Ali Bakes: Bite-sized Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Yep.  Your girl Ali P. here has to avoid gluten on most days.  It's not super-strict, and I haven't even necessarily proven my tummy issues to being gluten-related, but I feel like digestion is easier when gluten is left out of the picture.  So...I was excited to give a gluten-free recipe a shot yesterday.

 

 

Ah yes, yesterday was Sunday.  A legitimate weekend day, unlike the day before.  Saturday surely was a fun-filled day, with it being the College Forward Mentor Retreat, but it was certainly a 10+ hour long work day that left me feeling exhausted.  However, anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that time spent in the kitchen is time spent as a happier Ali P.  I ended up trying out three new recipes yesterday!  (One recipe posted below, one recipe to be posted in a separate post, and a third recipe missing pictures due to me being tired during breakfast and not thinking about pancake photography.  For those interested, the recipe was found at:  http://urbanposer.blogspot.com/2011/12/perfect-dairy-free-almond-flour.html.  My feedback:  makes for some dense pancakes.  Yummy though.  Not-so-great reheated necessarily the next morning.)

 

So.  Let's get to baking!  But first, here's a lil baking anecdote, courtesy of your baking mistress Ali P. and her assistant Fish, Brian.

 

La-te-dah...gathering ingredients.  La-te-dah...mixing ingredients.  La-te-dah...attempting to roll 'dough' into balls to put on cookie sheet.  FAIL.  (Hello crumbly oatmeal/chocolate chip mixture scattered across cookie sheet.)  Hmmm...  La-te-dah...Oh!  Let's read the recipe again!  Hmmm...OH!  One must pack lil cookie bites into the tablespoon and then plop them onto the cookie sheet!  La-te-dah...scraping all crumbles back into bowl.  La-te-dah...tablespoon scooping success!



 

Aren't you all proud?!  Recipes are worth reading.  And paying close attention to.  Don't skip this step, y'all.  Tis important.

 

Aren't you glad I'm not too proud to keep my entertaining baking tales to myself?  Yep, I like sharing the crazy kitchen chaos.

 

And now...

 

 

Bite-sized Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

*Adapted from DodgyDumpling.com

 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups of old-fashioned oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon brown sugar

4+ tablespoons chocolate chips

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons almond milk (or other milk)

 

Instructions:

 

Pulverize the oats, baking soda, salt, and brown sugar in a food processor.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Pour the oat mixture into a large bowl and add the oil and the milk, mixing until wet throughout (but still likely crumbly).  Scoop cookies onto greased baking sheet using a tablespoon.  Bake for about 10 minutes (original recipe suggests a baking sheet rotation halfway through baking, but I forgot this step).  Allow to cool on baking sheet.

And that's that!  After figuring out our mistake, the lil cookies turned out lovely--not super-sweet but just enough to stand in as a dessert/snack for my chocoholic tendencies.