gluten-free Pumpkin Cookies-Need Almond Free

[LauraTX]

My sister wants me to make pumpkin cookies to take to a party she is having because there will be another celiac there.  And she wants to eat them, she cannot have almond or coconut.  So, the only good looking recipe I found used Pamelas Pancake and baking mix, which has almond in it.  

 

I need something that uses a pre-bought mix or flour blend, I just have no interest at all in buying all the separate gluten-free flours and having all that crowding my kitchen, I don't bake often enough for that. I also don't want chocolate chips in the cookies-I have seen a lot of blogs posting a pumpkin version of the betty crocker chocolate chip cookie mix, I just want a nice plain pumpkin cookie I can do a simple icing on top of.

 

At my grocery store I have access to the pamelas, BRM, and KAF mixes as well as the betty crocker stuff.  In my pantry I have Pamelas pancake mix (with almonds), gluten-free bisquick, and brown rice flour.

 

Normally I can figure stuff out on my own pretty easily, but I am stumped.  I was thinking about getting the KAF all purpose baking mix, and just subbing it in a non-gluten-free recipe.  What do you guys think?

[BridgetteIMcleod]

Use the King Arthur Gluten Free Flour. I have my best result with that brand. When I want to bake in order to take someplace, I use KAF. It is my go to brand. Also if you have access to Trader Joe's they also have a 1 pound bag for about $4 that is also good

[kareng]

I have one that is yum!  You can use any flour mix.  If the mix has xantham gum and baking powder/soda, don't add more.

 

Pudding Spice Cookies

1 cup soft butter or butter flavor Crisco

¼ cup sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 pkg instant Jello pumpkin spice pudding

2 eggs

2 ¼ cups gluten-free flour mix

¾ tsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking soda

Hershey cinnamon chips

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground nutmeg

½ tsp ground ginger

Pre-heat oven to 325 F. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, xanthum gum, baking soda & spices. Combine, with a mixer, butter & sugar. Add vanilla & pudding: beat until smooth. Beat in eggs. Mix in, a little at a time, the flour mix. Stir in chips or nuts.

Spoon & press onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake about 8 minutes.

If you use a mix, like Pamela’s, leave the xanthum & baking soda out.

You can switch up the pudding & chip flavors & omit the spices. Like chocolate pudding & chocolate chips

　

[Adalaide]

My personal recommendation would be to use the King Arthur. A fair amount of people have an aversion to having their sweet baked goods taste like beans, frankly it's nasty. 

 

And I know this may seem silly, because we're all celiacs here... but don't get offended if she doesn't eat them. Unless I know someone and have been to their house and personally supervised the prep, there are very few people (celiacs included) who I would just straight up eat their food and assume it's safe. I could count them on one hand. Having a policy of every label, every time doesn't leave room for leniency based on "but she says..." because that's how you end up in bad situations. We've all seen plenty of celiacs misread labels (an honest mistake) or be outright careless. 

[LauraTX]

Yeah I would totally understand if the other celiac person passes on them.  No matter what someone said to me, if they were a celiac themselves, unless I knew them well enough and have been to their house to see what their "definition of gluten-free" is, I likely wouldn't eat anything they tried to feed me, lol.  I am one of the most anal retentive people on the planet, that really is not an exaggeration. 

 

Our neighborhood watch group is doing a thing where we are baking cookies and taking them to the police, fire dept, and ambulance people.  One of the ladies said she was going to make sugar-free and gluten-free and nut-free cookie trays for people who can't eat certain things.  I really made her mad when I told her sweetly, make sure you attach a note that says "not made in a gluten free kitchen" and "not made in a nut-free kitchen" or go get some from a gluten-free bakery and let them handle it, lol.  Like, she got flaming mad.  I mean, for real she could kill someone if a spare nut particle falls in somrewhere and they are allergic. But, I just walked away after that, because in my opinion it is ultimately your responsibility to check out what you put in your mouth, and if I got home made gluten-free cookies from some unknown person I wouldn't touch them with a ten foot pole, lol. But I can tell that old lady hates me now, haha.  

 

But yeah, once I set some aside for the two celiacs so people don't put their nasty gluteny hands on them, hopefully all the other people there will like them, too.    I mean, they will probably all  be very drunk, so I can't wait for the "Oh man these cookies are awesome!" ... "They are gluten free!"  "No Way!" moment.  I am also going to bring my favorite peanut butter cookies I make, you can't tell the difference at all

 

They are these, I add 1 tsp vanilla and I use all margarine.  Like, these are shovel in your mouth, don't care about calories good.  

Open Original Shared Link

 

Thanks for your tips so far!  I really haven't touched gluten-free baking much, you guys are an awesome info source

[Adalaide]

I'm pretty sure I could out anal retentiveness you. And that old lady sounds fun. I'll bet you can find more and more interesting ways to get her so flaming mad you wonder if she's going to have a stroke with just a little creativeness.

 

Yeah, I'm one of those people who will be offered a plate of cookies and I'll look at the person and in my head be like "no thanks, you look too stupid to read a label."  "Oh you have kids, they probably touched everything a million times and we all know they're freakish little geysers of poison." (I try not to scowl at kids, but I doubt I'm often successful if they're eating.) "You also brought the bread right? You're a moron." Being able to say these things in my head while smiling sweetly and saying "no thanks" is how I cope without ending up criminally insane.

 

I do so love the responses though when I bring something and no one knows it's mine. "OMG THIS IS AMAZING! Who brought it?" Then they're all shocked when it's me because as we all know from pop culture if it's gluten free there is a 101% chance it tastes like crap.

[LauraTX]

You crack me up!  I would go to your house and eat  LOL

[LauraTX]

Now my crazy sister is telling me this lady is dairy-free, too.  I asked her if it is dairy free as in lactose, casein, all dairy?  She doesn't know.  But at least with the peanut butter cookies, I have to double check, but I should be able to make those DF no problem.  A year or so ago my husband had to go DF for a while because they suspected lactose intolerance, luckily he isn't and all I have to worry about is gluten-free

[Pauliewog]

Just the other day I made these pumpkin cookies. I did a milllion substitutions and they still turned out fine. I used a general gluten-free flour and no canola oil. I suppose you could switch out the butter and use more oil. I didn't have nutmeg so I used more cinnamon and added vanilla. I also cut the recipe in half. Basically, I butchered it and I still got a nice soft cookie! Most importantly, I added chocolate chunks to it:

 

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[LauraTX]

I ended up making this recipe:

Open Original Shared Link

 

With dairy free versions of the butter and milk.  I used KAF baking mix subbed in for the flour and salt/baking powder since it has that in it.  It turned out great!  

 

I forgot to snap a pic of the finished product, but they were pretty, too, with the glaze drizzled over them.  Their gluten-free/DF friend ended up not showing up to the party, but luckily I was able to eat most of the hot food since I helped her cook all afternoon, and I was able to be like "STOP RIGHT NOW WASH YOUR HANDS CROSS CONTAMINATION etc etc"