Soft and Chewy Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies

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Didn't we have enough of the cookie gig at Christmas?  Well the truth is we do not purchase our cookies around here  The only prepackaged  cookie I can find around here is the vanilla cream with vanilla cookie sandwich and my children do  not like those!  It's okay, whipping up a batch of cookies is easy peasy!

My oh my oh my do I ever love oatmeal cookies.  The first ever gluten free batch of oatmeal cookies I ever made were spread across the pan with NO structure  The second batch had to be hand flattened!  LOL  These cookies are just right and oh so good! Plump but not too plump.  Soft but not so you can't hold them in your hand without falling apart.  They have Just the right amount of chewy.  If you like them crunchier no problem.  Just cook them longer.

This happens to be the recipe posted (for the most part) in my son's Cub Scout book.  It also happens to be the recipe (for the most part) inside the Crisco wrapper.  I suppose the recipe for oatmeal cookies have not changed much over the years.  I converted these recipes to accommodate my favorite gluten free flour blend and it works out great!  They taste so good, nobody at Cub Scouts even suspected that they were Gluten Free!

3/4 cup Shortening
1 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup Almond Milk (or water)
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1-1/4 cups Gluten Free Flour Blend
1/2 teaspoon Xanthan Gum
3 cups uncooked Oatmeal, pulsed a few times in the food processor (gluten free certified)
1 cup uncooked Oatmeal (not chopped)
3/4 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 cup baking Raisins (or regular soaked in 1/4 cup hot water to plump them back up)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

• Beat together the Butter and sugar until creamy.
• Add eggs, milk/water, vanilla and combine until creamy.
• Combine the remaining ingredients and mix until fully incorporated.
• Scoop out and drop onto ungreased cookie sheet.
• Bake for 15 minutes for larger cookies, 10 to 12 for smaller (tablespoon) sized cookies.
• Cool for 2 minutes on cookie sheet and transfer to a backing rack to continue cooling.
• Enjoy!