Gluten Free Almond Caramel Cookies

Today, I have another recipe for you! These cookies are AMAZING. Very good with a cup of coffee. And gluten free! You all are going to LOVE them! I promise!

You're going to need some almonds for this. You will be grinding some and making your own almond butter. You will see how absolutely easy making your own nut butter can be. A lot of recipes will call for added oil, but I never add any. Just keep your food processor running until the almonds (or other nut) release their own oil. Not only is it healthier, but it tastes fantastic! Also, the oil doesn't separate from the butter, so no pesky and annoying stirring to get the oil back in like with the natural nut butters you can buy in the store.

Okay, I'll end the infomercial on homemade nut butters now! :)



You will also have a chance to make your own caramel for this recipe. It sounds intimidating, but it's really not hard. You will need a candy thermometer, though. I use one just like this one and I love it.

If you just don't want to make your own caramel sauce, though, don't worry. Melted store-bought caramels will work too! Just add a little heavy cream (also sometimes called "whipping cream") to the melted caramels to thin them out a bit if you need to. Drizzle leftover caramel sauce over ice cream, on top of hot chocolate, on a slice of cake, or on just about anything! It is also excellent by the spoonful. Or so I've been told...

These cookies are also very good without the caramel sauce on the top. Yum! Enjoy with a nice glass of milk.



Here is the recipe! Enjoy!

Almond Caramel Cookies
For the Cookies:
1-2/3 cup (4-1/2 ounces) almond meal/flour, lightly spooned and leveled
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
2-1/2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed (5-4/5 ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
For the Caramel:
3/4 cup (5-1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces) heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

To make the cookies, first preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk together the almond meal, baking powder and the salt; set aside. Place the raw almonds in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped. Remove approximately 3/4 of a cup and set aside. Continue to process the remaining almonds until the oil is released and it turns into almond butter. This may take 5 minutes or more.

Place almond butter, butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix on medium speed with the paddle attachment until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in the egg and the vanilla. On low speed, gradually mix in almond meal mixture and reserved chopped almonds.

Drop tablespoon-sized balls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. If the dough or dough balls are getting too warm, briefly chill in the refrigerator. They should not spread at all before baking. Bake in preheated oven for 6 minutes, then gently flatten the cookies with the bottom of a glass. Bake an additional 6 minutes or until bottoms are golden. Let cool on sheets for 2 minutes then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

While the cookies are cooling, make the caramel sauce. Combine the sugar, water, lemon juice and salt in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the mixture just barely begins to simmer. Stop stirring and boil undisturbed until the mixture turns a medium-dark copper brown color. While it is boiling, brush the sides of the pan with a damp pastry brush to get rid of any sugar crystals.

Remove the pan from the heat, immediately and carefully add the cream, which will cause the mixture to bubble vigorously. When the bubbling subsides, add the butter and stir until the butter and cream are fully combined with the sugar mixture. Clip on a candy thermometer and return the pan to the heat. Boil the caramel until the temperature reaches 240 degrees F. Pour immediately into a glass jar or other open container.

Using a spoon, drizzle the caramel over the cooled cookies. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for one week or freeze for one month. Store extra caramel in an airtight container in the refrigerator for one month.

Confetti Cookies

I've had this post ready for awhile now, but after I made these cookies I saw an explosion of funfetti/confetti/birthday cake cookies and other treats all over the web. I didn't want to appear to be jumping on the bandwagon, so I didn't post these.

Now maybe enough time as passed. I really was the forerunner in this trend! Ha!

Okay, on to the fun!

I have a confession. I have a weakness for sprinkles. I just love them! They make me smile. And pretty much all children love the colorful little jimmies. It's pure sugar deliciousness and fun all rolled up into one bright little package!

These cookies bring all of that fun to your tastebuds. They are quick, easy, and a fun treat for any time.

When I say these are easy, I really mean it! I just threw a couple of handfuls of rainbow-colored jimmies into some sugar cookie dough before spooning out my cookies and baking them.

A handy tip - if you live anywhere near a Homegoods, try looking there for discounted sprinkles of all shapes, colors and sizes. They almost always have some at the store near me. If you use a lot of sprinkles, you can find them online in bulk for even cheaper!

