Mexican Wedding Cookies – A Classic

These miniature snowball cookies were the foundation of the Christmas cookie baking season when I was a kid.  They were always made every year, sometimes a second batch had to be baked as we had eaten them all well before the big day!   Some people call them Russian Teacakes… For me it is not Christmas without these cookies so I was extremely pleased to find a great gf recipe. My sisters think they are better tasting than the old regular recipe!

They are easy to make with not too many ingredients.  Don’t make them too big or they become very fragile… stick with the size as given. Be very careful lifting them off the pan as they are delicate until fully cooled. The texture and subtle flavor of this GF version is actually superior to the wheat flour recipe of my childhood. When you bite into one it shatters into a delicious mouthful of sweet cookie. They are delightful with a cup of tea or coffee.  My family clamors for a few to take home!

You can use pecans, but I rarely do; walnuts are somewhat cheaper, and I sort of prefer their flavor for this cookie. If you like them really sweet sprinkle on extra powdered sugar, less of it makes them perfect for those who are not used to too much sweetness. This recipe is from Annalise Roberts’ fabulous Gluten-Free Baking Classics with some minor changes by me. I have not tried them with any but this flour blend. I bet they might work with a measure for measure flour mix; just leave out the xanthan gum in that case.

Storage: they keep well; I put mine in an empty butter cookie tin with wax paper between the 2 layers; no more than 2 layers or they tend to break up easily. Or a cookie jar but do be careful about too many stacked on top of each other.  No one will ever know they are GF, and you will get complements on their flavor and texture.  Enjoy: they are rather addictive cookies!

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Mexican Wedding Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

6 tbsp. powdered (confectioners) sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups King Arther Basic GF blend flour – aka brown rice mix (recipe below)

1 tsp xanthan gum

1 cup walnuts or pecans chopped fine

Confectioner’s sugar for sprinkling

Directions: beat butter and powdered sugar in large bowl of stand mixer until light and creamy.  Add vanilla, beat in.  Add flour and gum, mix in until well blended, stir in walnuts until distributed.  Chill dough for an hour, more than 2 hours; dough gets too stiff.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Form dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in powdered sugar if you like.  Place on cookie sheet lightly sprayed with Pam (not the baker’s version that has flour).  Place about 1 ½ inches apart.  Bake 13 to 15 minutes until lightly browned on top and bottom.  Cool on pan for 5 min and then sprinkle with lots of powdered sugar before placing on wire rack to cool. I like to sift it onto the cookies so the coating is even.  You could put a sheet of wax paper under the wire rack to catch the excess sugar.  Store well wrapped: in airtight container, in fridge for a week or freezer for up to 30 days.  You could store unbaked dough in fridge for a few days.

Brown Rice Flour Mix base mix  (same as King Arthur’s Basic gf blend)
2 c brown rice flour

2/3 c potato starch *not potato flour

1/3 c tapioca flour

Note: First posted December 2014 on my blog.  Minor revisions have been made since then.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Blast this like-winter weather.  It’s no fun unless you like to slog through cold rain or sloppy snow.  Soup is often my remedy for winter chillies.  This is a simple soup made of roasted produce thinned with chicken broth and a touch of milk.  It will warm your tummy and fill you up without too many calories.  The leek adds a slightly different flavor and the apple a touch of sweetness which I find refreshing.  This mellow winter treat is great with a salad for lunch or a sandwich.  No fuss, very little muss.  Just a short list of ingredients and a fairly simple recipe.  Enjoy!

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Roasted Butternut squash Soup

1 decent sized butternut squash

1 medium onion

1 leek

2 fat carrots

1 Rome or Gala apple (any baking apple except Granny Smith will do)

1 garlic clove, unpeeled

3-4 cups of chicken broth, preferably homemade

½-3/4 cup of half and half or whole milk, even 1 percent will work!

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Directions:

First, cut the butternut squash down the length and scoop out the seeds. No need to peel. Place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.  Cut the onion in half and likewise the apple, the leek and carrots; cut off the leek above the light green portion and core the apple halves.  Put apples cut side up.  Roast them all in a 375 degree oven until the squash is tender when poked with a fork.  About 35 to 45 minutes depending on the size of your squash.  If the other fruits and veggies are browned and done early slide them off to a plate to cool.  Caramelized is fantastic but no burnt leeks in my soup thank you!

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When the squash is cool enough to handle, use a big spoon to scoop out all the meat of it into your blender.  Add the scooped out contents of the apple halves, the garlic you have squeezed out of its skin, the carrots and leek halves.  Pour in 2-3 cups of chicken broth, blend until smooth, and add more broth until you reach a consistency you like.  Mine was kinda thick and porridgey.  If you prefer to use a food processor that will work or put the scooped out veggies into a large sauce pan and blend with your immersion (boat motor) blender.  This will not be as smooth as the blender makes it but it is more fun and less cleaning as no blender container to wash!

After the blending is done pour it into a large sauce pan and add up to ¾ of a cup of half and half or whole milk.  I used a half cup but you may like it creamier.

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Originally posted in 2014, no recipe changes made to this version.