Double Chocolate Gluten Free Oat Flour Cookies

 

cookies

A dream come true for the Gluten Sensitive Chocolate Lover!

If you’re gonna be bad….do it “Well”! These Bad Boys were so delicious that I had to guard them with my butcher knife! Seriously… No sneaky fingers were safe in my kitchen!! AND they were actually pretty healthy too!!  These are sweet treats with no refined sugar and dairy free too!!

 

Are Oats Gluten Free?
paleo-oats

Yes! Oats are naturally gluten free unless they are contaminated in the field by neighboring wheat or in processing. If labeled “Gluten Free” they are certified to not be cross contaminated. We used Gluten Free oats in this recipe making these cookies a dream come true for the gluten sensitive chocolate lover!

 

 

 

Cross Reactions     06f8bc6dfc769a23e1b37ebb4be822b5

One of the reasons I haven’t experimented with oat flour until now was because I was worried maybe that maybe it would cause a cross reaction in our “super sensitive” little guy’s body. When your immune system creates an antibody to a protein it only takes a piece of that protein to present to your immune system. It’s like posting a “Wanted” poster of a fugitive all around town but only showing ⅓ of the perpetrators face in the photo. If you can’t see the whole face it’s easy to get confused and suddenly there are a whole lot of people that look like they could be the “Bad Guy”. This is one way your immune system gets confused and if you eat something resembling the “Bad Guy” it could still cause a reaction.

According to a lot of information that I’ve read, that doesn’t seem to happen much with oats. There was a double blind study conducted with 116 celiac patients where some people were given a full gluten free diet and some were given the same diet with the addition of oats. Both groups did really well and experienced a great amount of gut healing and improvements in immune function.

Some commonly cross reactive foods to gluten include dairy, eggs, corn, rice, soy, coffee, millet, amaranth and….chocolate:(  There are some really easy “at home tests” you can do to check if your immune system responds to certain foods.  This is something your Nutritional Therapist can train you on how to do:)

Both our sensitive little man and myself had no Tummy Troubles or Itchy Skin issues from these cookies!!  Yippeeee!!!

 

Having said that I would like to remind you that everyone is a bio- individual. If you do have chronic tummy troubles or celiac disease I would recommend going really slow with oats to see how your body reacts. I would also not recommend eating them everyday!

The high fiber content could also be problematic in some people especially those who have some imbalanced or mislocated gut bugs.

 

imagedetail_oats

 

Happy Tummy Bonus!

Oats also contain beta glucans which act as immune system modulators and even boost the immune system’s response to bacterial infection.  They have been studied for their positive effects on allergies and autoimmune diseases including those pesky inflammatory “Tummy Bummers” like Ulcerative Colitis and Crohn’s!

 

Blood Sugar Balancing

I was really excited to learn that on top of being “mostly safe” oats are pretty nutritious! I wrongly assumed that they were too “carbacious” and wrote them off as another blood sugar disaster but they actually rank very well on the glycemic index and have been proven to be helpful to people with Type II Diabetes. They contain a lot of fiber which slows the absorption rate of the carbohydrates. The combination of the vitamins, minerals, fats and protein as a “whole” package also helps the body use those carbohydrates at a pretty sustained rate preventing blood sugar spikes.  Yay!!!!

Plus, for these cookies we added egg and coconut oil so the healthy fats and protein add an extra contribution to the modulation of the carbohydrate absorption! We also didn’t use any refined sugar in this recipe. Just raw honey and the Allergy Friendly chocolate chips which have evaporated cane juice.

Many of the nutrients below found in oats are also key players in supporting blood sugar balance.   Especially Chromium, B Vitas and Zinc!

 

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What’s in an Oat?

Manganese
Molybdenum
Phosphorous
Copper
B1
Biotin
Magnesium
Chromium
Zinc
Protein

Manganese:

Oats are loaded with the mineral manganese.  Manganese is a favorite of your pituitary gland in your brain who, along with his friend the hypothalamus, orchestrates your entire endocrine system!  So you could say that oats are supportive in balancing your hormones.

 

Cardiovascular Health

Oats also contain antioxidants called avenanthramides which are believed to fight free radical damage from LDL cholesterol.

Conclusion

“Healthy” can be delicious and fun!  These cookies were chocolaty, crunchy and totally addictive.   The kiddos did most of the work making them so that’s probably why they were sooooo good:)

If you tolerate dairy, I would recommend a glass of really cold raw milk to wash them down.

 

Protects-the-Heart

 

Be sweet to yourself today and whip up a batch for yourself! …..Just keep your hands off of mine or you might lose a finger…

 

Double Chocolate Gluten Free Oat Flour Cookies

Double Chocolate Gluten Free Oat Flour Cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups of gluten free oat flour...level, not packed
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 TBS of raw local honey
  • ½ cup of coconut oil melted
  • 1 tspn baking soda
  • 1 tspn arrowroot starch
  • 2 heaping TBS of sugar free chocolate powder
  • ½ cup of enjoy life chocolate chips
  • 2 tspn vanilla extract
  • ¼ tspn sea salt
  • **Recipe Yields about 12-14 cookies**

Instructions

  1. We used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats and turned them into flour with the milling attachment on my Nutri Bullet. You could probably use a regular blender for this or just buy already milled oat flour.
  2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
  3. Combine the egg, honey, coconut oil and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl.
  4. In a separate bowl mix your dry ingredients together, oat flour, baking soda, salt, chocolate powder and arrowroot starch.
  5. Add the dry to the wet ingredients then fold in your chocolate chips. Mix until well combined and your dough is formed.
  6. Let the dough chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes to firm up. Chillin will make it easier to form your cookies.
  7. Use an ice cream scoop or large soup spoon to scoop out the dough then roll between your palms to form into balls.
  8. Flatten your balls out a little bit to form into typical cookie shaped discs. They will rise some when baking.
  9. Arrange on your parchment lined cookie sheet with some room to grow and bake 10-12 minutes.
  10. Allow to cool. These cookies can be kinda crumbly so cooling helps.
  11. Try to be gentle when removing from the cookie sheet.
  12. Find a nice Happy Place to relax and Enjoy!
https://happytummiesdigest.com/2016/05/20/double-chocolate-gluten-free-oat-flour-cookies/

 

Post By: Hollie Donelson, NTP

Happy Tummies of The Lowcountry, LLC

Bluffton/Hilton Head, SC

843-227-1042

info@happytummiesdigest.com

happy-people

Please note. I am not a Doctor.  The content on this site is not intended as medical advice. Always check with your doctor before starting any type of health or nutritional protocol especially if you are being treated for or have been diagnosed with a medical condition.

 

 

References:

https://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=54

https://www.amymyersmd.com/2013/03/are-you-not-healing-because-your-body-thinks-coffee-chocolate-cheese-are-gluten/

https://www.vitasearch.com/get-clp-summary/21100

https://draxe.com/are-oats-gluten-free/

https://www.amazon.com/Bobs-Red-Mill-Gluten-Regular/dp/B002TXT502

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