I’m still working on my gluten free baking skills. I have come to the conclusion that I have to use baking recipes that are specifically designed for gluten free ingredients; I cannot “just substitute” a gluten-free all-purpose flour and have it turn out okay. I think I’ve come to this conclusion at least three times, the most recent being last weekend. For some reason unbeknownst to my logical mind, when I got into the kitchen, I grabbed all my old favorite recipes, and got horribly, dismally upset when they didn’t turn out right.

I have, however, learned a secret to making these pathetic failures much better without redoing the recipe: when my substitutions come out Wrong, and the cookies are flat and crunchy instead of puffy and chewy, I feed them to boys. Boys have this amazing capacity to happily put cookies in their mouths, munch away, and honestly think this is the pleasurable experience that was intended. Girls notice the texture/flavor/consistency and offer suggestions that totally work… with wheat flour. Boys don’t care; if it’s vaguely edible, they’re happy.

Bringing my baking experiments to work (I work with a  LOT of boys) under the guise of sharing goodies has done WONDERS for my self-esteem as a blossoming gluten-free baker. It reminds me that it’s okay if the cookies didn’t come out Right, because they still taste good. And in the meantime, there’s Pamela’s Shortbread Cookies and Glutino’s Oreo knock-offs to carry me over until I can confidently make my own damn amazing cookies.

Dear coworkers, you think those goodies are good? Wait till you see what I’ve got coming!

And now, please excuse me. I need to go practice making pie crust for Thanksgiving.

Photo credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Christmas_Cookies_Plateful.JPG