Our now, middle kid, had severe food allergies from the time she was an infant. We set out to ensure she could eat everything the rest of the world could eat so she never felt left out or as though she was missing something. The first recipe we recreated for her was thin mint cookies. Today, we have 6 gluten-free, top 8 allergen free Girl Scout Cookie recipes so you can have your cookies and eat them too! There is no reason to miss out on all the foods everyone else eats.
Over the years we have created more of these gluten-free, top 8 free Girl Scout Cookies for our kids to enjoy. We added to our list this year so we have a solid amount of options. There is always a benefit to being free from, you just have to find it. Something that is vastly important to us is the fact that we get to use clean ingredients so the foods we eat are far better tasting and better for your body than traditional boxed foods. Another HUGE bonus is that you now get to eat Girl Scout Cookies ALL year long! You don’t have to wait for Girls Scout Cookie season to roll around. The rest of the world only gets Girls Scout Cookies in the winter. You, my friend, get to eat these all year round whenever you want and know they are safe for you. If that’s not newsworthy, I don’t know what is! Check out our list below to find the recipes for all of your new favorite cookies! If you make any of them, we would love to know what you think! Which will be your new favorite cookie?!
Gluten Free- Top 8 Free Thin Mints®
Gluten Free- Top 8 Free Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies®
Gluten Free- Top 8 Free Samoas®/Caramel deLites®
Gluten Free- Top 8 Free Peanut Butter Sandwiches/Do-Si-Do’s® (nut free option)
Gluten Free- Top 8 Free Peanut Butter Patties®/Tagalongs® (nut free option)
In creating these gluten free, top 8 allergen free peanut butter cookie sandwiches, we made my husband super happy. He is a crunchy cookie lover through and through. While the rest of us love a crisp outside and chewy inside cookie, he prefers crunchy. Since he is the minority in the house when it comes to cookies, he just gets the ones the rest of us like. That is, until we created these cookies. We will be able to take the same baking science and add them to other softer cookies we have recipes for. Watch out world, other crunchy cookies are on the way! One of the most fun things for us is creating one recipe not knowing it will open up so many other recipe doors too. Head on over to grab one of our Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mixes so you can make these cookies!
“Peanut Butter” Sandwich Cookies- GF, Top 8 Free
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix
2/3 Cups Shortening
1 teaspoon Vanilla
½ Cup Egg whites or powdered egg replacer for 2 eggs
Peanut Butter Filling
½ Cup Peanut butter or other seed/nut butter
3 Tablespoons Powdered sugar
dash of vanilla
* Splash Milk of choice
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a mixing bowl cream together shortening, vanilla, and egg whites or replacer until well combined. Next, slowly add the Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix on medium speed until well combined. Using a small cookie scoop (1 ½ Tablespoons approximately), place dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets leaving 1 inch between cookies. Gently press the cookies down until they are about ¼ inch thick. Place the cookie sheets in the freezer for 10 minutes or the cookies will spread too much. Straight out of the freezer, bake for 10-14 minutes or until golden on top. The thickness of your cookie dough will determine how long to bake the cookies. When the cookies are done baking and have cooled for a few minutes, transfer them to a cooling rack.
While the cookies are baking and cooling, prepare the peanut butter (or other butter) filling in a medium bowl. Mix all of the ingredients together until smooth. You want the filling to be thick and smooth enough to gently roll into a ball and then press into a flat disc. If the filling is too thick, *you can add ½ teaspoon milk of choice at a time to get the correct consistency. Be sure to not add too much milk or the filling will be messy and squeeze out of your cookies.
Once your cookies are cool, roll about ½ Tablespoon of the filling in your hand and gently flatten it. Then place it on the bottom side of one cookie and top it with another cookie half to create sandwiches. Repeat until all of the cookies have filling. Makes approximately 18 cookie sandwiches. Enjoy!
We would love to hear if you make these cookies and what you think.
Fast forward to having my own kids with severe life threatening food allergies, one being peanuts. This meant I had to learn to recreate all of our favorite foods from my childhood sans peanuts (among many other foods). Buying Girl Scout Cookies was obviously not an option for us so over time, I made all of the ones we loved. We started by making thin mints as they are pretty simple. I wish I could find the photos of the day we made these for the first time. Our, now middle, was about 14 months old and cute as a button. She had the squishiest cheeks and a sassy little attitude to go along with them. ;) She ate the thin mints and got chocolate all over her face including her hair, they were that good. Ha ha. We can’t seem to find these great photos, sadly.
Down the recipe line came Peanut Butter Patties®, minus the peanut butter of course. So we came up with a Sunbutter recipe because back when our kids couldn’t have any nuts, that was the only peanut butter alternative. Now there are SO many peanut butter alternatives to fit just about anyone's needs. From Watermelon seed butter, WOW Butter (soy based), Almond Butter, to Cashew Butter, etc. When we say we made Peanut Butter Patties, you can make them with any “butter” that works for you! Head on over to grab one of our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mixes so you can make these asap! BTW- these are so much better than the ones in a box. ;)
Peanut Butter Patties- gluten-free, top 8 allergen free
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix
1 Cup Granulated sugar of choice
6 Tablespoons Butter of choice
6 Tablespoons Shortening
¼ Cup Egg whites or powdered egg replacer for 1 egg
1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla
2-3 Tablespoons Milk of choice
Peanut Butter middle
½ Cup Peanut butter or other seed/nut butter that is safe for you
3 Tablespoons Powdered sugar
Dash Milk of choice
dash of vanilla
Chocolate drizzle
1 ½ Cups Chocolate Chips
1 Tablespoon Shortening
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand or hand mixer, cream together the butter and shortening. If you don’t want to use shortening (we think it’s best to) you can use all butter. If you use a vegan butter, you’ll need to use less milk as vegan butter has a higher water content than dairy butter. Coconut oil may be a fine substitute for the shortening though we haven’t tried it. It will inevitably make these cookies have a coconut flavor and spread more so keep those in mind. Once the butter and shortening are creamed well together, add the egg white/powdered egg replacer and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Slowly mix in the Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix, mix on medium speed until combined as much as you can. Slowly start adding milk. Start with 1 Tablespoon then add one more Tablespoon at a time if need be. The final texture of the dough should be a nice pliable dough that isn’t dry and crumbly nor wet and sticky. Keep mixing, it does come together, but sometimes takes a bit.
If you have a silpat mat, place it on your counter. Roll out the cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper. You should not need non-stick spray or a floured surface. The dough should roll nicely and not stick. Roll the dough out evenly until it is approximately ¼ inch thick. Use a 1 inch circle cookie cutter, cut out the cookies. Gently transfer the cookies to your cookie sheets with parchment paper. If your cookies seem crumbly and don’t roll out of transfer nicely, try adding one Tablespoon milk at a time until the dough isn’t crumbly. Take remaining dough and roll it back out, cut out more cookies. Repeat until all dough is cut out. Leave ½ inch between cookies giving them space to rise.
Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes for crisp cookies. They will firm up a bit as they cool. The bake time will vary if you make thicker cookies. Let your cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack. If you find that the soft cookies are too soft, put them back in the oven for another 2 minutes. Makes approximately 28 cookies depending on the size of the cookies you cut out.
While the cookies are baking, prepare your peanut butter (or any other “butter”). In a medium bowl, add all of the ingredients. Using a hand mixer, beat all of the ingredients together until it is smooth and thick. You can do this with a bowl and spoon, but the mixture is very thick. You need it to be thick so it doesn’t run off your cookie. Once fully mixed, scoop 1 ½ teaspoon balls of the peanut butter mixture. Roll in your hands until it is a bal, then gently press out until almost flat. When your cookies are mostly cool, place the peanut butter round on top of each cookie.
Next, melt the chocolate and shortening in a microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Stir with a spoon. If you need to microwave for longer, do it in 30 second increments being sure to not burn the chocolate. Using the parchment lined cookie sheets, drizzle a small circle of melted chocolate, then take a cookie and press it onto the chocolate until it barely starts to come out the edges of the cookies. Repeat until all of the cookies are done. Now, go back and cover each cookie with melted chocolate using the back of a spoon to gently push the chocolate over the edges of the cookie to meet the chocolate at the bottom. Repeat until all of the cookies are done. If you’re anxious to eat these like we are, you can freeze them on the cookie sheets for 10 minutes or until the chocolate is hard. Otherwise, just let them sit on the counter until the chocolate hardens. If you’re a perfectionist, you can use a simple butter or paring knife to cut the extra chocolate around the bottom of your cookies so they look like domes instead of flying saucers. Whatever you choose, enjoy!
We would love to hear if you make these and know what you think!
The rest of the Samoa® cookie ingredients make perfect sense: buttery shortbread cookies with caramel and chocolate. Need we say more?! These cookies come together quickly and will make lovers out of haters. We used to take these cookies to parties and gave them as gifts often. People have always loved them. Now you can make them too! Head on over and grab one of our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mixes so you can make these and wow your friends.
Samoa® Cookies- gluten-free, top 8 free
Ingredients
Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookie Recipe
2 Cups Chocolate Chips, divided
2 teaspoons Shortening or Coconut oil
¾ Cups Caramel
3 Tablespoons Coconut flakes
2-3 Tablespoons Milk of choice
Directions
Bake the Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookies. While the cookies are cooling, prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper. Melt ½ Cup chocolate chips with ½ teaspoon shortening or coconut oil in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until the chocolate is melted. Be sure not to burn the chocolate. Using a small cookie scoop, place a scoop of melted chocolate on the parchment paper then place a cookie on top. Gently press the cookie down with a back and forth motion until you can see the chocolate at the edges of the cookie. Repeat this step for each cookie.
