Gluten-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

From my new favourite blog, Sketch-free Vegan Eating, I tried out a recipe for Gluten-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. It was simple and quick, and the only substitution I made was brown rice flour for the oat flour. But I did use certified gluten-free oats. They cost a bit more (maybe an extra dollar for a large bag), but save me from wondering if I feel sick from the oats being contaminated in the factory with wheat. $1 for peace of mind.

Oh, I lied. I also substituted the grapeseed oil with coconut oil, which is a little sweeter and adds actual flavour to the cookies rather than just being a sticky liquid. AND I skipped the cinnamon spread, because all I wanted was plain oatmeal-raisin cookies. I will admit, though, that it was the spread that first attracted me to the cookies. You can ice cookies? Like cupcakes?? Why don’t people do this all the time?

So here’s how the recipe ended up:

Gluten-Free Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

1 cup gluten-free oats

3/4 cups brown rice flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder (make sure it’s gluten-free. It often contains wheat starch, but some brands are made with corn starch or potato starch)

pinch of salt

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup raisins (I used half sultanas and half Thompson – the darker ones. Look for sulfite-free versions. Dried fruit can be awful if you have problems with preservatives)

2 tbsp honey

1/4 cup coconut oil (or other oil – not olive or sesame unless you like it bitter. I kind of do…)

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (thanks to Jennifer and Jaclyn at Sketch-Free Vegan Eating for actually putting the preheating isntruction at the BEGINNING of the recipe. So many people put it right before when you need to put the cookies in the oven, so you’re sitting around twiddling your thumbs while the oven preheats. This way you need to work fairly quickly making the cookie dough so you don’t waste a lot of heat, but it’s a whole lot more time efficient).

Combine the dry ingredients (oats through raisins) in a medium bowl. In a large saucepan combine the honey and oil on low heat, just until the coconut oil melts. f you’re using another kind of oil that’s liquid at room temperature just combine the honey and oil in a small bowl. Use a spatula to add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and add the 1/4 cup of water. If the batter is dry add an extra tbsp of water (max two) until the dough sticks together.

Grease a baking sheet lightly with melted coconut oil or other oil. Shape the cookies into balls (they get a little sticky by the end, so feel free to just take a spoon and heap them into unattractive lumps on the baking sheet) and place a few centimetres (1/2″) apart on the baking sheet. Flatten the tops of the cookies so they’ll cook all the way through without burning on the outside. They don’t spread very much. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until golden.

Smile and eat. In theory you’re supposed to let cookies cool so they don’t just crumble apart but I believe that if they crumble you’ll just have to eat all the crumbly bits. So it’s win-win.