Gluten & dairy free chocolate chunk cookies

These soft and chocolate filled cookies are made with alternatives to classic all purpose flour, and were created to be dairy free too! I truly believe butter makes everything better so the dairy free piece of this recipe is optional, but I wanted to make a recipe that could be enjoyed by my friends who can't have gluten and wanted to tackle the dairy free challenge at the same time for a more inclusive recipe.

In place of all purpose flour, I used a combination of alternative dry ingredients. First on the list is a one to one gluten free flour. It's important to ensure it's a gluten free flour that includes xanthan gum within its ingredients - I used one by Bob's Red Mill. Then I used oat flour which helps to bring a soft texture to these cookies, in addition to cornstarch. I've always found that when I bake cookies with just the one for one flour they come out a bit more dry than I'd like. The combination here really gave these cookies a soft texture that stays fresh for days. You can absolutely swap in one for one flour in place of the oat flour, but I love the end result of using this combination.

Butter is a tough thing to replace as it not only plays a big part in the texture of baked goods but also the taste. For this cookie, I wanted to tackle the challenge of a dairy free option and I found that a combination of a neutral oil, like canola or vegetable oil, and a butter replacement worked really well together. For the butter replacement, I use Earth Balance as that's what we use for everyday cooking but any similar butter replacement will work well. And of course, if you aren't going for dairy free I did test this recipe out with a classic stick of room temperature unsalted butter and that worked great.

A very important part of any chocolate chip cookie is of course the chocolate. I used a combination of dairy free semisweet chocolate chunks from Enjoy Life and chopped dark chocolate from Lindt. I think the combination of chips or chunks and hand chopped chocolate is the best and it leads to a delicious variation in chocolate texture - and chocolate in every single bite.

As I mentioned, these cookies have a soft texture. I like to gently shape them when they come out of the oven using a round biscuit or cookie cutter just larger than the cookies and then it's important to leave them to set and cool as they'll be quite delicate for the first 20 minutes or so out of the oven. Their soft texture also means that they'll remain fresh for longer than our typical chocolate chip cookie as long as they're stored in an airtight container, and they can also be frozen once baked.

When it comes to measuring out your dough, I love these scoops from Cook'n Feel (I use the medium scoop usually for cookies) or this large scoop from Oxo.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup gluten free one to one flour* 74g

• 1/2 cup oat flour 45g

• 3 tablespoon cornstarch 24g

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/3 cup neutral oil**

• 2 tablespoons butter alternative (I used Earth Balance)** 28g

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar 96g

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar 48g

• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 2 egg yolks

• 8 oz chocolate of choice (I used a combination of chopped dark and semisweet dairy free chocolate chunks)

*Ensure you use use a gluten free flour that contains xanthan gum like this one from Bob's Red Mill

**If you'd like to use butter, swap in 1 stick or 113g of unsalted butter at room temperature in place of the neutral oil and butter alternative and chill your dough for two hours prior to baking

Total time: 2 hours

Prep time: About 15 minutes

Bake time: 8-10 minutes

Chill time: 1 hour

Servings: 10 cookies

Equipment

• Spatula or large spoon

• Cookie sheet

• Parchment paper

• Large cookie scoop (about 2.5 - 3 tablespoons)

Cooking instructions:

In a medium bowl, combine your dry ingredients - gluten free flour, oat flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add your oil and butter alternative (or room temperature unsalted butter if you're incorporating dairy) and both sugars. Use a spatula or large spoon to stir together until you don't see any streaks of the butter alternative or butter.

Add in your vanilla extract and egg yolks, and mix together until fully incorporated.

Next, fold in your dry ingredients. Once your dough is about half formed, add in most of your chocolate - I like to use a combination of chunks and chopped chocolate and reserve some to top my cookie scoops with later. Mix your chocolate in until evenly dispersed. Place your dough into the fridge to chill for about an hour.

When you're ready, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Remove the dough from your fridge and use a large cookie scoop to portion out your dough (it should make about 10 cookies) and place the portioned dough onto your lined cookie sheet. If you reserved some chocolate, you can press the extra chocolate into the top of your scoops now.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow your cookies to rest and set when they come out of the oven, about 20 minutes, and enjoy!

Additional cooking and storing information:

You can store the baked cookies in an airtight container once cooled for up to 5 days. Because of the soft texture, these cookies will keep their delicious taste even a few days after baking. You can also freeze the fully baked cookies and defrost at room temperature or in the microwave to enjoy any time.

If you like a thicker cookie, you can bake instead at 375 for 7 to 9 minutes. You can even try both out and see what you like best! I tried both methods, and felt that the 350 temperature led to a better bake and texture, but both work well.

Carb and serving info:

Servings: 10 cookies

Carbs per serving: 40

Carbs for full recipe: 404

Carbs from dough only: 263

Carbs from dark chocolate: 45

Carbs from semisweet chunks: 95

Note: Carb information is calculated based on the specific ingredients I used to cook with to help guide my own insulin to carb ratio when dosing before I eat my home cooked recipes.