BEST GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
These vegan plant-based cookies are the closest thing to traditional Nestle Toll House cookies that I have ever made. I baked them for my new neighbors who are not vegan. I wanted to let them see how you can make amazing desserts without eggs, dairy butter, and white flour. These were a huge success. Many people can enjoy desserts like these for a special occasion, but not regularly if you want to maintain or regain health.
This recipe and many other cookie recipes can be found at “The Vegan 8” blog: BEST GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. I use a kitchen scale when making her recipes because besides being more accurate, it is much easier.
This cookie has a lot of sugar so do not look at it as a health food, though is less unhealthy compared to typical chocolate chip cookies. My preferred sweetener is fruit, especially dates. Maple syrup is mostly sucrose. Table sugar is sucrose. Here is a nice, easy to follow article about maple syrup:
Maple Syrup: Healthy or Unhealthy?
By the time of this posting I have made this recipe 3 times. The first time I included the coconut sugar and it was much too sweet for me. My neighbors did not think it was too sweet. The second and third time I left out the coconut sugar and it was still too sweet. The third time I froze them to serve at a later event but they ended up sticking together too much once defrosted. Next time if I need to freeze them I will wrap them individually. I also plan on replacing at least some of the semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chips.
BEST GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Ingredients
3/4 cup (120g) brown rice flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt (I didn’t add)
3 Tablespoons (30g) coconut sugar (I think is plenty sweet enough without adding this)
3/4 cup (180g) semi-sweet dairy-free chocolate chips plus extra on top if desired
3/4 cup (192g) super creamy roasted almond butter (mine was raw, not roasted)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (120g) pure maple syrup
2 teaspoons (10g) vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon (20g) regular unsulphured molasses (I used Grandma’s molasses)
2 Tablespoons (30g) water
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) and line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
Add the brown rice flour, baking powder, salt and coconut sugar (if using) to a large bowl and whisk very well to ensure there are no lumps. Stir in the chocolate chips.
In a separate medium bowl, combine the almond butter, syrup, vanilla, molasses and water. Stir until completely smooth. (I used a whisk.)
Pour over the dry ingredients and stir for a couple of minutes until all the dough comes together and no more flour is visible. It should be very sticky and thick. (I added the chocolate chips here since forgot to add earlier.)
Drop 2 tablespoons worth of batter (or use a cookie scoop) onto the pan about 2 inches apart to allow room for them to spread. Place only 9 on a sheet so they don't get overcrowded. Now, depending on the thickness of your almond butter used (as some are really drippy) it will affect how stiff/soft your cookie scoops are. If your cookie scoops slowly spread out once dropped onto the pan, then you don't need to flatten them. If they hold their shape, take a small piece of parchment paper and press each cookie down to between 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Smooth and piece together the edges to a round shape. Place extra chocolate chips on top of each cookie, if desired. (I did not need to flatten my dough since it spread out itself. There are plenty of chips in the cookies so does not need more on top. I made 21 cookies.)
Bake 1 pan at a time for 10-11 minutes until the edges are turning golden brown. Mine were perfect at 11 minutes. (Mine also took 11 minutes.)
Cool 10 minutes on the pan and then cool another 10 on a cooling rack. They will crisp and firm up as they cool. You must wait for them to cool at least 10 minutes or they can crumble because of the rice flour, but will be fine after cooled. Keep sealed so they don't dry out.
