I have always considered myself quite a nice person. I like food of all shapes, flavours and colours. From every country and continent. I don’t discriminate, I am an equal opportunity eater. It’s only the doctors who say I’m intolerant. And certain foods who refuse to tolerate me. They certainly refuse to recognise and respect my right to eat them without major physical discomfort and distress.


Gluten and lactose are not my friends.


Despite the negative attitudes surrounding me from many of those I love best, (cakes, ice cream, hot toast) I decided to become a chef. Not always easy when you live in a bread and milk filled world. I like to think that this has helped me become a better person as I embrace my differences and refuse to let the gluten get me down. I believe InTolerance. I am the InTolerant Chef.

Food should not be about what you can’t eat, but what you can and what you enjoy eating. This blog is about my journey of cooking and eating and discovery. It’s not a definitive guide to allergy awareness nor do my intolerances make me an expert. Your body is your responsibility, not mine. I only know what works for me.


I can tell you this..... No glutens were harmed in the making of this website.

November 20, 2013

Maple Morsels- Gluten free Spritz Cookies




I love Spritz Cookies

Each the perfect little size for popping into hungry mouths, but small enough that you can happily take a handful and still not feel guilty!
Such a small amount of effort, but it sure looks like you've been cooking up a storm as pile after pile of little moreish morsels stack up, and by dint of changing the shape you have created a whole new cookie too :)

Do you remember Dear Readers, me showing off some yummy maple products in my November In My Kitchen post? (look here,) Well I wanted to use them a bit more creatively then just slathering them over pancakes or waffles, and as the sugar was really quite expensive I also wanted to find a way to make a little go a long way.
I figured the best way to get bang-for-my-buck was to layer the flavour effect with Maple Syrup and Sugar in the cookie dough, glaze with Maple Icing, then dust with Maple Sugar- too much is never an option!


Gorgeous sticky Syrup and fine-as-sand Sugar, you can see I couldn't help running my fingers through it :)




Another ingredient I wanted to trial today was this new Spread from Liddells. Liddells have released quite a lot of new products in the chiller section lately, and as I've been loving them I thought I'd see how it stood up to cooking as opposed to just spreading




Glazed Maple Spritz Cookies



Cookies:

1 1/2 cups Liddels Lactose Free Dairy Spread (or lactose free/dairy free alternative)
3/4 cup Castor Sugar
1/2 cup Maple Syrup
1/3 cup Maple Sugar (or just use 2 tab Castor Sugar if you can't find any)
1 Egg
4 cups gluten free Plain Flour
1 tsp gluten free Baking Powder

Glaze:
gluten free Icing Sugar
Maple Syrup
Maple sugar for dusting


Cream together the sugars and spread, and beat until nice and light and fluffy




Add in the egg and maple syrup and mix again




Gently mix in the flour and baking powder until just pulled together



A nice light dough- don't chill it or it will be too firm to push through the spritz press properly




If you don't happen to have a Cookie/Spritz Gun, this dough works really well just rolled and flattened into little discs. It may need to bake for a minute or two longer, but it still tastes just as lovely- I promise




Prepare your dough ammunition




Load up your Cookie Gun



Fire when ready!


So pretty indeed




Bake your little Spritzies for 12-15 minutes at 180*C
Let them cool on the tray for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling down




To Glaze the cookies, combine the icing sugar with enough maple syrup to make a nice thin mixture. The easiest way I've found to get a nice even coating without taking ages to dip each little baby, is to line all the cookies up closely and paint them. The wider your brush the better. Much easier than fussing around any other way. Then while the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with the Maple Sugar or a little Castor Sugar for extra bikkie bling



These little Cookies were just lovely indeed. Very tasty and surprisingly not too sweet for me. The Maple Sugar is subtle and not as strong as raw or golden sugar and the fine texture looks very pretty sprinkled on top. The Liddells spread worked really well- it didn't melt too early or while baking, and the moisture content was just right. Some margarine type spreads have a lot of water and it can make baking a bit tricky

All in all, a perfect little compliment for my afternoon Earl Grey!


So Dear Readers, what little morsels do you like to munch on with a cup of tea, and have you ever tried Maple Sugar?



10 comments:

  1. Rebecca - these cookies look lovely and sound scrumptious! I have never seen maple sugar before...but I bet coconut sugar might work - yum!

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  2. Gee, you're clever, Becca! They look absolutely stunning - can't believe they're gluten and lactose free! And how did you manage to get them to stick to the non-stick tray? We couldn't manage it when we tried! :)

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  3. Try stopping at one of these sweet little morsels is all I can say! Lovely recipe, Bec.

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  4. These spritz cookies look so good. And you do have some great kitchen gadgets! These are such a pretty shape and I would just love to have some of that maple sugar in my pantry xx

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  5. I don't think I've ever tried Spritz cookies! I feel like I should make some because they sound delicious :D

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  6. I'm happy to munch on most things with a lovely big cup of tea...except perhaps a celery stick. Celery and tea don't team up particularly well. HOWEVER, I'd happily munch on about ten of these yummy little biscuits :-)

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  7. I make mine with butter because I'm probably bad but I love spritz cookies. I even brought my electric cookie shooter from the states 20 years ago and use a converter to make my cookies.

    I'm eager to try your recipe in my gadget.

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  8. These look great and to think they're both GF & LF! You've made quite a few people happy with this recipe.I bet it will be very popular on Pinterest. :)

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  9. I adore maple anything (except for that ghastly maple-flavoured syrup) and weighed down my bags bringing quite a bit home from Canada earlier this year - including some maple sugar. I can't wait to try these!

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  10. My mum used to have one of these dough guns when I was little (I was the only one who cooked with it!) I love how perfect your cookies are! Just beautiful, and with the flavour of maple would be delicious!!!

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