Chez Michelle & Justin: The Best (Gluten Free) Oatmeal Cookies Ever

This recipe for oatmeal cookies is far too delicious to keep to myself. With their buttery aroma and perfect crispy-on-the-outside / chewy-on-the-inside texture, these gluten-free cookies are as good, if not better than, any wheat-based cookie I've had. It's a bit of a pain to assemble the "weird" ingredients like potato starch flour, rice flour, tapioca starch and xanthan gum, if you don't already have them on hand. But once you do, take comfort in knowing that you can make many more of these cookies. Trust me: You'll want to.

I source many of my gluten-free baking ingredients from Barry Farms, which has a good variety of flours and starches, at a fair price. Bob's Red Mill is another popular source and it probably has wider distribution around the country. Ingredients like rice flour and tapioca starch are readily available at Asian supermarkets, as well. In New York City, Hong Kong Supermarket is a good one-stop shopping destination to pick up these items, but pretty much any market with a dry goods section will have them.

I based my recipe on a version I stumbled across at a cute blog called My Life... With a Smile.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip, Butterscotch Chip, Coconut and Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies
Makes approximately 5 dozen medium-sized cookies. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon almond essence
• 1/2 teaspoon orange essence  
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 cup rice flour (I used Thai rice flour)
• 1/4 potato starch (aka "potato starch flour", but NOT potato flour)
• 1/4 cup tapioca flour (aka tapioca starch)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum 
• 2 cups oats* 
• 1/2 cup butterscotch chips* (or adjust amount to taste)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips* (or adjust amount to taste)
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut* (or adjust amount to taste)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries (or adjust amount to taste)

* If you are very sensitive to gluten, please make sure you source gluten free versions of these ingredients. 

Method
Preheat oven to 375 F. 

Using a mixer, beat butter for 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. After this and each of the following additions, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl to make sure all ingredients are evenly mixed.

Mix in eggs, vanilla, and molasses.

Mix in rice flour, potato starch flour, tapioca starch and xanthan gum.

Mix in oats, chocolate and butterscotch chips, and coconut.

Drop dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, 1 to 1.5 tablespoon per cookie, about 2 inches apart. It makes it slightly easier to work with the sticky dough if you refrigerate it for about half an hour, first, but it's not necessary. Try not to eat too much of the dough while you're working. :) It's very, very good...

Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are very light brown. Let the cookies cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring them to a plate with a spatula. If you try to move them too soon, the very soft cookies will break into pieces.

Enjoy!