Well I made it 4 days into December before breaking down and making Christmas cookies. I couldn’t hold up to the pressure any longer.

The truth is I’m not the biggest cookie fan. I have my favorites(like peanut butter cookies) but on the whole would rather have something else. One cookie I love is the peanut butter cookie from Wildflour Bakery which is gluten-free and vegan. It’s so sweet and soft and falls apart in your mouth. I thought I might try to make a cookie like theirs; this isn’t nearly the same, but I like it in its own respect which is why I’m posting the recipe. It’s less sweet but much more peanut buttery; it almost tastes like eating a spoonful of peanut butter in cookie form.

This recipe can easily be made vegan by using a dairy-free butter substitute. I would not recommend subbing in coconut oil for the butter in a 1:1 ratio because they do not act the same in baking and I can’t say for how it would turn out.

Egg-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 16-18 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies):

• 1 cup no-oil added peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup maple syrup
• 3/4 cup brown rice flour
• 1/4 cup tapioca starch(or corn starch)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a couple baking trays with parchment paper.
2. Beat together all of the ingredients. Put the batter in the refrigerator of freezer to harden until you can handle the dough and roll it into balls.
3. Once the dough has reached that stage, scoop the dough and roll it into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the baking trays.
4. Bake for 16-20 minutes until the outside is golden. The cookies will still be very soft to the touch when they’re done.
5. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely before handling. As they cool, the outside will harden up and make them less fragile.
6. Store sealed in an airtight container at room temperature when not eating.

*Have you entered the holiday giveaway yet?*

I have to admit that I’m not the biggest fan of cookies. Besides being a huge challenge for a gluten-free baker, they just aren’t as interesting as cakes or as chocolaty as brownies. But come every Christmas, there’s always one cookie that has my heart: I love Italian anise cookies. Growing up Italian-American, my relatives always bought these for me fresh from an Italian bakery. I love the sharp licorice flavor with a super sweet frosting. I couldn’t imagine Christmas without them, so this year I tried to adapt the recipe to be gluten-free. After 2 batches, I came out with the perfect, sinfully good Christmas cookies.

Gluten-Free Italian Christmas Cookies

Ingredients(Makes 20 cookies):

• 2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup neutral flavored oil(not coconut oil and not butter)
• 1 1/2 eggs, lightly beaten(see here how to measure this)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons anise extract

*If you’re making these with regular flour, use just 1 egg

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the oil, eggs, and extract.

Combine the dough by mixing until it’s firm and the flour has been all absorbed. Put the dough in the refrigerator to chill 30-60 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees with the baking trays inside the oven to warm them up. When the oven is ready, take out the baking trays, line them with parchment paper, and roll the dough into 3/4-inch balls lining them up with enough room to spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the outside starts to turn slightly brown and the center is almost set. Take them out of the oven and let them set completely before moving them to another tray.

These taste just like the cookies from the bakery: Soft and slightly cakey yet still sugary dense. The anise flavor is strong, so you’ll want to give these to a true lover. And the icing—oh, the icing. But that’s for another day.