Cookie Week: Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Cookie Week: Shortbread Cookies
I’m excited to be taking part in Kate’s cookie exchange! I have a design blog, Hyphen Interiors, so this is my very first cookie recipe post!
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Be prepared, these are gluten free cookies. But, you can easily trade out the crazy rice flour for regular flour and enjoy them with gluten.
Why I make gluten free cookies.
I have terrible food allergies, so I try to make just about everything from scratch. My allergies are corn, soy and gluten. I went from being desperately ill for a few years to getting back to normal by avoiding these foods. If you are gluten (or other food) free, I’d love to hear what and why!
Believe it or not those three foods can be seen on ingredients lists under all sorts of aliases. In total, I watch out for over 500 derivatives and aliases when I read labels. That’s why I rarely buy pre-packaged items, unless they have very few ingredients. I miss out on a LOT, but it’s worth it.
And, since I rarely buy pre-packaged food, I don’t get to really have snacks like cookies unless I make them myself. So, such recipes are a life saver if you have a sweet tooth like me!
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What is gluten? Gluten is the protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Gluten gives these foods its elastic nature and structure so it is fluffy. It makes bread chewy and light/moist. That is exactly why it’s difficult to bake without gluten. It takes practice and things tend to end up more dense and/or flat.
More and more often these days, people are finding that they have a gluten intolerance or allergy, or celiac disease. To ease the symptoms, they go on a strict gluten free diet. Even small little crumbs can cause illness.
I found the recipe on Make It and Love It.
Ingredients:
1 cup softened butter (butter with just cream as an ingredient, not margarine if you avoid corn, soy or gluten)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla (if you avoid corn, be careful with vanilla)
2 1/2 cup brown rice flour **
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. xanthan gum (or guar gum if you avoid corn) **
1 tsp. salt (if you avoid corn, use sea salt)
12 oz. choc. chips (I use Enjoy Life chocolate chips) **
**These odd ingredients are popping up in more and more grocery stores in the United States. But generally I find these items at stores like Whole Foods and Sprouts.
Also note: Most gluten free recipes call for 2-3 types of flour, so you can probably substitute the brown rice flour with an amaranth/ tapioca combo and so on. If, on the other hand, you make a gluten version, ignore the guar gum and use regular flour.
First, place vanilla, eggs, and butter (softened) in mixing bowl.
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Mix well.
Then add your dry ingredients into a separate bowl.
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Mix them all together. Once mixed, add that mixture to the bowl with the wet mixture.
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What is xanthan gum? It is a fermented sugar, usually made from bacteria grown on corn. It acts as a natural stabilizer or thickener and adds back some stickiness to recipe. Gluten would otherwise do that for a recipe. So without it (or something similar), recipes tend to turn out dry and brittle.
Xanthan Gum is a fine powder and looks like this:
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I use guar gum due to my corn allergy.
Back to the recipe. Mix the dry ingredients in really well. You will have a dough form, just like regular cookies. But it will feel a little more sticky. That’s okay. Don’t add much extra flour.
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Then add your favorite cookie ingredient. I added Enjoy Life chocolate chips.
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Place little balls of dough on large cookie sheet. I made 2 inch balls. I found out the hard way that you don’t want to go bigger than that. So, keep the balls at 1-2 inches. Bake in preheated 350 degree (F) oven and bake for 9-10 minutes. Allow to cool slowly.
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Enjoy!
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**Tips:
– Use foil on the pan under them. That way, they are easy to slide onto a cooling rack. Gluten free cookies have a tendency to fall apart, especially if you try to use a spatula on them before they are completely cool.
– Pull them out of the oven before they look completely done. The middles will appear a little soft.
– Enjoy Life chocolate chips are corn, soy, nut, gluten and dairy free!
– You can adjust the recipe for other allergies. For instance, my brother is allergic to dairy, so he’d substitute apple sauce for the butter.
My husband says that he cannot taste the difference between these and regular chocolate chip cookies.
Hope you try them if you are gluten free and need a snack or if you are baking for someone who is. If you need my list of derivatives for any of those foods, just ask. I’m happy to share. Also, don’t forget to share if you avoid a certain food, why!
Thank you for having me, Kate!
Kristy

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susanna says · 12.06.11

This is awesome!! Thanks for putting the GF cookie recipe on.

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Anayo Etumnu says · 10.18.13

I agree with you. Thank you for the recipe! My best friend has Orio, can not eat gluten, and has allergies to legumes and oatmeal so its very challenging to find aspects I can make to talk about with her. I found it very challenging to find gluten-free recipes that didn’t substitute grain flour with veggie flour. I have found a lot from this post. Thank you so much – http://www.peoplesplumber.co.uk

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Hyphen Interiors says · 12.06.11

Thanks so much for having me! So fun to participate in the cookie exchange. Sorry about the spacing between paragraphs being off. Thanks again!

