Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies - Jan 4, 2012

In researching vegan baking, I came across another growing trend / allergen awareness, which is gluten-free. I've been wanting to try my hand at a gluten-free recipe for a while now - I even bought Babycakes cookbook in anticipation of trying to incorporate gluten-free into my baking repertoire.

One of the limiting factors for me with the gluten-free recipes in this book, and from other sources, was the use of flours I had never purchased, and honestly wasn't sure how to find them or how frequently I'd use them in my baking as a whole, given my sporadic schedule. So I put my experimentation with these recipes and flours on the back burner.

Then, at the turn of the new year, Lila's boyfriend began trying out a gluten-free diet for health reasons, and Lila generously brought over a large variety of non-glutenous flours to the first baking night of the year. This was a perfect opportunity to test one of the recipes, and to make something sweet that we could share with her boyfriend (a long standing taste-tester) as well.
 
We were without means to get to the grocery store, so we flipped through cookbooks and websites trying to find a gluten-free recipe for which she had the right flour, and I had the rest of the ingredients on hand. Unfortunately my stock of applesauce was out, and while she had many non-gluten flours, somehow we ended up an absence of the combinations of flours called for in the Babycakes recipes.
 
We finally settled on adapting the "Better For Ya Chocolate Chip Cookies" recipe in Lickin' the Beaters 2 since it called for "3 cups gluten-free flour" with out relying on specific types. We opted for a blend of flours, 1 ½ Cups of brown rice flour, 1 Cup white rice flour, and ½ Cup sweet rice flour.
 
The recipe called for ½ Cup brown rice syrup, which we had to substitute for granulated sugar, as it was the only missing ingredient. Switching out a liquid for a solid sweetener left the dough not forming together, so we added more oil and maple syrup, in turns, to increase the liquid. We ended up adding 2 additional TBSP of canola oil, and 3 additional TBSP of maple syrup in order to get the dough to hold together at all. If we were to make the substitution again in the future, I would either consider a different liquid sweetener (I readily have agave nectar, light corn syrup and dark corn syrup on hand) instead of sugar, or adding more maple syrup, but not as much additional oil, as the end cookies were slightly oily for my taste.
 

Dough - a bit dry without liquid sweetener

Even with the additional liquid, the dough did not really stick together, and Lila speculated this may be the nature of the brown rice flour, which made up half our flour blend. We were able to form cookies by hand, though we had to press them together in order to make solid shapes.
 

Even with extra liquid, still crumbly.

We baked the first batch for 12 minutes, the longest the recipe called for, and while the cookies looked done, they were kind of pale. We left the second tray in the oven for 14 minutes, and they achieved a bit more of a golden color.
 

Cookies at 12 minutes

Cookies at 14 minutes, a bit more golden.

The cookies were sweet, and I could definitely taste the maple syrup. They ended up softer / more crumbly that my traditional cookies, but this texture was one of the things that appealed to my husband, and Lila's boyfriend both.
 
Overall, our first foray into gluten-free baking went well, and though we would make different choices if and when we try this recipe again (like having the right sweetener, or experiment with a different blend of flour), I think this effort was a success.


Adapted Recipe (what we made): Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip cookies


1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
1 cup white rice flour
1/2 cup sweet rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup and 2 Tablespoons canola oil
3/4 cup and 1 Tablespoon maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two cookie sheets with Silpat or Parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients except chocolate chips.
3. In a small bowl, wisk wet ingredients together. Mix wet into dry. Once mixed, add the chocolate chips.
4. Form balls by hand, and flatten onto cookie sheet. These cookies do not spread much.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

New tools/ Ingredients: brown rice flour, white rice flour, sweet rice flour; new mixing bowls

Recipes used:  "Better for Ya Chocolate Chip Cookies" pg 124, Lickin' the Beaters 2: Vegan Chocolate and Candy - adapted
Co-bakers:  Lila
Date: January 4, 2012