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These classic gluten free chocolate chip cookies are deliciously rich and thick, with slightly crisp brown edges and the perfect chewy center.
I was famous for these for long before I started baking gluten free in 2004, and there's always a batch waiting in my freezer—raw and baked. Nearly 400 of 5-star reviews can't all be wrong!
“This is an awesome cookie. We have had a family recipe that we all loved till we had to go gluten free and this was the first recipe that is better than that! Thank you so much, Nicole ❣️”
my take
Nicole's Recipe Notes
- Perfect texture: They're thick and chewy, just crisp enough on the edges that they have a super satisfying bite.
- Depth of flavor: Especially when you chill the cookie dough before baking it, these cookies have rich, complex flavor that goes way beyond the taste of vanilla extract.
- Consistency: If you follow the recipe closely, they never fail. You'll never have cookies that spread into each other in the oven.
- Adaptable: Replace all or some of the chips with chopped walnuts or pecans; use almond extract in place of vanilla; make them with vegan butter. They still turn out amazing!
Recipe ingredients
- Gluten free flour blend: Any of my recommended gluten free flour mixes will do, especially Better Batter or Nicole's Best. Even Bob's Red Mill 1-to-1 flour works well in this recipe, possibly because chilling allows the flour to hydrate.
- Baking soda: Helps the cookies turn golden brown in the oven.
- Salt: Balances the sweetness and enhances the other flavors in the cookies.
- Granulated (white) sugar: Adds sweetness and tenderness.
- Light brown sugar: Adds more sweetness and tenderness, some more moisture, and the depth of flavor that makes chocolate chip cookies taste different than butter cookies and sugar cookies.
- Butter: Adds moisture and flavor, helps create the crispy edges and chewy centers. Be sure it's at cool room temperature so it blends properly with the dry ingredients.
- Eggs: Adds rise and binds the cookies together.
- Vanilla: Adds depth of flavor.
- Chocolate chips: Add texture and flavor, so use your favorite chips here. Mine are Trader Joe's 72% dark chocolate chips and Ghirardelli brand.
How to make gluten free chocolate chip cookies
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (gluten free flour blend, xanthan gum if your blend doesn't already have it, baking soda, salt, granulated sugar, and brown sugar). Add the brown sugar last, and use a fork to break up lumps in it.
Add the softened butter, beaten eggs, and vanilla extract into the dry instead of creaming the butter first. Then mix in the chocolate chips.
Scoop the prepared raw cookie dough using a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, for easy shaping, roll into a ball between your palms, and then press into a disk. Before baking, chill the cookie dough at least until it's cold, and ideally let it rest i the refrigerator longer.
After you've (hopefully!) chilled the cookie dough, bake the cookie dough balls at 350°F just until golden brown on the edges and they're mostly set in the center (about 12 minutes). Let them settle for a minute and then serve warm!
My Pro Tip
Expert tips
Chill the cookie dough first
If you want your cookies to stay thick, chill them at least until they're cold. For that beautiful caramel flavor that the best chocolate chip cookies have, chill them for at least 12 hours. If you can't wait, bake only a few after a quick chill, and chill the rest of the dough overnight.
Press wet ingredients into dry
Begin by mixing the wet ingredients together in the center of the dry ingredients. Then, stir slowly to draw the dry ingredients into the wet by pressing the back of a spoon or spatula down firmly into the wet ingredients. This creates a smooth, uniform dough.
Add more chips on top
If you're rolling your cookie dough, and you feel like you just can't see enough chocolate chips, press a few more chips onto the top of each portion.
Mix by hand
Always mix the cookie dough by hand, starting with the dry ingredients first. Avoid using a handheld or stand mixer, though, or the cookies won't have any variations in texture.
substitutions
Ingredient substitutions
Unlike other recipes that require you to add almond flour, these are naturally nut-free. Here's how to make the cookies dairy-free or egg-free, too.
Dairy free
This recipe turns out really well with Spectrum healthy vegetable shortening in place of butter. They don't brown as much in the oven, but they're still crisp on the edges. Shortening gets very hard in the refrigerator, so shape the dough before chilling it. Vegan butter like Melt & Miyoko's Creamy brand also work very well. Make sure your chocolate chips are dairy free, and when using vegan butter, be sure to chill the dough overnight to control spread during baking.
