Before my daughter got sick, oatmeal cookies meant my husband was in the kitchen. It usually followed sushi or some other less-than-filling meal. But with a diet that initially included no grains, gluten, or refined sugar, this tradition went out the window. Fast forward a few years, and thanks to the pandemic obsession with sourdough, we found Einkorn flour, an ancient grain and the original wheat. After almost a year considering and researching, we tested Einkorn on our bodies, or our bodies tested Einkorn, and we found it to be as nourishing as the claims. We also had added gluten-free oats into our diet, as oats provide wonderful pre-biotic food for our microbiome (well, and we like them, too). These two additions opened up the potential of oatmeal cookies once again. Over the last few months, I have worked on a recipe that I hoped would rival the top of the Quaker Oats™️ box. :) This is my first sharing of an original recipe. Yikes! That said, I am confident that this one has been tested over and over again so it won't be a waste of your time if you venture to replicate. And, as further evidence, over this past weekend, my husband said, "If it were the old days, I would make us oatmeal cookies right now". To which I replied, "Honey, you CAN make them with our new recipe"! With some trepidation, he took my recipe and made this beautiful batch of oatmeal cookies. Yay!!!! I can't explain why I cried when he brought me a cookie; I guess it was the normalcy of it, the return to a tradition that I didn't even realize I missed, or maybe it was someone else doing the cooking...
Einkorn is wheat, does contain gluten, and is believed to be the original wheat. It bears little comparison to our modern wheat which has been engineered to dramatically increase the gluten and doughy characteristics that may be behind the growing amount of gluten-induced gut issues. Einkorn is more nourishing too. It has almost twice the level of protein compared to modern wheat. In Mark Hyman's latest book, The Pegan Diet, he says "the biggest culprit when it comes to harming the gut is gluten. Modern wheat has an excess of powerful inflammatory proteins called gliadins that create a leaky gut, driving inflammation and imbalances in the gut flora" (Hyman, 2020, pg.19). Meanwhile Einkorn has "entire groups of y-gliadins present in all other types of wheat, absent in this ancient grain" (Bartolucci, 2015, pg. 3). To us, Einkorn brings back pasta, bread, PIZZA, etc, into our lives without the harmful effects of modern wheat. It brings with it a characteristic Italian flavor that is more natural on the palate. I order my Einkorn flour from Amazon or Jovial Foods directly.
The other main ingredient of this recipe is gluten-free oats. If your goal is feeding the good guys (and ours is), oats are a great option. In this study from June 2020, researchers found that the consumption of oats was associated with the growth in beneficial gut microbiota. Yay!
If you have trouble with gluten and are nervous about Einkorn, almond flour behaves similarly to Einkorn flour in recipes, so you could certainly try a 1:1 sub. If you do, let me know how it goes! Another trick I have learned, if you don't tolerate oats, is to sub shredded, unsweetened coconut for the oats. It creates the texture without the oats. And, although we like a plain oatmeal cookie, you could add chocolate chips (shout out to Hu Kitchen Chocolate Gems here to avoid all the normal additives and refined sugar) to make this more of a dessert or add walnuts and dried fruit to make it into more of a scone (or granola bar). Just remember to buy dried fruit that is sulphite-free, and, if sweetened, look for the apple juice-infused dandies.
Microbiome Lovin' Oatmeal Cookies Recipe
Makes 12-18 cookies depending on size (I get 18, my husband gets 12)
Ingredients
1/2 C butter, room temperature (soft but not melted)
1 C coconut sugar
1 egg
1 T vanilla extract
1 1/3 C einkorn flour
1 T coconut flour
2 C gluten-free oats
1 t baking soda
1 t sea salt (Himalayan sea salt if you have it)
1 t cinnamon
Optional: 1/2 C chocolate chips, walnuts, and/or dried fruit (not to exceed 1 C)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. (Parchment paper not required but helps cookies bake more evenly and not stick to pan.)
Mix the coconut sugar and butter together until well-combined and creamy.
Add the egg and vanilla and mix.
In a separate bowl, whisk together einkorn flour, coconut flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. (Don't over-mix as Einkorn gluten can break down more easily than modern wheat.)
Stir in oats and other optional add-ins.
Scoop dough out onto prepared pan and bake for 13-16 minutes depending on size and chewiness preference.
Remove to rack to cool.
Share with love 💙
Enjoy and let me know how it goes!!
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