Christmas Recipes

See those little bits of oats, white chocolate chips and coconut? HEAVEN!Black Bottom, Monkey’s Eyebrow, Big Beaver Lick, Marrowbone, Rabbit Hash, Booger Branch… yep, they’re all small towns here in Kentucky with pretty unforgettable names. I have a whole list of them and am going to spend some time researching the story behind the names this year for my Kentucky blog.  I can’t wait to learn the story behind Booger Branch.

I think.

Small towns in Kentucky have always fascinated me. While our larger cities are absolutely wonderful – in fact I call one home – Kentucky’s small towns are where you’ll really find its personality. The friendly Kentuckians who wave at perfect strangers and will gladly talk your ear off if you let them, the churches with their can’t-miss sassy signs, the American flag waving proudly in front of every school and many businesses, the sleepy downtowns, and the University of Kentucky colors everywhere you look… yep, that’s us!

One of the most trustworthy names in the gluten-free business.A few days ago, I got a wild hair to come up with a gluten-free oatmeal cookie. Oatmeal cookies have always been a personal favorite – seriously, I just can never get enough. So, I decided that I’d start with Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats and Gluten-Free Oat Bran. I figured that combo would give me the oatmeal taste I was craving, if anything would.

I decided to add a few other favorite obsessions to the mix (literally): Coconut, white chocolate chips, and vanilla (as is my style – twice as much as the normal person).

My Goals:

• Gluten-Free Cookies that were somewhere between crunchy cookies and chewy protein balls.
• Cookies with no added sugar (in addition to what was already present in the shredded sweetened coconut and white chocolate chips) but that tasted so good even kids would love them.
• Fewer than 5 ingredients – I have nothing against ingredients, mind you. In fact, sometimes that’s the way you can achieve layers of flavor. However, that’s also the way your favorite ingredients can get hidden and lost in the mix. That wasn’t going to happen to the oats, coconut, vanilla, and white chocolate on my watch. The ingredient list, counting water, was right at 5 – so I cut myself a little slack.
• Simple process. As in.. as simple as possible. When we cookie fiends want cookies, we want them fast – without a lot of hoopla. I wanted “mix and bake” and that’s what I came up with.
• Cookies small in size. Here’s the thing – I am a Cookie Monster from way back. I’m seldom any happier than I am when prancing around with a cookie in one hand and an Agatha Christie Hercule Poirot mystery in the other.  When my metabolism turned on me “this” side of 30, I found that if I make my cookies smaller, I actually consume fewer calories. I outsmart my inner cookie fanatic this way and she hasn’t caught on yet.
• I wanted the cookies to pretty much explode with my favorite cookie flavors: Oats, Coconut, White Chocolate, and Vanilla.
• I wanted a gluten-free cookie that was as delicious three days later as the first day they were made. That’s rare with gluten-free cookies. These actually are, though!

Simple but Delicious – Now, That’s Southern FoodWhen I started gathering my ingredients, I couldn’t help thinking that I’d made myself a pretty tall order. Heckity heck, they’d have been lofty enough goals for coming up with a NON gluten-free cookie, but it was almost nuts for coming up with one that was also gluten-free. You see, gluten-free baking is a beast all in itself.

Gluten-free cookies, pies, bread, and cakes are as unpredictable as 3 year old humans, 6 month old puppies, and cats  of ANY age. Like each of these live wires, gluten-free baking not only has its own set of rules – it seems to make them up as it goes along. Like cats.

Fortunately, I’m a crazy cat lady and have raised three daughters. Nothing shocks me.

{Possum Trots Recipe Below}

Don’t Skimp on the Ingredients  – Trust Me

“Possum Trots” Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup water
1 cup white chocolate chips
2 TBS Madagascar Vanilla
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 slight little pinch of salt
1 cup Bob’s Red Mill Oat Bran
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill Old Fashioned Rolled Oats

1. Pre-Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. While it isn’t a necessity, I do line my cookie sheets with parchment paper when baking cookies.
3. VERY important – when baking cookies in batches (such as this), allow your cookie sheet to cool completely between each batch. That, or use several different sheets. When you place cookie dough on a warm cookie sheet and put it into the oven, the cookies will spread like a… nevermind. They spread.
4. You can either form these into balls OR form them into balls, THEN flatten them slightly for “patties.”  There is not wrong way. I tried both ways and found that both were delicious.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes. I hate when I’m unable to give a precise time, but ovens vary. For what it’s worth, mine were consistently ready after 8 minutes.
6. Remove to a platter or cooling rack (be careful, these guys are crumbly) and allow to cool completely.
7. These babies are simply delicious and filled with the flavors I love.

Given their simple charm, these cookies catch you by surprise with their layers of deliciousness. I guess that best explains why I named them after a small town in Kentucky. That… and the fact that they’re pretty unforgettable.

Where Can You Find Bob’s Red Mill Products?

Bob’s Red Mill products are available in just about all grocery stores and department stores. They’re also available online, of course. In fact, Bob’s Red Mill’s Website offers free shipping on most orders over $50, so that’s a great place to stockpile.

In keeping with the whole honoring small towns in Kentucky with dessert recipes theme, next up is Black Bottom… I have a distinct feeling chocolate will be involved with this one.