Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

Everyone that knows me....well they KNOW I have a sweet tooth. I really wish I didn't because then I would be at least 10+ pounds lighter! I like to cook but I really enjoy baking the most. I find it to be a stress reliever. When I first found out that I had a gluten allergy....I lost weight because I just couldn't eat most of the sweets that I baked for others. But then that nagging sweet tooth kept bothering me and it wasn't satisfied with the occasional piece of chocolate anymore. It wanted cookies. Real cookies. Not store bought cookies. (My mom never bought cookies when we were kids, she always made them from scratch and that is what I wanted....Homemade cookies. Onto my quest for decent homemade cookies that were gluten free!) I played around with a lot of recipes and this is one of my favorites that I created by tweaking about 5 different recipes. These are husband approved.....well almost....he doesn't like butterscotch chips much which are MY FAVORITE. So I compromise. I make a batch of dough and put half of it in one bowl and mix with my awesome butterscotch chips and the other bowl I mix the dough with his semi-sweet chocolate chips. Everyone is happy! I am pretty sure my kids will all side with me that the butterscotch chip cookies are WAAAAAAY  better than the chocolate chip ones.... but I have been known on occasion to eat the chocolate chip version. I like cookies. I will let you know when I find one I don't like!

Here are my cookies....notice the scrumptious little butterscotch chips! Yummy!

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies Close up

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

Oatmeal Butterscotch cookie recipe baked in 9x13 pan for bars

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Bars (same recipe just baked in 9x13 pan)

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Recipe: 
(You can use regular flour in this recipe if you do not have a gluten allergy!)

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) real butter or margarine that has at least 65% fat, softened
• 1/2 cup Crisco shortening (I used butter flavor but it doesn't matter), and in a pinch if you don't have Crisco then just use another stick of butter or margarine. It will work fine too.
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (yep, the kind most people have in their kitchen. Nothing fancy!)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar (doesn't matter if it is light or dark brown sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (I also have used almond extract which is awesome too)
• 1 cup brown rice flour + 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (for gluten free) NOTE: You can use regular flour instead of brown rice flour and omit the xanthan gum if you do not have a gluten allergy! 
• 1/2 cup ground oats (measure after you grind them in blender or food processor)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 2 1/2 cup oats (either the old fashioned or quick cooking, I use Quaker brand)
• 1 bag (12 oz) of butterscotch chips.  (I only used 1/2 the bag since I divided the dough up to be fair to my husband and put 1/2 a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips in his share of the dough). 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat butter and Crisco with sugars until fluffy and smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla (or almond extract). Gradually add flour (and xanthan gum if you are using the rice flour you will need it to make the cookies chewy) & baking soda. Gradually add flour (I use brown rice flour but if you are not making these gluten free then use regular flour) and ground oats. Stir in oats that aren't ground up. Then sprinkle in your chips and stir well. Bake 10-12 minutes or until very lightly golden brown. 

You can also bake in 9x13 pan for bar cookies instead but increase cooking time to 23-30 minutes depending on your oven. Cool completely then cut into bars.

You can substitute raisins, nuts, cranberries or any other flavor of chips you desire in place of the butterscotch chips but you don't know what you are missing! Butterscotch rocks! :)

(I used Quaker brand oats.....I know that they aren't listed as "GLUTEN FREE" on the container but I have not gotten a rash from using this brand so until I do...I am using them. I have used the generic store brands in the past and gotten a rash so I stick with Quaker oats). 

Here is the same recipe that I did with semi-sweet chocolate chips for my husband in place of the butterscotch chips. Also tasty but....NOT AS GOOD AS THE BUTTERSCOTCH! (My opinion)

Chocolate chips were added in place of the butterscotch chips for my husband's batch

I hope this post has made you crave some cookies! 

Tanja

Gluten Free Casually