Just look at all of that sprinkle goodness! Yum!

After they cooled, I topped my cookies with a quick swipe of buttercream and some little ball sprinkles.

One thing that you will notice about this recipe is that it contains shortening. Now, I usually opt for real butter in things like this, but these are soft and fluffy cookies and you just can't get the same rise or fluffiness with all butter. You can certainly sub in real butter, though. The cookies will still be delicious, but they will be noticeably more flat with the butter. Feel free to use whichever you like best!

Here is the recipe! Enjoy!

Soft and Fluffy Sugar Cookies with Simple Buttercream Icing

Cookies
2 cups (9 ounces) self-rising flour*
1/2 cup (3-1/4 ounces) butter-flavored shortening
1/2 cup (3-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (2 ounces) brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 to 3/4 cup rainbow jimmies or other small sprinkles

*Can substitute 2 cups (7 ounces) cake flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons baking powder, whisked together, for the self-rising flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, cream together the shortening and the sugars. Add extracts and mix well. Add the eggs and mix just enough to blend. Add half of the flour to the shortening mixture and mix just until blended. Add the remaining flour and mix by hand until blended. Stir in the sprinkles. The dough will be thick, so don't strain your mixer.

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 15 to 20 minutes. Drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until just starting to brown around the edges. Cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Simple Buttercream Frosting
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 to 2 tablespoons milk or cream
Gel color of your choice, if desired

Blend all ingredients together until combined. Spread onto cooled cookies. Decorate with colored sprinkles or colored decorating sugar, if desired. Store in an airtight container or freeze.

Enjoy!

Heart Cookies

Last week, Kate celebrated her half birthday at school. I love that they allow this in her preschool because my darling's birthday is in June and she will forever miss out on celebrating her birthday in her classroom. So, this year, she got to have this fun day! Yeah!

For her half-birthday, I was able to bring in a special treat for the class. Kate chose cookies and I steered her towards a lace design I've seen on several blogs and websites. I just wanted to try it and what better excuse? I was happy Kate approved!

Here they are:

I tried a new method for the background/base icing and it didn't work super well for me. That is why you see rough edges on the pink in these cookies. But I was really pleased with how the lace patterns turned out. It is surprisingly easy to do. Just start with dots and add little details one at a time until you end up with the whole lace design. I used a Wilton #1 piping tip and royal icing to do the white piping.

I used a new recipe for the cookies themselves and it is fantastic! The recipe isn't mine, though, but is from LilaLoa.blogspot.com. A wonderful site if you want to check it out! She does truly amazing cookies! Click here for the recipe.

Enjoy!

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Happy New Year!

I know that it's after Christmas now, but I'm a little behind in my posts, so I'm showing you iced Christmas sugar cookies. I did these the day before Christmas, then I did some more last week because I loved it so much!

This is the first time I've tried piping icing onto sugar cookies. Do you like them?

In the past, I've frosted with a knife and then put sprinkles on. That is also fun, but I always get a teensy bit bored with it. Piping has seemed too intimidating.

This year, I decided to try it after seeing a wonderful video tutorial on piping lines from Sweetopia. If you haven't heard of this site, you should definitely check it out! I guarantee you will end up spending a lot of time there. Just remember to come back!

Here is a link to the tutorial I mentioned. She makes it look so easy!

Also check out her link to the "10-second rule" to determine if your icing is the right consistency. I've had problems with this in the past and this rule saved me. So simple and it really works!

Here are some close-ups of some of my cookies.

Now these did take a long time to do. I thought it was fun. After awhile, I started to have a problem coming up with new things to do, so I repeated a lot. But I thought they looked really nice when finished. One of my favorite designs was the simple snowflake on the round scalloped-edge cookies.

These weren't just good-looking, they were fantastic to eat too! I used a recipe I found on another blog I love, Sweetapolita. Her blog is also fantastic and you should all definitely check it out. You will love it! Click here for her sugar cookie recipe and instructions for handling the dough. I followed all of these instructions and they worked perfectly. All of the chilling helps the cookies to not spread or lose shape when they are baking. It all makes for a much prettier cookie in the end!

