Cut Out Cookies

When Tate gets excited to make something in the kitchen, this family-cook is all over it! Besides oatmeal and pancake sandwiches, the thing that really ruffles Tate’s feathers is animal crackers. Perfect timing too. I was itching to make a recipe from the Fall 2008 issue of Wise Traditions in the article Cooking for Sequoia Academy: Improving the Quality of School Lunches. Stephanie Rivers single-handedly changed the way a small private school fed their students. The story is inspiring and her ideas are ingenious. Her recipe for Gluten-Free, Casein-Free Hazelnut Animal Crackers is a hit in our home! (And believe me, making a gluten-free animal cracker is tough, but her recipe worked out splendidly!)

Animal Crackers Hazelnut

½ cup crispy hazelnuts or sunflower seeds

½ cup coconut flour

½ cup masa corn meal or sprouted buckwheat flour

3/4 cup arrowroot or sweet rice flour

½ cup coconut oil or ghee

2 duck eggs or 3 chicken

1/3 cup Rapadura or date sugar

2 Tbs honey (optional, I didn’t add and it worked fine)

½ tsp xanthan gum

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cinnamon (optional)

½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 to 4 Tb water

Grind the crispy nuts in food processor. Pulse in the remaining ingredients except the water. Add the water one teaspoon at a time, blending until the dough is smooth and soft. The texture should resemble sugar cookie dough. If it is too soft to handle, refrigerate it for about an hour until firm. Preheat oven to 300. Roll out the dough, using arrowroot or sweet rice flour to prevent sticking. Cut with cookie cutters and place on parchment or slipmate-lined cookie sheet. Baking times depend on thickness, but 15 minutes worked worked for us.

Tate likes the train cut outs the best!