Gluten free "Indulgent Trailmix" fruitcake cookies

We bought a bag of Wal-Mart "Indulgent Trailmix" and oh my, is it indulgent. We could have metabolized it 35 years ago, but no way. So what to do with it.

When I can, I sometimes bring little goodies to church. This being Seattle is prime time for drinking coffee and talking about the Seahawks before the service starts. This recipe make 4.5 baking pans worth of cookies. I save my Costco rotisserie chicken plastic containers and use these to store and transport the cookies. That way I can leave the container. NOTE: cookies must be completely cooled before packaging.

• 1      cup of flax flour
• 1.25 cup Winpro bulk aisle powdered cheese (like the stuff you use for Mac Cheese)
• 1      cup gluten free pancake and waffle mix
• 1      cup Wal-Mart "Great Value Indulgent tailmix", if you can't find the mix, it is various dried fruits including Craisins, various chips, (chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch), and almonds, chopped fine or "lightly blendered"
• 1/2   cup powdered milk
• 1/2   cup dried Montmorency cherries
• 1/4   cup dried blueberries
• 1/4   cup dried mangos, (I rinse them to remove the excess sugar)
• 4      pinches sea salt, (you may want more, we use a salt restricted lifestyle)
• OPTIONAL: couple spins of the pepper grinder, I like it as a foil against the sweet stuff

Stir the dry goods until mixed

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 cup corn or vegetable oil, (oil is primarily for stickiness, if you have really good non-stick baking pans you can reduce to a tablespoon)
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• Add egg white until just a bit thicker than pancakes NOTE: you can always add more egg while, but you can't take it away, so be patient and run a test batch

If you stop and think about it, you have a lot invested in that batter, so stop and do a test run. If you are going off to do other things like read email be sure to use time bake, (I have created a lot of carbon from food products in my life time).

Oven to 310, (my oven burns the bottoms at 350), 1 heaping TBLS portion in the center of the baking pan you are going to use, (I put a slightly smaller pan on the lower rack of the oven, larger on top). Spoon test. When it is cooked, do a taste test, this is your opportunity to make any adjustments to the batter.

I time bake between 12 and 15 minutes and then let them coast, perfect if you are going out shopping. They will be waiting on you when you get back.

Bread pudding option:

If you have a fairly widemouth small jar you can try a bread pudding. My favorite for this is the larger pesto jars.  This is best done after you have made a batch of cookies or two, so you see the final size. Make the cookies small enough to fit in the jar, but try to have them fill up the jar, it is OK to smoosh them a bit. Next, fill with liquid to take the air out, this is why it is crucial to have as much cookie in the jar as possible. I generally use Orange Juice Concentrate and sometime augment with a TBLS of either dark rum or triple sec.

Spoon out the bread pudding ingredients, place in a non-stick skillet, if you have a large one, use it since you do not want to stir for the first few minutes. Cook at a medium heat till all or most of the liquid boils off. Serve with Creme Fraiche.

NOTE: given my druthers to serve small portions, (though enough of them my guests do not leave hungry), I would serve a small plate with a tablespoon sized portion along with Russian style buckwheat pancakes, (which helps use up the Creme Fraiche).  Finally, I would hit each plate with  a table spoon size of Mostarda cherries. Here is a recipe, but I use lemon to taste for the tartness instead of balsamic vinegar, (careful it is easy to over lemonize), 1/4 cup of dark cane sugar instead of 1/3 regular sugar, and Dried Montmorency cherries instead of Bing.