My sister-n-law baked these for me a couple years ago, and I ate about 16 of them and then forgot all about the recipe. She had gotten the recipe from Mrs. Smith Cooks, who I had heard of before but simply continued to ignore because her recipes are full of gluten and sauces and everything against the Paleo rules.

Well duh! I know cookies are against the Paleo rules, but if they are gluten free I will slide them in to my Paleo-ish world. I’m a cheater, um’kay! Just like my idol, Marilyn Monroe.

Mrs. Smith calls them puddle cookies. I am not sure if that is because they semi resemble a mud puddle, but since she invented them she can obviously call them whatever she’d like. I like to call them, AWESOME.

Not one to follow a recipe exactly as written by the inventor, I obviously changed things up a bit. So this is my recipe, inspired by Mrs. Smith’s puddle cookies.

1 cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

2 cup Powdered Sugar- sifted

1/3 cup Ghirardelli cocoa powder- sifted

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon vanilla sugar (if you don’t have this in your cupboard, your cookies can live without this)

Seeds from half a vanilla bean (if you don’t have a vanilla bean your cookies can live without this too)

2 egg whites

What you need to do:

• Get your oven nice and toasty at 320 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk your powdered sugar, vanilla sugar and cocoa powder together. Add the chocolate chips (and any other ingredients you’d like to use to pizazz your cookies up- see below).
• Lightly whisk your egg whites. For like, 7 seconds… no more than that. (you can absolutely skip this step if you are worried about over whisking, your cookies will still taste awesome).
• Add your egg whites, vanilla, and half-vanilla bean to your other your yummy ingredients in a large mixing bowl until everything is incorporated nicely (don’t worry, you can’t over mix)
• Use a small ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop large spoonfuls on to baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• The cookies do expand nicely in to an awesome sized cookie, so give each cookie a little spreadin’ room.
• If you use the tablespoon to put your mix on the cookie sheet, it will make about 20 cookies. If you use a small scooper it will make about 10 large cookies.
• Keep an eye on them, but you want to bake them for 10-14 minutes or until the gems puff up, look amazing, and have a bit of a crack on the surface.
• When you take them out of the oven, refrain from immediately shoving them in to your mouth. Let them rest a bit on the cookie sheet (about 5-7 minutes) then use a silicone cookie spatula, or something non-stick to transfer them to a cooling rack.

I’d be a liar if I said I always waited for them to cool completley before eating one. So if you are completely impatient like me, then eat one after that initial 5-7 minutes so you don’t burn your tongue off, and save the rest for when they have cooled.

Sometimes, when I like to really live on the edge, I add 1/2 cup of shredded coconut, or crushed walnuts, or sprinkles for the kids. I have also used a cheese grater to shave a bit of white or dark chocolate on top of each cookie right before baking. You can also add a smidge of cheyenne pepper to give your cookies a little chocolate kick. I’ve also wanted a major bonus of amazingness and have added 3-4 pieces of cooked bacon, diced in to small itty bitty chunks… for a hidden surprise in each cookie.

The possibilities are endless! Unless you decided to add half cup of pickles. Not a good idea.

The Awesome Gluten Free Cookie