There is quite a bit of difference between almond FLOUR (even differences between commercial brands - some are coarse, some more fine, some include the skins, others are blanched and skinless) and almond MEAL (ground almonds at home), and the third choice, almond flour made from the dehydrated pulp leftover from making almond milk (the perfect 2 for 1 product). I use all of them - it just depends on the recipe and results I want. My preference is to use almonds that I sprout and dehydrate first because they are easier to digest and it's also MUCH cheaper to make my own than to purchase commercial almond flour. But saying that, I always have a bag of Honeyville Grain Almond Flour in the house. I also avoid white and brown sugar and high-glycemic starches and flours common to many gluten-free cookbooks. If you find recipes that use rice flour you can mill your own, but use short- or medium-grain rice (white or brown - your choice) instead of long-grain rice. Long-grain rice is fine for a thickener or dredging, but not for baking. If you want to make cookies (or other baked goods) with almond flour, I'd suggest checking out Elana Amsterdam's web site - www.elanaspantry.com. The recipe for Pecan Shortbread Cookies linked below is a favorite recipe. Elana Amsterdam suggests using Honeyville Grain Almond Flour, and for her recipes I agree that's the best choice. Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour just doesn't cut it - it is much coarser and you'll get a grainy finished product, or you will get a lot of crumbling by using coarse almond flour. BTW, I was baking with almond flour long before we went gluten-free because it's low-glycemic. Same with coconut flour, another low-glycemic choice. Honeyville Almond Flour is one of the finer grinds you can find commercially. When you make your own almond flour using whole almonds, you chance making almond butter by the time you get the fine grind similar to Honeyville Grain Almond Flour. You may need to add sugar to the almonds while grinding. I get a much finer grind using pulp from almond milk made in the Vitamix compared to pulp from almond milk made in the Ninja blender. When completely dehydrated, I give the pulp a whirr in a small Ninja food chopper to break up the clumps - or run a rolling pin over it. I also get less pulp using a Vitamix. It's not a one-size-fits-all when it comes to texture provided by the different almond flour/meal products. When it comes to cookies, this one\-bowl recipe is by far the easiest. I often make this recipe when I have one ripe banana and bake them in my solar oven or in the convection/microwave oven on a pizza pan. SUPER\-SIMPLE BANANA COOKIES 2\-3 mashed bananas (2 large bananas or 3 small) 2 c. gluten\-free oatmeal 1 c. chopped dates (can use any dried fruit, or a mixture of dried fruit and mini\-chocolate chips, cacao nibs, finely chopped nuts, etc.) 1/3 c. coconut oil 1 t. vanilla 1/8 t. of salt (can omit) Preheat oven to 350\-degrees F. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper, or use ungreased baking sheets. Mix all ingredients well and drop by teaspoonful (I use a \#50 portion scoop) onto baking sheets. Lightly press the dough until it is about 1/4\-inch thick and form into rounds. Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. You can bake these cookies until soft or lightly crunchy \- your choice \- depending on how long you bake them. I like to use dried blueberries or dried apricots snipped into 1/4\-inch cubes using kitchen scissors. Dried cherries (snipped into smaller pieces) and mini chocolate chips makes a nice combination. Using one banana: 1 mashed banana 1 c. gluten\-free oatmeal 1/3\-1/2 c. dried fruit or mini chocolate chips (or combination) 2 T. coconut oil pinch of salt PEANUT BUTTER CRUNCH COOKIES Melt together: 1 stick butter 3/4 c. peanut butter In a large bowl add butter/peanut butter mixture and the remaining ingredients. Mix with an electric hand-held mixer. 1 t. baking soda pinch of salt 2 eggs 1 c. unsalted dry-roasted peanuts 1/2 c. raw or roasted sunflower seeds 1/2 c. almond flour 1/2 c. palm sugar 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips 1/2 c. unsweetened coconut 1/2 c. cacao nibs (optional) Cover two baking sheets with parchment. Use a #50 scoop for dough portions (note: make small cookies as this dough spreads). Bake in a 375-degree oven for 12 minutes. BLUEBERRY COCONUT PECAN BREAKFAST COOKIES These cookies are similar to Super\-Simple Banana Cookies. http://www.kumquatblog.com/2012/03/blueberry-coconut-pecan-breakfast.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ COCONUT OATMEAL COOKIE BARS (which are cookies, not bars) (Source: The Everything Coconut Diet Cookbook) Makes 24 1/2 c. coconut flour 1/2 c. coconut sugar 1/2 c. rolled oats 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut 1/2 c. coconut oil 1 egg 1 t. baking soda Preheat oven to 350\-degrees F. In a mixing bowl, combine coconut flour, sugar, oats and shredded coconut. Melt coconut oil; add egg and baking soda. Mix well into dry ingredients. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet; bake for about 10\-12 minutes, or until lightly browned at the edges. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack. \[Grainlady Note: I generally double the recipe. Use a \#50 portion scoop and press the cookies down before baking.\] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ These are my original recipes I developed for a local sorghum mill..... NUTELLA WHITE SORGHUM FLOUR COOKIES 1/2 c. Nutella Chocolate Hazelnut Spread 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 c. white sorghum flour 1/2 c. dried potato flakes 1/4 c. flaxmeal 1/2 T. cornstarch 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt Preheat oven to 325\-degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl beat Nutella and butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg just until mixed. In a medium bowl, combine the white sorghum flour, dried potato flakes, flaxmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix by hand, only until ingredients are incorporated. Using a portion scoop, make dough into 1\-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12\-minutes. Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to rest on the sheets for 2\-minutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool. Makes 65, 2\-1/2" cookies ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CHOCOLATE CHIP/COCONUT SORGHUM FLOUR COOKIES 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1/4 c. sour cream 2/3 c. white sorghum flour 1/3 c. dried potato flakes 1/3 c. flaxmeal 1/3 c. unsweetened coconut 1 t. cornstarch 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips Preheat oven to 325\-degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl beat butter until light and creamy. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in egg and sour cream just until mixed. In a medium bowl, combine the sorghum flour, dried potato flakes, flaxmeal, coconut, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the butter mixture and mix only until ingredients are incorporated. Using a small portion scoop, make dough into 1\-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Bake about 10\-12 minutes. remove cookie sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest on the sheets 2\-inutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool makes 44 two\-inch cookies. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WHITE SORGHUM PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES 1/2 c. natural peanut butter 1/2 c. butter (softened) 1/4 c. white sugar 1/4 c. brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 c. white sorghum flour 1/2 c. dried potato flakes 1/2 c. flaxmeal 1/2 T. cornstarch 1 t. baking powder 1 t. baking soda 1/2 t. salt Preheat oven to 350\-degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl beat softened butter and peanut butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the sugars and beat until fluffy. Beat in the egg just until mixed. In a medium bowl, combine the white sorghum flour, dried potato flakes, flaxmeal, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. By hand, mix into peanut butter mixture, only until ingredients are incorporated. Refrigerate dough for 20\-minutes. Using a portion scoop, make dough into 1\-inch balls. Place on prepared cookie sheets and press with a fork dipped into coarse sugar. Bake 8\-10 minutes in a pre\-heated 350\-degree F. oven. Remove cookie sheets from the oven and allow the cookies to rest on the sheet for 1\-2 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to completely cool. \-Grainlady This post was edited by grainlady on Tue, May 27, 14 at 8:43