In a small sauce pan, melt the caramel and coconut milk over medium heat. While the caramel is melting, finely chop the coconut flakes. For added amazing flavor, carefully toast the coconut flakes on 350°F for a few minutes or until golden brown, then chop. Once the caramel is melted, add the coconut flakes and mix well to incorporate. You will need to move quickly before the caramel hardens. Place about ½ Tablespoon of the caramel mixture onto each cookie, not quite spreading to the edges. When all of the cookies have their caramel layer, melt the 1 ½ Cups of chocolate chips with the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons shortening in the microwave. Drizzle each cookie with chocolate in a pattern that suits your creativity. Let the cookies sit until they are fully cool. Gently lift them off of the parchment paper. Enjoy!
We would love to know if you make these and hear what you think!
My sister used to love funfetti cakes for every birthday and celebration for her family. There's just something extra fun about sprinkles inside of a cake. It adds color, texture, and pizzaz. We couldn't eat these cakes she made so it was time we made a safe gluten-free vegan funfetti cake that we could all enjoy. The one our daughter made was a one hit wonder and she keeps asking to make it again. We think you will make this on repeat for any special occasion too. Head on over to grab our Rustic Scoop Pancake Mix so you can make this!
Gluten-Free Vegan Funfetti Cake
Ingredients
1 ½ Cups Granulated sugar of choice, we love coconut sugar
¾ Cups Light tasting oil
1 ¼ Cups Milk of choice
¾ Cups Egg whites, 9 Tablespoons Aquafaba (garbanzo bean water), OR powdered egg replacer for 3 eggs
2 teaspoons White Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Vanilla extract
3-4 Tablespoons Rainbow Sprinkles (choose a safe brand for you)
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350° F. Grease your cupcake pans with papers for 18 cupcakes, round pans, or 9x13” pan. Avocado oil/spray does not work for non-stick.
In a mixing bowl, place the Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mix along with your granulated sugar of choice. Realize if you choose to use coconut sugar your cake will be dark tan in color and hard to see the sprinkles. Mix on medium speed until well combined. Next, add the shortening and blend on medium until well combined and the shortening is in small pea sized chunks. Now add the rest of the liquid ingredients and mix on medium until well combined. Using a spatula add the sprinkles and gently fold them into the batter until they are evenly distributed.
Place an even amount of batter into your greased pan/s. For cupcakes, you will put about ⅓ cup in each greased cupcake paper. If you are making two 8’ rounds, fill each pan evenly. Weigh each pan to be sure the batter is even between both pans. Adjust until they are even. If you are making a 9x13” cake, spread the batter evenly in the pan.
Bake cupcakes for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Bake 2 8” rounds for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Bake a 9x13” pan for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
If you would like our well loved vanilla (and other flavors) frosting, you can get it here. Enjoy!
]]>As you know, we love to recreate any and everything to be gluten-free and Top 8 Free so these eventually made it on our list. Our kids didn't even know what Twinkies were so they didn't have a reference point for them. That didn't stop us from making them knowing our kids would love them. Twinkies are a fun little treat to make at home with real and organic ingredients. They sure beat the ones with no expiration date that we ate as kids. These Twinkies have the perfect sponge cake and the most amazing cream filling. We added a chocolate ganache on top which makes these even more incredible. Of course the ganache isn’t necessary, but we do suggest trying it! If you don't have a Twinkie pan or mini hotdog bun pan, we have given you an option to make this as a cake. Head on over to grab one of our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mixes so you can make these fun treats!
Twinkies
Ingredients
1 Cup Granulated sugar of choice
1 ¼ Cup Egg whites, 15 Tablespoons of Aquafaba, OR powdered egg replacer for 5 eggs
⅔ Cup Oil of choice
⅓ Cup Plain yogurt of choice
¾ Cup Milk of choice
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 teaspoons White vinegar
Filling Ingredients
¼ Cup Butter of choice
2 ¾ Cups Powdered sugar
1 ½ Cups Marshmallow fluff (if you can’t eat store bought, here is our recipe)
1 teaspoon Vanilla
Ganache Ingredients
1 ½ Cups Chocolate chips
2 teaspoons Coconut oil or shortening
6-9 Tablespoons Milk of choice (depending how thick you want it)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray twinkie pan with nonstick spray (avocado oil doesn’t work). If you do not have a Twinkie pan, you can make tin foil boats using a spice jar to mold the boats, or you can just make two small sheet cakes and put the fluff in the middle.
In a mixing bowl, place your Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mix and sugar of choice together. Mix until well combined. Next, add the milk and yogurt to the mixing bowl and mix until just barely combined. Now add the rest of the liquid ingredients to the bowl and mix on medium speed until well combined and smooth.
Fill each section of the Twinkie pan, or foil boats with batter until about ⅔ full. Be sure to not overfill or you will end up with a strange shaped twinkie that will be difficult to fill and set nicely. If you are making two cakes, either use two 8 inch round pans or two 8 inch square pans.
If using a Twinkie pan or foil boats, bake on 350°F for 18-20 minutes. Don’t overcook or these will be dry. If you are baking cakes, bake for approximately 25-35 minutes at 350°F. Use a toothpick in the middle to be sure the cake is done. The toothpick should come out clean when the cake is done.
While your cakes are baking, make the filling. In a mixing bowl put the powdered sugar, vanilla, and butter, Mix on medium until combined. Next, add the marshmallow fluff and mix on medium speed until smooth and well combined.
Once your cakes are done, take them out of the pan and place them on a cooling rack. After they have cooled, use a chopstick to make an open center of your cakes. You will want to gently push the chopstick into the end of the twinkie. On your way back out, gently rotate the chopstick making the inside as hollow as you can without breaking the sides of the cake. Prepare a piping bag or ziplock bag with a piping nozzle tip, fill half way with filling. Insert the nozzle as far in the twinkie cake as you can without breaking the cake. Gently squeeze filling into the cake, being sure to fill the cavity without breaking the cake. You can feel the cake getting full if you hold it with one hand while piping with the other. Fill all the way by squeezing as you gently pull the nozzle out of the cake. Repeat until all of the cakes are filled.
If you made an 8 inch round or square cake, smother filling on the top of one cake half evenly, then place the other half on top.
To make your ganache, place all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second increments until the chocolate chips begin to melt. At this point, stir with a spoon until the rest of the mix is melted. Drizzle over the top of your Twinkies. Enjoy!
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Tools Needed
Video Tutorial
Rising Bread
Egg free
Baking times
Winter Baking
Hard or Soft water
Can we be real though? Life doesn’t always bring all the joy and happiness we desire this time of year. Whether it's stress, dealing with food restrictions, financial burdens, grief and loss, sickness, discouragement, family strife, or just simply not having loved ones close by, life sometimes deals us some tough situations. If you find yourself this holiday season struggling in any way, we see you and want to extend some love to you. Know that this season will pass, no matter how challenging it may be.
We have been living this free from life for over 18 years and we’ve learned a few things. If you are struggling with food restrictions or events that are centered around food, we would love to offer you some encouragement. Through the years we have encountered loved ones that are supportive, neutral, and combative about our food restrictions. We have experienced it all and have had to wade through some very difficult situations. With that, we would love to help anyone out that may need it. Here are several things we have learned over the years.
We hope you have an amazing holiday season no matter how you choose to celebrate. May it be full of good food, laughter, and joy. The simple things in life are often the most memorable. Be sure to be present in the moment and enjoy in a way that makes sense for you. You are your best advocate! We wish you the best this holiday season!
]]>Here is a list of recipes that we love and know you will too. They are listed by category, but can of course be eaten for any meal you would like.
Breakfast
Turtle Bread (aka Monkey bread)
Sides
Dessert- We now have 12 cookie recipes on our website for you to enjoy! This is just a small sample.
Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust and Pie
We hope you find something here you love and will become a staple in your house. If you ever have questions, please feel free to let us know. We are always here to help!
]]>We have been making this french bread for over a decade. It is so loved by our family that it is gone in a flash no matter if we make it for a meal or to use for snacking. It is the most glorious loaf of bread. It’s the perfect crusty bread with a soft and tender crumb in the middle. Who knew that gluten free and vegan french bread could be oh so amazing?! It’s hilarious, every time we make this bread, the family acts like they haven’t ever had it before and are mesmerized by how amazing it is. LOL! We use this bread for sandwiches, french dip, dipping in oil and vinegar, meatball sandwiches, and whatever else my family comes up with. It gets eaten plain all the time too because it’s just that good! Head on over to grab one of our Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mixes so you can make this bread ASAP!
French Bread
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix
1 teaspoon Dry active yeast
1 Tablespoon Honey
¼ Cup Light tasting oil
½ Cup Egg whites or 6 Tablespoons Aquafaba (garbanzo bean water)
2 1/2 Cups Warm water
2 teaspoons White vinegar
Directions
Preheat oven to 425° F with a roasting pan on the bottom rack in the oven.
In a medium bowl, add the warm water, yeast, and honey (or any other sweetener of choice), and mix with a spoon. Set aside for 5 minutes to let the yeast proof, which means turn foamy.
Once your yeast mixture has proofed, slowly add it into the dry mix in your mixer. While you add the yeast mixture mix on slow speed until mostly combined. Next, add in the remaining liquid ingredients, then turn the mixer to medium speed until it is well combined. Scrape the dough from the paddle and sides of the mixing bowl. Set the bowl in a warm draft free place with plastic wrap gently on top. Let rise for 1-2 hours.
