Dairy Free Gluten Free S'mores Cookies- perfectly chewy and gooey, loaded with mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows. 

Dairy Free Gluten Free S'mores Cookies

A few month ago my niece discovered that she was having some problems with dairy (the very same week that I conceded that my toddler couldn't digest dairy either.) My sister-in-law reached out to me to see if I could help her get started and we set up a time to go grocery shopping together so we could read ALL THE LABELS! I think I should start listing "label-reading" under my hobbies 😉

In the afternoon, before going shopping, I made these dairy free gluten free s'mores cookies with my girls and gave the entire batch (minus the few 5 we taste-tested ate) in a cardboard cake box tied with ribbon. I told her: "These are for you. Do not share! Put them in the freezer after you eat as many as you mom says is ok. Then when you miss out on a treat at school it will be a little easier because you can come home and heat one up in the microwave so it is all gooey and perfect."

How did these dairy free gluten free s'mores cookies come to be?

I worked many hours creating the recipe for what I feel like are the ultimate gluten free chocolate chip cookies. Of course, I made them giant too.

I have since put many spins on that cookie recipe (many of which are in my cookbook, The Essential Gluten-Free Cookie Guide.) One of the recipes in my cookie guide is a super gooey gluten free s'mores cookie.

The s'mores cookie was born during the summer that I ran my gluten-free baking company. On a whim I threw some marshmallows into my giant gluten free chocolate chip cookies before baking them. The results were super gooey chocolate cookies with melted marshmallow seeping out of the edges and caramelizing.

They tasted amazing, but they looked super gross.

The marshmallow looked like boogers.

I still tried to sell them at the Farmer's market. The plain chocolate chip cookies were more popular, but everyone who tried the s'mores version loved them.

There was a grower a few booths over whose teenaged daughter stopped by and traded me some very hot and spicy green chile (I made a lot of good trades for cookies that summer. Kale, grass-fed ground beef, eggs, pecans...) for a s'mores cookie.

She didn't care that the melted marshmallow looked...questionable. She devoured it and then came back every other week that I was at the market and bought a giant chocolate chip cookie. She'd ask if I had made any s'mores cookies and was always disappointed when the answer was no.

When I first started brainstorming gluten free cookie recipes for The Essential Gluten-Free Cookie Guide I knew that I had to make a gluten free s'mores cookie that didn't look like it had boogers seeping out of it.

I discovered that I could carefully place marshmallows on the top of the cookies half way through cooking and they would be perfectly toasted on the top, instead of melting into funky puddles of goo.

I was quite satisfied with the results, and that is the recipe in my cookbook.

But since then I discovered that Kraft makes and sells separately the mini freeze-dried marshmallows (Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits) like what you find in instant hot chocolate mix.

To the best of my label-reading-skills they are gluten and dairy free (be sure to always double check the labels though, ingredients seem to change on a whim! Kraft has a great allergen labeling policy and will tell you the source of modified food starch while many other companies won't.)

I tried mixing them into my gluten free chocolate chip cookies and the result was the perfect gluten free

I tried mixing the freeze-dried mini marshmallows into my gluten free chocolate chip cookies and the result was the perfect gluten free s'mores cookies, with no melted marshmallow goo!

The marshmallows retain their shape but absorb a little moisture from the cookie dough so you still get a little marshmallow "goo," just not the boogery kind.

When I baked these cookies (and made them dairy free) I used some buttery sticks (Earth Balance) and dairy free mini chocolate chips (Enjoy Life) to make them.

I am still working on an egg-sub to make them vegan. It is trickier since this recipe uses just the egg yolks. Let me know if you have any success with egg subs!

If you like these gluten free s'mores cookies, you might also like these gluten free thin mint cookies from my friend Meg. They look just like the girl scout cookies!

Watch me bake gluten free s'mores cookies with my kids on Facebook Live!