Below is a little teaser of a recipe from a soon to be released book, Gluten Free Cookies by Luane Kohnke. You will have an opportunity to read the review of many tested recipes we will be doing out of her book over the next two months. So check back soon!

Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day, Tina

Gluten Free Sugar Cookie Cut-Outs

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour
1/3 cup potato starch
2 1/2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond flour
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg

Makes 48 to 60 cookies

I developed this recipe for my friend Gail.  She was diagnosed with celiac disease late in life, and really missed her sweets. She told me that these cookies reminded her of the sugar cookies her grandmother made.

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, sift together brown rice flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, xanthan gum, baking soda,  cream of tartar, and salt. Whisk in almond flour. Set aside.

2. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar. Set mixer speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and egg. Beat until well combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Divide dough into quarters, and wrap each quarter in plastic wrap or wax paper. Chill for 1 to 2 hours, or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment.

4. Roll dough, one quarter at a time, between sheets of wax paper, to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with heart-shaped cookie cutter, dipping cookie cutter in brown rice flour or all-purpose gluten-free flour to aid cutting.

5. Place cookies on prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. If dough becomes too soft to reroll easily, return it to the refrigerator or place it in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes, until it is firm enough to reroll. Sprinkle cookies with granulated sugar, demerara sugar, or gluten-free sanding sugar.

6. Bake until edges are pale golden brown, about 10 to 12 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 5 minutes.

7. Transfer cookies, still on parchment, to wire racks to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Recipe taken from Gluten-Free Cookies by Luane Kohnke
(978-1-4162-0623-1; $18.95; Pub date: March 2011; Sellers Publishing; 50+ full-color photos, Hardcover)

Author Bio:

Luane Kohnke has been an accomplished gourmet cookie baker for more than 20 years. Her love for cookie baking began when she was nine years old, living on her family’s farm in Wisconsin, and she developed an interest in gluten-free baking about 15 years ago. Luane lives in New York City. For more information, visit www.luanekohnke.com.

Tina Turbin
www.TinaTurbin.com

Ivan Nikolov

Tampa, Fla. October 7, 2009  Viitals owner, Ivan Nikolov  announced the opening of its new retail storefront, which offers gluten-free healthy choices for those trying to live a healthier lifestyle. The bakery had been strictly wholesale until its grand opening.

This bakery offers gluten-free, hypoallergenic, high in protein, organic ingredients snacks, such as muffins, crackers, cake-bars, loafs, and more.

The Bulgarian bodybuilder, Ivan Nikolov and NPC Tampa Bay Classic overall winner and his wife started this bakery to service the needs of the growing community with allergies, celiacs and the general public looking for higher protein and nutritious snacks.

The opening of his new storefront, Niklov said, now makes him not only a wholesaler, but also a retail gluten-free cafe.

Ivan states that his products are made in a dedicated gluten-free facility, and they are hypoallergenic, vegetarian or completely vegan, all-natural with many ingredients that are organic. He balances his products by adding protein, making them a complete meal.

Ivan said customers will be served gluten-free bread, cookies, brownies, cakes, VIITALS smoothies with organic fruit and protein, gluten-free sandwiches and gluten-free soups.

For more information about VIITALS Bakery visit:http://www.viitals.com

View their awesome menu they updated this month: http://www.viitals.com/VIITALS-Menu.pdf

Tina Turbin

Florida-based organization Allergies and Me is an incredible resource for children and adults with food allergy and intolerance issues.

Therefore I’m very proud to be associated with such a dedicated organization and to have contributed a gluten-free recipe to their website.

I invite you to take a look by clicking on the following links:

Allergies and Me press release

Browny muffins  and more Browny muffins

A short paragraph from their website is excerpted below:

“Tina Turbin is a children’s book author, Danny the Dragon, and provides gluten-free support on her blogsite, www.GlutenFreeHelp.info as well as her main website, www.TinaTurbin.com . Tina has donated one of her favorite gluten free recipes, “Browny Muffins”, and it should become a household favorite. “

We had SO much fun baking to our hearts content, decorating with our imaginations soaring, eating Pamela’s Products and enjoying one another’s company.

I am honored and grateful be able to have incredibly delicious ingredients and fun give-aways for my parties, all from Pamela’s Products as well as Nature’s Food Patches LOADED gift bags , once again.

