Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

GF Version of David Leite’s 36 hour GF chocolate chip cookies from Gluten Free Girl. By the way, do not double this recipe!

• 1 cup sorghum flour
• 1 cup tapioca starch
• 1 cup potato starch
• 1 cup amaranth flour
• 1 Tbsp xanthan gum
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1½ tsp kosher salt
• 2½ sticks (10 ounces) butter, softened (original uses unsalted butter) (for parve cookies, use Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks instead) (latest discovery: Miyoko’s “Creamery European Style Cultured Vegan Butter with a Hint of Sea Salt” is fantastic if you want to make them parve!)
• 1¼ cups brown sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (original uses bakers’ sugar, which is extra fine)
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 16 ounces chocolate chips (original uses Dagoba chocodrops)
• sea salt

Sifting the dry ingredients. Sift each of the four flours/starches, individually, into a large bowl. Sift in the xanthan gum, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir well (I like to use a whisk, to sift again, in a way). Set aside.

Mixing the wet ingredients. Put the soft butter and the sugars into a stand mixer. Using a paddle attachment, mix them well, until they are just combined, and then 1 minute more. (Do not over-cream, however, because this could lead to spreading in the baking stage.) Add the eggs, 1 at a time, making sure each is fully incorporated before adding the next. Pour in the vanilla extract and mix for a beat.

Finishing the cookie dough. Sift the dry ingredients into the batter, about 1/2 cup at a time, and then mix after each addition. When all the dry ingredients have been incorporated, add the chocolate pieces and mix for just a moment. You don’t want broken chocolate here.

Refrigerating. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and put it in your refrigerator. You might want to shove it to the back and arrange even more enticing foods in front of it, because you shouldn’t touch the dough for 36 hours. Really.

Preparing to bake. 36 hours later (or as long as you could stand it – it’s OK with less time), pull the dough from the refrigerator. Uncover it. Preheat the oven to 350 °. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a non-stick baking mat.

Baking the cookies. Scoop generous balls of dough from the bowl. (You can determine the size for yourself. David suggested they be the size of large golf balls. Or you can weigh them at 3 1/2 ounces each. Mine were the size of the indentation of the palm of my hand, but I could still lightly wrap my fingers around the ball.) Place 6 of them onto the baking sheet, not pressing down, just keeping the sphere shape. Poke any errant chocolate pieces into the dough. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with the sea salt. See notes below for different sizes I’ve tried.

Bake the cookies for 18 minutes, or until the cookies have flattened and spread, and the edges have started to turn golden brown. Don’t overcook! The middles should still be somewhat soft. Take the baking sheet out of the oven. Allow the baking sheet to sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Transfer the cooling cookies onto a cooling rack and allow them to cool for a few more moments.

Eat warm chocolate chip cookies and feel grateful. Why not?

Eve found this recipe on glutenfreegirl and the chef, which, I’m sad to discover, is no longer active. Fortunately, I had copied it here in order to add a few little modifications.

Update February 2023: I made these parve using Earth Balance sticks and dairy free chocolate chips, and they are still delicious. I weighed the dough balls at 3.4 – 3.5 oz each. The cookies are quite large, and I made 17 of them.

Wedding Festival April 2023: I made these parve using Miyoko’s vegan butter mentioned in the ingredients. Balls are 1.7-1.9 oz each, and I put 12 on a cookie sheet, and baked them for 18 minutes. Also I forgot to sprinkle them with sea salt but since the butter was salted that’s probably a good thing. They came out perfect!

Do not double this recipe, unless maybe you have an extra large mixer!