If there’s one thing I could make with my eyes closed, it’s brownies. I think my 6th sense is knowing when brownies are done in the oven without a timer. I can tell this is another brownie recipe I’ll come back to time and time again.

One commenter mentioned that she uses oat flour in recipes that call for almond flour regularly and I wanted to try that for myself with my almond flour brownies recipe. Almond flour is a great gluten and grain-free baking flour but I don’t always keep it handy.

This recipe is basically the same as for almond flour brownies except with a little bit of water added to account for the grains. The brownies came out perfectly moist and chewy. I think the grains made them taste a little bit more like regular brownies than their almond counterpart. They were also slightly cakier than the almond flour brownies but still completely enjoyable for fudgy brownie lovers. Overall these were definitely a winner.

You don’t need to go out and buy a bag of oat flour for this recipe; you can make 3/4 cup oat flour by grinding 1 cup of rolled oats in a food processor or high-speed blender until it’s finely ground. If it’s big enough, you can even use the processor as a mixing bowl and blend the ingredients right in there instead of dirtying more dishes.

Oat Flour Brownies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 8 x 8 pan):

• 3/4 cup oat flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules(optional)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 7oz semisweet or bittersweet baking chocolate, divided OR 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix together the oat flour, salt, cocoa powder, and baking powder and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, melt together 4 ounces of chocolate or a scant 1/2 cup chocolate chips with the butter.
4. While the chocolate is melting, beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla, water, and coffee granules if using.
5. Slowly pour the melted chocolate and butter into the egg/sugar mixture while whisking until fully incorporated. Don’t go too fast so that the raw eggs don’t cook upon contact.
6. Add the chocolate mixture in with the dry ingredients and mix completely.
7. Pour the batter in a greased 8 x 8 pan.
8. Sprinkle the top with the remaining chocolate and gently press it into the batter.
9. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center comes out clean. Let these cool completely before cutting in.

When you find a recipe that just works, you never want to stray from it. This is the third time I’ve posted about these cookies; I didn’t realize that the original recipe post is almost 2 years old until I sat down to write this one. In that time a lot of commenters have made these and enjoyed them and I hope a lot more will continue to.

I’ve tried to make other gluten-free cookie recipes in the past and ended up with a tray of flattened, cooked dough; thankfully I’ve never had a problem with these. They bake and spread just like regular chocolate chip cookies. This time I mixed some chopped pecans and walnuts into the batter. I didn’t think that they could actually get better but that proved me wrong.

I’ve now made this recipe with almond meal(finely ground almonds) and almond flour(finely ground blanched almonds) and can tell you it doesn’t make much of a difference. The ones with almond flour were a little softer as they baked and lighter in color but the end results were pretty much the same.

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 12 cookies):

• 1 1/2 cups(6 ounces) almond flour or almond meal
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Gradually beat the egg into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Add the almond flour, salt, vanilla and baking soda in with the other ingredients and mix well.
5. Add in the chocolate chips and nuts if using and fold them into the batter.
6. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and press them down gently onto a non-stick baking surface.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies rise and the edges have browned.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool before moving. Store at room temperature in a sealed container.

Whoever decided Cookies N’ Cream would get so much attention? There are Cookies N’ Cream ice creams, milk shakes, chocolate bars, granola bars—everything–Cookies N’ Cream.

I’m a bigger fan of the classic chocolate chip cookie; there’s nothing that you shouldn’t be able to do with a chocolate chip cookie. With chocolate, brown sugar, butter, and vanilla, there aren’t any other flavors you could ask for.

This bark, like most others, is simple to make but always a huge hit. Anyone who likes the taste of a chocolate chip cookie won’t be able to pass it up.

For this recipe you don’t want to use your grandmother’s fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies but instead something from the store shelf like Chips Ahoy! or Lucy’s that’s crunchy and won’t get stale in the bark.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bark

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 16-20 servings):

• 8.5 ounces white chocolate OR 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 5 chocolate chip cookies, broken into pieces

Method:

1. Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave or over a double boiler.
2. Spread the melted chocolate out onto non-stick wax paper in a thin layer.
3. Spread the broken chocolate chip cookie pieces out on top and then the chocolate chips so that they evenly cover the bark.
4. Lightly press the toppings into the bark.
5. Refrigerate or freeze the bark for 20-30 minutes until it has solidified. Break the bark into equal-sized pieces to serve.
6. Keep refrigerated when not eating.

I know Christmas was almost a month ago but bear with me for one more Christmas recipe. It’s easy to find delicious red food but green? Not so much. Unless you want to sneak spinach, kale, or peppers into a dessert, it’s hard to get the red and green theme naturally.

This bark looks like Christmas. The coconut seems like snow on the ground while the green and red toppings make it fun and festive. And it’s as fun to eat as it is to look at. The meaty pistachios and coconut match up against the tart craisins and bitter chocolate.

This bark shouldn’t last long, but if you happen to have leftovers make sure to keep them in the refrigerator to keep the chocolate solid.

Coconut Pistachio Bark

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 16 servings):

• 8.5oz dark chocolate OR 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut
• 3 Tablespoons dried cranberries
• 3 Tablespoons pistachios

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a double boiler.
2. Spread the melted chocolate out on a sheet of wax paper or other non-stick surface.
3. Sprinkle the coconut, cranberries and pistachios out along the surface of the chocolate.
4. Gently press the toppings into the bark to make sure they stick to the chocolate.
5. Refrigerate the chocolate for 20-30 minutes until it has set.
6. Remove the bark from the wax paper and break it apart into 16-20 uneven pieces.