Chapter Three: The Cookie Crusade Continues
After my rest in the banana grove, I have trudged back to my path of continuing my scientific examination of gluten free cookies. This week, as we know, is Easter, so like most other bakeries and home chefs I’m making fun bunny and flower sugar cookies. After having already done an easy drop cookie, I needed to really put this gluten-free flour mix to the test. What better way to do that then stretching the dough to it’s limits and hacking it to pieces. But the first step is the mixing.
When making a sugar cookie, the best doughs are pliable but still hold their shape. A nice trick is to freeze the cut shapes before baking, because then the dough really holds their shape while in the oven. (Unfortunately I was unable to do that because my freezer is apparently food limbo. Food goes is,but then never leaves.). As the mixing got on it’s way, I noticed the gluten free dough was definitely drier than normal. And looking at the doughs side by side, you could see that the gluten free one almost had a greyish tinge to it. Wrapped up and ready to chill, I left them both sit in the fridge for twenty minutes. Small mistake on the gluten free one, as it was hard as a rock in those twenty minutes and needed to just sit out before I could even work it to roll. And don’t even get me started on the rolling, since there’s not gluten in the dough, it’s not as elastic so it's like rolling clay. Eventually though, I did prevail!
The nice thing about the gluten free dough, was it did warm up fast like my regular dough, and it was sturdy in the sense that it held the cookie cutters shape. And while baking, there was no spreading, which is the key thing when doing decorated cookies. Now earlier I said freezing sugar cookies before baking helps hold the shape. Well I really, really wish I could have done that because my bunnies and flowers look like they had hormone injections. So do as I say, not as I do. Back to the gluten-free cookies, they had a nice color to them. When baking sugar cookies, you want to have barely any color. The gluten-free ones are almost white, so it’s like a fresh canvas to work on.
Now usually this is when I bring out my lab coat and prepare the samples for the lab rats, but they had gotten out of their cages. So until I can get more, here’s the future plan, this chapter is only part one! Part two will have a taste test, not only with the cookie but the royal icing that is used. Some will be decorated with a vegan royal icing that uses xanthum gum instead of egg whites. So until next time!
Author’s note: I would like to apologize for the poor quality of the pictures. I do not have access to a decent camera, so my phone is being used instead. I hope to change that at some point soon.