Once your dough has risen, dive the dough in half. Gently sprinkle a silpat mat with tapioca starch. Place half your dough on the floured surface, gently flour the top of your dough. Using two hands, gently roll the dough from the middle out to the ends to form a long thin log. It should be a bit bigger in the middle. Place your dough on a french bread pan and set aside. Repeat with remaining dough. You can make three loaves if you want smaller loaves, or save some for later. Score your loaf in four angled cuts with a small knife about ⅛” deep. The score will tell your bread where to rise (and look pretty).
Fill a glass measuring cup with 1 Cup of cold water. Place your french bread loaves in the oven and carefully pour the water in the roasting pan on the bottom rack. This will create steam to seal your loaf and give it the nice crisp crust. Quickly close the oven door and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour for large loaves and 45-50 minutes for three smaller loaves. When the loaves are done baking they will feel very crisp on the crust. As the loaves rest, the crust will soften a bit. Let the loaves cool COMPLETELY before cutting into them. The crumb (inside of the bread) needs time to rest and set. If you cut into them too early they will feel gummy. Trust us, it’s worth the wait! Generally 4+ hours is best or overnight. Enjoy!
*You can make this dough ahead of time and bake later. Follow all of the directions until the dough is combined. Then rise the bread for 30 minutes, then put it in the fridge covered with plastic wrap for up to 7 days. After two days put a lid on the container to not dry out the dough. When you want to use the dough, pull the dough out of the fridge, let it come to room temperature and then rise it in a warm draft free place for 1-2 hours. Then follow the shaping and baking directions from above. The longer you put the dough in the fridge, the tighter the crumb will be and less fluffy the bread will be. It still works very very well, we do it often, just a note to be aware of.
]]>Back in the dinosaur era (ok fine, when we were kids ;-) ), there were only oatmeal raisin cookies. That meant you either loved them or hated them. Then someone much younger and smarter than our generation decided that you could take the same cookie and swap the raisins for chocolate chips. Voila, everyone is happy! So no matter what era you grew up in, raisins or chocolate, we have great news for you. You can make safe and delicious oatmeal raisin or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies! These can be made ahead and frozen for quick and easy fresh baked cookies anytime you want. Head on over and grab one of our Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mixes so you can make these cookies!
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix
1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
3 Flax Eggs (3 Tablespoons flax meal + 9 Tablespoons hot water) or 3 whole eggs
1 Cup (130g Gluten Free Rolled Oats)
7 Tablespoon Shortening
7 Tablespoon Stick Butter
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
⅔ Cups Chocolate Chips or Raisins
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl cream together shortening and butter. Next add the vanilla, and flax eggs. Then add the Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix, oats, and cinnamon. After the dough is well combined, mix in the raisins (or chocolate chips). Using a medium cookie scoop, place dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets leaving 1 inch between cookies. Gently press the tops of the dough balls until they are just barely flat. They should not have a rounded top. Put your cookie dough pucks in the freezer for 10 minutes. If you want to make these later, put them in an airtight container once they are fully frozen. When ready to bake them, bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden on top. Makes 22-25 cookies. Enjoy!
]]>Sweet and Salty Cookies
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Baking Mix
2/3 Cup Shortening
1 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Flax eggs: 2 Tablespoons ground flax + 6 Tablespoons hot water, 2 whole eggs, or powdered egg replacer for 2 eggs
1/3 Cup Safe pretzels (then crush them up)
2/3 Cup Chocolate chips
1/3 Cup Safe Caramel
Coarse sea salt or Pink Himalayan salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the flax meal and hot water.
In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening until it is smooth. Butter can be used, but we much prefer shortening. I don’t think coconut oil will work well so please don’t use that. Next, add the vanilla and flax/eggs with the shortening and mix on medium speed until they are well combined. Then slowly add the contents the Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix and mix until well combined. Mix in the chocolate chips and crushed up pretzels until well combined. The dough will be thick.
Using a medium cookie scoop (1 ¾ inches in diameter)/ 3 Tablespoons/ (1.5 oz) place dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets leaving 1 inch between cookies. Gently press your dough down just until the dough on top is flat. The dough should be about 2 3/8 inches in diameter and ¾ inches thick. Place your cookie sheet with dough balls into your freezer for *10 minutes.
When you are ready to bake your cookies, place cookies on prepared baking sheet. These cookies will spread quite a bit so we put two dough balls in a row, the next row we put one cookie, and continue that pattern. If you used the flax eggs, bake for 14-16 minutes on 350°F or until slightly crisp on top. If you used whole eggs, bake for 12-14 minutes on 350°F or until they are golden on top. The cookies will be fluffy when you take them out of the oven, but will settle. When you take the cookies out of the oven leave them on the pan for about 5 minutes until they settle. Then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack until they are cool to the touch. If you eat them too early (tempting I know) they will fall apart easily.
While the cookies are baking, melt safe caramel with 1-2 Tablespoons milk of choice. Mix with a spoon until smooth. Once the cookies are cool, drizzle with caramel sauce and sprinkle with salt. Enjoy!
*If you don’t plan on eating the cookies right away, once the dough balls are frozen, transfer them to an airtight freezer safe container. When you are ready to bake them, continue with the baking directions.
Glazed Confetti Cookies
Added Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix
7 Tablespoons Shortening
7 Tablespoons Butter or Vegan butter
1 ½ teaspoon Vanilla
2 Flax eggs: 1 Tablespoon ground flax + 2 Tablespoons hot water, 2 whole eggs, or powdered egg replacer for 2 eggs
Glaze Ingredients
2 Cups Powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1-2 Tablespoons Milk of choice
Pink Frosting (use beetroot powder for a dye free pink)
Directions
In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening and butter until they are smooth. We found that a combination of shortening and butter is best for this recipe. I don’t think coconut oil will work well so please don’t use that. Next add the vanilla and flax/whole egg with the shortening/butter combo and mix on medium speed until they are well combined. Then slowly add the contents of the Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix, mix until well combined. The dough will be thick.
Using a medium cookie scoop (1 ¾ inches in diameter)/ 3 Tablespoons/ (1.5 oz) place dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets leaving 1 inch between cookies. Gently press your dough down just until the dough on top is flat. The dough should be about 2 3/8 inches in diameter and ¾ inches thick. Place your cookie sheet with dough balls into your freezer for *10 minutes.
When you are ready to bake your cookies, place cookies on prepared baking sheet. These cookies will spread quite a bit so we put two dough balls in a row, the next row we put one cookie, and continue that pattern. If you used the flax eggs, bake for 14-16 minutes on 350°F or until slightly crisp on top. If you used whole eggs, bake for 12-14 minutes on 350°F or until they are golden on top. The cookies will be fluffy when you take them out of the oven, but will settle. When you take the cookies out of the oven leave them on the pan for about 5 minutes until they settle. Then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack until they are cool to the touch. If you eat them too early (tempting I know) they will fall apart easily.
While your cookies are baking, prepare your glaze. In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and vanilla. Slowly add milk until you get your desired consistency. You want the glaze to be easily spreadable, but not runny or so thick you can’t spread it. Once your cookies are completely cool, spread with glaze and top with your favorite sprinkles. Enjoy!
*If you don’t plan on eating the cookies right away, once the dough balls are frozen, transfer them to an airtight freezer safe container. When you are ready to bake them, continue with the baking directions.
Double Chocolate with White Chips
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Baking Mix
¼ Cup Cocoa powder
¾ Cup Shortening or butter of choice
1 teaspoon Vanilla
*2 Flax eggs: 2 Tablespoons ground flax + 6 Tablespoons hot water, 2 whole eggs, or powdered egg replacer for 2 eggs
2/3 Cup White or regular chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine the flax meal and hot water.
In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening until it is smooth. Butter can be used, but we much prefer shortening. I don’t think coconut oil will work well so please don’t use that. Next, add the vanilla and flax/whole eggs with the shortening and mix on medium speed until they are well combined. Then slowly add the contents of the Rustic Scoop™ Cookie Mix and cocoa powder, mix until well combined. After the dough is well combined, mix in the white/chocolate chips. The dough will be thick.
Using a medium cookie scoop (1 ¾ inches in diameter)/ 3 Tablespoons/ (1.5 oz) place dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets leaving 1 inch between cookies. Gently press your dough down just until the dough on top is flat. The dough should be about 2 3/8 inches in diameter and ¾ inches thick. Place your cookie sheet with dough balls into your freezer for *10 minutes.
When you are ready to bake your cookies, place cookies on prepared baking sheet. These cookies will spread quite a bit so we put two dough balls in a row, the next row we put one cookie, and continue that pattern. If you used the flax eggs, bake for 14-16 minutes on 350°F or until slightly crisp on top. If you used whole eggs, bake for 12-14 minutes on 350°F or until they are golden on top. The cookies will be fluffy when you take them out of the oven, but will settle. When you take the cookies out of the oven leave them on the pan for about 5 minutes until they settle. Then carefully transfer them to a cooling rack until they are cool to the touch. If you eat them too early (tempting I know) they will fall apart easily. Enjoy!
*If you want a chewy cookie that is gooey in the middle and a bit crisp on the outside, use the flax egg or whole egg. If you want a crunchier cookie use the powdered egg replacer.
**If you don’t plan on eating the cookies right away, once the dough balls are frozen, transfer them to an airtight freezer safe container. When you are ready to bake them, continue with the baking directions.
]]>When we see all the fun holiday treats and foods that aren’t safe, we are determined to make them free from. There is no reason to miss out on all the fun. Not only that, but all three of our kids have birthdays this month. That means a lot of parties, and a lot of food! There are endless opportunities for us to make new and fun holiday treats. Everything we make is gluten-free and top 8 allergen free. None of our friends know anything is different which is how it should be. Our main goal is for you to be able to share meals with your loved ones again that are safe and delicious!
