Please note: Glutino provided me with the products used in the recipes below at no charge as part of their Blogger program, however all thoughts and recipes are my own. There are no affiliate links in this post.
Christmas time as a child meant the house was full of the scent of my mother cooking, and I spent time with her in the kitchen. While one particular Chocolate Pudding Pie Incident in which the filled but not yet baked pie fell from the counter and flew everywhere when it hit the ground is a prominent memory many of my memories include making tried and true family recipes created by my mother or my grandmother. Two of these included Chocolate Chip Cookies and Almond Crescents. Nothing beats a mouthful of sweets that you know hold years of thought, love, and musings.
When I went gluten free almost 7 years ago I let the cookies slide from our family holiday menu, replacing 
them with gluten free experimentation (such as chocolate bark and ‘Oreo’ truffles) that gave way to new traditions. However, after the loss of so many family members over the past few years and my mother’s continued cancer battle I’ve been clinging tight to my memories and my family, and thus those cookies. I’ve dabbled in making them a few times over the past three years (one attempt at the crescents literally ended up with a molten puddle) and finally, FINALLY, hit the jackpot on a gluten free replica of each this year. Here are those recipes just for you, and in honor of my late grandmother who passed away in March and my mother who keeps fighting:
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons Glutino All-Purpose Gluten Free Flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup soft butter
- 6 Tablespoons sugar
- 6 Tablespoons brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon water
- 1 egg
- 6 oz chocolate chips
- ½ Cup chopped nuts (optional)
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Combine the butter, sugars, vanilla, and water until creamy. Beat in the egg until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix well.
- Stir in the chocolate chips, and nuts if using.
- Teaspoon dough onto greased cookie sheet about two inches apart.
- Cook for 10 Minutes, and cool for at least 5 minutes.
- ½ cup shortening and ½ cup unsalted butter, combined
- ⅓ cup sugar
- ⅔ cup Bob's Red Mill Super-Fine Natural Almond Flour
- 1⅔ cups sifted Glutino All-Purpose Flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup confectioners sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- Mix together shortening, butter, sugar and ground almonds.
- In a separate bowl sift together the flour and salt, then sift this mixture into the wet mixture.
- Combine all ingredients, and chill dough for at least one hour if not over night.
- Once dough is chilled preheat the oven to 325°.
- Roll the dough into pencil thick rolls and cut into 2-3 inch pieces.
- Form each piece into a crescent, pinching the ends to make them more moon shaped, and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake until set, but not fully browned (about 15 minutes).
- Let cool. Meanwhile combine the confectioners sugar and cinnamon powder.
- While still warm roll each cookie in the sugar mixture until full coated. For more sweetness, roll each cookie twice.
I hope you enjoy!