Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentine's Day.  Usually, my husband and I cook dinner together on Valentine's Day.  Unfortunately, Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday this year.  The kids have martial arts on Tuesday evenings, so we have leftovers these night.  Since we did not have time to cook dinner, I decided that I would dress up a simple dessert that my whole family would love.  My immediate thought was chocolate chip cookies, so I decided to start there.  I looked through some recent blog posts from Elana's Pantry, and I saw that she had made triple chocolate chip cookies.  That sounded like a great idea, so I quickly decided to make my own triple chocolate chip cookies.  This is my recipe.

Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Then cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  If you only have 1 cookie sheet, that will be fine.  You will need to cook these cookies in batches.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the almond flour and cocoa powder.  Stir in the salt and baking soda.  In a medium bowl, cream the shortening and honey together.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients together in the large bowl.  Then add 1 egg to help hold the cookie mixture into a nice dough consistency.  Fold in all of the chocolate chips.  Using a tablespoon, scoop the dough and form into a ball.  Then flatten it onto your palm and place onto the cookie sheet.

Bake the cookies for 7 minutes, until the tops of the cookies are slightly cracked.  Cool and serve.

I made these cookies small for this batch, because they work better for little hands.  You can make them larger if you would prefer, but they will need to cook longer.  These chocolate chip cookies have a cake like consistency.  They are rich, but they are not too sweet.  I hope your family enjoys them as much as mine did.  Enjoy!

Cassidy

Gluten Free Pizza

Pizza has been one of the things that I have missed since I started eating a mostly grain free diet.  I am not able to use the mixes, because they use flours that I cannot eat.  I tried making an almond flour crust, but I was never able to truly convince my taste buds that I was eating pizza.  Then I was on Pinterest, and I saw a recipe for a Flourless Pizza Crust by Gluten Free Easily.  I was so excited, that I put the ingredients on my shopping list immediately.  When we decided that we were going to have this for dinner, I asked my husband if he wanted to make a non- gluten free pizza for him and the children in addition to the gluten free pizza.  He thought that the recipe looked really promising, so we decided to take a chance.  I was so hopeful that this recipe would turn out well, but it far exceeded my expectations.  This is my recipe.

Gluten Free Pizza

Crust:
4 ounces Neufchatel cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp garlic
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Topping:
1/3 cup pizza sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
Any toppings you prefer

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

You will need a 9x13 glass baking dish.  Grease the baking dish with grapeseed oil and then line it with parchment paper.  Set aside.

 For the crust, I used a medium bowl and whisk attachment on my Cuisinart Mixer.  Whisk the cream cheese until it is smooth and creamy.  Then add the eggs until they are blended with the cream cheese and smooth.  Add the Parmesan cheese and seasonings.  Stir in 2 cups of mozzarella until it is completely moistened.  Spread the mixture evenly over the parchment lined baking dish.  Bake the crust at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes, until it is evenly browned, but not too dark.

Let it cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.  When it is slightly cool, lift the crust using the parchment paper.  Depending on the amount of time you have, you can cool the crust completely on the counter or cool it by placing it in the freezer for up to 30 minutes.  The goal is to dry out the crust enough so that it will be crispy/chewy and you can pick it up in your hands.   

Once the crust is cooled, remove the parchment paper and place the crust back in the same pan.  The pan already has enough grease in it to prevent sticking.  Spread pizza sauce on the crust, and then spread no more than 1 cup of mozzarella cheese.  Then finish with whatever toppings you choose.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the toppings are bubbly and look the way you like your pizza.  Let the pizza stand for a few minutes before cutting.  Then eat the most delicious flourless, gluten free pizza that you have ever eaten!

As you can see, everyone in my house loved it!  The 4 of us ate the whole thing!  It tasted just like pizza, but there was no flour in it.  I finally was able to satisfy my pizza cravings.  Since we made this, my daughter has even asked to have it again.  She likes it better than pizza with flour in it.  I was truly amazed.  I really hope that you will try it and share it with the people you love.  Enjoy!

Cassidy