These classic gluten free chocolate chip cookies are deliciously rich and thick, with slightly crisp brown edges and the perfect chewy center. They really are the best you'll find!
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What makes these “the best” cookies?
It's entirely possible that you already have a recipe for classic gluten free chocolate chip cookies that you think is already the best. But I'm here to tell you, these are better.
This recipe is a version of the thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies that I was small-f famous for, long before I started baking gluten free for my son (and you) in 2004. In fact, I'd been making them for years before that.
They're the best because:
- 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 a ton 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. If you use Nicole's Best, be sure to add a bit more than 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum, but Better Batter already has xanthan gum so you'd leave out that ingredient. I'm afraid you can't use Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour or any of the others I recommend against. They have gritty rice flour and aren't properly balanced for good results.
- Baking soda: Neutralizes the acid in the brown sugar, and helps browning in the oven. We don't use baking powder here because we aren't use the leavener for rise. Baking soda is activated immediately and only once as soon as it gets wet, and we chill the cookie dough, so once the cookies go in the oven, the baking soda has completed its active phase.
- 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. Be sure to break up any lumps with a fork, the back of your spoon, or your fingertips or you'll have caramel-type pockets in the cookies.
- Butter: Adds moisture, tons of flavor, helps the cookies brown in the oven and helps create crispy edges and chewy centers. Be sure it's at room temperature so it blends properly with the dry ingredients.
- Eggs: Adds rise and binds the cookies together. Just be sure they're at room temperature or they'll make the butter clump.
- Vanilla: Adds the type of depth of flavor that we expect from chocolate chip cookies
- Chocolate chips: You can use whatever gluten free-friendly chocolate chips are your favorite. I usually use the dark chocolate chips from Trader Joe's because they're inexpensive, a bit larger in size and taste amazing. But you can use whatever you like best.
How to make gluten free chocolate chip cookies
Whisk the dry ingredients
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 wet ingredients & chocolate chips
Add the softened butter, beaten eggs, and vanilla extract into the dry instead of creaming the butter first. Then add the chocolate chips and mix to distribute the chips throughout the cookie dough.
Shape the raw cookie dough
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 for best results (but you don't have to!).
Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes
After you've (hopefully!) chilled the cookie dough, bake the cookies just until they're beginning to brown on the edges and they're mostly set in the center. Let them settle for a minute and then serve warm!
Recipe tips & tricks
This recipe is incredibly easy, and it's fairly forgiving, too, making it perfect for beginner gluten free bakers as well as seasoned baking pros. But no matter your experience, there are some tips and tricks that can help you make these gluten free cookies perfect the first time and every time.
Chill the cookie dough for at least 12 hours
I know this is not what anyone wants to hear, because this is a simple recipe that should produce quick, easy, delicious home-baked gf cookies in minutes! If you want your cookies to stay thick, you'll need to chill them at least until they're cold.
And if you want the cookies to have that beautiful caramel flavor that the best chocolate chip cookies have, you'll need to chill them for at least 12 hours. You might be craving a chocolate chip cookie right now, but trust me, this step makes all the difference!
Add a range of chocolate chips, to taste.
You'll notice that there is actually a range of chocolate chips that you can add to this recipe. You begin with 12 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and you can add up to another 4 ounces for a total of 16 ounces, or 1 full pound.
It's really a matter of personal taste (how many chips are you hoping for in each and every bite?). But, be aware that if you add more than about 14 ounces of chips, the cookies will be less likely to keep their perfect shape during baking.
Use a silicone spatula to press the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients
In this recipe, when you're mixing the eggs, butter, and vanilla into the dry ingredients in the cookie dough, begin by mixing the wet ingredients together in the center, and then draw the dry ingredients into the wet by pressing the back of a silicone spatula firmly into the wet ingredients.
This will hydrate the dry ingredients more slowly, making it easier to create a smooth, uniform gf cookie dough. Remember, we want to keep our cookie dough as consistent as possible so each bite will be perfectly chewy and delicious!
Add a few more chocolate chips
If you're rolling your cookie dough, and you feel like you just can't see enough chocolate chips, go ahead and add a few more to each of the cookie dough balls. The number of chocolate chips you add is up to you, but don’t forget that the more densely packed your dough is with chips, the less likely it will keep its perfect shape.