One fun treat we wanted to make is mummy dogs. From photos they looked fairly easy to replicate so we went for it. They are super easy! If you have kids, these would be the perfect fun activity to do together. The less perfect they look, the better. Not only are they easy, they come together fast too. They are so easy you could make them for dinner on a weeknight no problem. A great full meal would be these mummy dogs, mandarin oranges peeled with celery out the top for a pumpkin with stem, a bell pepper cut out like a jack o lantern, and our pumpkin donut holes as eye balls. The perfect spooky and delicious meal for a Halloween dinner or party. Head on over and grab a Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix so you can make these Mummy Dogs.
Mummy Dog Recipe
Ingredients
1 fully made and risen Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust
Approximately 16 Hot dogs (are alternative hot dog)
Optional: edible eye balls or use dots of mustard
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Take half of your fully made and risen pizza crust. Roll it out on a silpat mat or parchment paper until it is ¼ inch thick. We like to put the dough between two pieces of parchment paper and then use a rolling pin. Using a pizza cutter, cut ⅜ inch wide strips of pizza dough until it is all cut.
You can use either raw or frozen hot dogs. Gently pull one strip of dough up, haphazardly wrapping it around the hot dog. If the dough breaks, not to worry, just put it back together. Each hot dog will use two strips of ⅜” pizza dough. Wrap each hot dog from top to bottom and lay them on the prepared baking sheet an inch apart. Repeat until all hotdogs are done.
Bake the mummy dogs for approximately 15 minutes or until the hotdogs are cooked all the way through and the pizza dough is golden brown. Once cool, if you are using edible eye balls, gently tuck them between two strips of pizza crust. Enjoy with ketchup for an extra gory meal. ;)
]]>Since the internet wasn’t helpful back in the day, we struggled through eating gluten-free in a big way, but we made it work. Then our two youngest showed up on the scene with severe food allergies, so I had to make everything from scratch. I’m innately creative, so I put that together with my fierce determination to ensure our family wouldn’t miss out on any food. Failure became my best friend in the kitchen, but that’s a whole other blog post on it’s own. Failure was my greatest teacher in the kitchen baking free from. My greatest successes in the kitchen have come through failures. Through this, I was determined to not only make anything our family wanted, but make things that we could share with anyone we knew. Food is such a social part of our culture that I was determined to keep it that way. The notion that “gluten-free is gross” has always brought me great frustration. I put that frustration into baking food that is AMAZING, period. Not just “good for gluten-free”, but just plain good. I want the best for my family and YOURS!
Back to hosting friends. ;) I like to have several options of desserts to choose from when friends come over. One night, I didn’t want to make my usual recipes, so I decided to make something up. This blueberry cookie crumble was an instant hit with everyone! So much so that the guys went home and told their wives about it, ha ha. You know that’s a big win! The best part of these blueberry cookie crumble bars is that they come together quickly and are no fuss. They can be thrown together, with no need for them to look pretty. Press the cookie in, layer with chia jam, and sprinkle the crumble topping. Voila, the perfect delicious dessert! Your guests will be begging you for more. It's so good that it has been requested by our middle for her birthday dessert. Head on over to grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mix so you can make these bars ASAP!
Blueberry Cookie Crumble
Ingredients
Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread dough
4 Cups approx. Blueberry chia jam (any fruit works or use berry pie filling)
Crumble Topping Ingredients
3/4 Cup Gluten-free oat flour
3/4 Cup Gluten-free whole oats
1 Cup Sugar, we use coconut sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 Cup Butter of choice
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
Prepare the Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookie dough. Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared baking dish until evenly spread. Bake the cookie dough for 15 minutes.
While the cookie dough is baking, make your chia jam if that’s your jam. In a medium bowl, put all of the crumble toppings through salt. Mix with a spoon until well combined. Next, cut the butter into the oat mixture until the butter is pea sized. Set aside.
Pull the cookie dough out of the oven. Spread your choice of chia jam or pie filling on top of the cookie dough. Drop the crumble topping all over the chia jam until it is haphazardly covered. There will be some chunks and some not, this is normal and desired. Put the whole baking dish in the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the jam is bubbly and the crumble topping is golden brown. Let cool and serve with ice cream. Enjoy!
]]>We recently went to our local amusement park and were taunted by all of these smells. To be honest, we rarely feel left out or sad about the foods we can’t have. We have lived this free from life for so long that it is just our normal. This day in particular though, the smell of funnel cake was tantalizing. The sweet yet savory smell along with the frying oil went on for what seemed like a mile. It kept following us, and we couldn’t seem to get away from it. Our celiac kiddo mentioned it multiple times, which is unusual for her. It reminded me that we need to make funnel cake again. Funnel cake seems like it must be something difficult to make since it’s only really ever sold at the fair.
I have said this many times and will continue to say it: I was willing to make anything my kids were missing out on. Having multiple food allergies (and then also celiac) made it nearly impossible to eat anything store bought much less at a Fair. The love I have for my kids was shown in making any food they wanted. I desired for them to live the most normal life they could, given their food restrictions. Funnel cake landed on that list at some point. It seemed easy enough to make so we gave it a whirl. A one shot recipe of perfection! That’s not always the case, but I’ll take it when it happens. ☺️ Our family loved this recipe and it tasted just like what my husband and I remember funnel cake tasted like at the Fair.
We loved this recipe so much that we taught this as a class at the Nourished Festival and man, did people go wild for this recipe!!! Some of our most loyal customers came from that class. We will go to great lengths to give you the best free from food for everyday use and also for those fun special moments too. You can live your best and most delicious free from life, we’ve got you covered!
Now go on over and make this amazing and simple Funnel Cake recipe. Grab yourself one of our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mixes so you can enjoy amazing gluten free, top 8 allergen free funnel cake!
Funnel Cake
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Pancake/Waffle Mix
2 Cups Milk of Choice
½ Cup egg whites or 6 Tablespoons aquafaba (garbanzo bean water)
6 Tablespoons Butter of choice melted
2 teaspoons Lemon juice
Directions
Prepare a pan for frying by putting an inch deep oil of choice to 375°F. Canola oil is our choice for frying but you may choose your favorite oil for frying. Just be sure you know the smoking point of the oil to be sure it can cook at 375°F. We use an electric skillet so we can easily manage the temperature, but a pan on the stove with a quick read thermometer will work too. Used oil is best for frying, or throw a small piece of gluten-free bread in fresh oil once it gets hot to test the temperature and dirty up the oil a bit. Use a quick read thermometer to be sure the temperature is correct throughout the cooking process.
Prepare a piping bag with a #12 Witon piping tip (medium open hole), cutting the end off the piping bag just enough for the tip to stick out. If you do not have piping bags or a piping tip, this can be done with a Ziplock type of bag. You will want to cut a small hole approximately ¼ ” wide.
While the oil is heating up, pour the Rustic Scoop™ Pancake Mix into a bowl of an electric mixer. Add all of the liquid ingredients slowly and mix on medium speed until well combined and smooth. You can certainly mix with just a bowl and whisk, though you want to be sure the batter is smooth.
To fry the funnel cake, make an outer circle about 6” in diameter then make overlapping designs in the middle of your circle. The batter must overlap each other or there won’t be enough structure to flip or eat the funnel cake. Cook each side for approximately one (1) minute or until golden brown. Place cooked funnel cake on a cooling rack with paper towel to absorb any excess oil. Repeat until all funnel cakes are made.
Sprinkle funnel cake with powdered sugar, whip cream, fruit of choice, drizzle with caramel or chocolate sauce, or anything else that you want to put on it. There are no rules to eating funnel cake except you must enjoy every bite! 🙂
Our funnel cake freezes really well. Just lay flat in an airtight container or freezer safe bag. To reheat, bake on 350°F until warm on the inside and crisp on the outside.
Makes approximately 7- 8, 6” funnel cakes
This post will cover how to travel and eat well with only one bowl! No need to use several dishes or have a complicated meal while traveling. These are simple tried and true items that we personally make while traveling often. We have come to a place that we don’t eat out very much when we travel. There are several reasons for this:
When we travel, we do our best to stay in a place that has a kitchen. Some of these kitchens are just kitchenettes, and sometimes we end up in a hotel. Having a kitchen makes our life much easier while traveling. These ideas are for when you have a kitchen while traveling. Before we get started on the food, we’ll let you know what we do when we arrive at the place we are staying to keep us all safe. Renting a place with a kitchen is nice, but there are things we do to ensure our safety while staying there. Hopefully these are helpful tips. We stayed with friends recently that also have celiac and food allergies. We had fun prepping the house to keep us all safe. :)
Ok, onto food! A few mixes we take anytime we travel are: pizza crust, chocolate cake, cookie, and pancake/waffle. We take our bread when we travel, but we make it at home before we leave. It’s not practical to make bread while traveling. Why the desserts, you ask? With all of our restrictions combined, it is next to impossible to find safe desserts for us. We have a few in the family that can’t survive without dessert, so we make dessert. LOL. Who can blame them, though! These are so good and so easy. Here are the items we make when traveling and what we do with each of them. All of these items can be made in ONE bowl with just a spoon!
Pizza, need we say more?! I don’t know anyone that doesn’t like pizza. Our pizza crust is either thin or thick crust, both are fluffy in the middle. It can also be made into pizza pickets for the times you need to take it on the go. No mess is amazing! Follow the directions on the back and quickly stir with a spoon. You have to move quickly with this one as the dough gets thick, but it's definitely doable. I actually do this at home when our mixing bowl is dirty. If you don’t have an oven, these can be made in a skillet or on the stove. Bake on medium low heat until the bottom is golden brown, then flip until the top is golden. Flip again, add toppings and a lid until cheese is melted.
