Adventures in gluten-free baking.

I have a friend who also loves to write, and we like to get together for tea (she has gorgeous china.) She also has celiac disease. She's not one to adventure into the land of alternate flours and fussy baking while I love to, especially so we can share a treat with our tea. And if you are experimenting, nobody blames you if it doesn't turn out perfectly, right?

Personally, I had no idea how many foods and condiments had wheat in them. Like soy sauce! Silly me, I always assumed it was made of soy. And my family disagrees with any attempt I make to use a Lesser Noodle than one made from wheat flour since the alternatives have a Funny Texture.

My friend has seen the extent to which wheat rules the Western world, as she can't even eat at some restaurants like Texas Roadhouse (to which I always want to add the word "massacre") because everything has something wheat about it, even the marinades. So bringing pleasure to a friend with a sweet tooth? Right up my alley!

Know anyone with a gluten issue? Here is my more than acceptable recipe for:

GLUTEN FREE SHORTBREAD FINGERS

ingredients:

1 Cup Sweet Sorghum Gluten-free flour

1/4 Cup White Rice flour

4 Tablespoons Agave Sweetener 

1/2 Cup room temperature, softened butter

the how-to:

MIX all ingredients until fluffy

PAT dough into 5 inch x 8 inch rectangle on rice-floured counter 

     (if the dough is too sticky, sprinkle rice flour on top of the dough to pat)

CUT into 12 fingers. I like to use my pizza cutter, and usually I feel the need

     to poke a design into the cookies with a fork. Makes me feel all bake-y.

See? Pizza cutted. And fork poked. And very irregularly shaped.

BAKE at 325 F for 20 minutes. I'm assuming you know to put the unbaked

     cookies onto a baking pan first.

COOL on pan before removing, since these cookies are very tender and 

     fragile (like me) before cooled.

Remove gently, eat, enjoy.

tasty variation:

Substitute 1/2 Cup almond flour for 1/2 Cup of the sorghum. Nice, nutty taste.

Didn't I almost sound like I knew what I was doing? So redemptive in my cooking world.

Skimmer's Recap: Seriously? It has what, like 4 ingredients?