These cookies are what we like to call 'chocolate & mint chips being held together by a little dough.'  If you don't like a lot of chips in your cookies, these aren't for you - but if you do like chocolate chip cookies packed with chips, these will be some of your favorites. Enjoy!

Mint & Chocolate Chip Cookies - yum! 

Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies

Makes ~48 cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon liner. 

Whisk together in a bowl, then set aside: 

1 1/2 cup white rice flour

3/4 tsp xanthan gum

3/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

Cream together: 

3/4 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

Add: 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Add flour mix from above, and mix in, just until combined. 

Add and mix in gently: 

1 1/2 cup semi or dark chocolate chips

1 1/2 cup mint chips

A pile of chips, held together by some batter.

Scoop heaping 1 Tbsp scoops onto the prepared pans.  I aim for 12 per pan.  Bake at 350 F for 10-12 minutes.  Let rest a few minutes on pan before removing to cooling racks.  Leftover cooled cookies can be frozen for later.  Enjoy!!! 

Scooped and ready to bake!

Fresh from the oven!

Chocolate & Mint Chip Cookies Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 Oh my goodness, I love bagels.  I've shared many of my favorite bagels, but I'm always interested in trying new things and coming up with fun new twists.  While these may look like pumpernickel and rye, these are, in fact, chocolate and vanilla swirl bagels.  Absolutely delicious toasted with cream cheese.  They're a bit tricky to pipe, but not too difficult.  And you end up with such cute bagels at the end of it! Yum!  Enjoy!

Swirled GF chocolate-vanilla bagels.  

These are so fun and delicious - and they only use honey plus the little bit of sugar in the mini chocolate chips to sweeten. Bonus! 

Chocolate and Vanilla Swirl Bagels

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. 

Mix together gently, and set aside to rise until puffy:

1 1/4 cup warm water

6 Tbsp honey

1 Tbsp rapid-rise/quick yeast

In a large bowl, whisk together: (It's important to mix dry ingredients separately in GF baking to avoid clumping)

2 cups tapioca starch

1 1/2 cup brown rice flour

6 Tbsp potato starch

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

1 1/2 tsp salt

In a mixer combine: 

3 eggs

6 Tbsp oil

2 tsp vanilla bean paste

yeast mixture, from above

flour mixture, from above

Beat on low, just to combine, then beat on medium to medium-high for 2-3 minutes, until nice and smooth.  

Remove half the batter, and put it in a large freezer ziploc.  (If you feel confident, you can try to place the dough along one half of the ziploc, and then you'd add the chocolate dough along the other side.  You want to end up with half and half batter in a large freezer ziploc.  The method I describe here uses extra freezer ziplocs to more confidently ensure you have the batter half and half in the final bag before piping your swirled bagels.) 

In the remaining batter, add and mix 45-60 seconds, scraping down the mixer a few times: 

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1 Tbsp milk or water, to help thin the batter a bit since you're adding cocoa powder

Place the chocolate batter in another freezer ziploc.  

Snip the corners ~1" off each of the bags.  Place them side by side into corner of a new large freezer ziploc.  As evenly as you can, squeeze the batters into the new freezer ziploc so you have a half and half bag of dough.  Cut 1/2" - 1" from the corner of your new bag.  

Half and half batter, ready to pipe swirl bagels.

Pipe the swirl bagels onto the prepared parchment paper, twist/turn your ziploc bag as you pipe each circle, to help get add more swirl into your half and half bagels.   The batter is thick to pipe, so be patient.  You may find it's helpful to double bag your batter if your bags aren't strong.  

Piped onto two trays.You can see some messy piping, but that's okay, because you can smooth it out with warm water. 

You can use warm water to help shape and smooth the tops and sides of your bagels. I usually stretch them out a bit.

Use hands to brush/wipe warm water onto the bagels.  You can also help reshape them or smooth them, as needed.   Let the bagels rise ~30 - 40 minutes in a warm location, until puffed, but not quite doubled.  I find I usually end up piping 2 trays of bagels with approx 10 per tray.  It's not an exact science and making GF bagels is definitely a bit more finicky than when you can roll and shape by hand.  

