Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free & Vegan

(makes 10 – 12 cookies)

Gluten Free and Vegan Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

½ cup brown rice flour

¼ cup almond flour

¼ cup potato starch

¼ tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

¼ cup brown sugar

2 tbsp vegan butter or margarine (28g)

¼ cup coconut milk + 1 tbsp

½ tsp vanilla extract

2 oz chocolate chips

Notes You can use a pre-packaged gluten free flour blend, preferably a “light” blend for cake or pancakes and not a bread mix. Omit the xanthan gum if already in your mix

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

In a mixing bowl add the dry ingredients except the sugar and chocolate chips. Stir to combine.

In a small skillet on low heat melt the butter. Add the brown sugar and heat until it begins to bubble. The sugar will melt and caramelize, turning golden brown. Stir (or shake the skillet) to distribute the sauce evenly. As the sauce thickens add the ¼ cup milk and stir well. Allow it to bubble ad thicken further, you want the butterscotch to be somewhat thick but looser than a caramel. The browner it gets the darker your cookie and the more pronounced the flavor. However do not let the mixture burn or thicken to the point where it can crystallize to make candy

Remove the butterscotch mixture from the heat and add it to the flour. Add the vanilla extract and the tablespoon of coconut milk. Knead or mix until the dough is slightly sticky but holding together, add a little more milk at a time if needed. You can either leave this cookie dough to cool before folding in the chocolate chips or you can continue to shaping the cookies, adding the chocolate chips after

Scoop rounds of the dough (about 2 tablespoons in size or as preferred) onto a parchment lined sheet leaving a space between each round. If you find the dough difficult to handle, chill for about 15 minutes before shaping

With wet hands flatten into discs. The cookies do not spread much so flatten to your desired thickness. If you have not yet added your chocolate chips sprinkle them on the tops of each cookie, press down to set

When ready, bake for 8 mins until the tops are lightly browned. Remove from the oven, cool and enjoy! Store in an airtight container on your kitchen counter for up to 5 days, (if your kitchen is hot and humid, store in the refrigerator)

How to use the Tangzhong Method

Tangzhong is an Asian yeast bread technique that is used to produce softer bread loaves (it's also called yukone or scalded flour). How does it work?

A portion of the flour and liquid in your bread recipe is cooked to form a thick slurry. The cooled slurry is added along with the other wet ingredients when mixing the dough. What's the advantage gained by this extra step?

Gluten free bread dough is generally more like a thick batter, wet to the touch. This makes it difficult to handle and shape. I have found that tangzhong slurry makes my dough more elastic. While the dough is still somewhat sticky, it is "firm" enough to manipulate. The finished bread is also softer. Want to try it?

See the example below. Don't be intimidated by the formula. Ignore it if you feel you understand what you are trying to achieve, you will learn by doing anyway.

Tangzhong Slurry

To make Tangzhong you need to set aside approximately 10% of the flour in your recipe and add water equivalent to 5 times the amount of flour used

For a recipe that uses 2 1/2 cups in total of flour

• 2 1/2 cups x 10% = 1/4 cup of

• flour 1/4 cup x 5 = 1 1/4 cup of liquid (water or milk)

Add the flour and liquid to a skillet on medium high heat. Cook the mixture, stirring often to form a thick jelly like slurry. Set aside to cool

Continue with the recipe as normal, reducing the total flour amount by the 1/4 cup used in the slurry (in our example that would be to 2 1/4 cups )

Add the cooled tangzhong and other wet ingredients but not the water or milk, to the dry ingredients and begin to mix or knead

Now add water or milk in increments until the dough is somewhat firm and sticky to the touch. You should be able to handle the dough relatively easily

If you are braiding the bread do so immediately after kneading. As the dough begins to rise it will get more difficult to handle and can fall apart

To create patterns allow the dough to rise in the tin, before scoring the bread. You may need to widen the cuts to prevent the spaces from filling back up. For deep scoring patterns, widen the cuts more

You may need to bake your dough for a slightly longer time. When done, the bread will feel hollow when tapped and the crust should be firm (not hard) throughout. A very soft crust often means that the insides may need more baking time

If you give this a try please, please share your experience!

Gluten Free Vegan Lemon Vanilla Donuts (Doughnuts)

Gluten Free Vegan Lemon Vanilla Donuts

These donuts are baked, the recipe as is will not make a good fried donut. After baking there are some who lightly fry each side of the donut to achieve that traditional crust. I have not tried this myself, not yet anyway...

Ingredients

Donuts

1¾ cup gluten free flour*

¼ cup almond flour

½ tsp xanthan gum (omit if in your blend)

½ tsp salt

¼ cup white sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

½ tsp baking soda

½ cup coconut milk

1 cup water

2 tsp fresh lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

*Use a light blend as opposed to a bread mix

Lemon Glaze

¾ cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions

Donuts

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare your donut tin, this recipe makes 12 regular donuts

In a mixing bowl add the dry ingredients and stir to combine

Add the wet ingredients and mix or blend until smooth. The mixture should be somewhat like a pancake batter, not too thick, add more water if necessary (too little water will give you a dense donut)

Pour the mixture into the prepared donut tin, filling to 2/3.

Bake for 10 minutes. The donuts will be cooked at this point but if you want a bit more colour raise the temperature to 425F and leave for another 2-3 minutes

Allow the donuts to cool for a minute or two then carefully remove from the tin. Running a knife along the sides of the donut will make it easier to lift out whole

Once cool dip to coat with the lemon glaze. Let the glaze set for a few minutes before serving

To make the Lemon Glaze simply add the lemon juice to the powdered sugar and stir until all of the sugar has been incorporated. The glaze should be thick but pourable. You could also dust the donuts with powdered sugar only or another flavored glaze