Oatmeal cookies – hypoallergenic, vegan, dairy free, nut free, wheat free, oil free, sugar free (and magically still so tasty!)

I’ve been having some crazy allergic reactions to …something… it’s unclear what. So I’m on a hypoallergenic diet at the moment, which means no dairy, no wheat, no nuts (basically, all that good stuff). This makes finding allergy friendly cookies a bit tricky.

Looking online for “hypoallergenic cookies” I didn’t find much. A lot of the vegan recipes call for butter substitutes, which I’m trying to avoid; or nuts or wheat, which aren’t hypoallergenic. So I decided to repurpose my favorite oatmeal cookies recipe (the Cook’s Illustrated oatmeal chocolate chip recipe) with some adjustments to switch out the problem stuff, and make my own allergy friendly version.

They turned out great! Crunchy on the outside and moist and chewy on the inside, with a really comforting oatmeal cookie flavor.

I haven’t tried making them “big cookie” size; if you want to give that a go you might want to reduce the oven temp to 325⁰F. My significant other says these are the cookie version of a bowl of oatmeal, so they might be good with an added 1/2 c raisins too if you feel comfortable adding those.

Note on allergies: Theoretically it’s possible to develop an allergy to anything, so if you aren’t sure what you are allergic to, ask your doctor about the ingredients you see below before eating them.

• These DO contain garbanzo beans, and rarely some people may be allergic to beans. As long as you don’t have a true bean allergy, even for those whose stomachs are sensitive to most beans, garbanzo beans tend to be very tummy-friendly.
• The sugar I used, lakanto, does have xylitol in it, which may make some people a bit gassy. If you’re sensitive to that you may want the reduce it to 1 cup and avoid eating a very large amount of cookies at one sitting.
• If you are cooking for someone who has an allergy, check with them first if these ingredients are OK. Many people with a general gluten allergy are fine with oats, but people who have celiac disease may not be.
• The term “oil free” is widely misused to mean the same thing as “no added oil” or even “lots of oil but from whole foods only.” Technically these cookies do contain a bit of oil from the garbanzo beans, but it is a very small amount and not very likely to pose problems for people who are having trouble processing fats.

Hypoallergenic Oatmeal Cookies (vegan, dairy free, sugar free, oil free, nut free)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 c oat flour (from old fashioned oats — see instructions)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• Pinch of ground ginger
• Pinch of ground clove
• 1/3 cup garbanzo beans, reserve the water from the can separately
• 2 c summer squash, diced
• 1 1/4 c lakanto monkfruit sweetener brown sugar style (if you’re using another sugar replacement you may need to use less)
• 2 1/4 c old fashioned oats

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Put parchment paper on 2 baking sheets and set aside.
2. To make oat flour, measure out old fashioned oats to the desired amount you want to have as flour, plus 1-2 Tbsp. Run these oats in food processor until flourlike.
3. Thoroughly mix oat flour with other dry ingredients except actual oats, in a bowl. Set aside. Rinse food processor.
4. Put beans, squash, and 1/4 to 1/3 c of bean water into food processor (1/3 c is better if you are at a higher altitude). Process until it is smooth and about the same wetness as apple sauce. Put wet ingredients mix in a medium or large mixing bowl.
5. Mix dry ingredients into wet. Now mix in oats. Mix should be only a bit more crumbly than normal oatmeal cookies dough, and should hold together well if you squeeze it into a ball. If it’s too dry, add more bean water.
6. Squish 1-2 Tbsp of mix into a ball in your hand or using a measuring spoon, and place on parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. If doing 2 Tbsp size cookies (1st photo below), flatten them into thick discs and then flatten sides so each cookie is a sort of small hockey puck shape. If doing 1 Tbsp tea-cookie size (2nd photo below), you can use a round tablespoon measuring spoon to scoop them out. You can space these (either size) about an inch apart, they will puff upward a bit but not really outward.
7. Bake about 12 minutes or until toasted a light brown around the tops. If you like a more doughy cookie, cook only until just barely toasted on tips of tops (like in 2nd photo below)
8. Remove from oven, and take cookies off of sheet to cool for at least 5min before eating. Store in an airtight containers about a week. These would probably also freeze well.

2 Tbsp size hypoallergenic oatmeal cookies, shaped and ready to pop into the oven

More oatmeal cookies, still allergy friendly, these are 1 Tbsp size and just-baked.

Shredded Wheat shortbread cookies with chocolate drizzle (vegan)

This is a great use for leftover (dry) shredded wheat cereal. Makes a dense shortbread-like cookie with a bit of crunch and just enough of a hit of chocolate to keep me happy.

Background

Sometimes I make a recipe and I love the idea or some key part of it, but there are also a few things about it that just bug the bejeezes out of me and I want to KEEP making the recipe again until I get it where I want it to be. Sometimes it works out! This is one of those.

Original/source recipe

This started out as the vegan chocolate oatmeal bars from A Virtual Vegan, which are very tasty but also, for me, posed some interesting questions.

Pros:

• Oatmeal and chocolate!
• Nice, dense texture with a bit of crumbly crunch!
• A bit sweet but not very sweet!
• Just enough salt to add a little savory something!
• Vegan!

Cons:

• Chocolate ganache used a lot of milk so it was very loose and did not want to set even after some time in the fridge.
• The loaf-slice “bar” format seemed fun until I tried to eat a piece. I ended up with a rather large bread-slice of cookie/cake, with a bunch of chocolate ganache on top that wanted to fall off (or was all to one “side” depending on how you eat it. Kind of like if your pizza cheese was an inch thick and located only on the edge of the crust).
• Shocking to say, but it seemed like too much chocolate (???? …I know.)

Some of this maybe was me not doing the original recipe quite right the first time, who knows. But I kept mentally puzzling over WHY the recipe didn’t end up being what I thought it COULD be and/or wanted it to be. So I thought about it for two weeks and then made these.

My version

This recipe is still kind of in process so I might make a few more changes, but the key things I adjusted for now were:

• Subbed almond flour for 1/3c of the normal flour to give it a bit of extra density
• Replaced oats with shredded wheat cereal, whirled in food processor (no real reason for this other than that M. bought cereal he decided he didn’t want and I wanted to bake something with it)
• Increased milk since ground up cereal soaked it up
• Reduced salt a bit
• Halved chocolate
• Reduced amount of milk added to chocolate to make ganache so it would be less runny
• Instead of putting in a loaf pan, I rolled this out in a thick dough and stamped out as cookies.

What I’m still thinking about: Next time I will try adding a pinch of nutmeg to the dough, and maybe something fun into the chocolate (peanut oil? Rum flavored extract?). Maybe add a very small splash of lemon or Apple cider vinegar in the dough and then reduce the salt a bit. Some crushed, toasted nuts (cashews?) might be nice. But I’m happy with this version (for now).

Recipe for Shredded Wheat shortbread cookies with chocolate drizzle

Makes: About 34 2″ cookies.

