This year, I made my own gluten free kruidnoten (so called Spice Nuts) (which will be further referred to as pepernoten becauce everybody calls them like that). Actually, it is the first time ever that I made any pepernoten! Honestly, I never even liked the pepernoten from supermarket before my diagnosis unless they were surrounded by a thick layer of chocolate. But Oh! How was I surprised when I tasted our homemade gluten free version of these cookies. Lovely crunchy and smooth at the same time texture guaranteed the melting in my mouth feeling.   

Ingredients

1. Schar Mix C – 200 g
2. Brown sugar – 125 g
3. Vanilla extract – 1 spoon
4. Baking powder – 1 spoon
5. Speculoos spices* (Cook kruiden) – 2 spoons
6. Egg – 1
7. Butter – 100 g
8. Almond milk – 1.5 spoons

*Spices used in speculoos are cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cardamom and white pepper. 

Necessary appliances

• An oven pre-heated  to  175ºC
• A baking tray and baking paper
• A bowl – to mix all ingredients
• A fridge (~4ºC) – to cool the dough
• Optional: a board and a knife to cut/shape the pepernoten

Preparation steps

1. Place the flour (I used Schar Mix C), sugar, vanilla extract, baking powder, cook kruiden in a bowl and mix together.
2. Add one egg and cold butter (cut in small pieces) to the dry ingredients and knead it well with your hands.
3. If the ingredients are too dry to form the dough – add the almond milk (in my case one and half spoon of liquid was enough). Knead until the dough is developed.
4. Put the dough in a plastic bag and cool it in the fridge for a couple of hours until it is really hard (I left mine in a fridge for 4 hours).  Before placing the dough in a fridge – shape it in a way that it is easy to cut in smaller pieces when it is cooled and hard.
5. The hard dough is easy to cut in squares of desired size. I didn’t make round pepernoten because I wanted to keep the dough as cold as possible. Forming round shape with my hands would warm up the dough and I really wanted to avoid it.
6. Place the cookies on a baking tray (on a baking paper) and bake for about 15 minutes at 175ºC.
7. Cool the pepernoten before serving.

Tips

• If you want your pepernoten round, you could try to shape them first and then cool them in a fridge.
• If the dough is shaped in long rolls it is easier to cut it into pieces after cooling (they will be round then as well).
• The Shar Mix C can be replaced by another GF flour (the texture will be different though and I really liked the mouth feel here).
• It is possible to put the cooled pepernoten in a chocolate bath to further spoil your palate.
• Butter can be replaced by plant based fat (margarine) to make 100% glutenfree and dairyfree pepernoten.
• The almond milk can be replaced by dairy milk or other liquid (sweet water)
• It is popular to use buckwheat flour to make GF pepernoten.
• I bought my cook kruiden in EkoPlaza from Het Blauwe Huis (koek kruiden).       

Enjoy baking your own gluten free Pepernoten/Kruidnoten,

Kati

Instead, I am absolutely amazed by these peanut butter cookies. They are perfect!

• Soft
• Don’t crumble
• Not too sweet
• Without flour
• Without added refined sugar
• Free from dairy
• Free from gluten

Ingredients

• Peanut butter – about 300 ml (I used the bio pindakaas from AH)
• Egg – one small
• Banana – one small
• Baking soda – 1 spoon
• Vanilla extract – ½ spoon
• Optional: oat flakes (I used about 3-4 spoons)
• Optional: chocolate chunks (I used the pure choco chunks from Heel Holland Bakt)

Needed appliances

• A bowl – to combine ingredients
• A mixer or spatula and strong muscles
• A baking tray
• Baking paper
• Pre-heated oven (180ºC)

Tips

• It is possible to add less or more peanut butter. The amount is not really strict.
• I added the oat flakes for extra fibers and I believe it added some volume to the cookies.
• Adding banana was a bit spontaneous. I wanted to add sweet flavor to my cookies. Perhaps grinded dates would work even better. Something to try next time.
• I combined everything using mixer but spatula and strong muscles would do too.

Preparation steps

1. Start heating the oven (180ºC)
2. Cover a baking tray with a baking paper
3. Beat/mix in a bowl: one egg, baking soda and vanilla extract
4. Add to it one small banana (or a couple of dates) and peanut butter, then mix everything together slowly for 1-2 min until smooth
5. Optional: add oat flakes, chocolate chunks (or sugar) and combine all together
6. Spoon the blended ingredients on the baking tray and flatten into cookie shape
7. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 10 minutes
8. Remove the cookies from the oven when golden brown and let them cool down

I love them. My family found them not sweet enough. If you don’t mind sugar or like your cookies extra sweet, you can add honey (or sugar) instead of banana for the sweeter taste.

