After School Snacks

Summer wanes, and it’s cool enough to bake at last. My only current live-in "kid" finished school long ago, but he still likes to refuel with a handful of cookies mid-way between lunch and dinner, or take some along as survival food on off-Island jaunts. He’s gluten sensitive, diabetic, and not supposed to eat much sugar. I work around that with tasty, crunchy cookies replete with raisins, nuts, or chocolate chips. They’re midway between sweets and breadstuffs.
 
Maybe with gluten out of our menus, school would be more fun and less of a chore for our young scholars. Here is a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie. It’s slightly different from the Sorghum and Oat Chip Cookies in my gluten free baking book, Wholegrain and Gluten Free, available at Minglement. The book lies flat on the counter when opened so you never have a recipe disappear within a cookbook that flops shut on you. The type is large enough to read without stooping over it, too. It’s designed to be easy to cook from.
 
Sorghum & Millet, Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 3 dozen 2 ½-inch cookies
 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Melt in metal bowl:
½ cup (1 cube) butter or
4 Tablespoons butter and
4 Tablespoons coconut oil
3/4 cup packed down brown cane sugar or coconut sugar
1 egg beaten with
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Sift and stir in:
1 cup sorghum flour
1 cup millet flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon soda
½ teaspoon salt
Stir in:
½ cup bitter-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup chopped walnuts
 
Let batter rest 30 minutes. Drop by teaspoonfuls on parchment lined baking sheets, placing 1 1/2-inch apart. Bake 10 minutes on center rack of preheated oven. Test with a toothpick inserted into the center of the tallest cookie. When done, remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes to solidify. Transfer to racks to cool completely.
 
Note: Coconut sugar is much lower on the Glycemic Index than cane sugar. Coconut sugar is okay for people allergic to sugar cane.