Gluten Free Recipe - Perfect GF Oatmeal Craisin Cookies

Fact: I LOVE oatmeal cookies. I crave them. I think about them while I'm awake. I dream about them when I sleep. I feel empty inside when they aren't available to me.

A couple of years ago, Nestle made oatmeal craisin cookie dough that you could buy in tubs at Costco and Sam's. It was sooooooo good. It was the perfect cookie. Crispy outside, chewy inside. I'm salivating just thinking about them. It was around Christmas time and the tubs all said that it was a limited edition. We ended up buying, like 12 tubs of it and sticking it in our freezer, but eventually, we ran out. It was a sad, sad day. It was also the day that I started trying to figure out how to make my own oatmeal craisin cookie dough. I made at least 5 or 6 batches before I got them perfect. But I did it. I made the perfect oatmeal cookie. Take THAT, Nestle!

Then we found out that Brent had celiac. Grrrrrrr.

This was the first recipe I made GF and I think that I made it that night to show Brent that it wouldn't be so bad, we could still have cookies. I made it with "oat flour" which means that I threw a bunch of oats in my food processor and pulverised them. They turned out ok, but I've gotten better since.

I'm proud to say that now, I've managed to come up with perfect GF oatmeal craisin cookie. I make the dough and keep it in my fridge so that we can all have warm cookies at night after dinner. I also sneak bites of dough during the day when my kids aren't looking. Please don't tell them.

Here's the recipe. Value it with your lives.

1 cup softened butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together well in your mixer.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix together...

2 cups GF flour blend

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. xanthan gum

1/2 tsp. salt

Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl and mix on low until combined, then toss in...

2 cups rolled oats (we haven't ever had cross contamination issues with oats)

1 cup craisins

Ok, now to the baking. I bake them at 350 degrees. I preheat a bit in advance to make sure that the temperature is good and even in the oven before I throw the cookies in. It's a very scientific process. I'm a scientist. A cookie scientist.

Drop rounded tablespoons onto your ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Or less. I bake mine for 7. DO NOT OVERCOOK THESE COOKIES. I put that in caps so as to emphasize the importance of NOT OVERCOOKING THE COOKIES. You want them to be a little gooey in the middle, even looking a little undercooked when you pull them from the oven. Make them a couple at a time at first to test the timing, if you need to.

Here's a picture of mine fresh out of the oven. Yum.

This is what I ate for breakfast Saturday morning. It got me off to a nice, healthy start.

Why is it that no matter how much butter and sugar those cookies contain, I always feel like I'm healthy eating them because of the oats? Oats are deceiving like that.

And this is my baby eating my breakfast. Not cool.

Ok, now go make you some cookies and eat them for breakfast tomorrow morning. I won't judge.