To Sweetapolita's recipe, I added a quarter teaspoon of almond extract. I also used about 5 drops of lemon oil instead of the lemon extract, but only because I already had lemon oil and did not have any lemon extract. The result was delicious! Honestly, I couldn't stop eating them!

I used royal icing leftover from the gingerbread houses (see this previous post). I just added some water to thin it a little and used the "10-second rule," above, to find the right consistency.

I hope you enjoyed seeing my cookies! These would be good for any holiday, just modify the shapes (circles work for everything) and design. So, you can make them now even though Christmas is over! I'd love to see what you come up with and hear how these worked for you!

Tips

I don't have a decorated cake to show you, but I thought that instead I would share my favorite baking tips. This is not at all an exhaustive list, but just some things I thought of while baking my chocolate chip cookies and my last cake that I thought might be of use to you all!

You may know that for baking, the temperature of the ingredients is really important. All of the ingredients should be at room temperature before mixing. This is so that all the ingredients mix together really well. If the butter is too cold, it won't incorporate into the batter as well and the butter will stay in little lumps. If the liquid is too cold, it will harden the butter. While little lumps of butter are good for pie crust, it is not good for cake or cookies! Well, I don't always think ahead enough to get out my refrigerated ingredients (eggs, butter and cream) and let them come to room temperature. So, here are the tricks I use for that!

First, the eggs. To warm them quickly, put some hot tap water into a bowl and place your cold eggs into it. They should be completely submerged. Let them sit for a few minutes and they will be warmed to the perfect temperature! I usually get the eggs in their water bath then get out my other ingredients. By the time I'm done, the eggs are warmed! Remember, though, that eggs are much harder to separate after they are warm. If you need to separate the eggs, do it first, then use the microwave in short bursts (10 seconds) on medium to warm them. Here are my eggs sitting in their little bath.

For cream or butter, I use the microwave. Make sure you use the reheat or medium level on your microwave (or lower if you have a really powerful microwave) because you don't want to heat them too much. If your butter melts, you cannot use it in a cake. Once butter has melted, it has chemically changed and won't work the way it needs to in your cake. I usually microwave my cream for 10 seconds on medium and that is usually enough. It doesn't need to be really warm, but just room temperature. Room temperature is typically a little cooler (20 degrees) than body temperature, so everything should still feel a little bit cool to the touch. You should be able to slightly dent the butter with your finger. All of these little tricks are really quick and easy, so you're ready to bake without preparing ahead of time!

Another thing I nearly always use in my cakes is cake flour. Cake flour has a lower protein content than all-purpose and so it will make a much more tender cake. And it really does make a more tender cake! I have also learned that lightly chlorinated, or bleached, cake flour will make a more tender cake than unbleached cake flour. I have never really liked the idea of using bleached flour, so I usually buy King Arthur Company's unbleached cake flour. But I've got to tell you that for the last couple of cakes I've used a bleached cake flour and I'll admit it does make a difference. If you don't like the idea of using bleached flour, though, the King Arthur unbleached also makes a might fine cake.

One of my can't-live-without baking products is parchment paper. I grease all of my pans with shortening, then cut a parchment round for the bottom, then grease that too. I then sprinkle flour in the pans. I have never had a problem with sticking. I also use parchment paper for cookies and haven't had to wash a cookie sheet since! Here is a picture of my cookie sheet with parchment on it.

A great trick I learned from the book Bakewise by Shirley O'Corriher is to line your cookie sheet with parchment, then when the cookies come out of the oven, simply slide the parchment with the cookies still on it off of the cookie sheet onto the counter. Rinse the cookie sheet with cold water to cool, then dry it off and load it up with another parchment. I usually have three sheets of parchment going for two cookie sheets. I load up one parchment with cookie dough so that it's ready to slide right onto the rinsed sheet. Some people are nervous that rinsing a hot cookie sheet with cold water will ruin the cookie sheet. I haven't had any problems with mine but I suppose it depends on what type of sheet you use. I use the gold cookie sheets from Williams-Sonoma (best cookie sheets I have ever had and totally worth the money for them!) and I haven't had any problems.

I hope you all like and use my tips! I've got several cake sketches in my book that I'd like to do, so look for more cake entries to come soon!