Leave a preschooler alone in the kitchen with open baking ingredients for even a minute, and nine times out of 10, you’ll end up with a sugar-crusted child.
But that wasn’t the case for Lee Farrington’s 3-year-old daughter, Ashton, who playfully added handfuls of almond flour, chocolate chips and brown sugar to a bowl of half-finished cookie dough — and, in the process, helped formulate one of the best vegan, gluten-free cookies I’ve ever tasted.
Recipe: Vegan, Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
“When I saw what Ash did, I thought, oh no!” said Ms. Farrington, who had gotten distracted in the middle of a baking project.
She baked the dough anyway to see what would happen and was shocked when it worked. “It was a beautiful mistake,” she said.
Ashton’s cookies, which Ms. Farrington had to adjust only slightly, are now best-sellers at LB. Kitchen in Portland, Maine (co-owned by Ms. Farrington and her wife, Bryna Gootkind). I sampled one on a visit to Maine earlier this summer, and I couldn’t get the snappy texture and butterscotch flavor out of my head. I wrote to ask for the recipe the minute I got back home.
They’re absolute bangers: candy-like and crunchy at the edges from caramelized brown sugar; chewy and dense at the center from a mix of almond and oat flours; and speckled all over with mini chocolate chips.
Making them really is simple enough for a preschooler, with batter that can be whisked up in a single bowl without an electric mixer. But do plan ahead: To hold its shape without spreading too much while baking, the sticky, wet mixture needs to be frozen. A couple of hours in the freezer is enough, but the batter can remain there for months, ready for near-instant gratification whenever there’s a cookie emergency.
Recipe: Vegan, Gluten-Free Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
The recipe is easy to play with, too. I’ve substituted rolled oats for some of the almond flour and raisins for the chocolate chips for a delightfully chewy oatmeal raisin version. Stirring in ground sweet spices, chopped nuts or crushed potato chips could also be fun additions.
All of these versions would be lunchbox friendly, and sturdy enough to pack for any Labor Day picnics or potlucks on the horizon. Then save the recipe for the holiday season, to bake and mail to far-flung friends and family. They may be child’s play to make, but these cookies are crowd-pleasing treats you’ll turn to all year long.
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Melissa Clark has been writing her column, A Good Appetite, for The Times’s Food section since 2007. She creates recipes for New York Times Cooking, makes videos and reports on food trends. She is the author of 45 cookbooks, and counting.
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