If anyone is interested in helping to spread the word about making the AWARENESS of celiac much more broadly known, as it should be, please e-mail me and I will share how to bring this about in your area.

We need everyone’s help and support! We need to unite and share each and everyone’s special skills and interests in this area. The profits from this party were all donated to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness.

Thank you, Tina Turbin

I so wanted to be a winner in her December contest and get those delicious cookies ( the gift) delivered to my door BUT the another wonderful baker got the prize. Lucky gal!

You can see my competition here and see my muffins sitting right next to the winner in the top left:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=128591&id=9321268761

You can also view the photo of one of my GLUTEN-FREE cupcake parties in which I donate all the money rasied to National Foundation for Celiac Awareness( NFCA) on her second page. See all the lovely kids and moms!

My hats off to Yvonne M.B. for coming in first place with those adorable cookies.

Check out my recipes anyway as they are scrumptious.

OK folks, next time – right! …..:)  Tina Turbin

Be sure to read my December column in the newsletter of the National Foundation of Celiac Awareness, devoted to the topic of the seasonal activity of  holiday baking, gluten-free style.

This time of year can be a challenge for those who are gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant (and even for those of us who aren’t!), yet my article offers practical, informative tips on how to create a new, delicious, gluten-free tradition every year. Happy holiday baking!

You can find my favorite pastry tart recipe here at my Mixing Bowl.com website page. I’m sharing this with you in the hopes that you too will enjoy this delicious recipe. Happy baking!

Tina Turbin

If you visit the link to my debut article in the August issue of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) newsletter, you will find a helpful healthy-eating “tidbit”, and a delicious chocolate brownie recipe that is guaranteed to please your family, and keep them healthy at the same time! Definitely a treat!

1. Click on the following link: Tidbits with Tina

2. Make sure to scroll about halfway down the page, and go to my section entitled: “Tidbits with Tina”.

Be sure to let me know how those brownies come out!

This is a lovely “thank you” card sent to me from a child that had attended one of my fun and exciting monthly Gluten-Free Cup Cake Parties, generously sponsored by Pamela’s Products and Nature’s Food Patch in Clearwater. (NOTE: for details on the Halloween Gluten-Free Cupcake party that we’re having 10/24/09, visit the Danny the Dragon blog)

And an equally lovely note from his mother. Enjoy!

Dear Tina,

Thank you so much for including us in your cupcake party Saturday! It was really cute, when we got home from your place, Bodhi (my 4-yr old, who you met at Spring Valley School) was actually reading Danny the Dragon! So Tristan picked up the book and got to the part where they are all eating dinner together, and he said, all matter-of-factly, “Danny the Dragon eats healthy.” I responded with, “yes, and his author, Tina Turbin, eats gluten-free!”, and just as matter-of-factly and straight-faced, he responded, ‘yes, true’. You could not have planned it better!

Then Sunday night I was telling Shane and Tristan that Monday was a holiday (their school started today, Tuesday), and that the four of us (Shane, Tristan, Bodhi and I) would have the day to play, so I asked them to think of some fun things to do on Monday. Shane got all bright-eyed and exclaimed, “I know, we can write Tina Turbin a card thanking her for Saturday!”. Oh Tina, just what every mom wants to hear, an un-prompted desire to write a thank you card! And that’s what fun thing he wanted to do on our day off! So I am enclosing that card – it looks like both boys drew you scenes of a Pokemon battle – quite an esteemed gift from their point of view!

It was wonderful to see you, and thank you again for including us. I went to a dinner party Saturday night and must have told about 15-20 people about it, and gluten, and did the same today when I returned to work, so I am defnitely spreading the word. Even Allen (my hubby) was telling people about it at his office yesterday, and he wasn’t even there!

Love,
Lael

Special thanks to Creative Loafing for running the following!

“Tina Turbin’s Cupcake Party: The acclaimed children’s cookbook author hosts a gluten-free cupcake party, to be videotaped and used to raise funds and awareness for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. Parents and kids are invited to help bake and decorate yummy treats for a good cause. Those interested in being filmed for the video can contact Rosie Newman at roseann.newman@gmail.com for location and further details, and learn more about the author at TinaTurbin.com. Sat., Aug. 22, 2-4 p.m.”

Oh and as a side note, the cupcake party was a resounding success and a great time for all! Due to popular demand, planning is in the works for more fun, family-friendly events. Stay tuned!