My Favorite {Gluten and Dairy Free} Sugar Free Oatmeal Cookies

Photo by Christina Weedon

I want to take note of this website where I found these (here). I can imagine many other yummy goodies coming from here. I made these recently. Ok, maybe I ate them for breakfast. And why not? They have oats, bananas, raisins and no refined sugar. They are like granola in a cookie. I made half of my batch with raisins and the other with Enjoy Life chocolate chips. We at the raisin ones for breakfast and the chocolate chip ones for dessert (after breakfast). You should have seen my child's eyes light up when I broke the news of what we were having for breakfast. There were SO delicious. I was surprised at how easy they were to whip up. We snuck down to my husband's office at lunch time to surprise him with some. These cookies brought a lot of happiness into an ordinary day.  They beyond a doubt just became a staple at our house. As I was eating the first cookie I was already thinking about getting ingredients for my next batch. The only thing I would change is to make a double batch and freeze half as I usually do!

Ingredients:

3 Cups Gluten Free Oats {I used two cups old-fashioned, and one cup quick-cooking.}

1 1/2 Cups Gluten Free All-Purpose Flour

1/2 tsp. Xanthan Gum

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

1/2 tsp. Baking Soda

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 Cup Maple Syrup {the real stuff!}

1/2 Cup Oil {grapeseed, canola, another neutral oil}

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 Well-Mashed Bananas {for very small bananas, use two... very large, maybe just one.}

1/2 Cup {or so} Mix-In's, such as raisins or other dried fruit, nuts, chocolate... 

Directions:
Combine oats, flour, xanthan gum, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Stir thoroughly.
To the flour mixture, add maple syrup, oil, vanilla, and mashed bananas. Mix well to combine.
Add your mix-ins, and don't be afraid to experiment! This batch used raisins and just a few mini chocolate chips. {Keep in mind that some mix-ins may add a touch of sugar to the recipe.}
Place rounded spoonfuls of dough on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake at 375 degrees for about ten minutes, until the edges are golden and cookies have a nice 'puff' to them.
Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack.

Note: this is a sticky, messy dough! Don't be alarmed {I was!}, the cookies will bake up nicely and with a dense, chewy texture.