What would you add to our list? We have traveled so much, but we love to hear from all of you too. You all have valuable tips too, so let us know what other things you do to make traveling fun and safe!
]]>I had shortbread cookies in my freezer, so it was the perfect time to make these ice cream bars. As a note and big tip, the best way to make amazing free from food is to make extra when you're making an item and freeze the leftovers. This takes very little extra time when you are already making an item, but makes all the difference later. This is the perfect example. Since I already had the shortbread cookies for this recipe in my freezer, they only took about a half hour to make, including freezing time. We want you to have the joy of eating lots of great free from foods without a lot of time to make it happen. It is important to us that we help you live your best and most delicious free from life!
I had also purchased freeze dried strawberries at the grocery store long ago just for this project so when I needed them they were there. We have one kid with a strawberry allergy, so we also had freeze dried blackberries. You can use any freeze dried fruit you would like, these were just the flavors we chose. Fresh berries won’t work for this unless you would like to add them to your ice cream. That is definitely a delicious thing to add to your ice cream, but you need freeze dried fruit for the shortbread coating. These bars were devoured quickly when we made them and, just know, your loved ones will do the same. Head on over and grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix to make the shortbread cookies for this recipe!
Strawberry Shortbread Ice Cream Bars
Ingredients
5 Cups Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookies
32 oz Vanilla Ice Cream
1 ½ Cups Fresh Strawberries (or other fruit)
2 Cups Freeze dried Strawberries (or other fruit)
⅓ Cup Melted Butter
Directions
Prepare a 9x13” baking dish with parchment paper and a baking sheet with parchment paper and set both aside.
Get your ice cream of choice out to become soft. Once it is soft, add your fresh fruit of choice. Mix well to combine. Once your ice cream is well mixed, smooth it into a parchment paper lined 9x13” baking pan. If you want thicker bars, you can use a smaller pan. Place in the freezer until mostly set. Once they are mostly set, but soft enough to cut, cut into desired shapes and sizes. Makes approximately 12-16 bars depending on size. After you are done cutting the bars, place them back in the freezer while you prepare the crumb coat.
Follow the instructions on making the Rustic Scoop™ shortbread cookies. Once they are cool, place 3 Cups of cookies in a food processor. You can do this by hand if need be. Place the cookies in a sealed bag, cover with a towel, beat until you have coarse crumbs. Place them in a medium bowl and set aside. Next, add the freeze dried fruit into the food processor with the remaining 2 Cups of shortbread cookies.and mix until the mixture is coarse crumbs. Add the freeze dried fruit mixture into the medium bowl. Using a large spoon, combine all of the crumbs. Add the melted butter and mix until well combined and all of the crumbs are evenly covered.
Take your ice cream bars back out of the freezer and roll each of them into the crumb coat, being sure to coat each bar completely. Put all of the bars onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and return to the freezer. Once fully frozen, wrap in wax paper and store in an airtight container. Enjoy!
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]]>With a chocolate crust, I reeled through my mind about what goes well with chocolate, along with what I had on hand. I had caramel, chocolate chips (because who doesn’t need more chocolate ;) ), and vanilla cream. Oooh, that sounded amazing! We also considered that the recipe should come together quickly, as this time of year has tons of hustle and bustle, along with work. The hands on of this recipe takes about 10 minutes if you make the cookies ahead, which is pretty amazing if you ask me. This pie will have everyone begging for more and will never realize it’s free from. Our goal is to always make foods that allow you to live your best free from life and share it with those you love.
We got to work creating this simple yet decadent recipe and had so much fun doing it. If you have kids, this is a great one to have them help with. What kid doesn’t love either blending items in a food processor and watching crackers turn to crumbs, or beating them in a bag with a rolling pin to make crumbs?! Both are great and work well. I teased my kids as I was beating the chocolate graham crackers that it was good anger management, ha ha. We give you plenty of options for filling so you can use what you have on hand and whatever suits your fancy.
Then drizzling caramel and sprinkling chocolate chips, what could be more fun and therapeutic? Each of our kids got one of these jobs and may or may not have snuck some along the way. ;) Hey, whatever it takes to get the kids helping in the kitchen is a win in our book! The job got done and it was a delicious masterpiece. Head on over to grab our Rustic Scoop™ Chocolate Cake and Cupcake mix to make the chocolate graham crackers. This recipe can be made in stages. We suggest making the chocolate graham crackers ahead of time and storing them in the freezer until you are ready to make the pie. If you want to do this all at once, you certainly can, it will just take longer in stages. Either way, you are going to love this pie!
Chocolate Graham Cracker Crust
Graham Cracker Crust Ingredients
15 Rustic Scoop™ Chocolate Graham Crackers (just the cookie recipe and directions)
¾ Cup Butter melted, vegan butter works too
Vanilla Cream Pie Filling Ingredients
32oz of Vanilla Ice Cream OR Whipped Topping like Cool Whip or So Delicious Coconut Whip
Toppings (optional but highly suggested)
⅓ Cup Caramel Sauce
½ Cup Chocolate Chips
Pinch of Coarse salt
Directions
Make the Rustic Scoop™ Chocolate Cookies. Once those are made and cool, continue below.
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Prepare a pie pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
Crumble your chocolate graham crackers. You can do this one of two ways: Use a food processor and process until crumbs are uniform in size and small, but not powder. You can also put your chocolate graham crackers in a ziplock bag and use a mallet or rolling pin, cover with a tea towel and bang away until they are small crumbs. Put the crumbs in a medium sized bowl and mix the melted butter in. Using a spoon, mix until the butter is evenly distributed and all of the crumbs are coated. Place your chocolate graham cracker crumbs into the prepared pie pan. Using a measuring cup, evenly spread and press down the graham cracker crumbs. Be sure they are even across the bottom and up the sides of the pie pan. Bake on 350°F for 10 minutes. Pull your crust out of the oven to cool. At this point you can of course do anything you want with the chocolate graham cracker crust, skies the limit. If you would like to make the vanilla cream pie then keep on reading.
Once your pie crust is completely cool, add your choice of filling whether it’s ice cream or whipped topping. Smooth the top with the back of a large spoon or spatula. If you are adding the topping, which we suggest you do, now’s the time. Drizzle the caramel sauce with a spoon over your filling. Have fun and be creative, or just drizzle and move on. Next, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the whole pie. If you like sweet and salty together, you can sprinkle a pinch of coarse salt over the top, which takes this recipe over the top!! Place your pie in the freezer if you used ice cream as the filling or the refrigerator if you used the whipped topping. Once the pie has set and chilled, dig in, but most of all, enjoy!
We will help you tackle how to eat safely and well when camping. You can camp with food allergies and celiac and do it well. My husband is the one that encouraged me to write a post about food allergy/celiac eating and camping. This came as he ate the meal that you see above. He thought it was AMAZING!! I’m so glad he thought it was amazing as it really was simple. My goal when we go camping is to eat as normally as we can while also eating some “junk food” that we don’t normally eat. Half the fun of camping or vacation of any kind is being able to eat safe food we don’t normally eat.
To make all of our food dreams come true on vacation, it has taken my husband's creative mind to make it happen. Our trailer has a small gas stove that fits two medium sized pans, barely. I can cook this way, it just takes much longer than it takes me at home. When on vacation, I try to do my best to not be in the “kitchen” as much as possible. My husband came up with this contraption that is a DC converter to AC. We run this off of our car battery while camping to use our microwave and toaster oven. How cool is that?! I know that kind of defeats the purpose of “off grid” camping, but so be it. At home my toaster and microwave get a whole lot of use so it makes our life in the woods so much easier for meals. You certainly don't need this, but it's nice if you want it.
Here is a list of the meals that we ate for the three days and two nights that we were out. I have listed for you what I made on site and what I brought along. It is possible to eat really well without a whole lot of time in the “kitchen” while camping.
Day 1
Lunch- My family had Rustic Scoop™ pizza in the woods the first day! 🙂 I made it for dinner the night before and brought the leftovers for lunch. I popped them all in the toaster with tin parchment paper to heat each piece up. That made for some very happy campers. You could also heat up the pizza in a skillet. We also had potato chips, fruit, and carrot sticks.
Dinner- Hot dogs roasted over the fire for the girls while my husband and I both had hamburgers. We use our Rustic Scoop™ buns for the hamburgers and hotdogs that I had in the freezer. My husband always RAVES about my hamburger buns! We also had rice noodles that I made on site (these could be made ahead), and roasted broccoli.
Dessert- S’mores every night over the fire of course. I made the marshmallows and Rustic Scoop™ graham crackers at home. The marshmallows and graham crackers both freeze really well so I make large batches of both. We also are known to use our chocolate chip cookies for s’mores! Since they are frozen, I have them ready when I need them.
Day 2
Breakfast- Rustic Scoop™ Pancakes which I made at home and brought frozen, sausage, and eggs. I also had a Rustic Scoop™ blueberry muffin that I made at home and brought frozen.
Lunch-Sandwiches with Rustic Scoop™ sandwich bread toasted that I made at home, lunchmeat, lettuce, mustard, home made mayonnaise made at home, potato chips, fruit, and carrot sticks.
Dinner- This night was a smorgasborg. My youngest had a fire roasted hotdog, my husband and oldest daughter had chicken which I put spices on from our trailer. I have about 7 spices that live in a tupperware in my trailer so I’m always prepared. My middle daughter and I had hamburgers with Rustic Scoop™ buns I brought from home. I had left over rice in our refrigerator at home and decided to bring it for one of our dinners. This turned out to be brilliant. I was able to make a simple fried rice very quickly since the rice was already made. The whole family was so happy about the fried rice which I put carrots and onions in. I also had a can of green beans. This picture is at the top of the post.
