Gluten Free Cookie Ideas

[DancingLady]

What type of grain ingredients to do you prefer in your gluten free cookies?

I have experimented with making my own recipes and usually use a combination of brown rice flour, a little coconut flour and quinoa flakes if I feel like adding some oat like texture to them. I am not crazy about the texture I'm getting, but it's OK. I have considered using white rice flour, but am not really sure I want to do that because it is a refined grain.

 

[monkeyboots]

Hi,
I usually use a combination of almond flour, brown rice flour, coconut flour and tapioca starch.
I love experimenting and so I don't have a formula...I go by 'feel' most of the time.
I have also found that adding some powdered milk really improves the texture.

 

[DancingLady]

I'll have to get some almond flour, though I don't think I can afford it this month. I have seen tapioca starch listed as an ingredient on a number of GF cookies at the store, but I don't really know much about it, it sounds like it might be really high glycemic. Does the almond flour balance that out pretty well?

 

[monkeyboots]

Almond meal is much less expensive (the skins are left on during the grinding process). It is not as fine as almond flour, but has worked great for me in all of my trials. I but it at Trader Joe's.
I'm sorry that I can't weigh in on the glycemic properties of tapioca flour.
Here is a chart:
http://weightdestiny.com/glycemic-index-of-food/

 

[DancingLady]

Thanks for the tip on almond meal. I'll look for that and see if it's more affordable. That's a great page too, I bookmarked it for future reference. I'm not diabetic, but I use this information to help me eat a healthy balanced diet to prevent developing diabetes or other problems. Looks like tapioca is really high, so I'll just have to keep that in mind and make sure I don't use too much, or eat too many cookies at one time.

 

[Tina Nord]

I am also looking into baking more gluten free foods, but the ingredients are expensive. What is a basic list of things I need for baking?

 

[DancingLady]

I am also looking into baking more gluten free foods, but the ingredients are expensive. What is a basic list of things I need for baking?

Check the bulk section of your local grocery store, preferably a store that has a lot of health foods, or a general more health conscious selection. Brown rice flour is not that expensive I think, and that is probably your staple alternative four because even though it is a whole grain, it has a light flavor, much less grainy than whole wheat actually. The others mentioned above will help get good textures.

 

[Winterybella]

Hi,
I usually use a combination of almond flour, brown rice flour, coconut flour and tapioca starch.
I love experimenting and so I don't have a formula...I go by 'feel' most of the time.
I have also found that adding some powdered milk really improves the texture.

Experimenting? I don't know that baking allows for that based on my recent findings. The more I read and the more I work in the kitchen baking, I am coming to realize I can't do as I please and expect a great result. It happened to me only today. So please monkeyboots share some of your success stories of experimentation.