Gluten Free Monster cookies — A Holiday Extra

Just a little holiday recipe that I know is many people’s favorite.  I did play around with it a bit.  Please stay with me following the recipe for my notes made as I was making these.

Monster Cookies

1/2 c. softened margarine (I use an olive oil spread)

1/2 cup agave nectar

1/2 cup powdered stevia sweetener (not the baking blend)

2 Tablespoons molasses

1 1/2 cup peanut butter (I use natural peanut butter — just peanuts and a little salt)

3 eggs

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

4 1/2 cup gluten free tolled oats

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup M & M’s candies (I used red and green)

Directions:

1. Combine first four ingredients.
2. Add eggs and mix well.
3. Add oats and mix to combine.
4. Add chocolate chips and candies.
5. Scoop by rounded Tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet sprayed with pan spray.
6. Bake at 350 degrees until bottoms are browned.  I don’t go by time.

Now for my notes:

1. This would be an extremely sweet cookie made by the original recipe with 1 c. white sugar, 1 c. brown sugar and regular peanut butter with lots of sugar added to it.
2.  I used 1/2 cup agave, 1/2 cup powdered stevia sweetener (not baking blend and 2 Tablespoons molasses (for a little of the brown sugar flavor.  They were still plenty sweet.  May cut sugar back even more next time.
3. I used olive oil margarine spread instead of butter or regular margarine.  I would normally use applesauce and may try that next time.
4. Natural peanut butter works fine even though all the recipes I found online said it wouldn’t.  Natural peanut butter should only contain peanuts and maybe a little salt — no sugar, high fructose corn syrup or preservatives.
5. I used real eggs due to the other ingredients and the binding function of the eggs.
6. Made these a bit bigger than normal for me.  I used 1 Tablespoon (serving spoon) per cookie — not the 1/2 cup some recipes called for.  So these are not a huge cookie made my way.

6. I did not place extra candies on top since I thought these already had enough.  I did try to scoop them so a few candies showed on top since that’s what makes these cookies so pretty.

7, My cookies do not usually spread out because I usually don’t use fat or actual sugar.  Since I did use the margarine, these did spread a little but not a lot.  I usually flatten my cookies a bit and shape them to be round before placing on baking sheet.

8.  Next time I might cut back or chocolate chips or candy or leave chips out.

9. Carefully life corner of 1 cookie to check for browning  Cool on pan as cookies are fragile when hot.

This is not a healthy recipe — there is no way around that with all the chocolate chips and candy.  By cutting the sugar and using natural peanut butter you can make it a bit better.  You could also use dried fruit and nuts or trail mix (the kind without candy) instead of the chocolate.

Made my way this made 3 1/2 dozen average size cookies — not the huge number of cookies or the huge cookies some recipes mention.

This was a holiday treat I made because it was something my mom made.  We are always gluten free  — we do not cheat, ever.  But we do enjoy our sweets and I do allow a little wiggle room there.  This is not something we would eat regularly, but it was a nice holiday treat.