Gluten-free (Vegan) Chocolate Chip Cookies (the Big Experiment)
Gluten-free (vegan) chocolate chip cookies started out as a challenge. I have done zero (intentional) gluten-free baking up until now. I’m a good (half) Finnish girl and we like our baked goods with loads of gluten in them. However, I have a friend who is not in the “pro-gluten” camp and another friend who is deadly allergic to wheat soooo, I thought I’d give it a go.
I adapted this recipe from Monique’s Ambitious Kitchen blog HERE. Thank you Monique for doing the heavy lifting! I did make a few substitutions. First up, I used Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free flour, medium brown sugar and I substituted ground flax seeds and water for the egg (see below). I will say I wish I’d started with my KitchenAid instead of dragging it out half way through when my arm fell off after trying to whisk the coconut oil into the brown sugar with it separating all over the place.
So, they certainly “look” like the real deal but I have to say that the texture is not as good as a cookie with butter in it (channeling my inner Julia Child). Next time I may cheat and use butter but overall this is not a bad cookie. It almost tastes more like a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie. Perhaps that’s the flax seed (dunno).
Ingredients
- 2 C Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-free Flour
- 1/2 tsp gluten-free xanthan gum (recommended addition is 1/4 tsp / C of gluten-free flour)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
- 1 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs (you can use the following egg substitute: 2 Tbsp ground gold flax seed whisked together with 6 Tbsp water – it makes an eggy-bindy stuff – technical term ha,ha).
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 heaping cup chocolate chips
- coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- In large bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In the bowl of a KitchenAid (unless you want an arm workout) and the paddle attachment, mix together melted and cooled coconut oil and brown sugar until smooth. Add in flax egg and vanilla and beat again until smooth.
- Add in dry ingredients and mix together until combined and a dough forms. Fold in chocolate chips. You may find it easier to use your hands to work the chips into the dough because the coconut oil makes the little devils quite slippery.
- Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.
- Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet leaving 2 inches apart flatten the tops slightly.
- Bake 12 minutes or until edges just being to turn a golden brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool at least 5 minutes on baking sheet. Allow them to set before removing them from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.
Makes 3 dozen.