Gluten-Free Adventures: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars (gluten-free), a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

Okay, so I have been hard at work experimenting with treats and snacks in the gluten-free vein. When I saw this recipe for GF peanut butter chocolate chip bars, I thought: perfect! And also: so easy. I love bar recipes, because they're so much less labor-intensive than ones requiring you to make crusts, or roll out balls, or scoop into muffin tins. You just pour it into a pan and forget it until the timer dings. And it's usually at least a half hour or so, so you can kick back and relax too. This recipe, from Serious Eats, is no exception. I liked that the main flour is brown rice flour, which I've grown to realize I like the flavor of. And the peanut butter should mask any other taste issues as well.

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars (Serious Eats)

Ingredients
3 3/4 ounces (3/4 cup) brown rice flour
2 ounces (1/3 cup) potato starch
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
4 ounces (1/2 cup) smooth peanut butter (I used chunky)
3.5 ounces (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
4 ounces (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
[I added chia seeds and flax meal too]

Preheat oven to 350°F;. Grease 8x8x2-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.

In small bowl, whisk together brown rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In large bowl, cream together butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, about one minute. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat well between each addition. Stop mixer and scrape down bottom and sides of bowl. Turn mixer back on and continue to beat until mixture is light, fluffy, and almost white. Turn off mixer. Add dry ingredients, turn mixer to low and blend to combine. Add chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Bake until bars are puffy, golden brown, and a cake tester interested into the center of the bars comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes. Place pan on wire rack to cool. When cooled, cut into 12 bars.

I have to say, these bars turned out perfectly. They look and taste exactly like gluten-filled peanut butter bars. Mine came out a tad bit dry, but that was my fault; I let them cook longer than the recommended 35 minutes because I thought they looked anemic (and I like my baked goods to look nicely golden brown). I won't do that next time. They were deeeeeeeelicious. A definite kid-pleaser!

Gluten-Free Adventures: Gingersnaps!

Gingersnaps (gluten-free), a photo by sherimiya ♥ on Flickr.

After the disappointment with the chocolate chip cookies, I decided to next try a cookie that I don't really care for. My reasoning is: if I don't usually like it, then it won't matter too much if it fails. True, right? But then, how will I know if the recipe turns out well or not? Hmmm. I'll try a cookie that someone else in the family really loves. Gingersnap! This cookie seems like a holiday cookie to me, which I eat out of politeness at Christmas; but actually, people seem to eat it year-round. I adapted a 10-year-old recipe out of the Gluten-Free Gourmet by Bette Hagman.

Gluten Free Gingersnaps Recipe

1 cup garbanzo bean flour (she uses Garfava)
1 cup constarch
1 cup tapioca flour
1 cup sorghum flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
2 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 and 1'2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 stick butter
1/2 cup olive oil (she uses Crisco)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs

In a medium bowl, whisk together the first 10 ingredients and set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in molasses and eggs.
Add the dry ingredients gradually while mixing, until well blended.
Place rounded teaspoons of dough on baking sheet, 2 inches apart.
Bake 10 minutes at 350F.
Remove carefully and cool on wire rack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First of all, these cookies came out super thin I think because I used olive oil instead of shortening. Maybe if you used all butter, the batter might be less runny. But that aside, these little crisps are undeniably delicious! And that's coming from a non-gingersnap-lover like me. I could not sense the bean flour at all in this cookie, perhaps because of the strong spices. The kids did not remember ever eating gingersnaps before (what?), so when they tasted it I was curious to know what they thought. They both loved them. And this cookie got raves from the gingersnap fan too! If you prefer the thick, chewy kind of ginger cookie, then this recipe is not for you. They came out so thin they were almost like crackers. But that was their beauty. TinySprite was enamored of them. She doesn't eat snacks at preschool (usually goldfish or graham crackers), so when she comes home she asks for one of my homemade gluten-free treats. These she cradled "gingerly" in both hands so she wouldn't lose a single stray crumb. I will definitely make these again, and probably add extra ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Success!