gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free
- 1/2 cup flax seed meal
- 3/4 cup filtered water
- 1 cup unrefined coconut oil, softened
- 3/4 cup raw agave syrup (or raw honey)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons gluten-free baking powder
- 3/4 cup buckwheat flour
- 3/4 cup sorghum flour (or other gluten-free flour such as sweet brown rice flour)
- 1/2 cup tapioca flour
- 1 cup gluten-free chocolate chips, or 1/2 cup chocolate chips plus 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup quinoa flakes (or certified gluten-free rolled oats)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut (optional)
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease (2) 8×8-inch square baking pans, or (1) 9×13-inch baking pan, with unrefined coconut oil.
In mixing bowl, whisk together flax seed meal and water. Let sit for a few minutes to get gummy. Add coconut oil, agave, and vanilla (and almond extract, if using). Beat until coconut oil is smooth.
Mix flours, baking powder, and sea salt together in a separate bowl. Add to wet ingredients. Mix until smooth. The batter should be thick but sticky. If it is dry, then add a little water for moisture.
Add chocolate chips, raisins, quinoa flakes (or rolled oats), coconut, and nuts. Mix to combine.
Spread cookie batter between the (2) 8×8-inch baking pans or into the (1) 9×13-inch baking pan. Use a spatula to aid in spreading.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until inserted toothpick comes out clean and bars are nicely browned on top. Removed from oven and transfer pan(s) to cooling rack. Cut into bars. Serve warm, store in an airtight container, or freeze.
© Copyright 2008 by Wardeh Harmon.
I’d like to try this, but I don’t have tapioca flour. Would it work for me to just use more brown rice flour, or is the tapioca flour there as a thickener?
Kelli
Kelli, oh, yes, go ahead! Actually, you could just leave it out or sub another flour. I forgot the tapioca flour last time entirely and the cookies were really good anyway. If you do sub, I think the tapioca tends to be a lighter flour, so I would sub less of the brown rice flour. It’s flexible!
Hi Wardeh,
D and I have been cooking a lot for our church youth groups. One of the young men in the High School group has multiple food allergies….eggs, soy, gluten (but he does ok with oats). This past weekend we went to Santa Cruz for their annual retreat and cooked for them. I had wanted to make something special for this young man for desserts, but I ran out of time. I am going to plan on making these for him very soon and see if he likes them. If he does, they will be a regular item that I bake up for him. Now I do have a question, could I grind my own large tapioca pearls to get the tapioca flour? I can not find tapioca flour locally, but our Winco does carry the large tapioca pearls in their bulk section. I think that everything else I can get locally.
Oh, one more thing…..I do not prefer to use coconut oil, especially not that large of an amount. Have you tried using different oils? And decreasing the amount of oil?
Thanks!
Lori,
How fun that you get to serve your youth that way!
Yes, you can grind the pearls to get flour… that is how I do it. Much cheaper that way!
This recipe began as the Natural Tollhouse Cookies, remember those? I took out the eggs, changed the flours, changed the oats to quinoa flakes, changed the butter to coconut oil, and probably some other things, too, during the makeover! So why don’t you go back to using butter? (It is the same amount.) If you want to do less, cut it back by subbing applesauce or date sauce for some of it.
Hope he likes it! We really love these cookies.
Thanks Wardeh! I can’t wait to try these, and to have something special for the young man in our youth group. He is rather spoiled by me
Actually all of those kids are spoiled by me, just in different ways 
It is a neat way to serve our youth group, and D and I really enjoy it (actually D enjoys seeing me do something that I love so much), and we get to work with some great friends of ours, and the 4 of us in the kitchen together are great! I’ve told both our Jr. High and High School pastors that I love working behind the scenes with the youth groups, and this gives me a chance to get to know these students better, without having to be small group leaders for them (I AM NOT called to work THAT closely with the youth
).
Blessings,
Lori
Wardeh,
I made these with buckwheat and brown rice flour and extra coconut (I love all things coconut)and they were great! Thank you for the recipe.
Is there a print friendly button on your new site that I am just not seeing?
Love,
Kelli
You’re welcome! Naomi made some yesterday and they’re almost gone, as usual. We like to put these in the freezer after the first day and then eat them straight from the freezer. Then they’re never dry (which sadly, gf baked goods tend to do).
I neglected to add the “print-friendly” link at the bottom of each post. It is there now. Thanks for missing it and reminding me!