Prep time: 60 to 90 min

See bottom of post for photos.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 c plain shredded wheat cereal, crushed and whirled in food processor before measuring. (If you buy the large shredded wheat “biscuit” type that comes in squares the size of a small country, this is 4 squares or 2 packets. I used Barbara’s brand)
• 1 2/3 c all purpose flour
• 1/3 c almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp salt (up to 1/4 tsp of you are used to more salt in food)
• 1 c sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1c to 1 1/2 c unsweetened dairy-free milk (I used Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla), separated into: 1/2 c, 1/4 c, and “the rest”
• 1/2 c coconut oil, melted together with only 1/2c almond milk.
• 1/2 c vegan semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350⁰F and put parchment paper on 2 baking sheets.
2. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients, including sugar.
3. In a separate bowl, combine coconut oil and the 1/2 c almond milk. Melt in microwave on half power or for 10-20sec at a time until just melted. Mix in vanilla.
4. In the middle of the dry mix make a hole and pour in the wet mix.
5. With a fork, or a hand- or stand-mixer on low, combine wet into dry. It will probably be mostly gritty crumbs and not stick together.
6. Add more milk as needed in 1/4-cup increments until the dough sticks together enough to roll into one big ball without looking shaggy (bits shouldn’t be sloughing off a lot if you pick it up)
7. Take one of your parchment papers from your baking sheets and put it on the counter. Sprinkle flour on top of the paper, put the dough ball on that. Sprinkle more flour on dough and pat the dough into a flattish shape. Use a rolling pin (or press with the heel of your hand) to roll out your dough to a thickness of about 1/3″ (or about 1cm). Sprinkle more flour as needed while rolling it out. Try to roll it squarish if you can.
8. Cut out your cookies into 2″ squares and transfer to papered baking sheet. I used a ravioli stamp, you could instead use a cookie cutter that’s round or square, or just cut them with a knife. If they want to stick to the paper, flour a thin spatula or knife and pick them up with that. Space about a half inch apart. When it’s all remainders, use your hands to squish the remainder into a new dough to stamp out the rest.
9. Put cookies in oven and set timer to 10min.
10. Put chocolate chips in a bowl and set aside. In another cup or bowl heat up 1/4 cup milk in microwave. Pour half of it over chocolate. Stir gently for about 30 seconds. If it does not melt fully, add a bit more milk, I didn’t use the full 1/4c and preferred toor microwave partially melted chocolate mix on 1/3 power in 20sec increments until it’s fully melted.
11. Cookies need to bake for about 15min total but you will check and rotate them at 10min. To check them, remove the tray from the oven and look to see if there is a bit of blush at the outer corners of the cookies. You can also use a fork or spatula to lift a corner cookie gently and check the bottom. If the toasted area isn’t noticeable on at least 3 sides, put them back in the oven (rotate pan) and recheck every 5min. When they are blushed / toasted on at least 3 outside edges of the underside of the cookie, but the middle of the cookie’s underside is still not toasted, they are ready!
12. Let cool on pan or rack for 10min.
13. Gently pick up cookies and arrange them right next to each other.
14. Re-melt chocolate in microwave at low power if it hardened up a bit; it needs to be wet. Now, using a fork held close above cookies, gently drizzle wet chocolate back and forth onto them.
15. Before putting cookies in a container, let sit for 30mn (or refrigerate) to allow chocolate to lose its wet shine and fully set. Check by tapping with a finger, if you don’t make a mark then chocolate is set.
16. Eat within about 4 days.

My clearance-bin ravioli stamp was not an efficient option for homemade ravioli but apparently it works great for cookies!

Cookies are done when the bottom is toasted all around but not in the middle.

Cookies artistically drizzled! Chocolate is still shiny and has not yet set.

(Note: un-drizzled cookies in back-right of photo are overdone, you can recognize this when the toasted edge has moved beyond just the outer tips of the corners that you see when the cookies are right-side-up, and the toasted color has crept up the the outside edges of the cookies’ flat sides)

Fast & Elegant Gnocchi with Pesto and Warm Balsamic Kale

Fast, yet oh so classy. Just like me. OK, I don’t know what I mean by that; but seriously, this meal combines an old-school, judicious avoidance of overkill with a flavor combination that really pops. Toast a batch of walnuts ahead of time to up that ‘wow’ factor with a simple, fast prep time around 30min.

