Otto's Naturals Grain-Free Ultimate Cookie Mix

cookies and oat milk

Here at Casa Minx, the annual Baking of the Holiday Cookies has long been one of our favorite Christmas traditions. We make rolled sugar cookies, snickerdoodles, oatmeal cookies, and a double batch of chocolate chippers. Sometimes I add an oddball, like biscotti, or last year's chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons. My brother helps out and gets to take half home, the rest we nibble into January or February or however long we can make them last. In recent years, they've lasted a good long time, as I've taken to wrapping about 1/3 of them in foil and tucking them in the freezer for a rainy day. I know you're thinking, "how do they have the strength not to snarfle up ALL the cookies right away?" It does take some willpower, believe me. Also, we tend to start Whole30 sometime in early January. It's the only diet that works for me, and it doesn't allow wheat. Or sugar. Or dairy. By packing up the cookies, I reduce temptation to cheat.

I'm not sure if it's related in any way, but after several years of giving up dairy periodically, I am now lactose intolerant. I must have perpetrated some real evil over my lifetime to deserve this punishment. Even semi-sweet chocolate morsels contain milk, as do most chocolate candy, cake, and cookies. And as mentioned above, cookies also contain wheat. Rather than give up on the joy of cookies entirely, even when dieting, I have found a work-around for my problem: Otto's Natural Grain-Free Ultimate Cookie Mix, which can be found in the fancy organic/special diet/gf aisle in many grocery stores. It's made with cassava flour, which makes a pretty darn good substitute for wheat flour in many things, plus the usual brown and white sugars and baking soda called for by a standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. It only requires an egg, a soupcon of vanilla, mix-ins like chips or nuts, and a fat. The traditional fat for cookie baking is butter, but I know many families use margarine. I grew up in a no-margarine-ever household. To my palate, the butter substitutes of my youth were nasty. Today, however, there are a few tasty faux butters on the market. My personal favorite is Earth Balance, which comes in stick form as well as the usual tub. So not only can I have gluten-free cookies, they can be dairy-free as well. I even found non-dairy chocolate chips in the form of 72% cacao from Ghirardelli. (They also make 100% cacao chips, but they don't have any sugar in them. While they're not particularly bitter, they might still be a rude surprise in a chocolate chip cookie.)

If by some miracle there are cookies left by January 1, I still need to tuck them away as they contain the very non-Whole30 sugar. A bag of Otto's cookie mix only makes about 4 dozen small cookies, however, which are pretty easy to destroy in 2 weeks. In fact, I don't know how well they freeze, so I'm not even going to try. 

raw dough

Chocolate Walnut Cookies (non-dairy, gluten-free)

You may make these cookies at any time of the year. I make them for Christmas. They're not super sweet, and they taste great with an ice cold glass of oat milk (or the milk-like fluid of your choosing).

1 large egg

1 4-ounce stick Earth Balance, melted and cooled

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 bag Otto's Naturals Grain-free Ultimate Cookie Mix

1 tablespoon pure cocoa powder

3/4 cup non-dairy chocolate chips (I used 72% cacao Ghirardelli)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

In a medium bowl, beat the egg into the cooled margarine with a fork until combined. Stir in the vanilla, cookie mix, and cocoa, and mix well. The dough will not hold together in the same way as standard cookie dough and will appear a bit loose. Stir in the chips and walnuts. 

Preheat oven to 350F. 

Scoop a heaped half tablespoon of dough at a time, pressing into a ball. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and flatten slightly with your palm. They won't spread very much, if at all. 

