Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

"Nom, Nom, Nom!"

Nom, nom, what?! I'll admit I just barely figured out what that meant. I was legitimately confused when I would see people posting food pics on their Instagram and Facebook accounts with the caption "nom, nom, nom". I had no clue what it meant. It wasn't until I watched a Jimmy Falon and Justin Timberlake skit online, poking fun at our society's hashtag obsession, that I put two and two together. That's the sound Cookie Monster makes when he's scarfing down handfuls of cookies! And boy is that sound dead on when your stuffing your mouth with an especially delicious homemade cookie. Or at least that's how Braelyn sounds anyway.

My poor little miss has been deprived of a really good soft and chewy cookie for a few months now. Sure she's just a kid and, in reality, anything with sugar will probably suffice her overly active sweet tooth. But, I'd like to think that there is no replacement for a warm, fresh out of the oven, chocolate chip cookie. And, for me, there is no replacement for baking cookies with my favorite sous chef by my side. So with these two "must haves" this perfectly gluten free Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie was born.

I was so proud of this cookie that I even left free samples on my doorstep for friends to stop by and try. Too bad it was already in the 80's in Phoenix in February so they got a little soft and melty. However, the reviews were good and I think, no I'm confident, you'll agree that this simple little cookie will have you saying "nom, nom, nom" with every bite! And to my sweet Braelyn Boo, I love you my little Cookie Monster!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) butter, room temperature

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 cup sweet rice flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1 tablespoon corn starch

1 tsp. xanthan gum

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups rolled oats (gluten free)

2 1/4 cups or one bag chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a stand mixer add butter, shortening, sugar, brown sugar and eggs. Cream together until smooth. Add vanilla and buttermilk and mix until incorporated.

 

2. In a separate bowl whisk together coconut flour, sweet rice flour, potato starch, corn starch, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt.

 

3. Add flour mixture to mixing bowl and mix until combined. Pour in rolled oats and chocolate chips. Stir until evenly distributed.

 

4. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop into 1 inch balls and bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned, rotating pan after 7 minutes of cooking.

 

5. Remove from oven and let cool. Enjoy with an ice cold glass of milk. Really, is there any other way???

 

Makes about 64 cookies



Chocolatey Chocolate Cupcakes

Sha-bam! Holla! Woot woot! Holy crapoly! DONE! Yes my dear gluten free readers I have finally mastered what I think is the perfect gluten free chocolate cupcake. After countless attempts, numerous suggestions and never-ending tweaking we have finally met face to face...me and the glorious Chocolately Chocolate Cupcake and I think there may be a love affair.

Although I wish I would have figured these out before Braelyn's birthday party, late is better than never. Plus Braelyn wasn't too sad that the cupcake experimenting continued well after her birthday. This kid has been eating chocolate cupcakes in one form or the other every night for dessert for the past two weeks. Ben, on the other hand, probably never wants to see another cupcake in his life. I pretty much make him taste test everything...multiple times...just to make sure. Haha!

Oh man, let me tell you one thing: never ever make chocolate chip cupcakes out of quinoa. I don't care how pretty the pinterest picture is or how much the baker tells you how divine they are. They aren't. They're disgusting in fact. Seriously people, let's just make desserts taste good. That's what they're for. They are NOT a dessert if you omit the sugar, take away the butter and remove the eggs. Let's just celebrate that there is a time for good fattening sugary food...even if it has to be gluten free!

These Chocolately Chocolate Cupcakes are delicious! No bitter aftertaste that some gluten free flours have, no grainy consistency and not a bit dry or crumbly. So throw on some workout clothes, get in a good sweat and then sit down, kick your feet up and EAT DESSERT!

Chocolately Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup finely ground gluten free oat flour
1/2 cup potato starch
1/2 cup arrowroot starch
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2/3 cup boiling water
2/3 cup (4 oz) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) salted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream, room temperature (I used light)
*Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting Recipe (1 1/2 sticks butter at room temperature, 4 1/2 cups powdered sugar, dash of salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3/4 cup cocoa powder, 1/4 cup sour cream, 3-5 tablespoons milk)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line two cupcake pans with liners. In a small mixing bowl sift together oat flour, potato starch, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2. Heat 2/3 cup of water to boiling. Add in the cocoa powder and stir to dissolve. While water is still warm add the coarsely chopped chocolate. Continue to stir until completely melted. Set aside to cool.

3. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating 1 minute after each addition. Add vanilla and mix together.

4. Remove beaters from mixing bowl and perform last steps by hand. Add half of flour mixture to mixing bowl. Gently stir until combined. Add sour cream and stir until incorporated. Add remaining flour and stir until incorporated. Add melted chocolate and stir until just combined.