Dessert- S’mores over the fire again.
Day 3
Breakfast- The girls were hungry early on this morning and couldn’t wait until the pancakes were done so they crumbled up homemade granola bars and added rice milk to have “cereal”. They all loved it. It’s important to get creative sometimes. This morning, I made Rustic Scoop™ Pancakes IN the mix bag as I only had 7 frozen pancakes. Using the mix was quick as I just had to add milk, olive oil, and egg whites (replacer options on our product page). Just be sure to add your ingredients into the bag slowly and mix in between as the bag gets full. They were done pretty quickly. We warmed up the pure maple syrup in the microwave because no one likes cold syrup! I also made eggs, sausage, and warmed up a blueberry muffin as well.
Lunch- Sandwiches with Rustic Scoop™ bread toasted that I made at home, lunchmeat, lettuce, mustard, home made mayonnaise made at home, potato chips, fruit, and I ate plantain chips made in the toaster oven.
Snacks
– Homemade Granola bars (2 different kinds)
– fruit leather from
– GF/DF Cheese Crackers
– Homemade GF beef jerky
– Dried fruit
Going camping can be a lot of work, but I have learned that it is worth it. My family loves camping and some of our favorite memories are made when we do. The one thing I have learned that has greatly helped me with food when we are camping is to prepare ahead of time. I have a list of our typical food on an excel spreadsheet so I can look at it the week before to know what I need to prepare before we go. This has saved my sanity and made for happy eaters while we are out. The day before we head out, I put all of the meat we will have while gone and put it in zip lock bags with marinade, then pop it back in the freezer. When we head out the day of camping I put the frozen and marinated meat into the cooler. This helps keep everything else cold and also allows our meat to marinade for a good long time. Every morning while camping, I put out of one the meat zip locks to thaw for the day. By dinner the meat is ready to BBQ. Having my freezer stocked with all of our staples like tortillas, buns, graham crackers, bread, english muffins, and pancakes, greatly helps to save me a ton of time as well. We have learned in our 13 years of being fully free from that bulk baking saves us so much time and money. I hope that you find this post helpful and encouraging that you can go camping even with food allergies. Having all of our safe foods makes camping doable. If you need to be close to a hospital in case of a reaction, be sure to find a campsite just outside of town. Here in Utah, there are literally camp grounds just up the road. There is one about 10 minutes from our house. If you really love camping but you don’t feel comfortable going far away, see if you have camping close to home. It’s still fun to get away and feel like you are on vacation right in your own town if need be. If you have questions, let us know, we are happy to help. Please share with others that would find this helpful. You can live your best and most delicious free from life, no matter where you choose to go!
]]>Can we just say that making food at home always tastes better anyways?! When we make food ourselves we get to choose what ingredients we use, what sweeteners, and we don’t use chemicals or preservatives. We feel much better when we get to make these choices ourselves.
These safe Twix™ are relatively easy to make, but take a few steps to get there. Don't let that deter you, they come together quickly and your taste buds will be thankful you made them. You can pack these when you go to the movies, head on vacation, eat at home, take them on the trail, put them in stockings or as gifts, and let the kids trade out their Halloween candy for these. The recipe is versatile and you can add anything you want to make them sophisticated Twix™ Bars. Head on over to grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix so you can make these!
Sophisticated Twix Bars
Ingredients
Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookies
2 Cups Chocolate Chips
1 teaspoon Shortening or Coconut Oil
1 Cup Caramel
Optional add-ins: Pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pepitas
Directions
Follow the directions and make the Rustic Scoop™ Shortbread Cookies. Determine the size and shape of your bars. If you would like traditional size and shape as Twix™ then cut your shortbread into long ½ inch wide and ¼ inch thick bars. If you go this route, this recipe will make a very large amount of bars. The beauty is that these cookies (and fully made bars) freeze very well. Then you can have these amazing bars for a long time to come.
If you would like to make larger “bars”, go for it! We have made these into squares and circles. Anything goes, there are no rules since we already color outside the typical food lines. ;) I would suggest if you would like to make sophisticated Twix bars that you make them bigger than the traditional size so you have room for your optional add-ins.
While your Rustic Scoop™ shortbread cookies are cooling, prepare your caramel. If you are using store bought caramel rectangles you will likely want to cut them in half and warm them just enough to be pliable. You can do this in your hand or VERY briefly in the microwave. Once your cookies are cool, shape your caramel to fit the size and shape of your cookies. You want your caramel to be about ⅛ inch thick, but if you like more we don’t blame you! Repeat until all of your cookies are covered with caramel. If you want sophisticated Twix bars, place your choice of add-ins on top of the caramel and gently press down so the add-in doesn’t fall off.
Next, microwave (or double boil) your chocolate chips and shortening or coconut oil. If you choose to microwave, do it in 30 second increments to be sure you don’t burn the chocolate. Stir until chocolate is smooth. Then prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drizzle chocolate the size of your cookies, then place your cookies on top of the chocolate. Repeat until all of the cookies have a chocolate bottom. Now, drizzle chocolate on top of each cookie to cover them completely. Place in the refrigerator until the chocolate is firm. If you would like the perfect looking bars, feel free to trim the excess chocolate with a knife once fully cool. You can keep these in an airtight container or in the freeze if you don’t plan to eat them all right away. Enjoy!
We always love to hear what you think of the recipes we create. If you make these, please let us know here or tag us on social media!
]]>Meals and Shopping
We talked about in Part 1 that we have a shared Google Sheet with my Mother-in-law that has foods we love and the specific brands. If you are traveling on your own, we highly suggest making your own google sheet to keep track of your favorite travel foods, utensils needed, and miscellaneous items like sponges, napkins, wipes etc. This allows grocery shopping and packing to be supers. It also allows you to have a column to check items off to be sure you don’t forget anything.
On our google sheet, we also have full meals written and all of the ingredients required. Having meals planned ahead of time makes life so much easier. Being organized is always the best way to live with food restrictions. Having the same meals on every vacation, or a derivative of the same meal, brings comfort, safety, ease, and predictability.
When we arrived at my in-laws house this was the first thing we saw. I mean, come on, how amazing is this?!
Safety While Sharing Kitchen Space
The counter that this brand new gluten free only toaster sat on became our safe counter that only had our utensils, cooking items, and foods. This counter remained gluten free the whole time we were staying with my in-laws. We cleaned it before we put our gluten free items there just to be sure it was thoroughly clean. This counter is where we toasted breads, cut our fruits, veggies, meats, made sandwiches, etc. My mother-in-law also purchased a new food processor for us to use. There were a few extra items that we needed to eat and remain healthy while we were there so we went and purchased an electric skillet, spatulas, measuring cups and spoons, cutting boards, sponges, and a muffin pan since I was going to be making cupcakes for my husbands birthday. Those are all items that we felt we couldn’t share with my in-laws because they either can’t go through the dishwasher or are stored where crumbs likely hang out. Items that could be dish washed we felt safe to use what my in-laws had. If you are new to following us, we use an electric skillet everywhere we travel. It is my staple for easy and safe cooking. I have flown one across the country with us. LOL! Since we ended up purchasing so many items, we also bought a big plastic tub to keep it all in for our next trip. This way we won’t have to purchase all of the big items the next time we go to visit and we know they will remain safe from any gluten contamination being in a big bin with a lid. Thankfully my in-laws have enough room to easily store this bin. When we travel and don't stay with my in-laws, the electric skillet is my one kitchen appliance that I always use.
Our youngest, who has celiac, is very sensitive to cross contact and gets sick very easily. Let me explain to you why we felt comfortable enough to stay with my in-laws even though my father-in-law would still be eating gluten while we were there. My mother-in-law made sandwiches on a separate counter than the one we used, she kept gluten bread separate from our food, and we would clean our eating space. Most nights I made dinners which were all gluten free so that we could all eat meals together. This greatly reduced the chance of cross contact as well. There are plenty of naturally gluten free dinner items that everyone can enjoy together (meat, veggies, rice, potatoes, etc.). Other than that we would eat at restaurants that we could safely eat at. We always use the Allergy Eats and Find Me Gluten Free apps to find safe dining options. They are both free and a great help!
Quick and Easy Meal Ideas
Like I said above, we take an electric skillet everywhere we travel. It is one of my most used kitchen items, I highly suggest getting one if you plan to do any sort of traveling. We went on a three day road trip while we were in Phoenix to northern Arizona. When we head out on road trips we try to keep food simple, easy/not messy, and also nutritious. Eating on the road doesn’t have to mean eating junk. The electric skillet makes breakfast, lunches (toasts bread), and dinners (fry’s, boils, bakes) very well for us. Who doesn’t love a one pan meal?! I was asked recently what foods we typically take on road trips so I thought I’d share it here as well.
Breakfast
- Does your family like to eat oatmeal? Oatmeal is such a simple and nutritious breakfast so my family eats a lot of it. If you have celiac disease though you must eat gluten free oats. Quaker Gluten Free Oatmeal Packets are fantastic! We took these on our road trip through northern Arizona and fell in love with them. They have a plastic lining in the packets and a fill line for water (or milk of choice). Then you just place it all in a thick paper bowl and microwave for 1-2 minutes. Every hotel room these days has a microwave so these were amazing for us. I will purchase these for all of our road trips now!
- Eggs (if you can, of course)
– Sausage/bacon
– Pre made pancakes
– Cereal
- Toast
- Bagel
- Yogurt
- Safe Granola
Lunch
– sandwiches: I typically use left over meat from dinner the night before to save space and money
– fresh fruit that won’t mush easily (apples, oranges, blueberries in a container, pears, etc)
– fresh cut veggies (carrot sticks, celery, etc)
– chips because we are normal and do eat some junk 😉
Dinner: I want dinner to be quick, simple, and nutritious that can be made in one pan at the same time. Here are the simple meals I typically make on the road.
