Fear not, I have not gone Gluten Free. But the good news for the gluten-free people of the world is that I have quite a few gluten free recipes on my site. My Mother is staying at my house right now, she is gluten-free, and I have to be mindful of that and make her some delicious things that she can eat. Amidst my other evil baking ventures, I made her some Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Gluten-free “baking” is a little bit new for me. I’m not super familiar with how to mix all of the alternative flours to make gluten-free stuff taste like it’s not gluten free. I often ask my GF twitter and blog friends for assistance. Jeanne from Art of Gluten Free Baking helped me out with my questions the other day. And she’s currently writing a gluten-free baking book too, so I figured I could trust her advice! I developed my recipe using Jeanne’s recommended blend of GF flours (brown rice, white rice, tapioca, sweet rice + xanthan gum). Thanks to Jeanne, because those flours worked out perfectly!
Since going gluten-free, my Mom has had a hard time with things made with GF flour. She loves her cookies and she hasn’t had much luck with baking her own gluten free cookies. She says they’re too soft or too crumbly or they just don’t taste right. Guess what? These tasted right!!
They’re not crunchy, but they’re not break-apart soft or crumbly either. I’d describe them as a fairly sturdy-but-soft cookie that is chewy and very much like a regular old chocolate chip cookie made with regular flour. We served them up at a football game party yesterday (without revealing the fact that they were gluten-free), and no one even noticed a difference.
A funny side-note… when I told my husband I was baking Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, his immediate reaction was, “Ick.” When he tasted the cookies, his reaction was, “Wow, these are good!” Many people have the misconception that eating gluten-free means that you don’t get to eat any good food or that all things that are made to be gluten-free are disgusting and icky. You may be surprised just how well you can eat living without gluten. I hope I don’t ever have to do so, but I know that if someday I have to give up gluten, life can still be pretty delicious. P.S. I was able to find most of the flours in the recipe at my regular market (made by Bob’s Red Mill), but the sweet rice flour I found at Whole Foods.
Do you have friends and family who have to live a gluten free life? Make them some cookies 🙂
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons white rice flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- ½ cup sweet rice flour
- 1 (scant) teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ¾ cup (1½ sticks) salted butter
- 1¼ cups light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- One 12 ounce bag chocolate chips (see *Tips below)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or baking mats, or spray with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together dry ingredients (rice flour through salt) in a medium bowl.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to combine eggs, milk, butter, sugars and vanilla. Continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Add dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop teaspoonfuls of cookie dough 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are cooked throughout.
Notes
- Scant"... as in 1 scant teaspoon means "barely a teaspoon," or a little bit under.
- For gluten free chips, I used Enjoy Life brand mini chips (found at my local market that carries a lot of GF/health foods).
- All of the flours in the recipe are made by Bob's Red Mill- I was able to find most in my regular market, and I found the Sweet Rice Flour at Whole Foods.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made these tonight, and they are fantastic! Both my daughter and I enjoyed them. She has to be gluten free, but I am not, and they tasted like regular cookies to me. Accidentally overbaked them, but my daughter liked that they got crunchy. I used 1/2 cup each white, milk, and semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Delicious! Thanks for the great recipe. Easy and very tasty.
I’m always looking for a good gluten free cookie recipe!
A good friend of mine has an allergy to gluten, so whenever we bake together it’s got to be GF. I’m glad you included the mixing instructions too! 🙂
I’ve found that the other GF recipes I’ve used end up a lot healthier than the ones that have gluten – the GF cookies are better too compared to how I usually make them!
I’m definitely going to share this in a recipe post on my new blog about healthy lifestyle changes! 🙂
Uggg. I cant imagine having to be GF! I would have to learn to cook all over again. They do look like some yummy cookies!
Yes, you pretty much do have to learn to cook all over again, but when your child is so sick she barely gets out of bed and is in tears with pain and nausea, you do what you have to do. And I have found many gluten free items as tasty or better than traditional wheat flour items. These cookies are amazing.
I’ve done more and more GF baking…. I think I feel better!
those cookies look perfect. it took us years to get the gluten free cookie we have dreamed of, and from time to time we still try to perfect it even more 🙂 gluten free can be tricky but thesedays with all the amazing ingredients it can be fairly easy to make things gluten free and taste good 😉
These sound so yummy! I need to get some good gluten free recipes for my aunt. Thanks!
I was recently diagnosed with “mild intolerance” to gluten and gliadin, so I gotta be gluten free for at least 3 months. These cookies look amazing and I got all the ingredients at hand 🙂 thanks for sharing!
These look fantastic. My gluten free friends all seem determined to avoid xanthan gum–which I don’t understand–and it leaves me totally clueless as to how to tell them to proceed. I’m bookmarking this for when *I* need to make gluten free goodies for someone!