The coming holidays made me do it. Yep, I blame them. Or perhaps it’s the recurring bouts of warm weather in the middle of Fall that are making us yearn for summer, outdoor barbecues, & campfire s’mores all over again. Either way, this cookie was a great idea. Although I shouldn’t take full credit, because it was one of my munchkins that said: “Mama, can you make us a s’more cookie? Please, puh-leaze, pleaseeeeee…” after my staunch refusal to buy a (bigger than your face, white flour and white sugar) $3.00 s’more cookie at our local grocery store.
Love how they get us mamas by strategically placing all sorts of baked goodies, junk and ginormous candy bars at the exit till. Almost as if to taunt them and get us. And just when we thought we had made it to and out of the grocery store with no casualties and 80% of the items on our grocery list (an accomplishment in and of itself), sugar taunts strike.
But let’s talk cookies for a second. I loved cookies growing up, but aside from Christmas time, my brilliant-baker mom would hardly ever bake any. She was a cake and brownies type of gal. And yes, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. BUT- I love cookies and love baking them year-round.
Unlike other recipes of mine were the cookies are a bit on the crispier side, these cookies are chewy and softer. You need a handheld mixer to cream your choice of vegan butter spread or grass-fed butter with coconut sugar. But don’t fret or panic: it’s a really simple recipe. It will take you about 10 minutes to mix everything up and around 10-12 minutes for them to bake. Deal? Read on because these are worth plugging in the mixer and spending an extra 3 minutes on creaming butter and sugar together. They’re also gluten free & have vegan marshmallows and dairy free chocolate chips which can now be found at most grocery stores.
And this awesome little recipe also has a secret ingredient; a pinch of full fat greek or coconut yogurt for vegan options. If you consume dairy, you could also use cream cheese. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have noticed I’ve been eating icelandic lactose-free yogurt bowls with cinnamon squash and maple pumpkin butter. That thick, “creamy as creamy gets” yogurt led to a major “eureka moment”. It’s like a light bulb went off in my head. Hey, I bake muffins with thick, creamy yogurt all the time, so why NOT cookies?
Gluten Free S'mores Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 3 tbsp good quality gluten-free flour. Always go for blends that offer a combination of brown rice, tapioca, xantham gum and potato starch.
- 1 + 1/2 cups of coconut sugar or light brown sugar (my mom used to mix 1/2 cup white sugar to 1 cup light brown sugar)
- 2 cups of semisweet mini chocolate chips (I use dairy-free ones by “Enjoy Life”)
- 1 tsp of sea salt
- 1 tsp of baking soda
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk (always at room temperature) I use pasture-raised eggs
- 1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons your choice full-fat greek style yogurt, plain vegan coconut yogurt, or organic cream cheese.
- 3/4 cup vegan butter spread like “Earth’s Own” or grass-fed butter (always at room temperature, must be softened)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F & line up two baking sheets with parchment paper
- In a large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: GF flour, baking soda, & sea salt.
- In a second bowl, use a mixer to cream vegan* or dairy butter, yogurt or cream cheese and coconut sugar.
- Add vanilla extract & incorporate the large egg and yolk, one at a time.
- Add half the dry mixture into the wet ingredient bowl & mix to integrate. Then add the other half and mix again to integrate.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Roll or scoop them into balls (I use an ice-cream scooper to measure so they’re all about the same size) and place them over a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. I enjoy baking these into large cookies (1.5-2 scoops of batter per cookie).
- Bake the cookies anywhere from 8-12 mins or until the edges are golden brown (depends on your oven & the size you gave the cookies)
- Leave some choc chips behind & when the cookies are warm out of the oven, I like to top them with vegan marshmallows and sprinkle some more mini chocolate chips so they melt on the warm surface.
- It’s a thing of beauty to eat these while still warm with a glass of cold, almond milk.
- Fun Idea: slice a cross into the cookie as if you’re cutting a personal pizza that will yield 4 “slices”. My kids shared one cookie amongst the two.
Notes:
- I like to bake these with mini chocolate chips because I feel you get more chocolate with every bite as there’s more of them scattered across the cookie & sprinkled on top to melt. You could also use dairy-free mega chunks. Entirely up to you.
- Make sure the eggs are at room temperature, small detail but makes a big difference in texture.
- I have not yet tried making the dough one day ahead or freezing it to use at a later time.
- *vegan butter spreads like “Earth’s Own” work well with this recipe.
- My cookies looked really brown because they’re baked solely with coconut sugar, which is way healthier for you & doesn’t send your blood sugar levels spiking. If you use white sugar or raw brown sugar or a mix of both, the color would be different.
