Friday, December 19, 2008

Crunchy Oatmeal Cookies

Oh this has been a wonderful week (other than my having bronchitis)! My mommy came all the way from California to spend a week with us and since I wasn't feeling like getting out too much we spent the whole week baking. We also got our first snowfall of the year which is very exciting, but now it doesn't seem to want to stop! Anyway...about the cookies. When I was young everyone would rave about my mothers crunchy oatmeal cookies (this was before she knew she had celiac). I never cared much for them because, as I have said before, I am a soft cookie kind of girl. Since my mom is visiting, however, I thought I would make this gluten free and "allergen free" version just for her. As It turned out, she loved them, Emily loved them, and even I loved them...maybe my taste has matured. These cookies have a lovely crunch but are not "hard" in a way that you sometimes get with gluten free baking. To anyone who can't have almonds I am sorry. Of course you could try replacing the almond flour with another flour or ground seeds and replacing the chopped almonds with chopped seeds or even omitting them. I haven't tried any of that but if you are feeling adventurous I would love to hear about your results! One last note... My friend Tracy recently commented that she can taste the tapioca starch in her baking and doesn't care for it, so I was also sort of dedicating this recipe to her because I used arrowroot starch instead of tapioca starch...I didn't think to ask her first if she could have almonds (sigh). Anyway, even though this recipe is not going to be one that Tracy can use, I did find that the arrowroot starch worked just as well as tapioca starch and should be pretty interchangeable in any recipe. Cornstarch is another option, although corn is a pretty common allergen.

½ c Gluten free oat flour (I made my own in my coffee grinder)
½ c Arrowroot starch (tapioca starch or corn starch can be used instead)
¼ c Rice flour
¼ c Almond flour
¼ t Xanthan gum
1 t Baking soda
1 t Cinnamon
1 c Spectrum shortening
1 c Granulated white sugar
½ c Brown sugar
1 Prepared egg replacer
1 t Vanilla
¾ c Chopped raw almonds
1 ½ c Gluten free rolled oats
Shortening and Granulated sugar for dipping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together all flours and starches, xanthan gum, baking soda, and cinnamon. Set aside.
Cream together shortening and sugars. Stir in egg replacer and vanilla. Mix in the sifted flour mixture, crushed almonds, and rolled oats until fully incorporated.

Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and lay 2'' apart on ungreased baking sheet. Now, take a wide bottomed glass or a tin can and grease the bottom of it and dip it in the sugar. Use the sugared end to press evenly on each cookie until flattened to about 1/8''. Keep dipping the glass in sugar as necessary, it shouldn't need to be re-greased very often. Bake for approximately 12 to 14 minutes.
Merry Christmas and Happy Happy Baking!!! :)

4 comments:

kelly said...

Hi, I just found your site and from what I have read I am so excited and amazed!

Our 4 year old son has the following allergies: peanut, egg, dairy and banana.

I will be stopping by often! Thankyou!

FoodAllergyMom said...

Welcome Kelly! I'm excited that you found me too, I love having new visitors! In my blogroll, to the right, there are some other mom blogs with allergies closer to your son's (they can all have wheat and we cannot). I can't put links in my comments box, but I will give you their names so you won't have to go through every blog searching. These are all egg, dairy, and peanut free: Speedbump Kitchen, Food Allergy Mama, Must Follow Reipes, and The Allergic Kid. Of course, I would love to see you here again too!

Edie said...

Do you think you could make these with an alternative sweetener like honey? My son is dairy, soy, wheat, legume, and sugar free (among other things). I have been trying to find a recipe for wheat free dairy free sugar free oatmeal cookies. I tried making my own but still haven't perfected the recipe (very dry and crumbly). I'm still new to cooking with gluten free flours and have the added challenge of having to avoid sorghum and legume flours too.

FoodAllergyMom said...

Hi Edie, welcome. I don't bake much with alternative sweeteners. My mother does, but she's out of town right now so I can't ask her. I just remembered, though, reading a wonderfully detailed and informative post about alternative sweeteners at
http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2006/09/sugar-blues.html

Karina (the Gluten Free Goddess) is also very good about answering questions if you find that you need more help.