Chocolate Fudge Ball Cookies~*Gluten Free* Version

**These are originally not gluten or dairy free. I adapted the recipe for my gluten free readers this year. They can be made with butter and all purpose flour for those of you not looking for GF or DF cookies. Just use the same measurements for the flour and margarine.**


My very favorite Christmas cookie recipe is one for Chocolate Fudge Balls. My mom has been making these every single Christmas for as long as I can recall. It truly is not Christmas until we have Fudge Balls and Party Mix (that recipe is coming soon!). This year I decided to make these cookies gluten free as well as dairy free. I have never used gluten free flour before- I don't have a need to be gluten free, but since I have had requests for more gluten free recipes I thought I would give it a try. And it worked! These cookies are amazing- just as they are every year! I had my husband try them and he agrees- they taste just like the ones my Mom makes.
If you are gluten and dairy free I really hope you give these a try. I realize it's very close to Christmas, but they take less time than most cookies, and only a few ingredients. I promise you- they are totally worth it!


Gluten Free & Dairy Free Chocolate Fudge Balls:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Earth Balance Buttery Spread
1 and 1/2 squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sifted Gluten Free Flour
confectioner's sugar

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375F. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper (makes for easy cleanup)

1. Melt margarine with chocolate in a saucepan over medium heat.


Stir constantly-Be extremely careful not to burn the chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple minutes.



2.Add sugar, egg, salt, and vanilla extract; mix well.
Add in your flour using a sifter.

Those little hands on the sifter are my oldest daughter's. My girls were helping me make these.

Combine well. The batter will be thick.

3. Shape the dough into balls. You can use a teaspoon to measure the dough, but I usually eyeball it. The ball should be the size of a large gumball. Place on your lined cookie sheets.


4. Bake at 375F for 7-9 minutes. You will know they are done because they will get small cracks in them.


5. Allow them to cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes. Roll them in confectioners sugar while they are still warm.



Store them in a airtight container or freeze. They freeze really well!



If you do try them (and I really hope you do!)please let me know either by leaving a comment here on the blog or on my Facebook page or by sending me a tweet on Twitter.

Special thanks to my Mom for sharing this recipe with me and allowing me to share it with you all.

**This recipe is adapted from the "Pillsbury Family Cookbook" and I believe the copyright is in the late 1950's or early 1960's.**

What's Baking~Christmas Cookies

I have not yet baked one Christmas cookie. Seriously- not one. But that's not abnormal for me- I actually do not start baking until the week before Christmas. I like my cookies fresh for the Holidays and I don't like to over do it on the sweets for Christmas. Plus, I know for a fact that Santa's favorite Christmas cookies are peanut butter blossoms, and that he likes them made on Christmas Eve;-) We always save those for very last, and the girls help, since those are the ones we leave out for Santa.
So since this is the week before Christmas, we will get started on our baking. I thought I would share my Cookie Menu with you. We'll see if I actually get all of these done.

Traditional Favorites:
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Chocolate Chip ( my husband's favorite)
Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Fudge Balls

Cranberry Orange Bread (ok, so that's not a cookie)

Grownups' Favorites:
Double Chocolate Biscotti

Cranberry Orange Biscotti
Chocolate Cappucino Cookies
Raspberry Wine and Chocolate Dipped Butter Cookies (and clementines- SO GOOD!)

Do you see a theme with the chocolate? I am actually a closet choco-holic-(Shhhh don't tell anyone.) And to help with that addiction I found dairy free chocolate chips at Trader Joes.

But, first things first, I have to make Rice Krispie Treat Christmas Trees for my middle daughter's preschool party tomorrow and wrap teachers' gifts.

As I make these cookies I will share the recipes. I cannot wait to start baking this week, especially with my girls.

Dairy Free & Vegan Cookie Recipe Swap

As a special DairyFree Christmas event,Jessica @ DairyfreeBetty and I have decided to do a DairyFree and Vegan Blogger cookie recipe swap! But, we're going to do it a little differently.



We are going to trade recipes, instead of cookies. Each participant will pick their favorite dairyfree/vegan Christmas cookie recipe and mail it in a card to the person they are assigned. The recipient will make the cookies and post the recipe on their blog, linking back to the sender.

If you want to include the cookies with your recipe you can! Everyone likes to get goodies, but you don't have to send the cookies too if you don't want to.

This is to not only share recipes, but to connect us as a DairyFree community.

If you are interested, you can email your mailing address to me at dairyfreeomnivore@gmail.com, or to Jessica at dairyfreebetty@hotmail.com.

