Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Cashew Cookies

Deciding on the perfect cookie to take to a party can be daunting. Not really, but...pull out an old trick or try something new? I wanted something new.

Martha Stewart has an online Cookie of the Day feature, so I started my hunt there. Nothing sang to me as I clicked my way through many months of archives, then I landed on a recipe for a chocolate cookie with nuts (Martha used pecans) that looked perfect.
The cookies turned out to be gluten-free. Even better! A gluten-free friend would be at the party, and, believe me, it's ain't no party if you can't eat the cookies.

Then I realized, hey, it's almost Passover, and half our our household observes this Jewish holiday. These cookies will also work for that whiny, hungry week without leavened wheat. Double win!
With only powdered sugar, cocoa powder, chocolate, nuts, salt, and egg whites in the ingredients, these cookies cook up light and chewy like a meringue, but taste like a rich brownie.

I'd make these cookies again even if there weren't a celiac at the party or Passover was in observance. These cookies are truly "a good thing." Thanks, Martha!
Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Cashew Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart
makes about 24 cookies

3 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups chopped cashews (can use any nut)
4 large egg whites, room temperature

• Whisk together sugar, cocoa powder and salt.
• Stir in chocolate and cashews.
• Add egg whites and stir until just incorporated. Do not over stir.
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and drop cookie dough on the sheet by the spoonful, about 3 inches apart.
• Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven until tops of cookies are dry and crackled, about 25 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through.
  

Sweet Freedom Bakery

Allison Lubert and Heather Esposito’s Sweet Freedom Bakery (1424 South St.) opens tomorrow, Jan. 15. This unique bakery whips up cakes, pies, cupcakes, muffins, cookies, and other treats which are vegan and gluten-, soy-, egg-, dairy-, corn-, peanut-, casein-, and refined sugar-free.

So, if you have a food allergy or other dietary restriction that keeps you from going Cookie Monster crazy at traditional bakeries, Sweet Freedom will be just that — sweet freedom.

Sweet Freedom Bakery sent me a box of goodies to sample, so I could get the word out and share my thoughts with y'all. (Yep, that means I ate for free.)

I'll start by saying all of the baked treats are good, and, with the exception of the cupcakes (it's so hard to make perfect cake even with dairy, eggs and wheat flour, let alone without all the traditional cake ingredients), I would have had no idea that these baked goods were gluten-, soy-, egg-, dairy- and refined sugar-free unless someone told me.
Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcake with Chocolate Frosting - A dense and healthy-tasting banana bread studded with chocolate chips and frosted with a not-too-sweet and not-too-chocolaty frosting missing the silkiness of traditional dairy-based frostings. Vanilla Cupcake with Creamy Vanilla Frosting - The neutral vanilla cake base is not quite as dense as the Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcake, and would be a great way to highlight more exciting frosting flavors than the barely-sweet non-silky vanilla I sampled. I'm thinking lemon or strawberry frosting.Magic Bar - A bar cookie with hints of toffee in the the cookie bottom, topped with a rich chocolate ganache and sprinkled with shredded coconut. Magic!

Blueberry Oat Crumble - A bar cookie with generous blueberry filling topped with a crisp oat crumble. This was my favorite goodie in the box. So good I included two pictures so you could see the glorious blueberry goo. I wish I had a whole box of these.Macaroon - These small silver dollar-sized macaroons are light and airy in the middle with toasted edges, and only slightly less sweet than most macaroons you encounter...which is not a bad thing at all. Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwich with Chocolate Frosting - Two large crispy chocolate chip cookies sandwich the same not-too-chocolaty frosting used on the Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcake. Gluten-, soy-, egg-, dairy-, corn-, peanut-, casein-, and refined sugar-free? You'd never know.

Sweet Freedom Bakery
1424 South St., Philadelphia, PA 19146
215-545-1899
Tues-Sat, 10am-7 pm
Sun, 10am-4pm

CakeKraft

Michelle Poole of CakeKraft is back in town, and is lovingly and masterfully baking cakes, cupcakes, vegan cakes, gluten-free cakes, cookies, and other treats with all-natural ingredients and the best local, organic, and free trade ingredients whenever possible. Expect to see her cakes soon in and around the Philly area, including the Philly suburbs, New Jersey, and Delaware, at coffee shops, restaurants, and markets.

If you're jonesin' for some cakes and cuppers from CakeKraft right now, you're in luck, because she also does custom orders. Contact Michelle on her website and place an order for your next wedding, party, or event (sitting around the TV watching Top Chef with friends qualifies as an event), and deliciousness will be delivered to your door.

I know I've presented fresh baked cupcakes from a bakery at a party before, and, gosh, besides having more variety than I would ever dare bake at once, CakeKraft's desserts are just tastier and prettier than what I can whip up.Oh, you want to know how they taste? I sampled four varieties of CakeKraft cupcakes (two vegan, and two regular) and they were all fabulous, satisfying my raging sweet tooth without being overly sweet. And the vegan cupcakes were just as delicious as the regular cupcakes. Seriously. The regular cupcakes had a finer crumb than the vegan cupcakes, but that was the only difference.

I ate (all at one sitting, of course):

• vegan pumpkin-carrot spice with cream cheese frosting (walnuts and dried cranberries had me swooning hard)
• vegan dark chocolate with chocolate ganache (not too sweet, deep chocolate flavor with espresso undertones)
• chocolate with cappuccino buttercream (that cappuccino buttercream is crazy good)
• vanilla buttercake with vanilla bean buttercream (can't beat a classic)

Now, go get some!

CakeKraft
cakekraft.com