Gluten Free Chocolate Scones

Well, it's been almost 2 years since I posted my first recipe. I figured I'd take another stab at blogging. I was mostly motivated by the gluten-free scones I made this morning that were so chocolatey and warm and yummy. I just had to share them with the world. So here goes.

What I like about this recipe:

1) You only need almond flour! After two years of gluten-free baking, I've come to resent recipes that call for a flour blend like my chocolate chip cookies (who has time for that?!). I am learning to truly appreciate the more simple recipes, the ones that take less than 10 minutes to prepare, and especially the ones that use ingredients that I usually have around my kitchen.

2) They are not DRY scones like what you would get when you purchase a scone from Panera or a coffee shop. These are the texture that I always imagine scones to be when I see them in a food display case-- crisp on the outside, soft and moist on the inside.

3) I just had the brilliant idea that had I added a touch of mint extract, these could've become mint-chocolate scones!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of almond flour (I bought mine at Natural Grocers/Vitamin Cottage)
• 3 tbs sugar
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbs cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa Powder)
• 1 egg
• 3 tbs melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• about 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (more or less to your preference)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees 
2. Combine almond flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder in a bowl 
3. Mix the egg, melted butter, and vanilla into your dry ingredients 
4. Fold in your chocolate chips 
5. Place dough on a flat surface and flatten to about 1 1/2 inch thick (I just put down aluminum foil and flattened it with my hand, but if you want to get fancy I supposed you could use a rolling pin. The dough is pretty sticky, though.) 
6. Cut into wedges and place on a cookie sheet (I used an ungreased baking stone) 
7. Bake for 20 minutes until the outside feels nice and firm to the touch. 
8. Cool them on a wire cooling rack for a bit and then enjoy the chocolatey deliciousness!

I also sprinkled a little sugar on top of them before baking them but this is totally optional. This recipe makes 4 scones.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies two days ago with my mom. I was so happy with the way they came out that I've decided to post them as my first recipe.

Here's what I like about this recipe:

1) These cookies taste amazing! I am a much more picky eater than my husband especially when it comes to gluten-free foods and I love these cookies more than cookies that actually contain gluten. They stay soft after cooling and they have a great texture.

2) The ingredients I used were all purchased at King Soopers. I'll write a short blog later about where to find gluten-free ingredients but for now I'm just glad to see gluten-free items becoming more main stream.

And now, onto the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cup gluten free flour mix (see below for my specific mix)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbs butter at room temp. (I used Smart Balance Butter Blend Sticks)
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup sugar (I recommend something with larger granules like Sugar in the Raw or Demerara Sugar)
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• Ghiradelli chocolate chips (I use about half of a 12 oz bag but feel free to add more or less depending on how chocolaty you want it)

Gluten Free Flour Blend (makes enough flour blend to double the cookie recipe)

• 1 cup brown rice flour
• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 2/3 cup potato starch
• 1/3 cup tapioca flour
• 2 tsp xanthan gum

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F 
2. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside (I used an ungreased baking stone) 
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt 
4. In a large bowl, beat butter and oil until smooth. 
5. Add vanilla and eggs and beat until incorporated. Add your sugar and mix thoroughly. 
6. Add your dry ingredients to the batter and continue to stir until mixed. 
7. Stir in your chocolate chips. 
8. Drop generous tablespoons onto baking sheet 2 inches apart. 
9. Bake 8-10 minutes. (The cookies should be slightly golden around the edges. It's easy to over cook gluten free cookies). 
10. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for a minute or two then transfer them to a cooling rack.

Makes about 1 1/2 to 2 dozen cookies depending on how big you make them.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog everyone! I hope you find it to be well-organized, clear, and above all helpful.

At this point, visitors to this blog will probably fit into one of three groups:
1) Those who have gluten allergies/intolerance.
2) Those who are close to someone with gluten allergies/intolerance.
3) Those who like mermaids and have no idea what gluten is.

To the third group, you are definitely welcome; however, mermaids will (sadly) not be my main focus.

My biggest hope is that this blog will be a helpful tool for anyone seeking to make gluten-free dishes that don't taste like they are gluten-free.

The reason this is so important to me is that I myself do not have gluten allergies. My husband, Robbie, does. Before I met him, I had never even heard of gluten. Robbie has pointed out to me on many occasions how much it means to him that I have embraced his gluten intolerance (even to the point of including in my wedding vows that I would never feed him something that contained gluten). I see it as another fun opportunity to show him how much I respect and admire him.

I have definitely had my share of frustrations in my explorations with gluten-free cooking: flat shapeless cookies (that turn into crackers when they cool), confusing online recipes (you know, the kind that say "gluten free flour" and don't say WHAT KIND TO USE!!), soy flour flavored biscuits (bleh!), etc. Robbie has an additional allergy to white rice and a lot of recipes call for white rice flour so I've had to work around that as well.

Finally, I would like to address why I've called my blog "The Gluten-Free Mermaid." It's really simple: my first name is Ariel and my new last name means "of the sea" in Spanish. I've always had a mini-obsession with The Little Mermaid, so it was only natural that I pay tribute to my obsession in this blog.

That's all for now. I'll start posting recipes soon.