Cookies are one of my favorite ways to warm up the holidays. Being able to bake up some fresh cookies to share with friends, family and co-workers is very rewarding. There are many traditional cookie flavors available to play with during the holiday season and you can really never go wrong.

In our test kitchen, I baked up some Strawberry Thumbprint Cookies and one person commented that it was the best cookie she had in a long time. We have some people who eat gluten free in the offices as well, so I made sure they would not be left out by baking some Gluten Free Crispy Ginger Cookies. We hope you will enjoy these cookies as well!

Strawberry Thumbprints

½ cup Butter*
½ cup Sugar
2 Tb Milk (Cow, Soy, Rice)
1 cup Unbleached White Flour
½ cup Almond Meal
¼ tsp Sea Salt
½ cup Strawberry Jam

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the milk and combine thoroughly. Mix together the flour, salt and almond meal. Add dry ingredients to wet, mix to combine. Form into one-inch balls. Place ¼ cup of additional Almond Meal in a bowl. Roll dough balls in the almond meal, covering the entire ball. Place on cookie sheet, flatten slightly with palm of hand and press hole in middle with your thumb. Put in ½ tsp jam in each hole. Bake at 350°F for 15-18 minutes. Makes one dozen cookies.

*For a casein and dairy free version, replace the butter with soy margarine or shortening.

Gluten Free Gingersnap Cookies

½ cup Butter*
1 cup Evaporated Cane Sugar
¼ cup Molasses
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Sorghum Flour
¾ cup Tapioca Flour
¼ cup Potato Starch
½ tsp Guar Gum
½ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Sea Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Ginger
¼ tsp Cloves

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla and molasses and mix until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt and spices. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet and blend until combined. Place ½ cup of sugar in a bowl. Form the dough into one-inch balls and drop into sugar to cover the outside of the dough. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 15 minutes. Makes 20 cookies.

*For a casein and dairy free version, replace the butter with soy margarine or shortening.

Traditional holiday dinners can be a creative endeavor for vegetarians (as some of you know) and this Thanksgiving was no different for me. In my hemming and hawing about what to make, our recipe specialist Chelsea Lincoln reminded me of an awesome Hemp No Meat Loaf that she made a few months back.

As you may already know, Bob’s Red Mill recently released Hulled Hemp Seeds, so there has been a lot of experimenting with different hemp dishes around here over the last few months. Hemp is surprisingly tasty. I never really had any doubt that hemp would be as delicious and as it is healthy, but I was unsure what its applications in the kitchen would be.

So far, I’ve enjoyed hemp seeds in veggie burgers, mixed in grain dishes, in oatmeal, bread, and on salads. Pretty darn versatile if I do say so myself! It has a great, creamy flavor and many desirable nutritional and environmental benefits.

Needless to say, my family was a bit hestitant about “this crazy dish” that I was planning to bring to the dinner. Being the good sports they are, everyone tried a small slice along with their usual turkey dinner. I think they were suprised by the texture and flavor, both similar to a traditional meat loaf. The best part? There were no leftovers; we ate the entire dish!

This recipe is easy to prepare and being vegetarian, vegan and gluten free makes it perfect for a potluck or holiday dinner.

Hemp No Meat Loaf

1-1/2 cups Wild & Brown Rice Blend
3 cups Water
1-1/2 cups Hulled Hemp Seeds
1/3 cup Olive Oil
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp Black pepper
1 Tbsp Basil
2 tsp Sea Salt
¼ cup Cornstarch

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 9 x5-inch loaf pan and set aside.

Prepare water and rice as directed. In the meantime, combine the red pepper, onion, garlic, pepper, basil, salt and olive oil in a blender. Blend of high until smooth.

In a bowl combined shelled hemp seeds, prepared rice, cornstarch and the mixture from the blender. Pour into a loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour.