Delightfully Gluten Free

This is an old standby for peanut butter cookies for us gluten-freers. But I am not kidding, this actually makes the best peanut butter cookies. The other firefighters always have Andy make these. They call him Keebler, and they tell him to go Keeble (it’s their verb for make cookies).

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Mix all ingredients together. Place drops of dough on cookie sheet (size is up to you). Use a fork to make crisscross patterns (this is easy to do without sticking if you will keep your fork in a glass of ice water when not using it). Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 12 minutes. Watch them, so you will know when it’s best to take them out. When they start to brown, and just barely give off a smell of burning peanut butter, then they are done. Let cool partially on cookie sheet, then twist to remove, and put on cooling rack.

Additions:
Chocolate chips go great in these cookies, without having to change anything else. You can also use 1/2 chunky and 1/2 creamy peanut butter. In the past, I have made “trail mix” cookies using half chunky peanut butter (and half creamy), and adding some chocolate chips and raisins.

Ah, cheesecake. How I love thee – let me count the ways… Sometimes, you want cheesecake NOW! And sometimes, you want to control the fat and calories a little more. This recipe is fast and easy. You can even do it without any gluten-free specialty ingredients if you want.

No-Bake Cheesecake

1 crumb or nut crust
1 8 oz. block of cream cheese (can be low-fat – I think even fat-free works)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tub of Cool Whip (can be low-fat of fat-free)

Beat together cream cheese and sugar. Fold in Cool Whip. Scoop into crust. Chill and serve.

Crumb Crust:

A crumb crust is really easy. Just use enough crumbs from your favorite gf cookies or gf cornflakes (you may need a little sugar if you use cornflakes) to cover the pie plate, and enough melted butter to stick it all together. Obviously, I don’t generally measure this stuff. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 to 10 minutes, so it will stay together better. You can skip the crust part if you want and just sprinkle the cookies on top.
My favorite way to make the crust is using about 1/2 Health Valley Rice Bran crackers (they taste like graham crackers, but way different texture), and half pecans. You can also use just pecans and butter for this crust, and it is still superb.