I wanted to find a recipe for cookies that allowed people with varied food intolerances or requirements to eat without feeling deprived, and as I was planning to go for a picnic with people whose dietary requirements I was unaware of (more of that later) I was in desperate need of a cookie recipe that was gluten-free and vegan. Luckily after trawling the web for what seemed like days, I found this one: http://gastrordinaire.com/recipe-peanut-butter-chocolate-oatmeal-cookies and converted the US cup measurements into grams. It is without doubt everything I was looking for in a special-diet cookie, and tasted absolutely wonderful; you would never guess that the recipe had so few ingredients, as it was still really moist and yummy; the peanut butter and chocolate flavours go incredibly well together.

So, onto the picnic – a while ago I heard about a group of people in recovery from various eating disorders that were organising a picnic to get to know each other and face their fears of eating with a group of strangers, and everyone who had suffered was invited along, so I thought I would go with my best friend, and I’m so glad that I took the chance! It was a really wonderful day and I met some really genuinely lovely people who had gone through so much in battling eating disorders – the picnic was organised by two girls, Kasia and Chelli, who were so friendly and welcoming, and I’ve been so motivated to put all my efforts into recovering; thier optimism was so infectious!

So here’s the cookie recipe (everyone liked them, and I even had two!), and some photos from the day – by the way if anyone from the picnic is reading this, I had a wonderful time, thank you for being an amazing support and I hope to meet all of you again soon :)

Allergy-friendly Cookies!

Ingredients

90g of rolled oats – buy a specifically gluten-free brand (Nairns do really good gluten-free oats)

160g of rice flour

218g of light brown sugar

250g of creamy peanut butter

120ml of almond milk

30g of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon each of vanilla extract and cinnamon

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

A pinch of salt

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Combine oats, sugar, rice flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add in the peanut butter and slowly add the almond milk and vanilla until the dough comes together – should be sticky consistency. Let rest for at least 30 minutes.
3. On a greased sheet of baking paper and with wet hands, roll the dough into balls of about one tablespoon, press the dough into cookie shapes and bake for 8-10 minutes until crispy. Cool completely before eating.

Makes about 15 medium-sized cookies.

Georgie, Katrina, Phoebe, Kasia & Chelli <3