Due to the fact that my previous batch of peanut butter cookies had been a splendid success with the coworkers, I became curious about how easy it would be to convert the recipe for one of my fellow drones who could not process gluten. As it turns out, it's perfectly simple, so long as one has gluten-free flour and a modestly-priced supplement.
It should be noted that this recipe is virtually identical to its all-purpose flour brother, but if it works, why mess with success?
Recipe:
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1.5 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
3 cups gluten-free flour*
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. Xanthan Gum
1 tbsp. Xanthan Gum
1 tsp. vanilla
* Although my batch was a premade mix, this can also be created by using one cup each of corn starch, tapioca flour, and rice flour
Simply follow the same steps as listed in my previous recipe and bake at 375 for 14 minutes or so. It's worth pointing out that these cookies did not come out *as* good as the originals, but that might be due to the peculiar blend of flours I had. My coworker mentioned that garbanzo flour (which made up a portion of my mix) adds something of a metallic aftertaste to baked goods, which I noted in these. This flavor came through much stronger in the raw dough, so on the bright side, you probably won't be tempted to eat all the dough before cooking!
All things considered, I might blend my own gluten-free mix next time instead of using the pre-bagged stuff, but as a proof of concept, this worked rather well indeed.
***
Update: After another recent attempt at this recipe, I've decided there are some things that could bear further modification to enhance this recipe. Two major notes: the flavor and the texture. For flavor, the cookies aren't "peanut-buttery" enough for my taste, so I'd increase the amount of peanut butter used and decrease one of the fats (probably shortening). For texture, I'm uncertain how to fix things; the gluten-free version feels grainer or crumblier than the regular variety. Perhaps using all brown sugar instead of a 3 to 1 ratio of brown to white would help.
2 comments:
So, you're going to grind some tapioca to make your own flour? ;-)
Japanese people mustn't develop gluten intolerance very often since such flours are not available here (let alone Xantham gum). Not that I need to try it or anything, but sometimes variations are interesting to try regardless.
Admit it though, you ate all the cookies and that's why you didn't take a picture!
Actually, the store had an entire aisle dedicated to different flours, so I could find anything my heart desired there. As for the cookies, the one gluten-intolerant coworker only got one or two and came back later in the day whining that they'd vanished. I assumed he knew that it would only take an hour or so to blow through the entire batch.
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