**If you have other food allergies, such as nuts or gluten, please include that in your email so we can pass that info along:-)**

Please send your address to us by Dec. 3rd so we can organize the addresses.
Please send your recipe to your assigned recipient by Dec. 15th.

Happy Baking!
~Stephanie

(You'll Never Know They're Dairy Free) Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have much of a sweet tooth but when I do get a craving for sweets my one weakness is definitely Chocolate Chip Cookies. I LOVE fresh home baked chocolate chip cookies- chewy, not crunchy. I have found lots of recipes for healthy vegan chocolate chip cookies, but that just doesn't seem right to me. I mean, a cookie isn't supposed to be healthy, it's supposed to be a treat. It's a COOKIE after all! And unless you have serious allergies to eggs or are a vegan, I don't see the point to making them vegan.

As most of you know I am a huge fan of Trader Joes, and have started doing about 80% of my grocery shopping there. On my last trip I picked up some chocolate chips (Not reading the back, because I knew no matter what my kids and husband would want cookies at some point). I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the Trader Joes Semisweet Chocolate Chips are DAIRY FREE!!


I had been a little hesitant to try making chocolate chip cookies using dairy free margarine instead of butter. But since it was a yucky rainy weekend and I had time on my hands (well, as much as I could have with 3 little ones running around!) I decided to give it a try. And to my surprise they turned out PERFECT! I could not wait to share the recipe with all of you!

I got this directly from the back of the chocolate chip bag. I am sharing it especially for my friends who do not have a Trader Joes near them. ;-)

Ingredients:
2 and 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I use turbinado)
1 cup softened dairy free margarine (I use Earth Balance)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 package Trader Joes Chocolate Chips (Or other Dairy Free ones)



Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F. Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.


2. Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar, softened margarine, and vanilla in a a large bowl. Beat with an electric mixer (or use your Kitchen Aid if you have one) until creamy. Add in the eggs and beat.


3. Add in your dry ingredients and beat until combined.


4. Stir in the chocolate chips.


5. Drop mixture by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.(It says teaspoons, but I like bigger cookies so I always use a tablespoon.


6. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Although I found that they needed a little longer than 10 minutes because I made them tablespoon size instead of teaspoon size. I recommend setting the time for 9 minutes and watching them closely.






These are sooooo good! To me I can't tell they are completely dairy free and neither could my husband. They taste just like Nestle Tollhouse cookies. I made them for a girls' movie night this weekend and shared them with friends- who also loved them! I have found that storing them in a Ziploc bag is keeping them very fresh. If you don't make anything else from this blog, I do hope you try these. They are just that good!
Happy Baking!

Dark Chocolate and Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Two of my favorite things together are dark chocolate and cherries. One of my kids' and husband's favorite treats is oatmeal cookies. So I thought I should put the two together and get the perfect treat for our family. While the littlest one napped this afternoon my two biggest girls and I did just that! And the results were delicious!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup non-dairy margarine softened ( I used Earth Balance)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate
3/4 cup dried cherries




Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.In a mixing bowl with electric mixer combine sugar, brown sugar, and butter and mix well.


3. Add egg and vanilla extract and continue to mix on medium speed.


4. By hand mix in oatmeal, cherries, and chocolate so that it is mixed well.



5. Loosely form dough into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. I use parchment paper to prevent sticking.


6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are lightly golden.


7. Let cool on sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

A Little Mommy/Daughters Time- Baking Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

There is no better way to spend a dreary, rainy evening than baking cookies with my girls. They decided they wanted oatmeal craisin cookies tonight- something a little different than the regular oatmeal cookie.

I happened across a recipe online for oatmeal craisin cookies. I was looking for one with not quite as much butter and sugar- most call for a cup or more of butter and 2 cups of sugar! This recipe I found called only for 1/2 cup of butter (I used dairy free margarine) and less sugar then normal. I adapted it to fit our needs and I think it worked out perfectly. We had so much fun making these!


Ingredients:
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup dairy free margarine- softened
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground flax seed meal ( not pictured)
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 and 1/2 cups quick cooking oats- I used Trader Joes Organic oats
3/4 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)


I put all the ingredients out in separate bowls so the girls could pour them into the bowl easily.


Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 375. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.In large mixing bowl- I used my Kitchen Aid mixer, you can use a hand held mixer also- combine margarine, brown sugar, and white sugar. Mix well on medium speed.


3. Add in egg and vanilla and mix well until combined.


4. Add in cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and flour. If desired add in ground flax seed meal. Mix well until all ingredients are wet.


5. Add the oatmeal and craisins- fold in by hand with a large spatula or wooden spoon.





6. Drop rounded Tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheet.




7. Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden. Let cool before removing from cookie sheet.



Adapted from a recipe on food.com