2012-04-04

Lemony Cookie Baskets with Surf Sweets Jelly Beans


I've been away from the blog for over a month due to a crashed hard drive and long delays in repairs and, oh, I'm so glad to be back!  I have quite a backlog of recipes and reviews to share, but I'll try to space them out.  To start I have these adorable little jelly bean basket cookies that came about because of a request from Surf Sweets Jelly Beans for a baked goody for their recent blogger recipe contest.

I'll confess I was almost as curious to find out who the other 15 bloggers were as I was to find out who won.  Huge congrats to Charmaine of Yummy Allergen Free for her grand prize winning scones!  She was one of the very few who didn't reach for a muffin tin or make a nest, and her creativity paid off.  I was happy to see that some of my favorite food allergy bloggers were indeed among the other entrants, such as Sarah of No Whey, Mama, Lindsey of Frugal Food Allergies and Katrina, the Gluten Free Gidget.  The entire list of bloggers and recipes is kind of awesome (if I may say so myself!), so just go ahead and scroll through this great list of recipes.  All of them are allergy friendly and/or gluten free, so there's something here for everyone.  (I discovered in the process of writing this blog post that there was an error in the recipe that I submitted, so if you decide to make these, please use the recipe below, rather than the one on the Surf Sweets site.)

For these dense, chewy little cookies, I decided on a tart lemon flavor to contrast with the sweetness of the jelly beans.  I also tried a version using coconut oil instead of margarine, which The Kid actually preferred.  Feel free to substitute it, but you may need an additional tablespoon to reach the perfect Playdoh texture for shaping the dough.

The recipe is very kid friendly if you have short people who would like to help make the dough, but I strongly recommend having an adult press the jelly beans and pipe cleaners into the cookies, because the muffin tin will be far too hot to allow little fingers near it!


Lemony Jelly Bean Baskets
(Click here for printable recipe.)

Dry Ingredients:
1 C all-purpose flour
2 Tbs corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
3 Tbs non-dairy margarine, melted (I used Earth Balance Buttery Sticks)
1/2 granulated sugar
2 Tbs lemon juice

Additional:
36 allergy friendly jelly beans (Surf Sweets Spring Mix, of course!)
pipe cleaners for basket handles (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a mini muffin tin with 12 liners.  Measure dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then whisk together.  Melt margarine and combine with sugar in a separate bowl.  Once sugar is completely dissolved, stir lemon juice into wet mixture.

Pour wet ingredients into dry, then stir together until a dough forms.  Roll dough onto a flat surface, such as a cutting board, and mold dough into a flat disk or "snake".  (This is where the Playdoh skills come in handy!)  Divide dough into 12 equal pieces.  Roll pieces of dough between  palms until a ball is formed, then gently drop each ball into a muffin liner.

Bake cookies for 18 to 20 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately press 3 jelly beans into the top of each cookie.  Insert pipe cleaner handles, if desired.  Makes one dozen cookie baskets.


I'm sharing my darling little baskets with:

I love how there are so many food allergy and gluten free round ups now.  I keep thinking I need to start one of my own, but can't quite decide on a theme.  Maybe one that is specifically kid and allergy friendly?  I'd really like to hear your suggestions!

Finally, I'm going to be at Techmunch in Tampa on April 21st.  (I wish I could also go to Nourished, but, alas, it is not to be.)  Hopefully I'll see some of my local Florida food bloggers in real life soon!

4 comments:

Nowheymama said...

You can tell I don't bake gluten free and wasn't about to start in a bake off. :) It was fun!

Deanna said...

SO glad to "see" you back! Missed your posts and recipes. Yay for computer repair!

Paula said...

These are such a cute little Easter treat. Glad that your computer issues have been resolved. Welcome back and Happy Easter!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for sharing your recipe with us last week on AFW! Be sure to check back this week for reader favorites and hostess picks.

Be Well,
--AFW Hostesses