Popular ingredient substitutions
This recipe for gluten free chocolate chip cookies is easy—and it's pretty forgiving. That's what makes it one of my most popular gluten free desserts. It also means you can make some substitutions and still get really great, tasty gluten free cookies.
Dairy free chocolate chip cookies
I have successfully made this recipe with Spectrum healthy vegetable shortening (an affiliate link) in place of butter, and they come out beautifully. They don't brown as much in the oven, but they're still crisp on the edges. Keep in mind that shortening will get very hard in the refrigerator, so be sure to shape the dough before chilling it or you won't be able to shape it at all.
Avoid using vegan spreads as, like margarine, these will cause your gluten free chocolate chip cookies to spread excessively during the bake. Melt & Miyoko's Creamy brand vegan butters also work very well.
Egg free chocolate chip cookies
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).
These are such simple cookies that the texture may not be the same when you make such an important substitution, but it's definitely worth trying. If you do try this method, let us know how it worked in the comments section below!
If you'd like to make a recipe that is written to be dairy-free and egg-free, try our vegan gluten free chocolate chip cookies recipe.
FAQs
Yes! Both the shaped dough and the cookies themselves freeze perfectly. I almost always have a batch of the cookies themselves and a batch of the cookie dough disks in my freezer.
You can bake them right from frozen, but if you plan to do that, I recommend pressing the raw disks of cookie dough flatter since they'll spread less if you bake them from frozen. You'll also need to add at least another 2 minutes to the baking time.
Yes, you must chill the dough at least briefly, so the cookies hold their shape during baking. For better flavor, shape, and texture, you should consider chilling the dough for 12 hours.
Store them at room temperature in a sealed container for up to 3 days. From there, you can keep them in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. For longer storage, freeze them in a freezer-safe ziptop bag for up to 3 months.
You might be able to make them with a sugar substitute. 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. Those sugar alternatives do tend to be drying, though, so you may need to add water by the half-teaspoonful as necessary to achieve the proper cookie dough consistency. Watch the video carefully before trying the swap.
The best gluten free flour for these chocolate chip cookies is a high-quality gluten free flour blend. I've most often used Better Batter here, but check out my gluten free flour guide for more detail. Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour blends simply won't work here, I'm afraid. The quality is too inconsistent and the rice flour is gritty.
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. You used a poor-quality all purpose gluten free flour blend that uses gritty rice flour and/or is just poorly balanced so nothing you make with it will turn out as intended.
4. Your butter was too cold when you made the cookie dough, so it never got fully mixed into the cookie dough, leaving it in big pockets here and there. Next time, refer to our “finger in the butter” test above to check that yours is at the right temperature.
5. You mistakenly over-measured the flour. It's very easy to do when you measure by volume, not weight.
If your gluten free chocolate chip cookies are flat, it could be because the butter was melted or just too greasy when you made the cookie dough, or your cookie dough was too warm for another reason when you put your batch in the oven. Remember, your cookie dough must be at least cold before it goes in the oven or the fat will melt too quickly, leading to flat cookies. So, don’t forget how the warmth of your kitchen can affect the final result of your cookies
I get the best results with xanthan gum, but if you're really set on baking gluten free chocolate chip cookies, or really any gluten free recipes without it, here are some potential alternatives:
– Guar gum (although it's better in cold applications; xanthan gum is better for heated recipes, like this one)
– Konjac powder (this is by far the most promising xanthan gum substitute)
Yes, the 12 ounces of chocolate chips called for in the recipe is about 2 cups in volume. So if you reduce the chips by ½ a cup, you can add ½ a cup of nuts. What type of nuts you add is up to you, but I think the following nuts would work best here:
– Pecans
– Walnuts
– Hazelnuts
– Almonds
– Macadamia nuts
Or a mix of a few! Roughly chop the nuts to a similar size as the chocolate chips (but not too small!) before adding them to the cookie dough.
Depending on which type of dried fruit you want to add to your cookies, replace a quarter of the measurement for the chocolate chips with dried fruit. I don’t recommend harder dried fruit like banana, peach or apricot but berries would work well here. Cranberries, goji berries or raisins are probably the best substitutions.
