Wednesday, October 3, 2007

(mis)adventures in gluten-free baking

last night was my first (and perhaps last) attempt at gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. i wanted some from the co-op last week but they were $6 for 6 cookies--outrageous! so i figured my GF flour would function in the same way that normal flour does. wrong. outstandingly incorrect.

1) the best part of the cooking making process (eating the dough) was not as anticipated: the dough tasted like i had mixed in some sort of root vegetable. i couldn't identify the exact flavor, but it tasted the way an unwashed carrot or potato would taste: like dirt. blagh!
2) the cute little balls of dough i plopped out on the cookie sheet spread out so much they created one massive, paper-thin blob. hold your form!
3) the cookies i created out of the blob (with help from a small knife and a spatula) refused to come off of the cookie sheet without leaving behind a greater portion of their innards.
4) on a positive note, the GF cookies edges and chunks tasted much like real cookies.

here are photos from my untheraputic night of baking:

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It gets easier! Those look like my first gluten-free cookies.

You have to combine flours. For chocolate chip, I like teff, sorghum, tapioca flour, and sweet rice.

Don't overcream them! Stir the butter and sugar until they are just mixed. You also need xanthan gum. That should take care of the spreading.

Keep playing. you'll find your way.

Maryann said...

Those cookies look like a geometric design...