Banana Bread Cookies

A few weeks back, I had bought a bunch of bananas and forgot about them.  They got too overripe to eat, which makes the perfect for banana bread.  While banana bread is delicious, I wanted it to be something a little sweeter, and I had cookies in mind because they're easy to travel with, and normally stay fresh in a container for a few days.  So then the idea of making banana bread cookies came to me.  They're light, fluffy, almost cake like texture perfectly captures the texture of banana bread while still being a cookie.  The banana flavor really comes out and balances perfectly with the coconut and chocolate.  Banana bread has a comforting taste, there's just something so warm and homey about it.  These cookies capture that feeling.

Banana Bread Cookies

Recipe adapted from my Sweets Treats and More
Makes about 2 dozen cookies
Print Recipe

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp gluten free vanilla
- 3/4 cup brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1/4 cup white rice flour
- 1/4 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 cups gluten free rolled oats
- 1 cups chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut plus extra for topping

*These would probably be delicious with chopped walnuts as well, but I recently became slightly allergic to them so I didn't include them.  But if you like walnuts I definitely recommend you try it!

Gluten and Sugar Free Devil's Food Cake

When I was a kid, more times than not there was an Entenmann's Devil's Food Cake with Marshmallow Icing in the freezer.  It was always my dad's favourite cake (and eating it frozen was the only was to eat it).  A few years back though he found out he had diabetes so he couldn't really eat the cake anymore.  This year for his birthday I wanted to take a stab at trying to recreate it not only gluten free, but also completely sugar free.  The devil's food cake recipe and the way I alter it to make it gluten free yields a moist, rich, delicious devil's food cake.  I actually would love to try this recipe again for myself with real sugar.  I used Splenda, which I do have to admit has a little bit of an aftertaste, but I think because of the flours I chose to use it was an extremely minimal aftertaste.  The icing is what through me off.  At first I tried to make my traditional marshmallow icing I make which is basically whipped egg whites and add basically a boiled homemade simple syrup, but that was a bit of a disaster with splenda instead of sugar.  So I did some research, and someone recommended using Sugar Free Jello Instant Pudding with heavy whipping cream and to my surprise it worked out great!  It actually was pretty damn close to Entenmann's for being Gluten Free AND Sugar Free!  And like I said, if you're not sugar free this would probably make a great just gluten free devil's food cake!

Gluten and Sugar Free Devil's Food Cake

Cake recipe adapted Food Network Kitchen
Made Gluten Free and Sugar Free by Jesicakes
Makes about 2 9" round cakes
Print Recipe for Cake and Icing

Ingredients for the Cake

- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 12 Tbsp butter, room temperature
- 2 cups + 2 Tbsp Splenda for baking*
- 3/4 cups cocoa powder (I use Hershey's...any that isn't Dutch processed is fine)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 1/4 cup almond milk, or milk of choice

*It is important to use the baking Splenda because it is a 1:1 replacement...if you use regular granulated Splenda this will be intensely too much sugar.  Just make sure if you buy the Splenda to check it's recommendations for the ratios.  And if you want to make this with regular sugar you can replace the Splenda with the same amount (2 cups + 2 Tbsp).

Ingredients for the Icing

Icing Recipe by SugarEd Blog
- 1 Large box of White Chocolate Sugar free Jell-O pudding mix
- 1 cup low fat milk
- 2 cups heavy cream