Sorghum Cookies: Good Choice for Gluten-Free Kids

Celiac.com 10/15/2022 - I’m constantly amazed at how many parents call me to say their gluten-free children are unable to eat the usual gluten-free flours such as rice, beans, or soy. That’s when I suggest sorghum flour––a flour I’ve used for over six years now, but that many people still don’t know about or are afraid to try.

Old Grain, New Uses

I’ve known about sorghum since my childhood on a Nebraska farm where we called it milo. Back then, it was grown for livestock feed and if someone had told me that humans would eventually eat it, I would have been dumbfounded. Back then, I didn’t know that sorghum has been consumed for centuries by people all over the world.

Celiac.com Sponsor (A12):
Today, growers in the U.S. produce a special grade called sweet white sorghum which is designed for human consumption and extremely tasty. In fact, the U.S. exports it to countries seeking alternatives to wheat. Lucky for us, because it gives all of us yet another choice when the usual flours are off-limits due to allergies or intolerances.

Advantages of Sorghum Flour

There are several reasons that sorghum flour fits nicely into our gluten-free diet, including:

• Sorghum flour has a neutral color—beige to light tan— which increases its versatility for all kinds of baked goods. Use it for even the most light-colored dishes or in the children’s cookie recipe below.
• Its flavor—which some people think is fairly close to wheat—is still decidedly neutral and unlikely to alter the flavor of delicate baked goods the way stronger-flavored flours can do. Children in particular like this neutral flavor.
• Nutritionally, sorghum flour has a fairly good protein content (11 grams per cup) which makes it good for gluten-free baking, especially since this protein is “watered down” when mixed with the lighter, low-protein flours such as potato starch or tapioca flour. It also has a good B-vitamin and fiber content.
• Sorghum flour produces baked goods with superior texture, without the grittiness common in rice flours.

Sorghum Flour Cookies Delight the Kids

I know you’ll like this sorghum-based recipe for children’s cookies, adapted from Savory Palate’s newest publication, Gluten-Free Friends: An Activity Book for Kids, by Nancy Patin Falini, MA, RD, LDN.

Since there are no other flours in the recipe, it will work great for kids who can’t eat rice, bean, or soy flour. These cookies make a great after-school snack or can be tucked into your child’s lunch box. In fact, the rest of the family will love them, too, so you might want to make an extra batch!

My favorite version is to use the dried cranberries and pecans, but I also like using chopped almonds for the nuts and dried apricots for the fruit. Get creative…use whatever you have on hand. Store them in a tightly covered container to keep them soft and chewy.

Carol Fenster’s Raisin Kiss Treats

Adapted from Gluten-Free Friends: An Activity Book for Kids by Nancy Patin Falini, MA, RD, LDN with permission from Carol Fenster, Ph.D.’s Savory Palate Press (1889374091)

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• 3⁄4 cup brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup sorghum flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄4 teaspoon xanthan gum
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup raisins or dried cranberries 
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300F. Beat egg whites until stiff. Thoroughly mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, xanthan gum, and salt together and stir into egg whites with spatula. Stir in raisins and nuts. Drop from a tablespoon or shape into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet that is well greased or lined with parchment paper. Bake 25-30 minutes or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. Cool thoroughly. Makes approximately two (2) dozen. Store in tightly closed container to keep cookies soft and chewy.