– Meat of some sort (chicken, ground beef, hot dogs)
– fresh veggies (broccoli, onions, carrots, squashes)
– rice or potatoes diced
Snacks
– crackers
- meat and DF cheese
– nuts/seeds
– squeeze apple sauce
– fresh fruit
– cut up fresh veggies with hummus or ranch
– fruit leather
– granola bars
For us, travel is such an important part of our lives that we make it a priority. As you can see, it takes extra work and diligence to keep our family safe, but it is very doable. I know that not all people have an amazing Mother-in-law like I do. Traveling is still possible and worthwhile. I will post on how we lived in Africa with food allergies, how we go camping with food allergies, and how we road trip. They are all possible with some planning ahead. We want all of our kids to know, and now especially our youngest, that they can travel wherever they want to go. If you ever have questions, please feel free to ask! It brings us great joy to see and help people with food allergies and celiac step out and learn to travel. For those of you that have family that isn’t supportive, I know that all too well also. Please reach out, I’m happy to share the tough situations we’ve had to deal with as well. I hope that these posts have given you hope that you can indeed travel safely and some tips on how to do it safely.
]]>If you have followed us for any amount of time, you know that we love to travel. We travel to other states, other cities, we go camping, and we also travel internationally, all with food allergies and celiac disease. One of the best pieces of advice we ever got about having food allergies was that we should take the opportunity we were given to live in Rwanda, Africa. Our daughter's Gastroenterologist (GI) was really excited and passionate about our trip to Rwanda and greatly encouraged us to go. Between him and our pediatrician, they both supported us to go and did all they could to prepare us to live in Rwanda with food allergies. Having these two medical professionals encourage us to travel with food allergies really helped us to keep our passion for travel alive. My husband and I have each been to 22+ countries and desire for our girls to have similar experiences if they choose to.
5 years ago our youngest (and my husband officially) was diagnosed with celiac disease. Our daughter's celiac diagnosis came as a big shock to us and her GI (the same one that encouraged us to go to Rwanda). Traveling with celiac disease and how sensitive our daughter is made traveling even more challenging. We still travel though; it’s that important to us. It is also important for us to teach our girls that no matter what challenges may arise in our lives, we will figure out how to persevere and live life to the fullest.
Our most recent traveling was to stay with my in-laws. Staying with my in-laws meant sharing kitchen space with them, and my father-in-law loves his gluten. 😉We were determined to stay with his parents and also keep our celiacs safe. I have a good relationship with my in-laws and they have always been very supportive of us with the girls' food allergies and celiac. They have witnessed our girls have many reactions on our visits to stay with them so they know how serious they are. I deeply appreciate their love and care for us and our girls.
Since we have traveled a lot, we want to share what we have done to travel safely to help you do the same. Traveling with food allergies and celiac can absolutely be done, it just takes extra time and planning. Here are a few basic things that we do prior to traveling. The preparation is the most important part of the trip to ensure you can have a great a safe time while gone.
Here’s a snapshot of what we talked about:
– what foods gluten is found in
– what does it look like when our daughter has a reaction (they’ve witnessed many) and what we do when she gets glutened
– how we could share a kitchen with them (no sharing the toaster, no use of wooden utensils or cutting boards, no using items that couldn’t be put in the dishwasher, no using the same sponge, no touching gluten then making GF food, crumbs are not ok to touch GF food, we would clean the counters and kitchen table often, no sharing a cup or straw with our daughter, keeping my father-in- laws bread products on a different counter than our food, etc).
- My in-laws actually ended up buying us a toaster, cutting board, measuring cups, electric hand mixer, and food processor that are all labeled “GF” and kept in a bin for us to pull out when we go visit. This bin gets a whole lot of use when we visit. We also decided that we would have one section of counter space just for us while we visit. This makes life easy and safe for everyone.
We do realize that not everyone has an amazing family that accommodates as well as ours does. Trust me, we have family that doesn’t accommodate us at all too. Maybe that should be a post for another day. Nonetheless, the helpful traveling tips above can all be done staying in a hotel or Air BnB too. It just requires you to do the shopping.
I hope today’s post was helpful for you, as we get a lot of questions about traveling. Be sure to come by next week to read part 2 and share if you find this helpful! If you ever have questions, please let us know. We are more than happy to help you live your best free from life!
]]>When we were kids, blueberry muffins were pretty much one of the only muffins people ate. There were bran muffins too, but those are a no go! LOL. Eating and making blueberry muffins were one of my favorite things to do as a kid. We would get a muffin mix that had a can of blueberries in it. Sounds so odd now come to think of it. Blueberries in a can?! It’s what we had back in the day so that’s what we used. I remember working really hard to fold in the blueberries to not turn the whole batter purple. Blueberries in a can, though, had blueberry juice so it was rather difficult to not end up with purple batter. The muffins tasted good regardless of the color. I just loved blueberry muffins! They had the perfect amount of sweet, warm blueberries, and a great crumb.
Blueberry muffins are one of the first muffin recipes we made after going gluten-free almost 18 years ago. We took that recipe and used our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix to make a blueberry muffin recipe for you all. This recipe is SO good! It will have you coming back for more on repeat. It is all of the nostalgia you remember from an amazing blueberry muffin, but safe. These are tender in all the right ways, have a wonderful crumb, rise beautifully, and still have that delicious warm blueberry goodness. You get to choose whether to make these with cane sugar or keep them refined sugar free. We use coconut sugar, but any granulated sugar will work.
One of the most amazing things about these muffins is that they are easy to make and freeze beautifully. Meal prep dream for quick and healthy breakfasts. We make 40 muffins at a time so we don't have to think about breakfasts for a long time. Once they are fully cool, store them in an airtight container and freeze them. We are all about meal prepping everything we possibly can for quick meals on the go. These muffins are great for breakfast and snacks. Your life is about to get more delicious and simple!Head on over to pick up our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix so you can make these. They will become your favorite muffin again, we promise!
Blueberry Muffins
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop Pancake and Waffle Mix
1 Cup Granulated sugar of choice, we use coconut sugar
2 Tablespoons Flax meal (can omit, but we like the extra nutrition)
¾ Cup Plain unsweetened yogurt
½ Cup Oil of choice
1 ¼ Cup Water
¾ Cup Egg whites, 9 Tablespoons Aquafaba, OR powdered egg replacer for 3 eggs
2 teaspoons White Vinegar
1 ½ Cup fresh Blueberries
Makes approximately 22 Muffins
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a cupcake pan/s with paper liners and spray with non-stick spray (avocado oil doesn’t work).
In a large bowl, place the Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix, sugar, and flax meal. Stir well to combine. Next, add the water, oil, egg whites (or egg replacer), yogurt and lemon juice. Stir well together with a spoon or whisk until well combined. You can use a stand mixer, but just mix until barely combined, being sure not to over mix. Then add blueberries and fold them gently into the mix. If you mix instead of fold, your blueberries will bleed and you’ll end up with purple batter.
Using a large cookie scoop, place batter into each liner equally. Filling each paper liner ⅔ full is best to get nice domed tops of your muffins. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes depending on the size of your muffins. They will be done when a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!
Not long after this, our family moved to Utah from Seattle and learned first hand what baking with hard water was like. Most of the homes in the area we live in Utah have hard water. To combat this, many people choose to install a water softener because hard water isn’t good for appliances and pipes. This was a perfect time to shoot a simple video on how to overcome hard water (and soft water) in baking. I had both coming out of our pipes, so I thought I might as well use it for a visual to show you all. Going from having hard water to soft water from a water softener swings the baking challenges from one end of the spectrum to the other.
In very simple terms, using hard water will make your baked goods “hard”. It will cause your dough and batters to be thicker and denser, creating a heavier outcome. Soft water will make your baked goods “softer”. Your doughs and batters will be thinner making it difficult to shape breads or rolls, and can cause your baked goods to sink after baking.
So what do you do if you have either hard or soft water?? The answer is so simple! Use bottled water. While this may not be super convenient, it works and is inexpensive. Keeping several bottles of water is easy to do and then you always have it handy when you need to bake. Bottled water is the correct balance of minerals to ensure your baking is correct. Who knew the fix could be so simple!
If you ever have questions or trouble baking, PLEASE ask us all of your questions! We are here to help you be the best free from baker you can be. If we don’t know an answer, we will find it for you. Leave the experimenting to us so you don’t have to waste your time and money. We work tirelessly to ensure our mixes work for those that don’t like to bake all the way to avid bakers. Did you know what we have a test baking team and they all live in different climates and elevations? We did that very specifically to ensure all of our mixes work well in every climate and elevation. All of our product pages have tips on how to bake in different climates and elevations. We try to be as thorough as we can with directions and tips for our recipes.
Check out below how vastly different the waters behave. Each of the experiments have the same amount of water and flour, the only difference is the type of water used. We are very visual learners here so we hope this is helpful for you as well!
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Whether you make these at home, take them to a ball game, or anywhere else, be sure to enjoy them! We have several options below of dips you can make as well because we love to knock recipes out of the park! Which will be your favorite? Head on over to grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix so you can make these soon.
Rustic Scoop™ Soft Pretzels
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix
1 teaspoon Dry active yeast
1 Tablespoon Sugar or Honey
¼ Cup Butter of choice, softened
2 ¼ Cups Water
2 Tablespoons Butter of choice melted
⅓ Cup Baking soda
Dip Ingredients
Yellow Mustard
Honey mustard- 2 parts mustard, 1 part honey
Cheese sauce- 3 Tablespoons cheese of choice, 1/8 teaspoon salt, 1⁄4 teaspoon onion powder, 4 teaspoons milk of choice
Chocolate sauce- 3 Tablespoons chocolate chips, 1⁄2 teaspoon shortening or coconut oil, 1 1⁄2 teaspoon milk of choice
*This is a full length video. To see how to roll and shape the pretzels, start watching at 12:14.
