Grandma DuPaix's Chocolate Chip Cookies gone Gluten Free

It might seem silly to post a picture of cookies on a newspaper, when in fact, in doing so, I'm actually sharing one of my favorite cookie making tips.  I always place my cookies on newspaper to cool.  I learned this tip from my sixth grade home-ec teacher and after trying everything from dish towels to cooling racks this is the way I prefer and here's why:

Dish Towels:  Growing up we always placed our cookies on dish towels to cool.  This works fine, but the fabric absorbs oils from the cookies which can stain the dish towel leaving even the cleanest dish towel looking dirty and gross.

Cooling Racks:  I registered for cooling racks when we got married.  I'd never used them but knew they were a necessity because all of the great bakers use them.  I quickly learned that cooling racks, with their neat little square grid, encourage crumbs all over your work surface and occasionally leave the bottoms of your cookies stamped with a nice grid design -- not very attractive.  These metal cooling racks are also a pain to clean and when placed in the dish washer on the energy-saver drying cycle can emerge with (gasp) rust spots!  They are also a little awkward to store.

Newspapers:  I know, it sounds so strange to use newspaper to cool your cookies.  First off, newspaper is really quite sanitary coming right off the hot printing press.  I always use the inside section of the paper that rarely gets looked at or touch, like the want ads. The newspaper absorbs any excess oil from the cookies (kind of like dabbing a napkin over your pizza to soak up the grease a eliminate fat), and it contains the cookie crumbs, making it easy to clean up.  

There you have it!  The secret to my cookie baking success.  It's funny, looking back at my observations and opinions you can see that I'm strongly influenced by the ease of clean-up! When it comes to cleaning I choose the path that gets me out of there the fastest! (My family still teases me about always having to go to the bathroom when it was my turn to do the dishes!)

Grandma's Chocolate Chip Cookies - Gluten Free

2/3 cup shortening

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon baking soda mixed with 2 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon xanthum gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/4 cups gluten free flour blend

2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream shortening and sugars together.  Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy.

Add baking soda, xanthum gum, salt and flour.  Mix until well blended.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Store in an airtight container.  These freeze well.