I love just about any kind of oatmeal cookie, but the traditional Toll House Oatmeal Scottie has got to be one of my favorites. I’ve been trying to develop a decent low oxalate gluten-free oatmeal butterscotch cookie for awhile, but the problem I run into with gluten-free low oxalate flours is that they almost always produce a really dry or a really cakey cookie. Not these! I finally figured out how to mix coconut flour with sweet rice flour (mochi) and lots of butter (or coconut oil) to make a crispy, tasty cookie. And don’t worry if you’re dairy-free. These taste just as good with dairy-free white chocolate chips.
I call these gluten-free oatmeal butterscotch cookies my toaster oven cookies because I usually only make a toaster oven sized batch. In fact, I develop all my cookies as toaster oven cookies first, then multiply by six or eight to get a full batch recipe when I think I’ve got the toaster oven version down (although sometimes I have to tweak the final large batch version). I started this as a way to save costs on ingredients. When you are trying something completely new, especially baked goods like cookies, you’re going to have some major flops. The second reason I make small batch cookies in my toaster oven is portion control. Once I get a recipe to work fairly well, I start to dream about those yummy cookies. This way if I eat the whole batch the worse I can do is about 8 mg. oxalate. I can live with that!
I’ve been hesitant to share this recipe because although I can get the toaster oven version to work well almost every time, when I multiply by six to try a large batch something wonky happens and they just don’t work as well. Also, these cookies tend to absorb moisture when stored even if you put them in an air tight container in the refrigerator and they loose their crispness. These cookies are definitely best fresh out of the oven and still warm and gooey! So today, I’m only going to give you the toaster oven version of these gluten-free oatmeal butterscotch cookies. Feel free to try a larger batch and let me know what you did if they work well!
Just a few notes before you get started. Yes, you need to use an egg. Coconut flour needs lots of moisture and it loves eggs! No, I did not make a mistake with the flour measurements. A little coconut flour and mochi goes a long way. Your dough will form nicely with this amount of flour. It may be slightly sticky but you can either deal with that or you can put the dough in the fridge to set up for 15 – 30 minutes. Yes, that’s a lot of butter, and yes, your cookie will look like it’s swimming in butter as it cooks. It needs the oil to get crispy. Otherwise these would be just one more cakey, coconut flour cookie. Believe me, I’ve tried. And yes, the cooking times are very imprecise and longer than most wheat flour versions. Sorry. It seems like every time I make these cookies they take longer to bake. Once, I forgot about them for a half hour and they were still good. I know crazy, but it’s a bonus for those of us with young children that can never seem to get things out of the oven in time.
Have fun trying these cookies. And be sure to read my notes if you attempt these with coconut oil instead of butter!
Gluten-Free Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
(Toaster Oven-Sized Batch)
1 egg
1.75 T butter or ghee, softened*
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 T sugar
2 tsp. coconut flour
2 tsp. sweet rice flour (mochi)
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
A pinch of salt if your butter isn’t salted
2 T GF oats (quick works best, but rolled are fine) **
1 – 1.5 T butterscotch chips (I use this low oxalate recipe)
Preheat your toaster oven to 350 degrees if it bakes at true temperatures (I have to put mine at 400 because it doesn’t heat as well a my regular oven.) Cream the egg, butter, vanilla and sugar in a small bowl. Add the flours, baking soda and salt and mix well. Add the oatmeal and stir. Mix in the butterscotch chips. At this point your dough with either be perfect or it will be slightly sticky/wet. It you don’t mind it being wet, go on to the next step. If you would rather it be a little more dough-like, pop it into the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes to let it set up. Drop by tablespoons full on a greased toaster oven cookie sheet. Don’t leave the cookies mounded or they won’t spread enough (unless you use 2 T butter. Then they spread quite well). Go ahead and push them down a little bit into more of a cookie shape. Bake for about 13 -20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool for a couple minutes.Then enjoy these cookies warm!
Makes 5 cookies.
I’ve doubled this recipe before without problems, but something goes wonky when I try to multiply by six for a full batch recipe. A doubled batch can go in the regular oven.
*Yes,I know. Sorry about the weird measurement. Anywhere between 1.5 – 2.0 T works but 1.75 works best for my tastes
** You can use 3 T oatmeal if you want a more of an oatmeal taste. It raises the full batch to about 11.5 mg. oxalate or about 2. 3 mg. oxalate per cookie.
Dairy-Free Instructions: You may substitute melted coconut oil for the butter in this recipe. If you do, go ahead and add a pinch of salt. You will also have to let the dough rest in the refrigerator or it will be way too sticky and wet. I personally haven’t found any dairy-free butterscotch chips that I enjoy, but if you know of some, please give us a link in the comments section. If I want to make dairy-free white chocolate chips, they also taste fabulous in these cookies. (I like this recipe for dairy-free white chocolate. You can leave the soymilk powder out, or try rice milk powder if you can find it. Of course if you tolerate dairy, you can use cow or goat milk powder also.)
Variations: White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies – Substitute white chocolate chips for the butterscotch chips.
Low Oxalate Info: Oatmeal is medium oxalate, even at this small of amount (I base my measurements on 12.5 mg. oxalate per 1/4 cup GF oats). All other ingredients are low oxalate. The entire batch of cookies has about 8 mg. oxalate or about 1.6 mg. oxalate per cookie.
Other Diets: Gluten-free Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies may also be appropriate for vegetarian diets or for dairy-free or GFCF diets with modifications.
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