Directions
Preheat your oven to 400° F. Prepare a large stock pot with 8 cups of water and 1⁄3 Cup baking soda. Prepare two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
While your oven is preheating, pour the Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast. Mix well to combine. Next, add the ¼ C softened butter and mix until there are no large chunks. Now add your sugar of choice and water. Mix on medium speed until well combined and smooth.
Turn the heat of your stock pot to high, with the lid on, until it is boiling. While your water is heating up, roll out all of your pretzels. On a silicone mat, scoop out 1⁄3 cup of pretzel dough. Put plastic wrap over the rest of the dough so it doesn’t dry out. Slowly begin rolling your dough into a long rope. Start rolling from the middle with your fingers open as wide as they go, rolling outwards. The rope should be about 16 inches in length. Once your dough is rolled out, take each end, bend it upwards making a large U shape, then put one side over the other, lift up and twist one more time, then pull the twist down to the bottom of your rope. Your ends should be about 1 1⁄2 inches long and go past the bottom of your rope. It should now look like a pretzel. Gently transfer to your parchment paper. Reshape if necessary. Repeat until all of your pretzels are made.
Once your water has come to a boil, begin boiling each of your pretzels. Using a slotted spatula, place 3-4 pretzels into the boiling water for 30 seconds. After they are done boiling, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt. Repeat with each pretzel until they are all done. Bake at 400° F for 17 minutes. Enjoy!
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Not only that, we took this focaccia to an event for samples not stating that it was gluten-free. The comments spoke for themselves. This focaccia was incredible. We even had two guys that went to culinary school eat the samples and couldn’t believe how good it was (still not knowing it was gluten-free). That is how gluten-free and allergy free food should be: good enough for anyone to eat and safe for those with food restrictions. You should be able to make any free from food and confidently feed it to your non food restricted loved ones. We are here to give you all of the tools, mixes, and recipes you need to do just that.
This focaccia is so simple to make and only requires a bowl, spoon and a few ingredients. You can use any spices you prefer for your taste buds to enjoy. It is perfectly airy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Focaccia is a great appetizer or as a side paired with many meals. If you are anything like us, you can also take it as a snack. ;) Our youngest took this focaccia as a snack to a track meet with marinara to dip it in. She wanted more when we got home, that’s how good it is. Go grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix so you can make this!
Focaccia
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop Pizza Crust Mix
1 teaspoon Active dry yeast
3 Cups Warm water
1 Tablespoon Sweetener of choice
¼ Cup Olive oil
½ Cup Egg whites, 6 Tablespoons Aquafaba (garbanzo bean water), OR powdered egg replacer for 2 eggs
2 teaspoon White vinegar
Directions
Preheat oven to 450°F. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, and sweetener. Gently stir together, then let sit for 5 minutes to proof (the yeast will become foamy). Then, in a large bowl, place the Rustic Scoop™ Pizza Crust Mix and pour the water mixture in and gently stir with a large spoon until barely combined. Next, add the rest of the liquid ingredients and stir until well combined. The dough will be very runny and that’s ok, it will thicken up. Set your dough aside to rise in a warm draft free area or in your oven on the proof setting for an hour.
Our kids have many food items they have never had from a store due to food allergies and restrictions. Often, we forget the foods my husband and I grew up on. When we remember some of these foods, we want our kids to have a similar item that is safe for them, and also has clean ingredients. When we made these animal cookies recently, our youngest exclaimed they were the best cookies she has ever had and we needed to have these everyday lol. I’d say that’s a win! They have quickly become a family favorite. These animal cookies are easy to make and kids love to help cut them out. We found my grandpa’s cookie jar around the same time we made this cookie recipe. Our kids begged to use his M&M cookie jar to house these cookies. 😊
We are excited to share this animal cookie recipe with you so you can enjoy these simple and delightful cookies too. These animal cookies are of course Gluten-Free, Top 8 Allergen Free, and Refined Sugar Free. You can share them with your loved ones with and without food restrictions. They are loved by all! Our goal is always to help you to only need one recipe that everyone loves. There is no need to make separate food anymore! Go and share this recipe all over social media so it can go viral again, it really is worth raving about. Head on over to grab our Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix so you can make these.
Animal Cookies
Ingredients
1 Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix
1 Cup Coconut sugar (cane sugar works too but we much prefer coconut sugar for these)
6 Tablespoons Butter of choice
6 Tablespoons Shortening
¼ Cup Egg whites or powdered egg replacer for 1 egg
1 ½ teaspoons Vanilla
6-8 Tablespoons Milk of choice
Glaze Ingredients
1 Cup Powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon Milk of choice
1 teaspoon Beetroot powder (only if you want to make pink glaze)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Prepare 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand or hand mixer, cream together the butter and shortening. If you don’t want to use shortening (we think it’s best to) you can use all butter. If you use a vegan butter, you’ll need to use less water as vegan butter has a higher water content than dairy butter. Coconut oil may be a fine substitute for the shortening though we haven’t tried it. It will inevitably make these cookies have a coconut flavor so keep that in mind.
Once the butter and shortening are creamed well together, add the egg white or powdered egg replacer and vanilla. Mix until well combined. Slowly mix in the Rustic Scoop™ Pancake and Waffle Mix, mix on medium speed until combined as much as you can. Slowly start adding milk. Start with ¼ Cup then add one more Tablespoon at a time if need be. It takes a bit for the dough to come together, but it will, just be patient. The final texture of the dough should be a nice pliable dough that isn’t dry and crumbly nor wet and sticky.
If you have a silpat mat, place it on your counter. Roll out the cookie dough between two pieces of parchment paper. You should not need non-stick spray or a floured surface. The dough should roll nicely and not stick. Roll the dough out evenly until it is approximately ¼ inch thick. Use desired cookie cutters to cut out your cookies. We suggest using small to medium sized cookie cutters for these cookies. Gently transfer the cookies to your cookie sheets with parchment paper. If your cookies seem crumbly and don’t roll out of transfer nicely, try adding one Tablespoon milk at a time until the dough isn’t crumbly. Take remaining dough and roll it back out, cut out more cookies. Repeat until all dough is cut out. Leave ½ inch between cookies giving them space to rise.
If the dough becomes sticky, it has gotten too warm. Pop it in the refrigerator for 20 minutes and continue rolling.
Bake at 375°F for 14-18 minutes for small cookies, medium cookies for 16-22 minutes, and 22-28 minutes for large cookies. They will firm up a bit as they cool. The bake time will vary if you make thicker cookies. Let your cookies cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack. If you find that the cookies are too soft, put them back in the oven for another 2 minutes. Makes approximately 36 medium sized cookies depending on the size of the cookies you cut out.
While your cookies are baking, make the glaze in a small bowl. If the glaze is too thick add a tiny bit of milk at a time. If the glaze is too thin, add more powdered sugar until you get your desired consistency. Once your cookies are fully cool, glaze and sprinkle with your favorite sprinkles. We always love to see your creations, tag us when you make them. Enjoy!
]]>My husband, our toughest food critic and dessert lover cannot get enough of these. He has a sweet tooth and loves having dessert every night after dinner, even if it’s just something small. These are one of his all time favorite desserts! He has even come to the point that he wanted to learn how to make them himself so he can have them whenever he wants. Trust me, that’s a first. He’s an amazing cook, but he doesn’t bake. When he wants something so much he’s willing to learn to “bake” (ok these only take a microwave. but still.), you know they’re amazing. So simple to make and so fast you can make them anytime!
We loved these chocolate mug cakes so much we decided to sell them for both Valentine’s Day as individual mixes, and through one of our distributors. They have been a hit there. We kept getting questions from our customers that already had our chocolate cake and cupcake mix if they could get the recipe so they too could make them. You know we love to give you all the recipes you want, so here is the recipe so you all can make these amazing chocolate mug cakes too. Our Rustic Scoop™ Chocolate Cake and Cupcake Mix makes 7 mug cakes. If you don’t already have one of these mixes, head on over to grab some. You will not be disappointed.
Chocolate Mug Cake
Ingredients
84g Rustic Scoop™ Chocolate Cake Mix
3 Tablespoons Milk of choice
1 ⅓ Tablespoons Oil of choice
1 ⅓ Tablespoons Egg whites or ¾ Tablespoon Aquafaba (garbanzo bean water)
⅛ teaspoon Vanilla extract
⅛ teaspoon White vinegar
Directions
Prepare a 15 ounce coffee mug with non-stick spray. Weigh the Rustic Scoop Chocolate Cake Mix in the mug (yes, weighing is very important here. Next, add all of the wet ingredients. Stir with a spoon until well combined. Microwave on high for 1 minute and 15 seconds or until a toothpick comes out clean. A full Rustic Scoop™ Chocolate Cake Mix makes 7 mug cakes. Enjoy!
If you would like to top your mug cake, you can make a simple chocolate or white chocolate ganache. While your mug cake is cooling, melt 2 Tablespoons chocolate or white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl for 20 seconds. Stir until melted. If it needs longer, microwave in 5-10 second increments until it is melted, stirring in between. You can drizzle the melted chocolate on its own or add 1-2 teaspoons of milk to make a ganache. If you like a fudgy ganache, use cold milk, then let the ganache sit for a few minutes while it thickens. If you like a thinner ganache, microwave your milk and chocolate together. Then you can add sprinkles if you would like as well.
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