Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Overnight Oats | A make ahead breakfast recipe

HAPPY NEW YEAR, I know I'm a little late to the party, but sometimes I find myself rebelling against expect expectations.

Expectations that I should write a gift guide or a special holiday post, that I should write a year in review post or share with the world some reasonably attainable new years resolution. I actually enjoy reading those posts, but one of the things I've realized in the past year, is that I want to be able to write about what I want, when I want without the societal pressure to perform as a blogger.

When I try and conform to whatever it is that my mind thinks a blogger should be, writing becomes work and although many people consider their blog a job, and for a while I thought I might too, for now,I want my blog to be a place for solace and peace and relaxation.

If you follow me on Instagram, you know, I have been very slowly under taking the #100happydays challenge and it was pointed out to me very early on, that FOOD and my children have been the primary focal point. Combined with many requests to share my recipes, today, I'm going to do just that.

I LOVE breakfast; I get up early every day so that before I leave for work at 6:30am I have time to eat a nutritious and filling breakfast and feed my family the same. I am a huge fan of eggs, either on toast or in a tortilla and I regularly eat them multiple days a week.

But sometimes, its nice to change things up and when I posted the photo above of some chocolate coconut and raspberry overnight oats I had made, I discovered I wasn't the only one who wanted a creamy, delicious and quick breakfast on hand.  I've refined the recipe a little bit since I first made it and actually prefer to use the smaller 250ml jars rather than the large 500ml ones seen in the photo above and the recipe below makes five 250ml jars which means if you don't share you will have enough for your entire work week. 

Chocolate, Coconut & Raspberry Overnight Oats

(gluten-free, nut-free, soy-free)

yield: five 250ml jars

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups plain yogurt
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup + 5 Tbsp shredded, unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup (raw) cocoa powder
• 3 Tbsp chia seeds
• 3 Tbsp pure maple syrup
• 1-1/4 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• 1 cup frozen raspberries

Directions:

• Mix together everything except the oats, frozen raspberries and 5 Tbsp of coconut. 
• Once well blended, add in the oats and still until combined. The mix will seem a little loose and runny.
• Spoon yogurt mix into jars until they are approximately 1/3 full.
• Divide frozen berries among the jars, sprinkling 1 tbsp of coconut on top of the berries in each jar.
• Spoon remaining yogurt mix over the berries and coconut, dividing evenly among jars.
• Refrigerate a minimum of 3 hours.
• Enjoy the deliciousness!

Note: Feel free to mix up the ingredients and add-ins to suit your tastes and of course what you have on hand.

Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chip Cookies

The first time I made cookies I was about 11, I decided that I wanted to make some peanut butter cookies to take to girl guides, or a class party or some other event.  I diligently followed the recipe and was devestated when the cookies came out hard as a rock and jet black on the bottom.  Apparently no one told me I shouldn't use my Mom's old chicken-cooking, cookie sheets to make cookies.

I tried again the next day and had much more success.  Once I bit into that first delicious morsel I was sold.  For just a little bit of work, I could have delicious treats that tasted so much better than anything store-bought.  Not to mention the praise that I received from my family who gobbled up my cookies.  I made cookies once a week for years after that, usually on Friday and often more than one batch.

When I went gluten-free three years ago, I missed cookies.  I tried a lot of recipes, including this one from Gluten-Free Girl and this one from Ginger Lemon Girl, which were both delicious but not quite what I was looking for.  I found both of the recipes yielded gritty, grainy and crumbly cookies.  Over the years, I have followed cookie recipes exactly, I have adjusted cookie recipes and I have adapted my own recipes, but I'm sad to say that I still hadn't found a gluten-free cookie recipe that I couldn't resist.

Until this week.

I had a realization that although I had tried many recipes, I often used substitutions such as applesauce for some of the butter, and perhaps some agave for the sugar to try and combat the dry crumbliness and increase the nutritional value.  Now that I think about it however, I suspect this fundamental change was also part of the reason that my gluten-free cookies never truly seemed to 'hit the spot' like the gluten-full cookies of my past.

At 9pm on Wednesday night, I decided to make full-fat, full-sugar gluten-free chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  They turned out amazing, in fact the hubs has helped me eat quite a few of them (and he usually avoids gluten-free treats except when they are fresh).  I think I'm going to need to throw some in the freezer pretty quickly for fear of getting fat!  These are seriously delicious and taste just like regular oatmeal chip cookies.  If you're craving gluten-free cookies, you HAVE to try them!



Gluten-Free Oatmeal Chip Cookies 
(adapted from Company's Coming: Cookies by Jean Pare)

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup white rice flour
• 2/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/3 cup tapioca starch
• 1/3 cup millet flour
• 1 tsp xantham gum
• 1-1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 cup softened butter, margarine or shortening
• 2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 3/4 cup unsweetened conconut
• 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and lightly grease your cookie sheets or lay down your silicone mat.  (My silpat mat worked way better than PAM spray)
2. In a medium bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (excluding coconut, oatmeal and chips), use a whisk for even mixing and the addition of a little bit of air.
3.  Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. 
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time, add vanilla and stir in.
5. Add the previously mixed dry ingredients and mix well.
6. Add the oats and coconut, mix well.
7. Add the chocolate chips and mix well.
8. Drop by tablespoons onto the prepared pan.
9. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until cookies are golden.
10. Immediatley transfer cookies to a cooling rack.
11. Try not to eat too many at once!! 

yield: 5-6 dozen cookies

I just want to note that not all gluten-free folks can handle oats, even if they are gluten-free.  If you are gluten-free and haven't tested your system with oats, proceed with caution and consume only a small quantity the first few times to see how your body responds.

This recipe can be made dairy-free depending on your choice of fat (I really like golden shortening for my cookies, but I'm trying to eliminate soy from the boys diet, so I went with butter) and your choice of chocolate chips.