. . . and tastes so good and are so chewy that people who don’t keep gluten-free won’t notice the difference and people who do maintain a gluten-free lifestyle will be skeptical but don’t worry, we will give you tips on how to keep them safe.
Don’t worry. This isn’t a whole blog post full of sponsored ads about how I happened upon a bespoke chocolatier in the south of France and why they lead me down a path into the world’s best chocolate chip cookies. There is a wall of text here because this ain’t your generic Tollhouse cookie recipe, and some folks like to know why. There’s also a second chunk on how to really make sure these cookies stay gluten-free, if your intended audience needs them to be, like I do!
Some Science:
As someone with a dietary restriction (Celiac’s disease), I can tell you that sometimes, it’s just no fun. There’s so much testing out what works and tastes best for you! Also, you can end up with a catch-all product, something free of everything that anyone might not be able to eat… which can end up tasting like a cardboard box, with a worse texture. That said, these cookies are gluten-free yet dairy-full, relying on egg yolks for texture. If you’ve got to avoid dairy and gluten, I’m sure the internet has a recipe that agrees with all of your preferences/restrictions. The magic of this recipe is that the cream cheese covers the gritty texture of rice flour in GF blends, and using egg yolks keeps the cookie chewy: a rare treat in the GF world. If you didn’t know, the wonderful chewiness of baked goods comes from the gluten proteins and is something I sorely miss. On the flip side, you can’t really overmix gluten-free baked goods, because in traditional baking, overmixing results in overproduction of gluten. No such risk here!
Accidental Breadcrumb:
If you’re planning to use this recipe as a special treat for a pal who happens to not be able to eat gluten, keep cross-contamination in mind. Keep them extra safe from rogue breadcrumbs by splurging on a new package of cream cheese and butter. If you’re the sort of person who keeps their brown sugar from clumping with a slice of bread in the container, you need to buy new sugar for them too. For someone with celiac’s, a literal single tiny breadcrumb is enough gluten to cause a reaction. I can’t even be in the same room as someone baking with regular flour, because the flour in the air will be breathed in by me, and then head down my nose/throat right into my stomach, and even that can cause a reaction. Even with your best efforts, someone may not feel comfortable taking the risk on a cookie they didn’t watch get baked. Remember that single breadcrumb example! Don’t take it personally! Just eat all the cookies yourself and enjoy how incredible they are.
Finally, is the cooling step necessary? Short answer: Yes. You might notice the recipe doesn’t start with preheating the oven, because these cookies have to cool in the fridge for at least 4 hours before baking. This lets the fats solidify, making sure your cookies don’t spread out super thin and crunchy, but rather retain some shape and chew! If you can’t dunk your warm cookies in the farm fresh milk from the cows at Tamarack Farm, store-bought milk is fine.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (That happen to be gluten free)
Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups bean-free all-purpose gluten-free flour. (Local product shout-out to King Arthur’s GF Flours!)
- 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum (only if your flour doesn’t already contain xanthan or guar gum!)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 ounces cream cheese, room temp
- 3/4 cups (12 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions!
- In a medium bowl, whisk together gluten-free flour, xanthan (unless flour blend already has xanthan or guar gum), baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, place the cream cheese, then pour melted butter over it. Add brown sugar and sugar and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. (I use the paddle attachment on my mixer, one of those with the rubber scrapey side add-ons. Very useful!) I mean, I can’t imagine mixing this by hand… but I suppose anything’s possible, especially with the vigor of youth!
- Add vanilla extract and egg yolks (one at a time) mixing on low-medium speed until well mixed.
- Add the flour mixture that you set aside earlier, beating on low until just combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix on low or by hand, just until evenly dispersed.
- Cover the mixing bowl and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours and up to 4 days.
- When you are ready to bake, remove from refrigerator and let sit for about 15 minutes to soften enough for easier scooping.
- Preheat oven to 375°.
- Line cookie sheets with sheets of parchment paper or silicone liners. Do not grease! Do you remember all the butter we put in these? They will come off the sheet just fine! (Also the parchment paper is a good rogue gluten barrier!)
- Use about 3 tablespoons per cookie, and give them enough room to spread out to about 3 inch cookies. About a dozen per standard cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes at 375°. Remove when edges are set and just browning. The centers will look undercooked, but will continue cooking as they cool. Adjust as you like for doneness and your oven’s persnicketies. This may take a couple of batches, but whoever complained about having too many chocolate chip cookies?
- Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for just 2-3 minutes (that bit of continuing to cook we just talked about!) before removing to a cooling rack to finish cooling.