Egg free
You can try replacing the two eggs in this recipe with a “chia egg” each (1 tablespoon ground white chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel). You can also try replacing the 2 eggs with 100 grams of Greek-style plain yogurt, at room temperature. When replacing the eggs, it's especially important that you chill the cookie dough overnight to control spread during baking.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (315 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend, (See Recipe Notes)
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum, omit if your flour blend already contains it; use a heaping 1/2 teaspoon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (164 g) packed light brown sugar
- 8 tablespoons (112 g) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs, at room temperature, beaten
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, plus more as desired, up to 16 ounces total
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F about 15 minutes before you plan to bake your cookies. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper and set them aside.
- In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Add the brown sugar, and whisk again to combine, working out any lumps in the brown sugar. If you are finding many lumps, try using the tines of a fork to break up any stubborn ones.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients, and add the butter, eggs, and vanilla. First, mix the wet ingredients together, then stir to slowly incorporate in the dry ingredients a bit at a time until well-combined.
- Add 12 ounces of chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough. The cookie dough will be thick but not stiff. Add more chocolate chips if you like, and mix thoroughly.
- Divide the cookie dough into 21 portions (or 24 if you’ve used all 16 ounces of chips), and roll each tightly into a ball about 1 1/2 inches in diameter (and about 50 grams each).
- Press each of the balls of dough into a disk about 1/2-inch thick and place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- As you’re rolling the dough, add a few more chocolate chips to each ball, if desired, and roll them into the dough.
- To ensure the thickest cookies with the best flavor and color, cover the dough on the baking sheet and refrigerate the shaped cookie dough for at least 12 hours and up to 5 days.
- Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator and place the baking sheets, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven.
- Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, light golden brown all over and set in the center (about 12 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes or until firm before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
make ahead/leftovers
Storage instructions
These cookies stay fresh at room temperature in a sealed glass container for up to 5 days. You can also store shaped cookie dough in the refrigerator in a sealed zip-top bag and bake the cookies one at a time or in small batches.
For longer storage, both the shaped dough and the baked and cooled cookies themselves freeze perfectly for up to 3 months. You can bake frozen dough without defrosting it, but I recommend pressing the raw disks of cookie dough flatter since they'll spread less if you bake them that way. Add about 2 minutes to the baking time.
Mix-in variation suggestions
The 12 ounces of chocolate chips called for in the recipe is about 2 cups in volume. Try replacing up to half of those chocolate chips with:
- Chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts, almonds, or macadamia nuts.
- Easy-to-chew dried fruit like cranberries, goji berries, or raisins.
- Different types of flavored chips, like white chocolate, milk chocolate, or butterscotch chips. Read labels carefully, though, because some chips contain gluten.
FAQs
Yes, you must chill the dough at least briefly, so the cookies hold their shape during baking. For better flavor, shape, and texture, chill the dough for 12 hours or more.
I recommend trying Lankato brand monk fruit granulated sugar replacement for the granulated sugar and their “golden” variety as a replacement for the brown sugar. You can also replace the brown sugar with coconut sugar one-for-one. You may need to add water by the half-teaspoonful as necessary to achieve the proper cookie dough consistency.
There are several reasons why your gluten free chocolate chip cookies might be dry and crumbly:
1. You didn't let them cool and firm on the baking sheet for long enough after baking. They're fragile at first.
2. You didn't use enough xanthan gum, or any at all.
3. Your butter was too cold when you made the cookie dough, so it never got fully mixed into the cookie dough.
4. You mistakenly over-measured the flour. It's very easy to do when you measure by volume, not weight.
Was your butter melted or just too greasy when you made the cookie dough? Was your cookie dough was too warm when you put your batch in the oven? Maybe you put the dough on a hot baking sheet without letting it cool first.
I get the best results with xanthan gum, here are some potential alternatives:
– Guar gum in an equal amount
– Konjac powder in an equal amount
This is not false advertising… they are the BEST! I use all butter, dark chocolate chips, Nicole’s Best, and measure by weight. By request, I make them small with a #100 scoop (about 2 tsp), chill them as balls on a sheet pan. I don’t flatten them out before baking, and they bake up just the right thickness for me. I get rave reviews from the GF people in my life, and disbelief from the non-GF people that these are actually make with a gluten free flour blend.
That’s so awesome to hear, Denise! “Disbelief” is the pinnacle of gf success. One day, we will surpass it and they will expect GF foods to be just as good if not better. But for now, it’s the best!