Why i do the things i do & an easy recipe to start with.

I'm a mom of two wonderful boys named Thijmen & Gijs. They live a glutenfree life. Thijmen was diagnosed as a celiac when he was 11 months old, and ever since that moment i'm more than a momma. I am a glutenfree momma. It was a struggle at first, to find out how to bake a bread that didn't tast like cardboard and to make cookies that didn't crumble when you touched them. 
Shopping took hours to find out what was safe to feed my kid and what i could feed him to make him healthy again and growing. Because my wonderful boy was underfed. Big time. 
His younger brother started losing weight when he was just over 1 years old. He cried of tummy ache and slept hours and hours. It looked so familiar, so we had him tested. There were no antibodies found, but he is a happier little boy ever since he joined his brother on the glutenfree diet. And since he prefers glutenfree foods over normal food, we are keeping him on the same diet to have him tested again when he is a bit older. And so, this glutenfree momma now bakes and cooks for two. 

 

I've started this blog to share the recipes that i use so others won't have to struggle the way this mom did. I'll be adding recipes regularly and when my boys are old enough to stand on their own two feet, i'll probably have a cookbook that i can share right here. 

 

I must add that I love making cupcakes, cakes, cookies and such so you'll find many of those recipes here. I'm Dutch, so many of my recipes will be in grams, but i'll try to adapt to cups and ounces as well. 

 

I'll start with an easy recipe for shortbread that i made with my son this week. Recipes for bread etc will follow soon. 

 

Shortbread:

• 1 cup/225 grams of unsalted soft butter
• half a cup / 60 grams of powdered sugar
• 2 tablspoons of brown sugar
• 1/4 tablespoon of salt
• 1.5 cup / 190 grams of glutenfree all purpose flour 
• 0.5 cup /65 grams of rice flour
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum

 

To decorate:

• glutenfree M&M's or smarties (check the ingredient declaration, in Holland the ones by Jumbo are glutenfree)

Icing:

• 1 cup / 120 grams of powdered sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 tablespoons of water or orange juice

Instructions:

1. Beat butter, powdered sugar, brown sugar and salt in a large bowl with an electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy. Whisk flour blend, rice flour & xanthan gum in a medium bowl.  
2. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, 0.5 a cup at a time, beating well  after each addition. Shape dough into a log, wrap tightly in plastic wrap  and refrigerate for at least one hour. 
3. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit or 180 degrees Centigrade.Cut the log into 1 cm or half an inch  thick slices and place on ungreased cookie sheets.  
4. Bake about 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 10 minutes on cookie sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.  
5. Make the icing by adding the fluids and vanilla to the powdered sugar and stir well till all the powdered sugar is dissolved. Coat the cookies with the icing and decorate with the M&M's. Let the icing harden and then.. enjoy! 

 

 

 

ps. You can also decorate them with melted chocolate if you want a more adult version! But trust me, these are mouth watering too! (One is never to old for M&M's, right?)