Making Gluten Free Cookies With Vicky!!!

I feel like every time I leave Phoenix I always go to Miami, like whenever I head to the airport, I'm on my way to see my family in Miami.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I decided to switch things up a little, since there ARE other people that I love and care about that I don't get to see often enough.

So a couple days ago, I packed my bags and got on Southwest Flight 797 bound for Indianapolis.  That's right, Indianapolis!  You see, there are 4 very special ladies that used to live in Phoenix that now live in Indianapolis, Bloomington, Champaign, and Chicago, and I decided to come visit all of them!

First stop was strolling all over downtown Indianapolis with Jennifer!!!  The whole town is totally geared up for the Eastern Conference Finals against the Heat.  We stopped by the Fieldhouse and got our tickets for Game 4 on Tuesday night, SO EXCITED!!!!!  At the Farmer's Market, almost all the booths had Beat the Heat posters, and Pacers legend Rik Smits was at a table signing posters  :-)

 

Actually, we didn't know who he was at first, but since he signed it with #45, we easily figured out who he was by googling "Pacers legends #45".   It would be like seeing Tom Chambers in downtown Phoenix.  Any of us long-time Suns fans would be like "Hi, Tom!", while anyone else might just be thinking, "That guy's really tall."

Next stop was a short 1-hour drive to Bloomington, home to Indiana University and former VOTS players Vicky and Shawn, and their family.  Bloomington is really tiny so there's not much to say except they have a grocery store and a few bars where they serve alcoholic beverages.

When I fly, I usually check out the in-flight magazine to pass the boring hours in the air, some light reading and maybe a crossword puzzle or Sudoku.  In this month's Southwest Spirit magazine I found a recipe for Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread cookies that looked completely buttery and yummy!  So I stashed the magazine in my bag for possible future baking adventures.  When Vicky mentioned that she had to make some cookies, I remembered my magazine!

CRANBERRY PISTACHIO SHORTBREAD

1/2 cup pistachios
2 sticks unsalted (or salted) butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 blood orange (zest and juice) (I used a naval orange)
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (see gluten-free alternative below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped

1.  Toast pistachios in a 350-degree oven for 10 minutes (I used a pan on top of the stove instead).  Cool, chop, and set aside.  Beat butter, sugar, and zest on high speed until fluffy.  Mix in juice.  Beat in flour and salt on low speed until dough forms.  Fold in cranberries and pistachios.

2.  In wax paper (I used plastic wrap), roll dough into a 2-inch thick log.  Freeze for 30 minutes.  (my dough was super soft, so it didn't hold a round log shape at first.  So every 10 minutes or so, I took it out of the freezer and rolled my log into a more rounder shape.)

3.  Roll log in granulated sugar (oops, I forgot this step).  Slice into 1/2 inch pieces.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees until sides are lightly brown (12 to 18 minutes), rotating pan once.  Keep cookies on tray for 10 minutes, then place on cooling rack.

Wow, these cookies are way delicious, buttery and orangey and addicting!!!  For the flour, we used a gluten-free alternative mixture of rice flour, tapioca flour, and potato starch.  Here is the recipe:

GLUTEN-FREE ALL PURPOSE FLOUR:

1/2 cup rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca starch/flour
1/4 cup cornstarch or potato starch

Mix these together in a bowl.  Since I needed 2 and 1/4 cups of flour, I mixed 2 cups of rice flour, and 1 cup each of the other two ingredients.  There's some left over for another gluten-free baking session.

Vicky also added 1 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum to the dough, which is "a polysaccharide secreted by the bacterium Xanthomonas campestris," according to Wikipedia.  Vicky explained that since this flour substitute has no gluten, it won't behave the same in your recipe, so the xanthan gum acts like a substitute for the gluten.

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So what's next???  I'll be heading up to Chicago in a couple days to partake in a Craft Beer Festival with the lovely Kaetlynn!  Maybe I'll pick up Betsy on the way!  Then, it's back to Indianapolis for the aforementioned Game 4 on Tuesday with Jennifer, Vicky, Shawn, and a few other people.  That's going to be amazing!!!!  You may be wondering where my loyalties lie, well I'll just have to deal with that internally while surrounded on all sides with screaming fans dressed in yellow.....  :-)

Life IS beautiful, after all.  And so is basketball and food.