Enjoy making your own cookies,

I encourage you to try this easy and quick recipe for homemade cookies/snacks made of buckwheat flakes with fruits. They are absolutely tasty-licious!

Highlights

• Glutenfree & lactosefree
• No refined flour and sugar
• No oats
• Without eggs, butter, dairy
• No unnecessary additives
• Preparation 25-30 minutes
• Breakfast/Lunch/Snack/Dessert

Ingredients

• Buckwheat flakes – 2 ½  cup
• Banana – 1 or 2
• Apple pure (apple sauce) –  1 ½  cup
• Nuts – 1 cup
• Berries – a small cup or half
• Apple – 1
• Optional: powdered sugar to sprinkle the cookies

Tips

• Pre-heat the oven before you start mixing all ingredients
• No need to be very strict with the recipe; it is not a problem if you add more/less of just about anything in the recipe

Needed appliances

• A bowl
• A spoon
• A baking tray
• A baking paper or muffin forms
• A preheated to 180ºC oven

Preparation steps

• Preheat the oven to 180ºC
• Prepare baking tray and muffin forms

•  Mix all ingredients together

• Fill the forms (I use the ice scoop and it works like a charm)

• Bake the cookies for 20-25 minutes in 180ºC.

• Leave the cookies to cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar (optional)

Enjoy,

I make these cookies very rarely. Only because they are so tasty that we eat them within one day! And they are not the best choice for my inflamed intestine. The above picture was made last Xmas :)

• 3 ingredients!
• Delicious!

Ingredients

• Almond flour – 125 g
• Butter – 80 g
• Brown sugar – 50 g
• Optional: chocolate to coat cookies

Tips

• You can use any gluten free flour instead of almond flour (but it won’t taste as good!)
• Perhaps you can skip sugar and coat the cookies in dark chocolate instead to make it more healthy (I must try it once)

Needed appliances

• Pre-heated oven to 170ºC
• Baking plate
• Baking paper
• Bowl and spoon to mix ingredients
• Fridge to cool the dough
• Knife to cut the dough
• Optional: kitchen balance

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

Preparation steps

• Weigh almond flour, sugar and butter
• Mix flour with sugar in a bowl (you will see on a picture a different technique but that is because it was made by my fiance..men and baking ;-))
• Add butter to the dry components and mix well (use your hand)
• Place the dough on a baking paper (aluminum foil/plastic foil – whatever you have) and roll it in a kind of a ‘sausage’
• Place the dough in the fridge for at least 30 min to cool it down
• Slice the dough (cut 0.5 cm slices)
• Bake the cookies for  10-15 minutes at 170ºC
• Cool the cookies
• If you fancy – coat cookies in chocolate and let them cool!

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

Enjoy,

• Only 3 main ingredients!
• Good source of protein, fiber and vitamins!
• No added sugar (enough of it from fruits)!
• Suitable for breakfast, lunch or a sweet tooth break!
• No blenders, no mixers needed!

Ingredients

• Gluten free oat flakes – 150 g
• Apple puree – 175 g
• Banana (you can replace it with two spoons of almond pasta and optional: some sugar)
• Cinnamon
• Optional: piece of fruits, dry fruits, dark chocolate pieces, nuts or seeds

Tips

• Instead of oat flakes you could use other gluten free but relatively large flakes like buckwheat flakes (quinoa and amaranth might not be the best choice here, their flakes are rather small)

Needed appliances

• Oven pre-heated to 180ºC
• Baking paper
• Bowl to mix ingredients
• Fork to smash banana
• Spoon to mix ingredients
• Optional: balance to weigh ingredients

[See image gallery at glutenfreelady.nl]

Preparation steps:

• Heat the oven to 180ºC
• Peel banana and smash it using a fork
• Weigh 150 g of oat flakes and place it in a bowl
• Weigh 175 g of apple puree and add to the flakes
• Add banana and cinnamon and mix all together
• Spoon ‘cookies’ on a baking paper
• Bake 30 min in 180ºC

Below a version of cookies made of buckwheat flakes with banana, apple pure, pieces of apple, blueberries, three types of nuts and sprinkled with sugar: