Gluten Free Oatmeal and Quinoa Cookies

The cookies!

My first attempt at baking with gluten free flours was a success! I made these delicious cookies that I took to work and everyone loved (they didn't know they weren't from regular baking practices until after they ate them). I made a box of cookies for my partner and his parents (who are going gluten free as well) and a bag for my freezer, so I can have a cookie whenever I want.

I put a lot of extra things into these cookies. Instead of just using raisins, I used goji berries and chai seeds as well.

Try the recipe out and let me know how it goes. I got the recipe from Wheat Free Mom and made a few adjustments. I also made the cookies quite large so they could be soft in the middle and chewy around the edges.

Recipe:

3 cups of oats (make sure they are wheat free)
1 1/2 cups quinoa flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda (make sure it's aluminum free)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup softened unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 cup raisins
1/4 cup goji berries
1/4 cup chia seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Measure the oats, quinoa flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg into a bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the butter until light and fluffy about two minutes, add both sugars and beat for about two minutes more.

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Add the oat mixture to the butter mixture and blend until a soft dough forms. Stir in the raisins, etc.


Use a large ice cream scoop to get equal sized cookies. Place cookie dough balls on cookie sheet. Press down with wet hands. Bake 10 minutes.


Cool for a couple of minutes on the pan then transfer to a cooling rack.


Enjoy!

Healthy Low Fat Granola

My boyfriend and I just got back from an excellent kiteboarding trip to Oliphant, Ontario.  The geography there is excellent for kiteboarding and we were lucky to have sunny skies everyday.  I decided to make some healthy granola to take on the trip to keep us going all day long.

I made some changes to the original recipe that I used.  The granola wasn’t moist enough so the granola bars turned into a bag of loose granola.  Here is the modified recipe.

2 cups quick oats

1/2 c. wheat germ

1/4 c. sesame seeds

3/4 c. unsalted sunflower seeds 

1/2 c. flaxseeds

1 c. honey

3/4 c. natural peanut butter

splash of vanilla extract

1/2 c. dried cranberries

1/4 c. raisins

1/4 c. dried blueberries (you can omit this and use any other dried fruit, these blueberries are quiet expensive) 

1/2 c. almonds

Heat peanut butter, honey and vanilla in a pot on the stove until it is fully melted.  Roast the wheat germ, oats, and all seeds in a frying pan for about 10 mins until toasted (don’t burn).  Line a baking pan with wax paper.  Toss the toasted mixture with the wet mixture in a bowl and spread in the baking pan, press down firmly into the pan.  Let sit for about 2 hours.  If the mixture doesn’t hold put it into a ziplock bag and you have granola rather than granola bars.

I mixed some of mine with vanilla yogurt and it was awesome.  It alone is awesome too!