If you want, you can make most cookies (chocolate chip, oatmeal, and so on) using dairy free margarine, soy or rice milk products, and egg replacers. For baking I use earth balance buttery sticks, which are made from cold pressed oils and are not hydrogenated. They are vegan and the product works very well in baked goods. For cookies I use one tablespoon of flax seed, ground in the coffee grinder then mixed with 3 tablepsoons of hot water in place of each egg. In muffins or cakes I use commercial egg replacer or, if I can get away with it, I blend 1/4 cup of tofu (mori nu type which blends well) with the liquid ingredients in the food processor until smooth in place of an egg. This worked really well in brownies. As for milk I use either plain or vanilla soy milk although you can also use rice, almond, even hemp milk LOL. For sour cream or yogurt I use soy yogurt. I recently made a batch of my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe (from the back of the box of butter flavour crisco) using the earth balance buttery sticks, soy milk, flax seed and dairy free chocolate chips (nothing expensive, around here the cheaper chips contain no dairy LOL) and not a single eyebrow was raised.

Bonnie, thank you! A close friend was just diagnosed with celiac and I've been looking for T&T recipes for sweets to make for her. I can handle cooking gluten free, that's relatively easy. It's the baked goods that had me a bit stymied. I'll give these a try (even if I am scared of all the specialty flours!) Bri

I realize that this is a very old thread, but here is some information on oats. My wife has celiac disease and was not able to eat oat meal. However, recently she tried some certified gluten free oats and has had no problem whatsoever with them. Apparently, most oats on the market (such as Quaker) have some cross contamination with gluten-containing grains, but there are some oats that are free of cross contamination. There are at least two companies in Wyoming who sell such products.