German Chocolate Cake Cookie Revamp

Life has been a little different around here the last couple of years.  A sudden sensitivity to wheat has been aggressively working at changing the way I understand, relate to, and consume food.  Honestly, it's rather annoying, and I totally wish I could just be one of those people that could eat whatever I want to and maintain a healthy body.  Alas, such is not the case for me.  I have been one of those people that gain five pounds when I smell brownies baking for most of my life.  Food allergies have a way of stopping us in our tracks and forcing us to look at the world of food with different eyes.

That being said, I love dessert.  I especially love baked goods.  My husband loves German Chocolate Cake, and I make it for him for his birthday every single year without fail.  That is, until this year.  The kids had been sick for weeks, I was tired, and there was the whole ban on wheat and sugar going strong in our house.  Sadly, we let his birthday go by without dessert.  Crazy, right?

Well, I made up for it on Thanksgiving.  I took the recipe that I found on the blog A Dash of Sanity, and I tweaked it.  I made it gluten free, and I omitted the refined sugars.  Here is what we came up with:

Gluten Free German Chocolate Cake Cookies

Ingredients

Chocolate Cookie

2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup sucanat
1 cup coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs, beaten
2 1/4 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch salt

German Chocolate Frosting

1 cup evaporated milk
1 cup coconut sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup dark chocolate chunks for melting

Directions

Chocolate Cookie

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  (This is my new favorite kitchen tool.  It totally changes the game.  Love this stuff!)

In a stand mixer or large bowl using a hand mixer, blend the butter, sucanat, coconut sugar, vanilla and eggs.  In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and blend until combined.

Drop the dough by tablespoonful (I used what Alton Brown calls a disher.) onto the prepared baking sheets.  The original recipe says 12 cookies per sheet, but I got 20 total cookies.  I'm guessing using the disher made them a tad bigger than the original author intended, but there were no complaints here!  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  (I baked mine for 4.5 minutes, had the pans switch shelves in the oven, and baked for another 4.5 minutes.  They turned out perfect!)  Cool on a baking rack.  

German Chocolate Frosting

Add evaporated milk, coconut sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla to a large pan, and place on stove top over medium heat.

Stir so that it becomes well combined.  Continue stirring until thickened.  This takes about 11-12 minutes.  (This can be a little tricky to judge on an electric stove, especially for those of us that are electric stove cooking challenged...don't get me started!)

Once thickened, remove from heat, and add coconut and pecans.  Beat until thick enough to spread.  I found that the frosting thickens as it cools, so I allowed it to cool for about 15-20 minutes on the counter before frosting the cookies, stirring occasionally.  

Melt chocolate using double boiler method, and drizzle over top of frosted cookies.  (The original recipe says this is optional, but I just don't think so.)


I think these cookies would make a wonderful gift, but I'm really not sure how you'd package them effectively.  Stacking them would be totally out of the question.  If you come up with some good ideas, let me know.  Either way, they are totally fun to eat, and the clincher is that my family had NO CLUE they were gluten free.  I never did tell them, and my picky hubby gobbled them down blissfully.  Success!

A Moment for Dads

Father's Day can be such a beautiful time with dad. We've had fun with them over the years. It seems much of my blog is about transitions. Isn't that what we spend most of our life doing? How many times did our mother's say when we're growing up, "It's just a phase!"? We are in a constant state of transition from the moment of creation.

Our current transition is life without our fathers. That is one thing Pat and I now have in common. I lost my father on April 1st in 2005. That was a big year for us. It signified the end of life for my father, the beginning of life for our first grandbaby, and the formal commitment between the two of us in marriage. This all happened within a five month period. Pat's father just passed away on November 1st of 2008. Life is still learning to continue without his presence.

When Father's Day comes I still find myself with the instinct to look for a card for my dad, and now my father-in-law. It's amazing how much time can pass, and we are still looking to do what we'd known for our entire life. It doesn't fall to the side so easily. I still find myself thinking dad would like that or I should tell dad about this, and he's been gone for over four years. Now, my father-in-law is added to that equation.

It really is true that a loved one never dies completely. They really do always live on in our hearts. This Father's Day was a little tough being the first one without my father-in-law. I know everyone dealt with it a little different. We spent most of our time on the road taking Andrew to Central Michigan University for MAA (Master at Arms) training for Sea Cadets. This afforded my husband a lot of time for quiet contemplation, and I think he needed it.

Knowing Father's Day was going to be so busy we celebrated Father's Day by surprising my husband after work on Friday. We ate his favorite German Chocolate Cake with ice cream after we had a BBQ. We didn't get a special gift, just a card. It was more about the time spent together sharing a good meal and just hanging out. All in all it was a good time. Hope everyone else out there enjoyed their Father's Day as well.