Living Without Magazine

I couldn’t live without Living Without! I found it several years ago when they were just beginning to go from a solely online publication to the rich beautiful, glossy resource that it is today. I constantly refer to past issues, especially for recipes, but also for articles on vitamins and supplements, tips and ideas.  Many of the new products I have found are because of their ad in the pages Living Without. The last few pages are the same every month- A gluten free diet quickstart guide, a casein free diet quickstart guide , and something called the Living Free Pantry which is a full page chart of gluten free and dairy free substitutions. The Living Free Pantry is the cover of my recipe index and I refer to it often.

The free online version has much the information of the magazine, with some articles for subscribers only. If nothing else, you must sign up for their free weekly recipe email!

The best GF cookie recipe I have ever tried was sent a couple of months ago on their weekly recipe email and I sent a batch to my vegan GF brother for Christmas and made some for our family. We’re still talking about those after two months. Time to make more. After you make them, you can post your “Thank you” below J Here it is:

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Guten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan

MAKES 24 2-INCH COOKIES

1 1/4 cups Gluten-Free Cookie Flour Blend

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3cup canola oil

1/3 cup plain-flavored rice milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup sugar

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1. Combine flour mix, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Mix thoroughly, being sure to work out any lumps of cocoa powder.

2. Using an electric mixer set on medium speed, thoroughly combine canola oil and rice milk. Add vanilla extract and sugar. Mix well.

3. Add the dry ingredients to wet and mix on low speed, scraping sides of bowl.

4. Scoop out dough by heaping teaspoonfuls and place on prepared cookie sheets, 12 per sheet. Wet hands with a little water and roll dough into balls.

5. Bake in preheated oven on center rack for 5 minutes.

6. Put chocolate chips in a microwave-safe dish and melt. This will take about a minute; check chips every 15 seconds and stir. Once chips are melted, set them aside.

7. Remove cookies from oven. Wet your thumb slightly with cool water and, working quickly, make thumbprint marks in the center of each cookie. Fill thumbprints with ! teaspoon melted chocolate.

8. Return cookies to oven and bake an additional 8 minutes.

9. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to a wire rack.

*Tip: Allergy-friendly chocolate chips are available from Enjoy Life Foods (enjoylifefoods.com).

Each cookie contains 104 calories, 5g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 0g trans fat, 0mg cholesterol, 52mg sodium, 16g

carbohydrate, 1g fiber, 1g protein.

This recipe by Cybele Pascal (cybelepascal.com), author of The Allergen-free Baker’s Handbook (Random House/Ten Speed), was published

in the December/January 2009 issue of Living Without magazine.

Gluten-Free Cookie Flour Blend

MAKES 6 CUPS

4 cups superfine brown rice flour**

1 1/3 cups potato starch (not potato flour)

2/3 cup tapioca flour/starch

Combine all ingredients. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

**Tip: Superfine brown rice flour is available from Authentic Foods (authenticfoods.com). To make your own, process brown rice flour in a clean coffee grinder.