5. Fill liners 2/3 way full and bake one pan at a time for 23-25 minutes, rotating after 20 minutes, until tops bounce back with touch of finger and toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on cooling racks.

6. Make frosting by beating butter until light and fluffy. Add half of powdered sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add remaining sugar and sour cream. Beat until combined. Add cocoa powder and mix until combined. Add milk one tablespoon at a time to reach desired consistency. If you prefer a richer chocolatey flavor add more cocoa powder.
*This will make enough to frost all cupcakes in the traditional knife spreading fashion. If you are wanting to high pipe them you may need to double the recipe to have enough for all cupcakes.

7. Frost once cupcakes are cool and serve.

Makes about 32 cupcakes

Fudgy Rocky Road Brownies

Chocolate!!! There is not a single person in my family that is not a chocoholic. One of our favorite family stories is when we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa Goggins and my mom asked Braelyn, after drinking some hot cocoa, "Do you like warm chocolate?" In the enthusiastic three year old tone that she has she immediately replied, "I like warm chocolate. I like cold chocolate...I like ALL chocolate!!!" But really, who doesn't?!

My mom made these delicious Rocky Road type brownies when we were up there for the holidays. They were divine because, of course, they were full of chocolate. In my true form I couldn't wait to come home and try my own twist on her knock out recipe. Really the only thing I did differently was bake them thicker with more melted chocolate in the batter, added caramel, and drizzled chocolate on top instead of spreading chocolate frosting.

 

Hahaha! Really??? A fork in this picture? As if! You know you are going to just pick these bad boys up and shove the whole thing in your mouth, one chocolately fudgy brownie at a time. Don't lie. In all seriousness, these brownies should come with one warning label: Consumption requires a tall glass of ice cold milk!

 

 

Fudgy Rocky Road Brownies

 

Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 bag miniature marshmallows (10 oz.)

1/4 cup caramel topping

1 cup milk chocolate chips for drizzling (can use semi sweet if you prefer)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for metal pan or 325 for glass pan (I prefer glass). Once oven is preheated spread pecans on a baking sheet and toast in oven for 5 minutes, stir and toast for 3 minutes more. Remove from oven and set aside. Grease a 9 X 13 glass cake pan and set aside.

2. In a microwave safe dish, microwave butter until melted. Pour in 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips into the warm melted butter and stir until chocolate is completely melted. Set aside.

 

 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs together. Add sugar and whisk until incorporated.

 

 

4. In another smaller bowl combine flour, cocoa powder and salt. Mix together.

 

 

5. Pour melted butter and chocolate into egg mixture and stir until combined. (Easy job for the kiddos. Who needs hired help these days?!) Then pour in flour/cocoa mixture and stir until incorporated.

 

 

 

6. Pour batter into greased 9 X 13 cake pan and smooth batter evenly across pan.

 

 

7. Bake for 38-40 minutes until barely set. Pour marshmallows on top and return to oven for additional 3-5 minutes until marshmallows are barely golden brown and soft.

 

 

8. Let cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle caramel topping on top of marshmallows. Add 3/4 cup of the nuts. In a microwave safe glass dish, microwave chocolate chips for 30 seconds. Stir chocolate. Microwave for additional 15 seconds and stir. (Stir for a while since the warm chocolate will continue to melt and you do not want to overcook the chocolate chips) Continue microwaving in 15 second increments until chocolate is melted. Pour melted chocolate into a Ziploc bag and cut a tiny corner off. Close bag and squeeze chocolate through the slit to make drizzling easier. Drizzle over pecans. Top with remaining pecans.

 

 

9. Let cool an additional 30 minutes to 1 hour until no longer warm and completely set. Cut and serve with lots of milk and napkins!

 

Serves 24

 

 







Cinnamon Chip Applesauce Cookies

I've been meaning to post the recipe for Cinnamon Chip Applesauce Cookies ever since I posted my Apple Pie A La Mode Cupcakes but I just haven't gotten around to it. The holidays really throw you for a loop. We just got back from Utah last night after driving for 13 hours with two kiddos. And the fun doesn't even stop there. Just when you are so relieved to finally pull up to your house, thinking this day is finally done, you realize, "oh yeah, now I have to unload my car, unpack my clothes and reorganize my entire house to fit all the loot the grandparents gave the kids." Although we could not be more grateful for all those toys and books! But really, I spent five hours working nonstop this morning attempting to put things away and clean my house, and you can't even tell I've done a single thing. Still two bags to unpack!

