Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, Gluten Free Option

 It happened.

I was suddenly struck with one of those irrepressible food cravings,
you know the kind...
 something yummy gets fixated in your head and your just can't live happily until you've had some.

For two weeks, my goodie fixation was Oatmeal Raisin cookies.
It wasn't as if they were my favorite cookie, and it had been ages since I had any, but suddenly it became necessary for survival that I make myself a batch.

Sadly, my first attempt was a flop.
First...there wasn't a single raisin to be had in the entire house.
Oh well, chocolate chips seemed a good substitute, right?

Nope.
They tasted like chocolate chip cookies with a little more texture.
Good, yes.
But sorely disappointing when you were expecting something different.

So, after stocking up on raisins,
I tried again.

Ahh, the old fashioned, simple recipe I found in our go-to cookie cook book hit the spot!
I found it interesting when I read 'buttermilk' on the ingredient list.
But if there is one thing I've learned since moving down south,
 it is that all good things are made with buttermilk.

And what made it even better, with some slight tweaking I was able to make
a gluten free version so my dad could enjoy these treats as well!

 It was so yummy, I thought I would share it with you.

Farm-Style Oatmeal Cookies

*2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups quick-cooking oats
**1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
***cinnamon

• Heat oven to 375 degrees
• Mix brown sugar, shortening, buttermilk, vanilla and cinnamon.
• Stir in remaining ingredients.
• Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheet, flatten slightly.
• Bake 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.
• Let cool.

*I would recommend using less sugar, they were great, but a bit sweet for our taste.

 

**This is where I turned the recipe gluten free. I measured out 1 3/4 cups of quick oats and simply ran them through the food processor (a blender would work too) until they were a fine powder.

And there you have it, I made oat flour. It came out to be about the same ground up as whole, so the measurement you put into the food processor is pretty much what you will get out in flour.

 

 ***This recipe didn't call for cinnamon, but others I looked at did, so I just sprinkled some in. 

I didn't measure, so I would just say 'viewer discretion advised'. :) 

Yum, yum, yummy.

Now, the recipe says to bake these for about 10-12 minutes-- the key is until they are golden brown.
Mine were very crumbly, and I thought they weren't quite done, but once they cooled completely, they were perfect...soft and gooey. I made the mistake of cooking my next pan longer, and once they cooled they were hard, crunchy and even tasted a little different.
So less is best.

This recipe came from the Betty Crocker Cookie Cookbook, 1986 version





Enjoy!