Risen bagels!

Ready to bake!

Bake bagels at 350 F for about 25-30 minutes, until the vanilla part of your bagel is a nice golden brown.   Remove to cooling racks.  Enjoy with cream cheese for a yummy treat!

Bagels once cooked - the vanilla sides will be nicely browned. 

Tray number 2, ready to move to wire racks.

Once they're out of the oven, remove to a wire rack to cool.

They slice open neatly once cooled - and toast up nicely.

Topped with cream cheese. Yum!

Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Vanilla Swirl Bagels Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!

 You can make this dish using fresh or frozen vegetables, which makes it nice and versatile.  The main thing you'll need fresh is the lemon, garlic and basil.  It's a nice, light dish that can be whipped up quickly.  Enjoy! 

 You can use the GF noodles of your choice, in this case a penne worked great with broccoli & spinach.

Summer Pasta Dish with Lemon, Garlic & Basil

*You'll prepare the vegetables and noodles at the same time, then use the noodle pot to made the light sauce and mix everything together.*

Steam Vegetables

*While you're boiling water and cooking pasta, below, prepare your steamed vegetables.*  

Add to a pot with a tight fitting lid:

3 cups fresh or frozen vegetables - mix and match broccoli, peas, and/or diced zucchini

Add ~1/2" water, and put on high heat, with lid on, until steam is visibly coming out.  Turn off the heat and leave the pot where-is until I'm ready to use.  

If you want use fresh or frozen diced spinach, you'll add this after the vegetables have cooked and sat ~5 minutes.  Just add:

 ~1/2 - 3/4 cup frozen diced spinach or 1 - 2 cups diced fresh spinach on top of the steamed vegetables and put the lid back on.  Let sit 2-3 minutes, then mix.  Put lid back on and leave until ready to drain and add to the pasta later.  *Make sure you drain this before adding to your pasta!*

Steamed, then rested a few minutes before adding some frozen diced spinach on top, then replaced the lid.  Once removing and draining, it's ready to add to the sauce and pasta at the end. 

Cook Pasta

Cook one package gluten-free pasta as directed on the package.  Make sure to taste, so it's to the softness you desire.  I find GF pasta typically needs an extra couple minutes of cooking.  Drain and rinse in cold water and set aside.  There are many kinds of GF pasta - personally, my favorite types are ones that include a mix of brown rice, white rice, corn, and quinoa.  I find these noodles give me the best texture and flavor.  But go with your favorite!

A couple tips that I find helpful when cooking GF pasta

1. Salt the water. I usually add about 1 Tbsp salt to my pot.

2. Taste before draining, since often it needs an extra couple minutes of cooking.  

3. Drain and rinse in cold water.  

Light Garlic, Lemon & Basil Sauce

Once you've drained and rinsed your pasta and set it aside, add to your large pot over medium heat: 

3 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

Add and cook until fragrant (~1-2 minutes):

1 Tbsp minced garlic

Salt & Pepper, a few dashes of both

Add and stir in quickly: 

2 - 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Mix together, then add and mix in: 

1 cup cold chicken broth (you can use 1 cup water + 1 tsp GF bouillon paste)

2-3 tsp cornstarch

*If you don't have cold chicken broth, then mix your 2-3 tsp cornstarch with 1/8 - 1/4 cup cold water before adding.  

Whisk/stir sauce over medium heat until bubbling and the mixture has thickened slightly.  

Thickening the sauce - ready to toss it all together.  The lemon-garlic smell is fabulous.

Add the following and toss together: 

cooked, rinsed and drained pasta

steamed vegetables, drained

1/2 - 1 cup grated parmesan

3 Tbsp roughly sliced fresh basil

salt & pepper, to taste  - I just usually serve some on the side in case anyone wants to add some

In this case, I'd added and mixed in the vegetables and basil, then added the noodles and cheese.  The recipe is very forgiving - so just go with what works for you!

Tossed and ready to serve.

Another days version - peas and broccoli with spaghetti pasta. 

Summer Pasta Dish with Lemon, Garlic & Basil Recipe by Successfully Gluten Free!