Cookies - Springformed | Naturally Gluten Free Baking

Rocky Road Cookies

One of my favorite bakeries in New York is Ovenly. They make this delicious, gluten-free seasonal cookie based on hot chocolate. It reminds me of rocky road ice cream – chocolate ice cream, nuts, chocolate pieces, and marshmallows – created in the United States in 1929 at the time of Wall Street Crash and named ‘rocky road’ given the ensuing Great Depression. I significantly adapted Ovenly’s seasonal hot chocolate cookie recipe to make it more of a year-round rocky road-style cookie. Any cookie with marshmallows is a winner for me. It’s a fudgy, chewy and decadent treat – perhaps my favorite cookie! Recipe below.

Amaretti di Gavi

There are many varieties of almond-based cookies in Italy, with the taste and texture of each varying significantly. These are my favorite. They are firm on the outside and moist, tender and chewy on the inside and can be eaten in two bites. Amaretti di Gavi are shaped like a triangle or pyramid and pinched or indented slightly to give them their characteristic look. Made of seven ingredients and rolled in confectioners’ sugar, they are easy to make. Traditional recipes call for a blend of regular and bitter almonds (amaro means bitter, hence the name of the cookie). Bitter almonds are hard to come by as they are toxic when eaten raw; their sale in some countries is even prohibited. This recipe uses only regular almonds and substitutes the intense flavor of the bitter almonds with almond extract. These cookies originated in Gavi in the Piedmont region of Italy, but they are also popular in Sicily, where they are called pasticcini di mandorla. Depending on the region of Italy, this cookie varies in ingredients and shape – round, pinched, piped into stars, coated with nuts, and topped with cherries are some of the many variations. Recipe below.

Pine Nut Cookies (Amaretti con Pignoli)

Amaretti con Pignoli are classic Italian cookies that are commonly found in Sicily and southern Italy. They are made from just a handful of ingredients, with almond paste and pine nuts being key. Pine nuts (or pignoli in Italian) are the edible seeds of pine trees. They are slow-growing and labor intensive to harvest, making them expensive. Since pine nuts and almond paste are costly ingredients, these cookies are usually made for special occasions or the holidays, especially Christmas. Amaretti con Pignoli are simple to make. The result is a cookie with a deep almond flavor, a moist and crumbly interior, and a crunchy, nutty exterior. Recipe below.

Nanaimo Bars

Earlier this year, a photo of Nanaimo Bars — a classic Canadian dessert named for a city on Vancouver Island — became a source of controversy. Canadians were outrage that an Instagram post from The Times’ Cooking account depicted a version which skewed the proportions of this beloved confection. It was clear that there were rules to follow and I needed to know more. The first recipe dates back to 1952. In addition to being called Nanaimo Bars, they also were known as smog bars or chocolate squares. In an era of “set it and forget it” desserts, these bars were designed to be made quickly from packaged ingredients and without baking. Although available year-round, they are a Canadian holiday favorite. These intensely sweet, no-bake desert-squares are made of 3 layers: a chocolate-coconut-walnut-cookie base (the thickest part); a distinctly yellow, velvety buttercream middle (slightly thinner than the base); and a chocolate coating as smooth as freshly Zambonied ice (the thinnest part). To a Nanaimo Bar expert, the ratio of each layer is important. It’s an easy dessert to make whenever convenient, as long as you properly chill each layer before adding the next. Recipe below.

Cinnamon Stars (Zimtsterne)

Cinnamon stars or Zimtsterne are German cookies that are traditionally made around Christmas time. They are made from an almond-cinnamon dough that's rolled and cut into star shapes, and then covered with a meringue coating before baking. The high concentration of cinnamon makes them fragrant. The first known recipe for Zimtsterne dates to the 1500s, when cinnamon was rare and expensive and saved for special occasions. There are different schools of thought on how to bake Zimtsterne so that the cookies stay soft and chewy and the meringue is as white as possible. Traditionally the dough is left to dry out at room temperature for up to 24 hours but this recipe reduces the time to 1 hour — in all honesty I didn’t have counterspace to dry them for an entire day before baking. Although these festive cookies are composed of simple ingredients, they require considerable elbow grease and time. Only make these if you like a challenge and have time to spend the day in the kitchen! The dough is fussy and spreading the top coating on each cookie requires precision. Recipe below. Good luck!

Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies

These featherlight cookies have an almost-black chocolate color and a distinctive crackly top when baked. They taste like a cross between an American brownie and a French macaroon – with a chewy middle and a thin, crisp outer shell. While there are many variations of these cookies across the United States, the original idea traces back to a 1997 recipe by pastry chef François Payard. This recipe is extremely versatile: any type of nuts can work or be entirely omitted; the cocoa can be Dutch-process or natural; and additional flavorings can be added. My favorite version is detailed below.

Cinnamon Almond Cookies

Coconut Macaroons

A macaroon (sometimes called coconut haystacks or in French, rochers coco) is an American cookie made of coconut. It is dense, moist, and sweet - with a craggy, lightly golden outside and a snow white, chewy inside. Made of only 3 ingredients, these cookies are quick and easy to make. Macaroons were developed in the United States in the late 1800s, after a Philadelphia flour miller named Franklin Baker developed a method to shred coconut. These cookies were especially popular in Jewish cookery, since the unleavened cookies could be eaten for Passover. The name macaroon is similar to that of the French cookie called macaron. Besides the similarities in name and a common ancestor (an Italian almond-meringue cookie), they are very different. A French macaron is made of almond flour and consists of two cookies sandwiched together with a filling, while an American macaroon is made of shredded coconut and is a single cookie in a pyramid shape The French macaron also was developed later, sometime in the 1900s. A recipe for a coconut macaroon is below.