Strawberry-Coconut Cookies: Paleo Gluten-Free Recipe

I read the book Wheatbelly and it was too extreme, but I gave up white flour and white sugar for a while, yet still wanted cookies. This is the problem-solving recipe (makes 24 to 30 cookies). Coconut oil subs for butter, maple syrup for sugar. The nice thing is, you eat one and are satisfied.

Strawberry Coconut Cookies

1 cup firmly packed almond meal
1/2 cup of coconut flour and
1/4 cup of ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
zest of 1 lime
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/4 cup diced fresh strawberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened
1 egg (optional, but the cookies hold together better)

Whisk flours, baking soda, salt and lime zest together. Pour in the coconut oil and maple syrup; stir until almost combined. Then stir in strawberries, coconut and vanilla, and optional egg. Mix until no more flour is visible. Refrigerate dough while the oven preheats to 350 degrees and you line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop a tablespoon of dough onto prepared pans; pat into cookie shape. Bake 11 minutes. Refrigerate the dough between batches.

Bake Some Pretzel Sandwich Buns: Recipe

If you have a bread machine with a Dough setting, this recipe from a recent King Arthur catalog is easy and fun to make, the brief hot-water bath making for chewy, hearty results.

Pretzel Sandwich Buns (makes 10)

1-3/4 cups (14 ounces) of water
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon of salt
4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
2 teaspoons of dry yeast

1. Mix and knead these ingredients by hand into a dough, or put them in a breadmaker set to Dough Cycle. When it's ready:
2: Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let it rise until doubled, about one hour.
3. Lightly punch down the risen dough and cut into 10 pieces. Shape these pieces into balls and place on a greased baking sheet, cover, and let them rest for 15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and in a large pot prepare the water bath:

2 quarts of water
1 tablespoon salt
1/4 cup baking soda 

and bring it to a full boil. Drop 5 dough balls at a time into the water bath. Cook for 30 seconds, remove with slotted spoon, and place on baking sheet. With scissors or a knife cut a one-half inch deep "X" into the tops of the bun. Sprinkle each bun with sea salt if you like.

Bake 20 to 24 minutes until they are deep dark brown like a pretzel. Cool on a rack.

Lavender Scones: Recipe

A nearby lavender farm served these scones (and also lavender whipped cream over strawberries) and then I ordered from Etsy.com a bag of culinary lavender, one of many types of the herb. The lavender to cook with is called "Provence" lavender. Just spoon the whole buds into the batter. Yes, the buds stay bluish-purple, and the taste and the fragrance are lordly. This quick recipe makes 4 scones and can be doubled.

Lavender Scones

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 or 2 Tablespoons of white sugar, to taste
2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon of whole milk or evaporated milk
2 level teaspoons culinary lavender

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Grease a baking sheet.
2. Whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt and sugar. Cut in the butter using a food processor, pastry blender, or two knives.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour-butter mixture and pour in the milk and spoon in the lavender. Use a rubber spatula to mix the ingredients into a soft, wet dough.
4. Pinch off 1/4 of the dough (it helps if your hands are floured) and make a patty about 2-1/2 inches across. Make 4 of these and space them on the baking sheet.
5. Bake them 10 to 12 minutes until they're lightly browned. If desired, sprinkle them with sugar [pictured]  or powdered sugar, or glaze them lightly with a powdered-sugar-and-water glaze.

Scones are best eaten while still warm. I make only 4 at a time because if I made 8 I'd eat them all.

Kansas State University Cornmeal Biscotti: Recipe

Biscotti exquisitely crunchy with a portion of cornmeal in the flour to make it golden, and there's no sugar (it's sweetened with maple syrup) and no grease. The finishing touch: as many roasted Sunflower Seeds as the dough will hold.

Kansas State University Biscotti

1-3/4 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup or more roasted unsalted sunflower seeds

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray or coat it lightly with oil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl,  put the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt, and whisk them together. Crack the two eggs into a cup and beat them lightly before adding to the flour. Stir in the maple syrup, vanilla and nuts, mixing just until the dough is smooth. Divide dough in half and form each half into a log about a foot long. Place logs about 5 inches apart on the baking sheet, and flatten the tops of the logs a little with the heel of your hand. Bake the logs 25-30 minutes until the logs are firm.

Remove the logs from the oven, carefully lift them out of the pan with spatulas, and put them on a rack to cool for about 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 325 degrees. When logs are cooled,  use a sharp knife to slice each log on the diagonal, each slice about 1/2 inch thick. Place slices back on the baking sheet and bake them at 325 for 15 minutes or until they are dry. When they are dry they are ready. You will have about 25-30 biscotti.

I like to just turn off the oven after the 15 minutes and let them dry in the oven for a couple of hours. 

Basil-Walnut Spiral Dinner Rolls

I have way more pesto than I can use on pasta, so I had my bread machine stir up some half-white-half-whole-wheat dough, and then flattened the dough to a rectangle, massaged it with olive oil, cut it in half, paved each half with pesto and walnuts, rolled it up, and cut the tubes in two-inch pieces. These I flattened with the heel of my hand so the pesto-and-walnut spiral showed, placed them in pans and let them rise (outdoors! It's plenty warm there!) and baked for 15 minutes at 375 degrees. It made 14 rolls.

Machine dough, handmade dough, okay; but frozen bread dough, although convenient, has less texture and  high-fructose corn syrup in it, and it probably can't stand up to the taste of basil pesto.