National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week: Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cherry CCCs

A few years ago, I gave my dad* a tin of cookies for his birthday.

This is a very special tin. Well, actually, the tin itself is just from the dollar store. But it's a "bottomless" tin, on account of the following legal statement that I typed up and encased in tape inside the lid: 

"This Cookie Storage Receptacle (hereby and henceforth referred to as 'tin') is equipped with an unlimited refill capacity. Thus, the bearer (hereby and henceforth referred to as 'Bearer') of this tin shall be entitled to unlimited refills of said tin for the duration of the life of the Bearer or the life of the tin, whichever is longest. Should a refill be desired, please provide empty tin to Bearer's Committed Cookie Provider (hereby and henceforth referred to as 'Elizabeth'), who will thereupon commence to fill said tin and return it to bearer." 

The above was signed by me, and, conveniently, witnessed and verified as authentic by my very own in-house Juris Doctor/Notary Public: my husband.

Because my dad has mild gluten intolerance (eating gluten doesn't make him feel sick, but it does affect his iron absorption), I try to mostly make GF cookies for him. The following recipe is one of his favorites. It's also my offering for Day 4 of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Week. 

Whether you've got a bottomless cookie tin in your house or not, give these a try and let me know what you think. And if you're in Michigan and need a witness for a similar agreement with a similar tin, feel free to stop by our house when my husband is home. The place will be a mess (see my little "hello, mama" intro at the top of this blog), but at least there are likely to be cookies around.

Gluten-Free Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate CCCs {print}
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour blend (I make my own with rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca flour in a specific ratio that I'd have to understand math to properly explain)
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (ONLY if your flour blend doesn't already have it, though)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup + 2 tablespoons gluten-free oats (l much prefer a pretty equal mix of quick-cooking and old-fashioned, but you can make this call yourself)
1/2 cup dried cherries
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks (white, milk, semisweet, bittersweet or a combo)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Beat the butter and shortening together for a minute or so until fluffy. Beat in the sugars until fluffier. Beat in the corn syrup, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until the eggs have completely joined the party. In a separate bowl, mix the flour blend, xanthan gum (IF it's not in your flour blend...but you already checked on that, didn't you?) salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oats. Dump on top of sugar mixture and mix in just until no more dry ingredients are obvious. Gently fold in the cherries and chocolate.

Roll portions of dough (1-2 tablespoons, depending on how big you want your cookies) into balls and place a couple inches apart on your baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake for about 7 minutes, until you see a little golden color at the edges. Or bake longer until you see a lot of golden color all over if you like really crisp cookies...like my dad does.

Remove cookies from oven, cool on sheet for a couple minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool more or, if you're storing them, to cool completely.

Oh my word. Just realized I haven't mentioned how many cookies any of my previous recipes in this series might make. Must fix that. But for this one, I'd say a couple dozen-ish. Same for the others, for that matter.

Okay, lovely reader, if you're not ready to run screaming from anything resembling a chocolate chip cookie quite yet, I'd LOVE to have you come back tomorrow to finish this series out with me. Because, two words: cake batter.

Other stuff that probably has something to do with this post:
*Mr. Hard-To-Buy-For...has what he needs, buys what he wants for himself.
This post might have been taken to these parties.
Day 1 in this series: Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
Day 2 in this series: White Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
Day 3 in this series: Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies