Monster Cookies (gluten-free)

Monster Cookies

What?  A cookie recipe on a healthy food blog?  The way I see it you’ve got to have a little ying with the yang; a little dark with the light; it’s called balance.  But don’t be misled.  Just because these cookies are gluten-free and appearing on my blog, doesn’t mean they are OK to eat all the time; they are a SOMETIME food.  I’ m a strong advocate for balance in eating.  I follow the 80/20 rule I described in my previous blog post here which means that the majority of my food choices are healthy, nourishing foods.  A smaller amount of my calories include foods that are not necessarily good for me, but add so much enjoyment, especially when entertaining or serving my family.  This recipe fits in there.  For a cookie made without flour, these sure are AMAZING.  I can justify the oats, the peanut butter, but the rest of the ingredients?  . . . well.  Don’t overanalyze this one too much.  Just enjoy!   By the way the batter can be refrigerated for up to a week so you can make these fresh when the moment arises.

Since these cookies are gluten-free, you might be wondering if I think eating gluten-free is important.  Here’s my view:  I believe those who need to eat gluten-free because of diagnosed celiac sprue, colitis or other debiliatating GI disorder where gluten cannot be tolerated is completely justified.  But for the rest of us who think we should cut out gluten because a friend or a product commercial or even just the prevalance of gluten-free products on the market suggest you should, then you probably don’t need to eat gluten-free.  Gluten-free diets work primarily because when gluten-containing foods like breads, crackers, pasta, cookies, cakes, muffins are cut out of the diet you’re left with a diet based on fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy as well as whole grains like rice, millet, quinoa, barley and oats.  You’re likely cutting out what I refer to as useless carbohydrates; that’s a very good thing.  But you don’t have to be gluten-free to eat right and lose weight.  Adding nutritious whole wheat products in minimal amounts is part of a healthy diet.  Plus gluten-free products are spendy.  Period.