To top that work off, I got to shove my kids back in the car this afternoon for an hour drive to meet with a pediatric gastroenterologist for Braelyn. You should have seen Braelyn's face when she had to get back in the car today. Haha! She about freaked out and made darn sure "we're staying in Arizona still, right?!"

So, what am I doing right now at 5:00 in the evening instead of touching those two suitcases laying in my bedroom? I'm popping a frozen lasagna in the oven (one I made previously), sitting Braelyn in front of the TV, sticking Emry in the crib for an evening nap, and me...I'm sitting my good old lazy bum right down in front of this computer and pretending like I just pulled these soft warm cookies out of the oven. Yep, sounds good to me.

Cinnamon Chip Applesauce Cookies

 

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1 egg

1 cup applesauce (I use unsweetened)

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 bag Hershey's cinnamon chips (10 oz.) or

 

Alternative mix-ins:

1 cup raisins (soak in applesauce while making batter) and 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

2 cups chocolate chips

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl cream together the brown sugar, shortening and egg.

2. In a separate bowl mix together flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.

3. Add half the applesauce to the sugar mixture until combined. Add half the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix until combined. Add the last half of the applesauce and mix until combined. Add the last of the flour mixture and mix until just combine.



4. Gently fold in the cinnamon chips. Line baking pans with parchment paper and scoop dough into 1" globs (nice word huh?! They won't form balls, so don't worry about that) and place at least 1" apart.

5. Bake for 11-15 minutes until barely stiff with the touch of a finger and lightly brown. Slide parchment paper with cookies onto cooling racks to cool.

*Makes about 60 cookies



Cinnamon Roll Chex Mix

Merry Christmas Eve! I can't even believe the time has already come to stay up late wrapping gifts and cursing my husband for his "not so handyman" skills. In fact, Ben is downstairs as I write attempting to piece together a tricycle for Emry. We'll see how that one goes. It's a good thing that toddlers are known to love boxes because that may be all that is intact to give her Christmas morning. Thank goodness none of Braelyn's gifts require any assembly.

Speaking of Braelyn, I have been feeling a little sad for her this year, having just found out about her Celiac diagnosis. With all the Christmas goodies my parents have been receiving from neighbors, she has only been able to taste a handful. She hasn't even been able to eat the special pancake and cinnamon roll breakfasts we've been making in the mornings. Thank goodness for Chex! Those cereals are a lifesaver!

Tonight we are going to our traditional Christmas Eve celebration with Ben's family. There is bound to be a delicious feast and goodies galore. I really wanted Braelyn to be able to eat something yummy that was also exciting and new, not just another piece of plain old milk chocolate or a leftover Halloween sucker tucked away in the back of my parent's pantry. Wait...Chex? Cinnamon rolls? Didn't I just mention those? How about a Cinnamon Roll Chex Mix?!

 

One word of warning: this stuff is extremely addictive! It has a cinnamon caramel crunch, candy coated pecans, soft plump raisins and a smooth cinnamon spiced white chocolate drizzle. This treat would be wonderful to give to neighbors. It stores nicely for up to five days in an air tight container...haha, as if it will even last that long!

 

 

Cinnamon Roll Chex Mix

 

Ingredients:

2 cups Cinnamon Chex cereal

2 cups Rice Chex cereal

2 cups Corn Chex cereal

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided

3/4 cup pecan halves

3/4 cup raisins

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 tablespoon shortening

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine cereals and pecans. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter (cut into tablespoon size pieces), sugar,corn syrup and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the cinnamon. Continue stirring until mixture begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour over cereal. Stir to completely coat cereal and pecans.

 

 

2. Spread cereal mixture in a large shallow baking pan. I lined mine with nonstick foil to prevent sticking and easy clean up. Place pan in oven and bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from oven, stir in raisins and let cool.

 

 

3. While mixture is cooling, combine white chocolate chips and shortening. Microwave for 1 minute. Remove and stir. Microwave in 15 seconds intervals, stirring in between, until chocolate is smooth. Stir in remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. For easy drizzling, pour chocolate into a plastic sandwich bag, cut a small hole in one of the corners, and squeeze mixture over the cereal.

 

 

4. Let cereal cool until chocolate is set. Break into pieces and eat by the fistful!

 

 

You can always improvise with the cereal you have on hand. If you only have plain flavors of Chex, just add 2 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon to the corn syrup mixture for enough cinnamon flavor. If you only have the Cinnamon Chex, just reduce the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon for the corn syrup mixture.

 

Isn't this a fun Holiday treat?! Now Braelyn doesn't have to miss out. Bring on the goodies!