Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cookie Bars

OATMEAL COOKIE BARS 

(Gluten-Free)

INGREDIENTS

  2 cups gluten-free flour mixture
  2 cups gluten- free rolled oats
  1 1/4 cup brown sugar
  ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  ½ teaspoon salt
  2 sticks salted butter, melted and slightly cooled (16 Tbsp)
  12 oz semisweet/milk chocolate chips
35 soft caramel candies
6 Tbsp milk


INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour. Combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Melt the butter, let it cool, and pour into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir until a soft dough forms. It should be crumbly. If your dough is too wet and heavy, add a little more flour until the dough is crumbly.
2. Grease* the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish. Press ¾ of the dough into a 9x13 baking dish. Put aside the remaining ¼ for topping. Bake for about 15-17 minutes. (Gluten-Free flours don't brown like wheat flour does.) 
3. While crust is baking, unwrap caramels and melt in the microwave with the cream. Microwave at 15 second intervals and stir until the mixture is smooth and pourable. (You also can do this step in a double-boiler.)
4. Spread the entire 12 oz bag chocolate chips (minus the few you ate :-) over the baked crust. (They will start to melt if you pour them over the hot crust and that is OK.) Pour the melted caramel over the chocolate chips. Crumble the remaining dough with our hands and cover the entire top of the cookie creating a top "crust" (Do not press this crust down). 
5. Bake for another 15-20 minutes, (Remember it won't turn brown like wheat flour does.) Let it sit and completely cool. It needs to be completely cooled off to be able to cut into bars. Eat! Yummy!

*Gluten-free baked goods tend to stick to the pan. We use a homemade "cake release" recipe to grease our pans. You mix together; 1 cup gluten-free flour mixture, 1 cup shortening, 3/4 vegetable oil. Mix together and store in an airtight container. Coat the bottom the sides with this release.

 Step 1: Gather all the ingredients

(forgot the salt in this picture)

Step 2: Add the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Be sure to sift flour first.

Step 3: Pour melted butter over dry ingredients and stir together.

Step 4: Grease the bottom of the pan with "cake release."* 

Press mixture into the bottom of the pan to make crust. Bake crust.

Step 5: Cover entire crust with chocolate chips

Step 6: Melt caramels and pour over top of chocolate chips

Step 7: Cover the entire top with crumbled dough as a top crust 

(Do not press it down)

Step 8: Let it completely cool before cutting. 

ENJOY!!

12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts: Day 1- Gluten- Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

     When I was a kid, my Mom sometimes had Chocolate Chip Cookies or Rice Krispie treats waiting for us when we got home from school. To this day, those are two of my favorite desserts. My older brother served in Desert Storm in Bahrain. I knew how much he loved Rice Krispies treats so I made him some and sent them to him, but had to make like 6 batches because I kept eating them!

     With our all-purpose flour mix, we now can make homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies for the whole family. When we send these cookies in with our gluten-free daughter to a class party, none of her friends know they are eating a gluten-free cookie; they are that good!!

     So this classic cookie recipe is our first dessert recipe in our "12 Days of Gluten-Free Desserts" blog. Remember if you have an old recipe that was passed down to you, you can substitute our all-purpose gluten-free flour mix for the regular flour and it will taste just as good, but now it will be safe to eat!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks salted butter, softened

3/4 c. + 1 Tbsp. brown sugar

2/3 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3/4 tsp. xanthan gum

3 c. all-purpose gluten-free flour mix

12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Preheat over to 375 degrees. Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

Mix butter and sugar together until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Beat in vanilla. In a seperate bowl sift* together flour, baking soda, and xanthan gum. Add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture one cup at a time. Blend in flour slowly. Add chips just incorporate. 

Drop a spoonful of cookie dough on the cookie sheet with the parchment paper on it. Bake 375 degrees for 10 mins or until light brown.

*It is very important to sift gluten-free flour to make sure baked good doesn't become lumpy.


Day 2: Gluten-Free Lemon Pound Cake