Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

Living gluten-free means I’m healthier, not to mention happier, than when I ate gluten. But that doesn’t mean I don’t experience gluten-envy from time to time…like every time a post from my friend Averie’s blog, Averie Cooks, pops up on Feedly. This is a girl who can bake! And she’s no stranger to my favorite sweet combination – the perfect marriage of chocolate and peanut butter.

But, like a sad sap, I usually can’t enjoy her treats. Or if I do, it involves mixing an all-purpose gluten-free flour, making sure my ingredients are fresh, and so on, as I haven’t yet gotten the hang of gluten-free baking on a whim.

Enter Averie with her recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars that has two ingredients: Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough and Reese’s peanut butter cups. An easy pre-made dough that’s gluten-free? Heaven.

I can’t tell you how liberating it was to turn on my oven, pop open a tub of Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough and have cookies, fresh from the oven, in less time than it takes me to measure out my all-purpose gluten-free flour. I felt like a whiz in the kitchen!

Averie made hers into adorable bars (and believe me, I’m a sucker for a cookie bar), but I wanted little bites and so measured out just over two tablespoons of dough per cookie, then I pressed a mini Reese’s peanut butter cup on each cookie and into the oven they went. And oh, that smell of cookies baking on a Saturday morning was exceeded only by the delight in each little bite. Each little chewy, chocolaty, peanut buttery, gluten-free bite.

So far I’ve only found the Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough at major grocery stores in my area; I’m hoping it comes to Target soon. If you’re in the mood for cookies, but only have half an hour or so on your hands, you’re in luck – these cookies come together in a snap. Let’s bake!

P.S. You don’t really need a recipe, do you? Just check out the back of the tub for times and temps. I found under-cooking the bites a bit worked well.