Not Too Sweet

The women in my knitting group have something in common besides knitting. They all follow a gluten free diet. Which makes me the odd duck of the group, wheat eater that I am. So once a month I try to come up with a yummy GF recipe. Not that our endless cups of tea, comradery, and gentle clicking of needles needs much sweetening, but it’s an excuse to explore new recipes. Besides my friends are a willing group of guinea pigs taste testers.

If you’ve read this blog before you know the idea behind it are the stories of how I came across/found/or was given each recipe. A large part of the fun is about the route I took to get the recipe. A map as it were, between biting into something delicious and where I was before I even knew I wanted to bite into that morsel of food in the first place. This tracing of a recipe back to its source is intriguing for me – especially when it comes to the interweb and folks I’ve never met.

Here’s the “map” for these cookies. I first saw them on Alexandra’s Occasionally Eggs Instagram feed (top chocolate heart photo). They looked so good I wanted to reach through my phone screen and grab a few cookies to munch on right then and there. Alexandra mentioned she’d found the recipe on Traci’s blog/Instagram feed Vanilla and Bean (bottom chocolate heart photo). Alexandra had adapted the recipe using gluten free “flour” and coconut sugar in place of brown sugar and all-purpose flour. I was already loving the synergy of these chocolate cookie hearts across Instagram, and since I had some of the ingredients in my pantry, when knitting night was approaching earlier this month I made a batch. And let me tell you they were a hit.

A few days after my first batch, March did what it so often does in New England – it snowed. A lot. Seeing the patterns the snow made on our deck, and also on my favorite wooden chair, made me re-think the shape of the cookies, at least for now. These days I cut strips, then when they’ve cooled I dust them with powdered sugar. They remind me of the snowy slats of my deck. And guess what –tomorrow we’re supposed to get another 5 – 11″ of snow!

Before you head off to the kitchen I need to be straight up with you – this is an unique recipe. The first thing it tells you to do is to hydrate the sugar. I’d run across recipes where you let the flour rest, batters which needed to be chilled, but never in the 40+ years of baking I’ve done have I run across a recipe for hydrating sugar. Of course now that I’ve said that I’ll get comments telling me about dozens of recipes that call for sugar hydration, because after all what do I know? The dough (GF or regular) has an odd consistency when you initially make it, especially when compared to other cookie doughs. The all-purpose flour version has the consistency of brownie batter (right photo), while the gluten free version (left photo) feels more like chocolate play-do when you first mix everything together. You’ve been forewarned and so won’t be tempted to “add a little bit more flour.” Follow the recipe and you’ll be fine.

Another note – due to the moistness of the dough you’ll be tempted to sprinkle a lot of additional flour, which ever kind you use, onto your rolling pin and counter. Don’t. See photo above where I used a bit of GF flour to keep the dough from sticking – it made it too dry. Instead put the dough between two sheet of plastic wrap and roll out, flipping every so often and peeling the plastic wrap off the surface of the dough. Once you’ve rolled it thin and cut out your cookies you’ll want to refridgerate it some more to firm back up prior to baking.

One of the knitters thought these cookies seemed to be a yummy gluten-free, vegan version of those chocolatey Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers used for Zebra Cake or Peppermint Zebra Cake. A variation to try the next time I buy heavy cream.

Intensely Chocolate Wafer Cookies

1/2 cup coconut or light brown sugar

3 Tablespoons + 1 1/2 teaspoons coconut oil, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup cocoa (I like Valrhona)

3/4 cup gluten-free flour (I used cup4cup) or all-purpose flour

1/2 Tablespoon corn starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Powdered sugar for decorating (optional)

In a medium sized bowl mix the coconut or brown sugar with the melted coconut oil, vanilla and water. Sift the GF or all-purpose flour , cocoa, corn starch and salt over the sugar mixture and stir until incorporated. As I mentioned above the mixture will be rather soft/loose. Do not add additional flour. Wrap in plastic wrap and refridgerate 2 hours or more.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Move the racks in your oven so they’re spaced in thirds.

Place the dough between two large pieces of plastic wrap and gently roll into 1/4″ thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. If the dough is very soft pop the cookie sheet into the fridge for 14-20 minutes to firm up again. Continue re-rolling the remaining dough unless it’s too soft, in which case wrap and refriderate it again.

Bake cookies 20-22 minutes, switching the cookie sheet from top to bottom at the mid way point as well as rotating it 180º. It is hard to determine when these cookies are done since they are so dark you can’t see when they brown on the edges. I like them crispy so I tend to bake them a wee bit longer. If you don’t want them crunchy you can bake slightly less. The size and shape you cut the dough into may also affect baking times.

Cool on a cookie rack and store in air tight containers. To serve sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Photos:

Chocolate heart cookies courtesy of OccasionallyEggs
Chocolate heart cookies and rolled dough courtesy of Vanilla and Bean
All others photos Cynthia Allen