Gluten Free Little Debbie-Style Peanut Butter Crunch Bars

Ingredients

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a small rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.

• First, make and chill the peanut butter filling. If your peanut butter is particularly thick, you may want to heat it briefly either in a small bowl in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat to loosen it. In a medium-size bowl, place all of the filling ingredients and mix to combine. The corn syrup is optional, but it helps keep the filling from spreading in the cookies during baking. Cover the bowl and place the filling in the refrigerator to chill while you make the cookie dough.

• Make the cookie dough. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside. In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, salt and confectioners’ sugar, and whisk to combine. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, egg white, vanilla, optional corn syrup and 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixing to combine after each addition. The dough should be thick but not at all stiff or hard. If it seems stiff or hard, add more water by the half-teaspoonful and mix to combine until the dough reaches the desired consistency. If you omit the corn syrup, you will almost certainly need to add the additional water.

• Shape the cookie dough. Divide the cookie dough into two roughly equal parts. Cover one piece in plastic wrap and place the other on a flat surface between two sheets of unbleached parchment paper. Roll out the dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick. If the dough appears to crack during rolling, it is too dry. Add some more water and knead it into the dough. Trim the dough to make clean edges, and slice it into rectangles about 2-inches x 3-inches. Gather any scraps together with the remaining half of the dough, and repeat the process until you have used up all the dough.

• Assemble and bake the cookies. Remove the peanut butter filling from the refrigerator and pull off small pieces (each less than 10 grams) and roll into logs about 2-inches long x 1/2-inch wide. Place one piece of peanut butter filling near one long edge of each rectangle of dough, parallel to the edge, and roll the dough tightly around the filling. Pinch together the edges of the dough to seal, and trim off any jagged edges from each side. Place, seam side down, about 1-inch apart from one another on the prepared baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cookies are just beginning to brown on the edges (about 12 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet. The cookies will crisp as they cool.

• Prepare the glaze and dip the cookies. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with wax or parchment paper and set it aside. In a medium-size, microwave-safe bowl, place the chocolate and coconut oil and microwave in 30-second increments at 70% power, stirring in between. Allow the chocolate to sit at room temperature until it begins to thicken a bit. Immerse the cooled cookies one at a time in the glaze. Press down on the cookie with a dipping fork (or the tines of a regular fork), then flip it gently in the chocolate. Pull it out of the chocolate by slipping the fork under it and bobbing the cookie on the surface of the chocolate a few times before pulling it along the edge of the bowl and carefully placing it on the prepared baking sheet. Allow the chocolate glaze to set at room temperature. Store the cookies in a sealed glass container at room temperature. They should stay fresh for at least 5 days.