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Cassie says · 12.06.11

Kristy – thanks so much for sharing your recipe on Kate’s site! For a long time, my doctors thought I had a gluten intolerance (my mom has one) and even though I went gluten-free I still didn’t feel right. I know that feeling you mentioned that you experienced – where you don’t feel like yourself and your body is all sorts of out of whack. Come to find out this year I don’t have a gluten intolerance but actually a sulfite allergy. Because of this allergy, I have to make a lot of stuff from scratch and I have to buy fresh. This means no frozen, canned, or jarred foods. No beer and/or wine. No shrimp or lobster. This also means asking a LOT of questions when I go out to eat. And as annoying as it gets sometimes (I crave shrimp now and it makes me sad when I see it on the menu and I know I can’t have it) I feel a million times better and know I will not change a thing at this point. I just have learned to adapt and get creative.

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Lisa Barton says · 12.06.11

Thank you for the recipe! My best friend has fibro, can’t eat gluten, and has allergies to legumes and apples so its very hard to find things I can make to share with her. I found it very hard to find gluten free recipes that didn’t substitute wheat flour with bean flour. I have learned a lot from this post. Thank you SO MUCH!

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Brian and Brynn says · 12.06.11

LOVE that there is a Gluten free recipe on here!! Thanks. 🙂

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Courtney says · 12.06.11

I love that you included a GF recipe in your cookie posts. My boyfriend has celiac disease and follows a strict GF diet. I love seeing these types of recipes pop up in “normal” recipe places; it confirms that it’s becoming more mainstream, and therefore, a little bit easier. Thanks!

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Angela K. says · 12.06.11

Thanks for sharing. I am also someone who eats GF stuff. I eat Paleo, so I don’t eat rice either. We use coconut, almond or tapioca flour.

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nweames says · 12.06.11

These are great looking GF cookies! Thanks for sharing.

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Anneke {RustiChic} says · 12.06.11

I really want to try these with our kiddos! Can you get those particular chocolate chips most places or are they at specialty stores, online???

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Rachel says · 12.06.11

Hi. I’ve been reading Kate’s blog for a while now (never commented before), but I love this blog! Thanks Kristy for providing this recipe, and thanks Kate for posting it. I have several food allergies and my body is currently at war with itself. I think I have more allergies than I am aware of at the moment, but I do know that I am sensitive to gluten, wheat, dairy, soy, beef, sunflower seeds/oil/lecithin, oatmeal, brewer’s yeast and lamb… it makes eating out almost impossible, and eating in general pretty difficult. This time of year I end up “cheating” as I call it here and there because I just can’t help but want to try a little bit of whatever goodies people make. All those little bites here and there add up to serious internal consequences later on… And I too have a serious sweet tooth. Thanks for the recipe, I’ll save it for when I’m having a serious sweet craving.

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Samantha says · 12.06.11

Thank you for the recipe! I am gluten free, corn free, and rice free, so thanks for adding a flour alternative. My sister is gluten free and egg free (can’t have egg substitutes either– they have egg whites!) – do you know of a egg free substitute for cookies? Thanks!

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Kelly says · 12.07.11

Awesome tutorial! Have you heard of Pamela’s baking flours? She is gluten free, and has brownie mixes and pancake mixes- its amazing. The grocery store price is usually bonkers so I get it on amazon since we are gf too! Anyway I saved a boat load of money doing it this way. Have a great day!

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MaryBe says · 12.08.11

This recipe looks great! For Kristy and anyone else who is GF, here is a great website for delicious recipes. I make a lot of them and I’m not even sensitive to gluten – they’re just so good
http://edibleperspective.com/

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Dream22 says · 12.08.11

Thank you for posting this. I have been on a path to healing my body and figuring out my food allergies for a few years now. My food allergies (gluten, corn, dairy, egg yolk or peanuts) are related to my arthritis. I didn’t know salt could have corn it. I got not eating gluten down, I guess I have a lot more to learn about corn.

Samantha…For an egg substitute when baking: To replace 1 egg, take 1 tbl ground flex, mix with 3 tbl warm water. Let it sit 5 mins and it will “gel”.

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Hyphen Interiors says · 12.08.11

Dream22 – thanks for sharing an egg substitute for Samantha! For your arthritis – sweet. I’ve wondered if such a diet would help my fil who has rheumatoid…

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lexsmama says · 12.09.11

Thank you for the GF addition to Cookie Week! I’m looking for GF bakin ideas since my recent need to take gluten out of my diet.

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Desiree says · 12.11.11

Just made this for my family. I added craisins instead of the chocolate chips. So good! Thanks for sharing!

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Anonymous says · 12.17.11

My sister severely allergic to milk, like go into anaflatic shock, sever!! So I know how hard it is to always have to look at ingredients and have dairy being listed as other names. She is only 8 so it shard to explain to her why she can’t have something!!

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Lisa says · 04.03.12

If you have an Asian grocery store nearby, they often have WAY cheaper rice flour.

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