Almond Jam Sandwich Cookies

Well, it is past the holiday season now and I have realized that the twelve days of cookies has not even been close to finished. But I thought I would add some of the recipes that I used for making cookies over the holidays. Sarah and I made these cookies the week before Christmas and they were very tasty and fairly easy to make. We did not store them well though, and they became soft since they were not put in the fridge.

These are very much like the typical thumbprint cookies but with a slight variation. For the jam we used both peach and raspberry but I enjoyed the raspberry much better.

Almond Jam Sandwich Cookies (found in "The Wheat-Free Cook")

1 cup blanched slivered almonds

1/4 cup cornstarch

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (we didn't have any but used vanilla instead, it tasted fine)

1 cup brown rice flour

pinch of sea salt

1/2 cup any flavor jam

Preheat the oven to 400F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper

Combine the almonds and cornstarch in a food processor and grind to a fine meal. Set aside. Add the butter and sugar to the processor and blend until creamy. Add the egg yolk and almond extract and blend until smooth. Add rice four, salt, and almond mixture and process until a ball of dough is formed.

Put the dough onto a sheet of wax paper(the book says plastic wrap but we decided that may be too sticky). Roll half of the dough into 1/8 thick slab and cut out rounds, use something to cut out the middle of half of the rounds so it looks like a donut. Transfer to the baking sheet and make sure you have a donut for each full round. Cook for 10 minutes.

Put a teaspoon of jam on each full round and put a donut ring on top. Don't press too hard or the ring will crack.

The Start of Something New

Ever since I started on my gluten free diet I have been feeling much better than I have in a long long time. Unfortunately, I still feel like I am not back to my normal, happy, pain free self. While I do not have the intense stomach pains that I used to have, my stomach is never content, there seems to always be something slightly bothering it. I am often exhausted, depressed, and my joints ache, all for no apparent reason. So after starting to read "Gluten Free Girl" (thanks Di!) I am realizing that I may not have been vigilant enough about being gluten free.

I make sure that whatever I eat has no apparent gluten in it, but I have not worried about the possible cross contamination in processed foods, the hidden gluten, and the possible gluten in things like tooth paste and moisturizers. I am hoping that for the next month I will turn a new leaf. I will be eating only fresh foods that have one ingredient or foods that specifically state that they are gluten free. I am going to go through my toiletries and make sure that I am using acceptable products.

The point of all this is that I will have quite a bit more new recipes to post and will hopefully be doing that more. Tonight I made dinner for myself and my mom. I cut up my first whole raw chicken and froze the breasts for later use. I blanched the whole chicken with onions, garlic, leeks, celery, thyme, parsley, and bay leaves. I then removed the legs and thighs and simmered the rest for a few hours.

Along with the chicken we had cranberry sauce (recipe below), sweet potatoes chopped and broiled and then drizzled with honey, and swiss chard with tamari and feta cheese. Dinner was absolutely delicious and I cannot wait to make something else tomorrow!

Cranberry Sauce

12 oz fresh cranberries

3/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 cup apple cider

1 apple, peeled and chopped

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Simmer the cranberries, maple syrup, and apple cider until the cranberries pop and the mixture thickens. Add the apple and the walnuts and stir. Can be eaten hot or cold.