Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate cookies are awesome.  End of story.  And when I was diagnosed with Celiac, I found it hard to bake cookies that had the same texture and taste as regular cookies.  Better Crocker has a box mix now, and it’s not totally hateful, but the taste and consistency aren’t the same as delicious made-from-scratch cookies I prefer.

On a trip to New York City, my boyfriend and I stopped at BabyCakes NYC, which is a bakery dedicated to making delicious baked goods that are free of many common allergens: wheat, gluten, dairy, casein and eggs.  I was pretty excited to sample their treats, and there is actually a location in Downtown Disney, which I hope to visit soon.

We ordered a cupcake and a chocolate cookie sandwich.  I was in heaven.  Seriously.  We sat outside and enjoyed our treats for a while and I regret not going back for extras to take home!

Anywho, for my birthday this year my wonderful mom got me one of their cookbooks: BabyCakes Covers the Classics, which holds the incredible chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Gluten-free ingredients are a bit pricey, but boy was it worth it.  My cookies didn’t look like the ones in the picture (I’ll have to play around with baking times and ingredients later to perfect that) but they were oh so delicious.  The recipe calls for all vegan ingredients as well, but I used regular sugar, chocolate chips, etc.

You can find most of these ingredients at your local Whole Foods, Publix or grocery.  But I discovered a website called Vitacost where they sell a ton of gluten-free ingredients at discounted prices.  I highly recommend checking out the site – great savings and there’s usually some type of sale going on!

What you’ll need: oat flour, all-purpose baking flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill), sugar, flaxseed meal, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, melted coconut or canola oil, unsweetened applesauce, vanilla extract, chocolate chips.

Start, by whisking together the flours, sugar, flaxseed meal, arrowroot starch, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt in a medium size bowl.

Add the coconut oil, applesauce and vanilla.

Stir with a rubber spatula until a thick dough forms.

Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1-1/2 inches apart.  I was out of parchment paper, so I used tinfoil.  The first batch I used a scooper to make ball-shaped cookie drops, but the cookies didn’t really expand much or flatten out.  So the second time around I flattened them a bit with my palm, which made for flatter cookies at the end.

Bake in a 325° oven for seven minutes, then rotate the baking sheets and bake for another seven minutes.  The cookies should be golden brown and firm.

Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before eating.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from BabyCakes NYC

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups gluten-free oat flour
• 1 cup gluten-free all-purpose baking flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
• 1/4 cup arrowroot starch
• 1-1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons melted, refined coconut oil or canola oil
• 6 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
• 2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Steps