When choosing your dried fruit, read the packaging carefully to make sure it is entirely gluten free and hasn’t been processed with gluten or exposed to gluten in any way.
Yes! Try milk chocolate chips for a lighter sweeter result, or if you can find dark chocolate chips, they’ll give you a much stronger flavor. Alternatively, go for a combination of some or all the chocolate chips – we can’t have enough chocolate!
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups (315 g) all purpose gluten free flour blend (I use Better Batter; please click thru for full info on appropriate blends)
- 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, and mix until well-combined.
- You can use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment to make quick work of it.
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition
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Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
Debby Pascal says
I loved your previous version of thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies. Is that recipe still available?
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Debby, I’ve reprinted that under a different URL (linked). You can always use the search function to find it again. So sorry for the confusion, it’s just some blog housekeeping. :)
Janine Marshall says
Why did you pull down the recipe for New York Times chocolate chip cookie? I went to make them and the recipe was gone!
Nicole Hunn says
I’m so sorry for the inconvenience, Janine. That recipe has been republished under a different URL: https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/new-york-times-style-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies/ I’m working on ensuring that it’s searchable, but for now please bookmark that URL!
Janine Marshall says
Thank you! I have a question. It states to omit xanthan gum if the flour we are using already contains it. I’m using your bread flour recipe which is required in the recipe and that includes xanthan gum. Should I add more xanthan gum if my All Purpose Flour blend doesn’t contain any? Or is the amount used in your Bread Flour enough?
Thanks!
Janine
Nicole Hunn says
Hi, Janine, my bread flour recipe calls for my mock Better Batter all purpose gluten free flour (or actual Better Batter’s classic blend), which itself contains xanthan gum. To that you add Expandex modified tapioca starch and whey protein isolate. There is no more xanthan gum called for in the recipe. Please see that post for further details.
Lucinda Wright says
I have made a wide variety of gluten free cookies & these are THE best. My family loved them. I used King Arthur gluten free flour.
Sara Graham Donahue says
Hi, just wondering if that nutritional info is per cookie. Thanks for the recipe, I have a batch in the oven now 🙂
Nicole Hunn says
Please see the bottom of the recipe card, below the heading that says “Nutrition”
Elizabeth says
I tried this recipe for the first time today. I usually browse through gf recipes as my son has celiac disease ( he’s an adult but comes over and snacks )
This recipe made the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten . My husband just ate 4 . I thought putting the batter in the fridge for that long was a bit much but I am a complete convert now!
I am in Canada and the best gf flour I can get here is cup4cup . I will definitely make this again .
Thank you for sharing.
Nicole Hunn says
You’re so welcome, Elizabeth, and I’m so happy to hear that your family enjoyed them. I expect to continue to bake for my son well into his adulthood, so I understand!
Debby says
Hi Nicole. Thanks for all your great recipes. I dummy really have room in the fridge to pre roll the cookies and then chill them. Do you think it would be ok to chill the dough. Then roll and bake? Thanks!
Nicole Hunn says
You don’t have to preroll them and chill them, Debby. You can store the dough, unshaped, in a sealed container and then pull out the dough as necessary to shape and bake what you like.
Debby says
Thanks so much for the quick response. I’ll be making them today!
Nicole Hunn says
You’re very welcome, Debby!
Rhonda @ Change In Seconds says
Hi Nicole,
Just shared your wonderful recipe on Pinterest. Delicious!
Martha Bains says
I’m loving your cookies and better still the husband with celiac it too! Thank you. I’m wondering about your process. I have a beater for my kitchen aid stand mixer that I got at a kitchen store. It’s not kitchen aid but it has silicone sweeps on the bottom so it gets everything in the bowl. I’ve used it once successfully to incorporate wet into dry and had great success. I’m wondering if there is any reason why you don’t do that.
I’m also wondering why you put the sugar with the flour rather than creaming it for recipes that contain gluten. I love everything I’ve baked from your recipes, but I like to understand what is going on.
I haven’t tried the bread yet, but everything in that book looks so great. I’m waiting until after my mother in law leaves and then I’m going for it.
