Your Basic Gluten-Free Cookie

Here's the thing - this is a great base for a gluten-free cookie. What I mean is - you can add anything to it you want to to make it your own. Chocolate (white and/or dark!!), Candied Ginger, different kinds of nuts or dried fruits, ....whatevah! The possibilities are endless.

In my case, I had a bunch of ingredients I wanted to get rid of - starting with some dried mango. Not an ingredient I usually keep around - I bought some for a candy recipe I tried (one that went terribly wrong...). Dried mango is a little strange - or maybe it's just the dried mango I happened to buy at Trader Joes. I needed to chop it up - but it didn't chop. Unchoppable. So I ended up ripping it into little pieces. LOL.

Anyway, I also had some dried cranberries, dried cherries (my favorite!), and some slivered almonds. Oh - and some coconut. So I came up with a recipe that I thought would work - and it did!

The thing that's so great about this cookie, besides it's flexibility, is the texture. It's nice and thick, with a slight crunch, and it's chewy in the middle. I think it make a great Chocolate Chip cookie. I would try it as CCC this week, except I already have a gluten-free Chocolate Chip cookie dough in the refrigerator resting..... until Friday morning when I'll bake it. Why is it resting? Because it's the New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie - gone gluten-free!!!!!! But that's a story for another day :-)

So - these are the cookies before they went into the oven. I scooped them with my middle size scoop, and then flattened out the top just slightly, keeping them thick.



and 16 minutes later.....




And yes, they taste as good as they look. Go ahead, make them yours!

Basic Gluten-Free Cookie

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Chopped Dried Mango
• 1/2 - 1/3 cup Juice (Orange, Apple, etc.)
• 1 cup Unsalted Butter, softened slightly
• 3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup White Sugar (I will use less next time)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp. Vanilla
• 1 cup Sorghum flour
• 1 cup Brown Rice flour
• 1/2 cup Tapioca starch/flour
• 1/2 cup Potato Starch
• 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 1/2 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup Coarsely Chopped Nuts
• 3/4 cup Unsweetened Flaked Coconut
• 1/2 - 1 cup Dried Cherries, Cranberries, etc.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F).

1. Simmer orange juice and mango in a small pan over medium-low heat for 8 minutes. Set aside.
2. Beat the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Add the vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, Xanthan Gum, and salt, and mix with whisk or fork.
4. Add the flour to the butter mixture and mix until just combined.
5. Fold in the nuts, dried fruit, and coconut to evenly combine.
6. Scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart. Flatten the top slightly.
7. Bake approximately 16 minutes. They will not brown much on top. Remove from oven and leave the cookies on the sheet for 5-10 minutes. Then move them to a cooling rack.

Makes about 40-44 2 1/2" cookies. You can make them smaller, but you will have to adjust the baking time. Enjoy!

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