Day 7 - Half-baked ideas

11 days until Christmas and I'm beginning to think about my baking.  I love baking for the holidays.  I love making little baskets of goodies to share with friends, neighbors, teachers, etc.  It is tradition for me. I am my own Betty Crocker/Paula Deen (without the addiction to butter and all the "ya'll"s in my sentences). I've been baking since I was young and I can't imagine a Christmas going by without it.

So, what do I do when most of my goodies are high sugar/high carb/low-gluten UNfriendly?  I think that some of you might be with me on this worry, so I've decided to kick this problem in the pants!

First, I want to give you a list of holiday goodies (and I'm talking sweets here) that are low-gluten/gluten-free without modification:

1. Muddy Buddies (or as we call them back home, "People's Puppy Chow" or "who ate all the People's Puppy chow?!?")
    Believe it or not, this is a gluten-free snack.  Does that mean inhale the whole bowl? No.  It's bound to get you dirty looks when people see the powdered sugar on your hands, mouth, shirt and in your hair.  Moderation is ALWAYS a good idea at the holidays.  Think of it this way: if you eat all of one thing, you don't get to sample anything else without that belly bursting button blow-out and the whining about how you ruined your diet.  Here's a recipe for those of you unfamiliar with this treat: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chex-muddy-buddies----gluten-free/detail.aspx

2. Chocolate Peanut-butter bars (Also sometimes called Chocolate Haystacks)
    Again, the use of Chex in this recipe helps keep it Gluten-friendly.  If you want to take it a bit further, you can supplement an artificial sweetener for the sugar (I've heard good things about Truvia and Splenda.  Demarara sugar is also a bit lower on the GI).  Here's the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/gluten-free-honey-peanut-butter-bars/detail.aspx

Okay, now for the modifications.

1. My all-time favorite Christmas cookie is Russian Tea Cookies (also known as Italian Wedding Cookies, Snowballs and Frosted Nut-bombs).
     I will be making this goodie for Christmas baskets.  I can't imagine not making it.  So, let's look at the recipe, shall we? (We shall!)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Who sees three BIG problems with this recipe?  Lots of sugar, flour and butter!  There are a few ways to break this up to try to make it a healthier option.  You could reduce the butter and insert a healthier fat in its place, but that might mess up the chemical composition of the cookie.  These babies are already a fall-apart-and-leave-a-trail-of-white-powdered-sugar-down-your-nice-clean-holiday-shirt goodie.  Granted, it isn't the holidays unless you leave wearing some of the food, right?

For the butter issue, it isn't the gluten.  Butter has no gluten on a general basis, but the fatty content of butter can increase the problems PCOS-diagnosed have with their insulin absorption.  Because of that, it would be good to mix the dairy fat with something to make it a bit more friendly to our bodies. Here is what I'm going to do -

3/4 c (unsalted) butter
1/2 c butter replacement spread (most-likely Smart Balance or Brown's butter spread)
1/2 c confectioner's sugar
1 c white whole-wheat King Arthur flour
1 1/4 c gluten-free all-purpose flour
1 c finely chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon sault
1 tsp PURE vanilla extract
confectioner's sugar for decoration

You can try this on your own if you want.  The rest of the original recipe is here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Russian-Tea-Cakes-III/Detail.aspx  I will make the cookies this week with my modifications and let you know how it goes.  I think I will also make sure to add at least 1 gluten-free/low-gluten holiday treat recipe each day for those of you fighting through this like me.  If any of you have recipes you want to share, please feel free to comment or email me!