Feeds: 2

• 1 14-oz package of gnocchi
• ~ 2 Tbsp good pesto that’s largely good oil (I use Mt Olive)
• 1 bunch young kale, de-spined and cut with kitchen scissors to 2-or-3″-square pieces (you can also use a mix of spinach and mild arugula, and omit the microwave step)
• 1/4 tsp Italian Traditions salt-free Italian spice mix (I highly recommend this mix specifically due to the freshness and depth of flavor)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder (NOT garlic salt – just ground dried garlic)
• 1/3 c: 2 parts mirin, 1 part balsamic vinegar of Modena
• scant 1/4 cup toasted walnuts
• Parmesan Reggiano, shaved with a potato peeler, ~3 Tbsp
• 1 1/2 twists fresh cracked black pepper per plate

Important: Toasting walnuts takes ~11 to 45 minutes, but you get better results taking the longer approach and toasting entirely on low to medium-low. The hot-and-fast approach tends to turn things from pale to burned too fast for me to save them in time, and the slower option creates a fuller flavor. I keep these on hand and do this in batches of 1/2 cup of finely chopped walnut, stirring every 3 minutes or so.

Note: the spice mix can go either onto the kale or in the sauce. The mix I use lacks the dusty, strawlike consistency of cheaper mixes, but if your mix is tougher and dryer, put it in the sauce with the honey.

Prep:

1. If you don’t have any toasted walnuts on hand, start with this step first. Raw may be alright but will lack most of the richness and depth of flavor of toasted.
2. Combine olive oil, garlic powder, mirin and balsamic vinegar in small saucepan on low, and let it warm up. Add honey. Let it sit and reduce by 1/2, stirring or swirling every now and then to prevent the honey from crystallizing and burning. Meanwhile; wash, spin, and scissor kale and place it in a big glass bowl.
3. When walnuts are toasted, set aside and get water boiling for gnocchi.
4. When gnocchi is done, sprinkle italian spice on chopped and microwave for about 1min (you want it to reduce volume just slightly and take on a brighter hue, but stay just slightly crunchy and not quite “wilted.”)
5. Pour warm, reduced balsamic mix into kale, separate into 2 bowls, and top each with matching portion of walnuts and parm. Toss gnocchi with pesto and spoon into sides of bowls. Twist pepper on top and serve!

Frittata, Frittata, Frittata, Je T’aime

For the frittata-uninitiated, these are basically quiches without crusts — firm, cakelike omelets cooked slowly over low heat. My first efforts at these resulted in scrambled eggs, but a good frittata actually can be super simple and surprisingly classy for something so packed full of good things. Tips to simplify:

• The right hardware: A big, cured skillet is best for this recipe since the frittata turns out particularly attractive if you sit it under the broiler for a minute or two, and I don’t trust teflon or the “wrap the plastic handle in foil” method not to do nasty things in the oven.
• Butter is better: If your skillet isn’t (or is) well cured, barely-browning some butter in the bottom of the pan right before you pour in the egg mix will help it stay loose and come out a little easier.
• Implements that help: A big, flexible pancake spatula is also a plus here, as is one of those knives that looks like a soft-cheese knife but has very good, small serrations on the bottom for astoundingly excellent julienne-slicing.
• Shortcut: For the faint of heart or accident-prone [me], the baking method also works: butter a deep pie dish, do whatever stovetop prep is necessary to get the veggies where you want them, and pop the whole thing, uncovered, into a 350° oven for, say, 30min.

Spinach, Red Pepper, Onion, and Feta Frittata:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 medium yellow onions, halved vertically and thinly sliced
• 2 red bell pepper, quartered lengthwise and sliced very thinly
• 10 oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed out (I up it to 15oz)
• 5 large eggs
• 1/4 to 1/2 c crumbled feta
• optional: 1 Tbsp pre-grated parmesan
• optional: 1/4 c to 1/2 c chopped fresh parsley, or 1-2 Tbsp dried (I omit this)
• 1 tsp italian seasoning (I used 1 heaping tsp)
• Pepper to taste or a pinch of crushed chili pepper (the egg can handle it)
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter

Preparation:

1. Pop the spinach in a bowl in the microwave on half-power to start it thawing. Meanwhile, chop everything.