Year of the Dragon… GF!

新年快乐 (“xin nian kuai le”)  or  “Happy New Year”!  However you say it, Chinese New Year is rich with traditions that are fun for everyone.  While our family does not follow the zodiac signs, we always enjoy celebrating the new year with time honored traditions.  In China, they follow the lunar calendar and today marked the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, 2012.  As a family, we made things festive by giving red envelopes with money and eating traditional foods… long noodles (for a long life), dumplings, and vegetable stir fry with brown rice.  All of us were cooking up a storm in the kitchen tonight… even our eldest child was excited to help me make the dumplings (potstickers) and mastered the art of crimping the edges by hand this year!  You will see in the photo below that we have two versions of dumplings… one with Teff flour and one with Brown rice flour.  Surprisingly, the Teff flour dumplings were very close to the Brown rice version with just a bit more texture.  The flavors were similar though!

Dumplings can be made with many different kinds of fillings.  These were filled with chicken and vegetables.  I usually put all the ingredients in my food processor and add the seasonings and process all of it into a paste.  Once we make the wrappers, it is easy to assemble them with the filling already made.  We have also made them with shrimp in the past.  These dumplings were just dropped into boiling water for about 8 minutes to cook through (they are done when they rise to the surface), but you can also steam them.  And… yes!  Our dumpling/potsticker wrappers are gluten free!

GF potstickers two versions

Of course, we ended our festive table with something sweet… “Almond” cookies!  While my version is not made with almonds, they are very close to what I recall from years past.  If you are looking for a nut free, gluten free “almond” cookie you have come to the right place.  I also promised that I would be working on recipes with Teff flour.  I made this cookie in a teff version (the darker cookie) as well and really enjoyed it.

GF and Nut Free "Almond" Cookies... made with sunflower seeds, two versions!

I guess you could say that our table had a bit of “yin” and “yang” this year!  Enjoy the recipe below.  If you want the Teff flour version, just follow my tips.

 Gluten Free, Nut Free “Almond” Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, unsalted
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp gf vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup brown rice flour
• 1/2 cup finely ground sunflower seeds, lightly toasted
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 3/4 tsp GF baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• extra whole sunflower seeds
• 1 egg mixed with water for egg wash

Method:

1. In a large bowl, beat butter until light and fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until light. Add egg and vanilla and beat well.
2. Combine dry ingredients (except whole seeds) in a separate bowl. Add to wet mixture and beat just to combine.
3. Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log, wrap the logs individually in waxed paper or parchment paper and chill in fridge for at least 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove one dough roll from fridge and slice into 1/4 inch coins. Place cookies on parchment lined cookie sheet about 1 – 2 inches apart. These don’t spread much.
5. Press a sunflower seed into the center of each cookie. Brush with egg wash and Bake 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Do not overbake.  (Especially the Teff flour version, take them out at 15 minutes or the bottoms may burn.  They will firm up as they cool.)
6. Let cool on pan before removing.

Note:  If you are allergic to eggs, use the flax seed gel instead of the egg and omit brushing the cookies with the egg wash before baking.  They are just fine without it!