Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookies

Because the older I get the less convinced I am that I know what is best. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. I know from experience that the best laid plans can will often fail. And that sheer dumb luck can plop in your lap and splatter you with an unbidden opportunity. I’ve lived long enough to see the truth in my favorite line from Little Big Man– Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t. So I don’t grasp anything too tightly anymore. 

Which brings me to Cheez Doodles and why you need to let go. 

My Polish grandmother was a saver. The type of woman who, if you gave her a pretty new night gown, she’d just stuff it in the closet and never wear it. She’d go on wearing her crusty pink K-Mart gown. The polyester one with Sanka stains down the front.

If you asked her, Why don’t you wear the new nightgown we gave you? she’d swat away your question and begin rummaging around her kitchen cupboards. Rooting for food objects. To give you. A prize to take home. A dented can of Dinty Moore stew from the reduced shelf at Walgreen’s. Candy canes from Christmas past. And yeah. Cheez Doodles.

One particular visit, on our way out the door, my grandmother turned in the February light that slatted through beige vinyl blinds and stared at my two sons- twelve and nine at the time. 

You hungry? she barked. The boys shrugged. Take these, she told them, thrusting a giant bag of Cheez Doodles in their direction. The youngest carried the bag to the car. It was bigger than his head. We buckled in and drove off.

Can we open the Cheez Doodles? 

Steve and I looked at each other. Well. It’s risky, I warned. God only knows how long she’s been hanging on to those. 

Smell it first, offered the oldest. They tore the bag open in unison. And that’s when it hit us.

The SMELL.

The most duodenum wrenching rancid odor you could imagine. Filling the car’s interior in an instant, thanks to the Jeep heater cranked on high. Accompanied by – of course!- Seal’s Kiss From a Rose on the radio.

That is some serious heinousity, gasped my husband, rolling down the window for some air. 

I think the expiration date expired, offered one son.

Smells so funky, said the other.

Close the bag, I yelled. Have mercy on us!

After airing out the car we rolled up the windows, shivering. 

Why does she keep old stuff? my son asked. Yeah. What good are old Cheez Doodles? said his brother.

Exactly! said I.

Karina xo

Nutty Crunchy Almond Flour Cookie Recipe

By Karina Allrich

Almond flour and brown sugar give these slightly chewy cookies an almost caramel flavor. Seriously good.

Whisk together the dry ingredients:

1 cup blanched almond flour

1 cup sorghum flour or GF oat flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch, potato starch, or sweet rice flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum

In a separate bowl, cream together these ingredients:

1 1/2 cups organic light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon light olive oil

1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla

1 tablespoon honey- or raw agave nectar

1 tablespoon Ener-G Egg Replacer< whisked with 1/4 cup warm water till frothy or use 2 free-range organic eggs

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed brown sugar mixture a little at a time and beat to combine until a dough begins to form.

Add-in:

1-2 tablespoons organic almond milk as needed

Beat until a smooth cookie dough is achieved. Not too dry- not too wet. Somewhere in the middle.

Stir in by hand:

1/2 cup chopped pecans 

Cover the bowl and chill the dough for half an hour.

Take a walk. Weed the herb garden. Hum a tune.

Using an ice cream scoop or spoon, scoop wads of dough and form them into 20 to 22 round balls; place them on the lined cookie sheet, about two inches apart. Press down on the dough balls to flatten a bit, but keep a slightly mounded shape- not too flat. They will spread.

Option:

Add a sprinkle of chopped pecans to the top 

Bake the cookies in the center of a pre-heated oven for roughly 17 minutes (a bit longer if you chill the dough), until the cookies are golden, and fairly firm to the touch.  Resist the urge to over-bake them. Do a test run, if you want to determine the exact baking time to your liking.

Remove the cookies with a thin spatula and place them on a cooling rack. They will crisp as they cool.

Delicious warm. Perfect for dunking. 

This recipe makes 22 cookies.