Bake 10-12 minutes. Allow cookies to cool several minutes on the sheets before moving them to racks to cool, as they are somewhat fragile while warm. Cool completely before storing in a lidded container.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

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Posted on Minxeats.com.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Spicewalla Chai Masala Streusel Muffins

One of the most important things in my kitchen is my collection of herbs and spices. Without them, food would be bland and uninteresting. I have never been brand-loyal--I buy everyday spices that are the most affordable, but once in a while I splash out for a blend that seems too delicious to pass up. I'm always open to trying new things, so I was pretty pleased when Spicewalla offered to send me a selection of their spices to play with. Four were savory blends, but I cracked into the two sweeter items right away. The first thing I did was to make golden milk with their Golden Milk blend (Turmeric, Cinnamon, Ginger, Black pepper, Nutmeg, Roasted Coriander) warm hemp milk, and a dash of maple syrup for sweetness. I like to make a base mixture first, combining a few heaping teaspoons of spices with non-dairy milk to make a very runny paste and keeping that in the fridge. Then when I want a bit of warm golden milk before bedtime, I mix a few spoonsful of the paste into about half a cup of hemp milk and warm it in the microwave, adding a bit of maple for sweetness. (A half cup is plenty, as I don't want to drink too much liquid before going to bed at night.) Spicewalla's blend has all the right elements for a tasty and soothing sweet-savory beverage.

The other spice I used right away was the Chai Masala blend, though not to make chai. (Did you know that since "chai" means tea, saying "chai tea" is like saying "tea tea?") I thought it would be perfect as the spice in some pumpkin muffins. And damn if I wasn't absolutely right! Spicewalla's freshly-ground small-batch blend of ginger, cinnamon, green cardamom, black pepper, clove, and allspice was the perfect seasoning for these ultra-moist muffins. Like pumpkin spice, but with a little bit extra. While plain muffins are nice, muffins topped with streusel are even nicer, texture-wise. I also added chopped walnuts to the batter. Chopped, toasted, pecans or almonds would work as well, or you can omit both the streusel and the nuts. Up to you. 

Did you catch the words "gluten-free" in the title of this post? Since 2019, I've been on a mostly gluten-free diet, which I have found is a big help in losing weight. Sometimes, though, I crave a sweet treat that's not a piece of chocolate (though nothing is wrong with that!), like a cookie, cupcake, or muffin. There are several good gluten-free flour blends on the market, but I am not particularly crazy about the texture of ones that are primarily rice flour; I find it to be gritty. Almond flour makes a tasty wheat flour substitute, but I find that makes things too dense. A combination of GF flour and almond flour is just perfect, and what I used in this recipe. (If you're ok with gluten, you may substitute 1 3/4 all purpose white flour for the GF and almond flours.)

I know, enough talking. Here's the recipe.

Gluten-free Pumpkin Spicewalla Chai Masala Streusel Muffins 

For the muffins:

3 large eggs

1 15-ounce can pumpkin purée

1 cup gluten-free all-purpose flour 

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional, only if your flour blend doesn't already include xanthan gum)

3/4 cup finely ground almond flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons Spicewalla Chai Masala spices

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts, optional

For the streusel:

1/4 cup Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon Spicewalla Chai Masala spices

pinch of salt

2 tablespoons butter, melted

To make the muffins:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease one 12-well or two 6-well standard-size muffin tins.

Whisk together the eggs and pumpkin purée. Set aside.

Whisk together the gluten-free flour (with additional xanthan gum, if needed), almond flour, sugars, baking powder, salt, and Spicewalla Chai Masala spices.

Using a hand or stand mixer, whip the butter until fluffy. Add in the flour mixture and combine until it looks like wet sand. Add the egg/pumpkin mixture a bit at a time, beating well after each addition. The final mixture should be light and fluffy. Stir in the walnuts, if using.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, filling each cup to the top. Let the batter rest for 10 minutes.

To make the streusel:

Combine all of the ingredients until it forms crumbs. Sprinkle about a tablespoon onto each muffin, pressing it in so it sticks. 

Bake the streusel-topped muffins for 22 to 25 minutes, until the middle springs back when lightly touched. Let rest for 5 minutes before removing muffins from the pan. 

12 servings

Posted on Minxeats.com.

I received a collection of spices from Spicewalla, including the Chai Masala spices, but I am not being otherwise compensated for this post.