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I don’t mean to be hyperbolic, but these cookies were life-changing. Ever since my first of my four children was diagnosed and our family’s change to gluten-free eating, we have tried one zillion chocolate chip cookie recipes. We’ve found several decent options, but nothing amazing. Until now.
My mom has a few baking tricks up her sleeves – she can make a beautiful pie crust like no one else I know. But what she is most known for is that she can make the best chocolate chip cookies ever. They literally taste like childhood to me! (Sorry, hyperbolic again, but these cookies bring it out in me!) Evidently her recipe is very close to the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, but like Phoebe from Friends, I’ll always think my mom has a secret recipe because her cookies taste better than anyone else’s. You can not convince me otherwise even though I know a lot of people use her exact recipe since it’s on the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip package. Cognitive dissonance I suppose.
Anyway, I finally found a way to adapt my mom’s recipe to be gluten free! I’m part of a gluten free group and someone shared the tip that some baking recipes convert well to gluten free by substituting the flour for 2 parts gluten free cup-per-cup flour and 1 part almond flour. I decided to give it a try and the results were amazing. Other than that little change, the recipe is just the same as my mom’s.
Let the Dough Rest
Another tip for baking gluten free is letting the dough rest before baking. A common complaint for gluten free baked goods is that they’re gritty, like sand was an added ingredient. If you let the dough rest, it allows the dry ingredients to soak in the wet ingredients so they can fully absorb the moisture and the texture is much less gritty. What a difference a little rest can make. I find 30 minutes is the minimum rest time but for these cookies, I’d make the batter ahead and keep in the fridge ideally for at least an hour or even longer.
Keep the dough cold.
I found for this recipe, the cookies look so much better when the dough was cold as it went in the oven. The following plate has two cookies from the same batch. They were cooked the same amount of time. The cookie that was not baked from cold dough is not only much darker, but also much flatter (harder to see from the picture).
Okay, the official recipe you’ve been waiting for …
The Best GF Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup shortening
- 2/3 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 cups Gluten Free Cup-for-cup flour {Namaste brand was used for these pictures}
- 1 cup almond flour, finely ground
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips {equivalent to 12 oz. bag}
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Combine shortening, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix well.
- Stir in flour, soda, and salt.
- Mix in chocolate chips by hand (or on low speed).
- Let dough rest in fridge at least 30 minutes, ideally about an hour, or make dough ahead and store in fridge up to a few days before baking.
- Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet or parchment paper. Put dough back in fridge in between prepping cookie sheets for baking to keep it chilled.
- Bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown.
- Let cookies cool on pan before removing.
- Cookies are best served warm with a glass of milk. Mmmmmmm.
These cookies are so good that the first time I made them, my family was eating them as fast as they came out of the oven. We might have all gone to bed that night on a sugar high, but it was such an exciting discovery that we could make gluten free chocolate chip cookies that taste like my mom’s cookies!
When we shared some of these with my parents, my dad declared it the best gluten free treat he’d ever eaten and my mom said she liked it better than regular because they were crispier. Try these and tell me what you think!
From my home to yours,
Mary
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