I remember when Bob’s Red Mill came out with (the then revolutionary) gluten free oats. I was at my celiac best friend’s house, in the kitchen; we were stuffing our faces with hot oatmeal raisin cookies, like you do. I wasn’t gluten free yet, but watching her get reacquainted with something she hadn’t been able to eat in years was sweet.

We made like 5 batches, the batter bowl was never ending. Needless to say, we ended up with terrible stomach aches. Turns out eating on the upwards of 15 cookies—though they may be made with intestine-friendly ingredients—isn’t a great idea.

I’m always playing with this recipe. The good news is that no matter what you do, you can’t really mess it up. (No matter what the cookies look like the combo always tastes good.) I’ve done these with and without hand and stand mixers. They’re a total breeze if you have a stand mixer, a little arm workout if you have a hand mixer, and a great pre-sweets-eating workout without either kind of mixer.

I like to pretend that they’re exceptionally healthy and nutritious. (Nutritious yes, healthy in moderation.)

Happy Girl GF Oatmeal Cookies

for Cass, Lou and Mae

This recipe makes between 18-24 cookies (depending on size), about two and a half tray’s worth of baking. I only have one cookie tray, and I get impatient waiting for more than two batches.

You can always double it and store extra dough in your fridge for fresh baked cookies whenevs.

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Whisk dry ingredients in a mixing bowl:

            1/2 cup white rice flour

            1/4 cup sorghum flour

            2 Tbs arrowroot starch

            1/2 tsp xanthan gum

            1 tsp baking powder

            scant* 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

            1/4 tsp salt

*not all the way full

I’ve subbed 1/4 cup of the white rice flour for 1/4 cup of gluten free buckwheat flour with massive success. Get creative with your flours, just keep dry proportions the same.

If you don’t have xanthan gum, sorghum flour or arrowroot starch, you can just use 3/4 cup white rice flour and call it a day, but take care to space them out on the cookie sheet. Leave lots of room because they’ll spread. Cassie always just subbed white rice flour in a regular gluten recipe and they came out just fine.

3. Beat the following in a stand mixer until creamy:

            1/3 cup softened butter (about 5.5 Tbs)

            1/3 cup packed brown sugar

            1/3 cup white or raw sugar

4. Add and mix on med-low speed:

            1 egg

            1/2 tsp vanilla

5. Add dry mix slowly to wet mixture

6. Add directly to mixer:

            1-1/2 cups gluten free rolled oats

            1/2 cup raisins

            1/2 cup chocolate chips or diced chunks (optional)

If using a hand mixer, it’s best to swap it for a wooden spoon at this point because the oats and chunks will likely overwhelm your mixer.

7. Place dollops of the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet, leaving an inch or so of space between your cookies. Smaller cookies will cook faster.

8. Bake for 7-10 minutes, rotate the pan midway to ensure even baking.

9. Use a metal spatula to remove them from the cookie sheet and onto a cooling rack. It’ll seem like they’re not quite done, but believe me, they harden—translate: crunchy and chewy—as they cool. Don’t poke them. They’re done; I promise. You’ll know they’re done if the bottom of the cookie is slightly brown. You’ll have crunchy cookies if you leave them in until it seems like the top is done; the bottoms will be very brown, too.

10. Eat as many as you can. Dip in milk for a well-balanced meal.

p.s. Adding cream cheese frosting to form little oatmeal cookie sandwiches=incredibly dee-licious.