance Soy-Free Vegan Butter (melted)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 cup Maple Syrup

1/2 cup vegan Chocolate Chips (or more!)

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

In separate bowl, mix all wet ingredients.

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well.

If the dough is too crumbly add a bit more melted Earth Balance.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake cookies for 11-13 minutes at 350 F.

 

with lots of little helping hands, i like to have everything pre-measured and set up assembly-line style.


natalie is the youngest, so she helped first.


ben helped next. i also plan out the easiest tasks for the youngest helpers. i really try to keep it as clean as possible! i'm not a neat-freak, but we have plenty of other messes all over the house!


zach started adding the wet ingredients. note: we did not use a separate bowl! it worked out just fine this way. he looks very nervous holding the full cup of oil.


i was happy taylor joined in to help. he said "i'll help if i get a sample." ha! taylor is adding the earth balance spread, which is not melted, but at room temp. this also worked out just fine.


watching the kids helping each other melted this mama's heart. just what we needed after a day of what seemed like non-stop bickering, yelling, and throwing things at each other (them, not me!) 


i showed the middles how to make a cookie ball and let them go at it while i cleaned up the dishes.


fresh cookies from the oven. these came out looking just like they did when they went in.


cooling off for that sampling i promised taylor.


zach suggested we flatten the second set, so they'd look more like "real" cookies. hehe!


time for a taste-test! i had already sampled my cookie, to make sure it wasn't still too hot, and as i expected these are quite crumbly, so the kids ate them outside! yummmm!



here is what the kiddos said about these cookies:

taylor: "edible. tastes like a chocolate chip biscuit."
zachary: "a little crumbly, but not too crumbly. i like them the way they are!"
benjamin: "perfect."
natalie: she wanted more, what more can i say?!

taylor's comment sounds a little rude, but it wasn't intended that way. it was important to him that i use the word "edible" in his review, and while you might be thinking that is a criticism, it's totally not coming from my very literal young man, who is just trying to say "you can eat them!" i thought his description about a chocolate chip biscuit was perfect. these are not sweet or chewy cookies and do have a biscuit quality to them. also, he is a huge fan of biscuits, so this is a pretty nice compliment coming from him.

so this week's treat was a hit! if you plan on making these, i suggest you add more than the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. we used 1 cup. while that seemed like a lot when the boys were making cookie dough balls, i think the warm, gooey chocolate chips are what binds this cookie together! while we haven't tasted them cool, i'm guessing they are best when eaten warm. i am dreaming about a 2nd cookie served with a scoop of my vanilla coconut bliss ice cream tonight after the kids are in bed. mmmm! i also have a little extra dough that i saved for serving as a topping over vanilla ice cream... homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream! since there are no eggs in the batter, this is a safe cookie dough to eat. love that!

now, go make some cookies!