Chocolate Macaroons, Naturally Gluten-Free

Nearly all macaroon recipes I've ever made have no wheat. This is one of my favorites. It's chocolaty, with a soft and chewy center, and fairly easy to make. I found it on allrecipes.com a few years ago, and have made it over and over again. If you're not a fan of coconut - no worries. There's so much chocolate in these that the coconut definitely takes a back seat in the flavor category. I used Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips - on sale this week several places so I stocked up. They are my favorite chips.

OK - so it's not the prettiest cookie on the block, but it's nothing that a light dusting of powdered sugar can't fix... which is what I plan on doing before serving these at an up coming event. For now - into the freezer they go, right next to the pretty cookies :-)

Gluten-free Chocolate Macaroons

Ingredients:

• 3 Egg Whites (room temperature best, but not required)
• Pinch of Salt
• 3/4 cup White Sugar
• 2 1/4 cups Shredded Coconut, unsweetened
• 1 1/4 cups Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1/2 cup Chopped Nuts (Almonds or Walnuts are good)
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.

1. Melt chocolate in double-boiler (aka bowl over simmering water) and let cool.
2. Using an electric hand mixer whip the egg whites until foamy. Then slowly add salt and sugar a little at a time, until the mixture stands in peaks (about 5 minutes).
3. Gently stir in the Vanilla.
4. Gently fold in the chocolate, coconut, and nuts until completely blended.
5. Scoop (about a heaping tablespoon) the dough about 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined cookie sheets. Use your fingers to shape them into a dome.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
7. Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before carefully moving to cooling rack.

The cookies will be soft until completely cooled. Makes 3 to 4 dozen cookies, depending on size.

Note: the dough may become dry and crumbly while you're working with it. Just press it together with your hands to form the domes and they will hold together.

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Gluten-free Low-Sugar Banana Bread

Yes - those are chocolate chips. That's pretty much the only way I eat Banana Bread - with chocolate chips. They just seem to belong together. But for those of you nut fans, feel free to replace the chocolate chips with chopped nuts :-)

Bananas, waiting for sweet browns spots so they can be transformed into a Banana Bread. I do wish Ghiradelli or another fine chocolate company made mini-chips. Nestle is OK, but not my favorite brand of chocolate.




This was my third try (I seem to have a lot of third tries?) and my best, at a Gluten-free Banana Bread. The first was just short of a disaster. It was a very big loaf in a not-so-big loaf pan. It ended up being like...well...bread. With a banana taste. It was plain weird.

I learned a lot from that first one. The second one was closer, but the taste was a little off. Must have been the Vegenaise. It really doesn't have a place in banana bread after all. LOL.

So this last one I knew what I had to do to make it right. The nice thing about it too, is that it's relatively low-sugar. If you use really, really ripe bananas (which I would never eat by themselves - feh!), they naturally add sweetness, so you don't need lots of sugar.



OK - so that white stuff you see around the edge of the loaf pan - it's about a Tablespoon of sugar mixed with cinnamon. I just shake it into the pan after I grease it. It's not necessary, but it does add a nice little touch to the finished bread.



Notice the cracks on top of the finished loaf. A **must** for a properly baked, moist Banana Bread. Know what I mean?

So delicious. Must.put.half.in.the.freezer....quick.



Gluten-free Low-Sugar Banana Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Gluten-free flour blend (or your favorite GF blend)
• 1/2 cup Sugar (will try 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup Splenda next time)
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 2 tsp Xanthan Gum
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3 very ripe medium Bananas, mashed (approx 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/3 cup Plain Fat Free Yogurt
• 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 oz Butter, melted and cooled slightly (6 Tbs)
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1/2 - 3/4 cups chocolate chips (I used mini chips because they don't sink; use the lesser amount if you use regular size chips)
• 1 Tbs sugar + cinnamon to taste (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 X 5 loaf pan, and sprinkle with sugar-cinnamon mix if desired.

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and xanthan gum together with a whisk and set aside.
2. In separate bowl, mix together mashed bananas, sugar, yogurt, slightly beaten eggs, melted butter, and vanilla.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing with a spatula to combine until just mixed.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips (or nuts).
5. Pour into prepared loaf pan, and bake 55 - 60 minutes, until toothpick comes out dry. Top of loaf should be golden brown.
6. Cool in pan on wire rack at least 15 minutes. Then remove from pan and cool on wire rack.

Try really hard not to cut into it to eat until it is completely cooled (Ha Ha! Good luck with that!)

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