Allergy Mom - learning to live with it

My little girl loves rainbow cookies. You know, the ones made with colorful candy covered chocolate chips. One of the things that has kept me from making rainbow cookies for a long time was the lack of dairy free candy coated chocolate chips. Those little things are available in most grocery stores but unfortunately they contain dairy. Every time we passed by the cookie aisle in the grocery store, Maya would ask  for rainbow cookies and every time I would have to read the label and show her that they are unsafe. But that got me thinking (surprising, I know, tell me about it) that there must be a way I can make them, if not the same, then at least very similar.

It was an accidental discovery to be honest. Now that my kitchen is all nice and new (read: clean and organized) I am able to see everything stored at a glance. No more stuff hiding behind more stuff. No more dispatching of search and rescue teams to find that lone can of sliced pineapple trapped behind the mass of applesauce jars. I was in the process of making Canada Day Cookies (a recipe that will be discussed in a later post) and needed Maple extract which was sitting beside the colorful cake sprinkles. And that's when it hit me. Chocolate chips and sprinkles in cookie dough = rainbow cookies. No one said that the chocolate had to be covered in candy. As long as they both made it to the party, who cares, right? It was time to try this madness.

The results were quite good. My little girl was so happy and requests Rainbow Cookies often. These are not soft like chocolate chip cookies. They are crispy and chewy (not to mention sweet and addictive). My mouth loved them a great deal but my thighs not so much. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family did.

Dairy, Egg, & Nut Free Rainbow Cookies
Yields 4 dozen

1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup dairy free margarine
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup dairy free chocolate chips
1/2 cup multicolored sprinkles (I use Cake Mate, which I talked about here)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 2 cookie sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugars, shortening and dairy free margarine. Mix until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and applesauce. Mix until smooth.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to wet ingredients and mix until just comes together. Do not overbeat. Add chocolate chips and sprinkles. Stir with a rubber spatula. Using a small cookie scoop, drop dough 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. Do not flatten, as they will spread. During baking the cookies will rise a fair bit but do not be alarmed. They will sink once cooled.

Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden and the middle looks set. Let cool on sheet for 1 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in a tightly covered container and leave on kitchen counter (assuming they don't disappear within 24 hours).

Note: 
- Because they contain shortening, the cookies spread a fair bit, so do not flatten them and stick to a small cookie scoop. That will yield the standard two inch cookie size. 
- These cookies are very delicate and burn easily so keep an eye on them. They really only need 7 to 8 minutes in the oven and only a minute to cool on the tray.
- To my knowledge, the only dairy, egg, & nut free sprinkles in the city are made by McCormick Canada and are branded Cake Mate. Wilton is NOT safe for dairy and egg allergies. Please read this post for details.
 
Nutritional Info (per cookie)
Calories 70.6, Total Fat 3.25g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 55.35mg, Potassium 8.74mg, Total Carbohydrates 9.84g, Fiber 0.22g, Sugar 4.34g, Protein 0.46g

Nutrition analysis is approximate and will vary depending on exact ingredients used. Calculations are based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet. Nutritional Facts are obtained from Radium Technologies' Living Cookbook. However, Allergymom.ca has no affiliation with Radium Technologies and does not guarantee the accuracy of this information.