Gluten-Free Christmas Cookies

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Well, the recipe I have for you this week isn't quite what I'd intended. I'd wanted the cookies to be a bit chewy, or tender and crumbly. But they're not. They're soft and very much cake-like. But they are still delicious! I don't know that they are necessarily "Christmas cookies" but they are light, vanilla little miracles...so good enough. :)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup turbinado sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (I used my homemade bourbon vanilla!)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Directions:
Cream together oil and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, stir to combine. In a separate bowl, mix together flours, salt, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients into the wet and gently fold together. You can bake immediately, but the cookies set up a bit better if you refrigerate the dough for 10 - 15 min. first. Bake at 350 for 7 - 8 minutes.

I love this because some people say that xanthan gum and other "additives" typically used in gluten-free baking aren't so good for you. But this recipe doesn't need it. I suspect if I'd used only 1 egg and 1/2 c. brown rice flour they would have been a bit more crumbly, which I'd been intending. The coconut flour and extra egg helps to make it fluffy. I also think you could replace up to 1/4 c. of the sorghum flour with cocoa powder for a chocolate cookie, if you wanted.

And...I thought I'd give you another bonus recipe today! Here is my recipe for some yummy, gluten-free vanilla cake:

Ingredients:
1 c. sorghum flour
1/2 c. brown rice flour
1/2 c. coconut flour
1 tsp. sea salt
1.5 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
6 eggs, separated
1 c. turbinado sugar
1/2 c. coconut oil
2 tsp. vanilla (bourbon vanilla again!)
1 c. coconut milk

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix flours, salt, and baking soda; set aside. In large bowl, cream sugar and coconut oil until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, vanilla, and coconut milk and stir together. In another bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar. Beat until soft peaks form. Add the dry ingredients to the sugar/oil mixture and stir to combine thoroughly. Add egg whites and fold in gently. Bake at 350 for 25 - 30 minutes.

You'll notice this recipe contains NO xanthan gum, guar gum, potato or corn or tapioca starch, etc. Some people think you need these things for gluten-free baking, but I beg to differ. I just finished eating some of this cake and it's very yummy, a nice spongy cake. Good texture. I don't think anyone would know it was gluten free. Personally, I love to combine sorghum and brown rice flours with either buckwheat or coconut flour, depending on what I'm baking, and I use eggs and baking soda for leavening and it works just fine! Let me know if you try either of these. :)

Do you enjoy gluten-free baking? (Honestly these are so good I'd eat them even if I wasn't gluten free!) What other treats are you making for the holidays?