It’s sad to be the lone gluttard at a cookie swap. Not only will you be forced to lick the cream out of the center of a homemade non-gluten-free Oreo, for lack of any other option. But it’s also quite possible that no one will want your sad contribution. In other words, you may just be swapping cookies with yourself.
That was my fear, anyway. And in order to not make it a reality, it was my mission to track down the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe in all the land.
Luckily, a few months ago, I acquired a copy of The How Can It Be Gluten-Free Cookbook by America’s Test Kitchen (Volume 2) by America’s Test Kitchen. I had flagged a number of savory items, including an interesting millet cake recipe. But looking through the baking sections made me a little nervous, like when one of those subway dancers does a backflip three inches from my face.
As you know, I’ve always been intimidated by gluten-free recipes that call for many different types of flour and xanthan gum. Even if a blend promises a perfectly crisp and chewy pizza dough—something I fantasize about almost as much as Ryan Gosling’s Big Move—it just never seems worth the effort.
But the folks over at America’s Test Kitchen somehow saw right through my lazy soul and followed up by sending me a pre-mixed package of their whole grain flour blend. It’s like they have ESPN, or something.
And with that in hand, I had no excuse but to pick up my first sack of xanthan gum and try my hand at their whole-grain gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.
The batter that resulted brought me right back to childhood. And I ate so much of it, I worried that I would end up a dozen cookies short for the Friends in Food cookie swap I was attending that evening.
Instead of straight up chocolate chips, I added a mix of chopped dark chocolate, semi-sweet and white chocolate chips. The cookies are darker in complexion thanks to the whole grain blend, so the white chips gave them a bit more flair on the buffet table.
I’m excited to expand my baking horizons a bit in the New Year, once my book is done and I can once again indulge in the carefree joys of making shit not on my computer. In the meantime, I hope these cookies help solve all of your gluten-free cookie swap problems. (For the record, everyone loved them). Next challenge: gluten-free homemade Oreos.
From one healthy hedonist, to another,
Xoxo
Phoebe
The Best Whole Grain Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups America's Test Kitchen Whole-Grain Gluten-Free Flour Blend
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 chocolate chips I used a mix of semisweet, white and dark chocolate
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour blend, baking soda, xanthin gum, and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix the melted butter and the sugars until smooth. Add the egg, milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Working with two soup spoons, portion out the dough (about 1 1/2 tablespoons per cookie) and space the cookies 2 inches apart. You should have 12 per sheet.
- Bake the cookies until golden brown. The edges will have begun to set, but the centers should still be soft, about 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate the sheets halfway through baking and swap from top to bottom.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet. Then serve alongside milk, or store for later!
If you make this, tag @phoebelapine and #feedmephoebe - I'd love to see it!
Sigh. These cookies are calling me.
The recipe looks great. I’ll have to look again to see if you’ve posted how and where to find the whole wheat flour blend. ( ok, so that looks like a live link to their site!) cool!
To date, with all my travels and tastings, the best ever gf chocolate chip cookie is being made at Mount Bakery, in Fairhaven, Wa, near Bellingham. Sure would love their recipe! occasionally my daughter brings them to me as a treat!
I will try yours as soon as I get that flour blend – I live too many states away from Washington!
Thank you!
If I am ever in the area I’ll have to check it out!! Thanks for the rec! xo
They look amazing! We’ll have to be on the lookout for some xanthan gum, we hadn’t heard of it before. And of course we trust you, we know these will be delicious!:)
The gluten-free aspect, is another excuse for us to bake cookies, even though we said we must cut down on the sweets:)
Thank you!
xoxoxo
Great post Phoebe and lovely photos! I just made a batch of ATK’s gluten free chocolate chip cookies using their all purpose flour blend and while it tasted delicious the first 12 cookies came out flat and it wasn’t until the last few scoops where I saw some potential. My guess is the dough needed to rest much more than 30 minutes, then again it is a cold blister winter here in the NW so perhaps moisture in the air was the culprit 😉 Thanks again!
very good to know Suji! These cookies were definitely on the flatter side as well, but I loved their crunch. There might be a better chewy choco chip cookie recipe out there. I’m still looking 🙂 I do love the flourless peanut butter ones though: https://feedmephoebe.com/gluten-free-is-me-flourless-chocolate-chunk-peanut-butter-cookies/
The reason the cookies are flat is because the butter is melted. I make gluten-free CC cookies frequently and essentially follow the Toll House recipe and use all purpose gluten free flour. Always cream the butter and refrigerating the dough until you’re ready to make the cookies doesn’t hurt.
thanks for the tip!