Dairy and Wheat Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My sister has been dairy and wheat free for a few years now. At various times I have been dairy free myself to help with the boys' reflux issues so these cookies were a real treat! You could replace the peanut butter with more spread and chocolate chips if you need this recipe to be nut free too.

Makes 24

125gm dairy free spread
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 egg, beaten
1 cup rice flour (you can substitute 1/3 cup ground almonds/ 2/3 rice flour if you don't have enough flour)
1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup finely chopped dark chocolate - or more if you like
1/4 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 180, prepare two cookie sheets

Beat marg and sugar. Beat in peanut butter, then egg.

Sift in rice flour and baking powder. Mix till well combined. You can add choc chips at this point if you like OR

Bake for 8 minutes. Combine topping ingredients in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over biscuits. Bake for a further 2-3 mins.

Lactation Cookies

Someone needs to come up with a better name for these!

I've seen different variations of this recipe on more than one parenting website. Basically the idea is that they are packed full of ingredients to encourage milk supply and if you choose the right recipe they are also full of yummy things to keep you smiling while you're stuck on the couch breastfeeding a tiny, greedy milk-monster.

Makes 6 dozen slightly-larger-than-bite-sized cookies

250g butter (or dairy free spread if you're avoiding dairy)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons LSA (ground sunflower, linseed and almond mix)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour (rice flour works well if you are wheat free, otherwise plain flour is fine)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats, thick cut if you can get them
1 cup or more chocolate chips
2 tablespoons of brewers yeast (be generous. In Singapore you buy this at Brown Rice Paradise and I've also found it in the organic section in NTUC Fairprice).

Preheat oven to 190C, grease and line as many cookie sheets as will fit in your oven (I usually have two going at a time with this recipe).

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and continue to mix well. Add vanilla and LSA mix. Keep beating! Add remaining dry ingredients EXCEPT oats and chocolate chips. Using a wooden spoon, mix in the oats and chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoonsful of the mixture onto baking sheets and flatten with a fork. Bake for around 10 minutes.

You can add chopped dried fruit, almonds, extra chocolate .. anything really! to make these a tasty treat. I served these to Mr B plenty of times and he enjoyed them too (and no, they never caused him to lactate!!!)

Lemonade Scones

C and I made lemonade scones on the weekend.  Fortunately they turned out pretty nice, since we had friends round for afternoon tea on Sunday afternoon and they were our guinea pigs!

This is the simplest recipe EVER and lots of fun for kids too.

3 cups self raising flour
1 can (335ml) lemonade
1 small bottle cream (I think they're around 185ml here)

Preheat oven to 220 C.

Mix all three ingredients together in a large bowl till dough comes together.  Turn out onto floured surface and knead a few times without overworking it - easier said than done if you have a wee helper!  Roll dough out so its around 2cm thick and cut round scones.  Place on a floured oven tray and bake for 12 - 15 mins or until scones sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.

Mummy's little helper

Serve with jam and cream of course!  Meidi-Ya in Liang Court often stocks proper clotted cream.

Edit: DO NOT use canned dairy whip like I discovered one cafe in ion Orchard doing for their "High Tea."  So disappointing!