Nicole Hunn says
My methods are not different in that regard because they’re gluten free. The method you’re describing is called a reverse cream, Martha. I use it in certain recipes where I find that it does a better job of incorporating ingredients where I don’t particularly want lightness. It also makes very quick work of the recipe. You can certainly use your stand mixer to make the recipe as I describe. In certain recipes, like sponge cake, angel food cake, my very best vanilla cake, I cream the butter and sugar as it’s appropriate and necessary there for a good end result.
youngbaker2002 says
Oooooo… thin and chewy are my favorite!
Valerie Purcell says
I love everything you do – just wish I had the energy (CSF, post-triple cervical neck surg, 3 kids, 1st gc on the way & FT job I loathe & blooming art biz). I’m a very late in life GF person, so everything is compared to “the real” version. I got your 1st book last yr after diagnosis & have been hooked since! YOU are amazing to do all you do for us! CC cookies are SO necessary in life & you give us SO many choices! THANK YOU! The only thing I’d add is some alternative chips, like peanut butter, white chocolate and/or Heath bar pieces on occasion. We have a baby shower next week & that daughter is GF – so guess whose recipes will be on the table?!
Laurie Barrie says
It’s a tossup between the chocolate chip oatmeal and the cookie with the giant chocolate chunk pieces! With my love of chocolate, the big chunk may just win. Thank you for all the choices but my waistline might not thank you :-)
Katy @ Katy's Kitchen says
I have yet to try baking a gluten free chocolate chip cookie, even though I want one SO badly. I have to admit, I’m scared!
Ruth M. Henshaw says
My grandchildren prefer the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie that I have made for years but my personal preference is the Boston Drop Cookie and I would fight you for those.(Well I guess I would share but I’d be eating fast.) I haven’t had any of these cookies for several years because I haven’t tried to convert them to gluten free. For Easter I baked over 12 dozen cookies and made Easter baskets filled with homemade cookies for the grandchildren. (It is really hard to not sneak a nibble of these cookies when they come out of the oven but the thought of how sick I get stops me cold.) Maybe I’d better get busy and try to convert that Boston Drop Cookie recipe.
ladoramartin says
The timing of this is funny. I had made the recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies from one of you past blogs. Family loved it so much I decided to double the recipe for other family. I used the recipe in your cookbook though so I ended up with 5 dozen cookies!!!! Sometimes the most important thing to read is how many servings it makes! Both my mother in law and brother in law are happy that I made the mistake though.
gfshoestring says
That is a happy accident, indeed, ladoramartin. At least for your mother-in-law and brother-in-law!
xoxo Nicole
Donia Robinson says
I’m a chewy chocolate chip cookie type person. Crunchy cookies of any type need not grace these lips. But my secret (past) love? Those giant ones that are made to be cookie cakes (with frosting, thank you very much). How do they get them so chewy? How?? Don’t give me cakes or cupcakes. I’ll take my frosting on a big old slice of cookie.
mary beth says
I’d love to know this, too. Any ideas on how to make a gf cookie cake??
gfshoestring says
I’ll do you one better than that, Mary Beth! I will make it and post about it. Love those!
xoxo Nicole
gfshoestring says
Oh, Donia, that’s a MUST MAKE! I have thought about posting a recipe for one of those cookie cakes a million times. And it must be frosted here and there with both white and blue buttercream (why? I have no idea but it must). Oh, I will be doing that for sure.
xoxo Nicole
Donia Robinson says
I’m so excited!!!!!!!
Jennifer Sasse says
Hey Sister! You are awesome and I’m so glad that you didn’t stop because this year cannot go fast enough until your bread cookbook comes out!!!! can we preorder yet! :)
So, I found this recipe for a chocolate chip cookie and went to get some Erewhon(sp) gluten free cornflakes to get it started yesterday: http://cookingactress.blogspot.ca/2012/07/momofukus-cornflake-chocolate-chip.html
Cookies like these make me jump for joy! :) Also, I was hoping someone would redo that famous nordstroms chocolate chip cookie recipe that floats around…. just sayin’!
gfshoestring says
The Nordstrom chocolate chip cookies are a great idea to make gluten free! they’re kind of like the Mrs. Fields gluten free chocolate chip cookies, but not exactly. Thanks, Jennifer!
xoxo Nicole