It’s a grey, rainy Sunday afternoon and I’m writing a blog post on “Why Hangovers Get Worse With Age“. I don’t have a hangover but I’m distracted. Food52’s weekly newsletter has arrived in my inbox. The visuals are beautiful and I am drawn to the Brussel cookies – oat based cookies with chocolate wedged between them. For my Australian readers, these are like placing two mini-Anzac cookies over melted chocolate.
I review the recipe and ponder how I can convert this into a gluten and dairy-free cookie. Oats contain gluten and they are my nemesis. Gluten-free oats do not exist. Oats contain avenin, which is a gluten molecule. It is different to wheat gluten, gliadin, but will almost always produce an inflammatory reaction within the body if you are gluten sensitive. Oats labelled as gluten-free are simply produced in a facility where wheat is not processed.
To make the cookies, I replace the oats with crushed almonds. I suggest crushing the almonds in a food processor rather than buying almond meal as it is too fine for the recipe. The flour can be replaced with a gluten-free flour like Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose GF Flour and increased in quantity to absorb some of the butter the oats otherwise would have. The dairy can be replaced with coconut butter and almond milk. If you don’t have a sensitivity to dairy, by all means use organic butter as it does taste better.
The original recipe recommends placing the cookies on a baking tray. This never works for me because the butter or coconut oil simply melt and I end up with merged cookies and a mess all over the oven. Muffin tins work better as they maintain the circular shape of the cookie.
Once these little morsels are baked and cooled, they are spread with melted dark chocolate. Just heavenly on rainy day.
My lovely friend Marissa Lippert, who is also a nutritionist, just posted a healthy quinoa recipe – Quinoa Pilaf with Dates and Pistachios. I’m feeling a little guilty because I’ve made cookies. So… I’m going to be a food pusher and drop some off to her. See you soon Marissa!
Photo Credit: www.food52.com
