Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans

that don't taste gluten-free

adapted from King Arthur Flour by My Little Blue Heron

Blue Heron Kitchen has been on extended leave. As soon as I figure out how the Heron can move over to my new domain, this site will remain intact, but Blue Heron will migrate to its new nest. In due course, Blue Heron Kitchen will be christened, My Little Blue Heron. 

My Little Blue Heron will feature gluten, dairy-free and low FODMAP diet-friendly recipe that don't taste chalky or gritty or wrong. Gluten and dairy-free cookery has come out, and I'm excited to share recipes for artisinal breads that have crust(!), cookies that don't have grit, recipes that aren't dominated by coconut oil, and a vegan parmesan cheese that may not taste like "Reggiano", but the nutritional value and texture will have you sprinkling it on your pizza, pasta dishes and on your salads. I'll share some of my new Japanese recipes. Japanese cuisine is so welcoming to those who are gluten and dairy free. (And it's not all about Tamari. Kikkoman and other soy sauce companies are producing gluten-free soy sauce. And if you stay away from soy, coconut aminos are your friends.) There are alternatives to alternatives, and I'm going to share as much as I know with you. 

It's beginning to look a lot like gridlock alert days. I'll begin with some holiday-friendly recipes. You can't make enough cookies around this time of year...cookies for giving, swapping or slinging, here's a great chocolate chip cookie recipe that gluteneers will love, too.

Get in the kitchen, get baking, take care of yourself and others.  

peace and love,

jane

I bucked convention and converted these from drop to rolled cookies. I made these with butter (the only dairy I incorporate into my cooking), but you can use a non-dairy substitute. If you use one that is salted, omit additional salt. When you roll your own cookies, you can bake as many or as few as you'd like .. on demand. If you don't own a kitchen scale, please get one (already.) Here's a great one. (I own three, and it's my fave.) Weighing ingredients will bring consistent results! 

Xanthan gum is expensive. (I think it's part of we got em by the GF balls conspiracy.) I buy Bob's Red Mill by the bag. As almost always, vitacost.com offers great prices (and variety!)

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

227 g. (1/2 lb.) unsalted butter, room temperature

213 g. (1 c.) brown sugar (If you're measuring it, pack it firmly.)

100 g. (1/2 c.) granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. powdered vanilla (Authentic Foods .. here's the link .. and yes, you can use 2 tsp. regular 

         vanilla extract, but beware: many vanilla extracts contain GRAIN alcohol and aren't GF.)

1 1/2 tsp Kosher salt

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

347 g. Multi-purpose GF flour of your choice*. IMPORTANT: If your flour has xanthan gum in it,                 omit the xanthan gum.

2 tsp. xanthan gum (See above: if your GF flour blend has xanthan gum, omit this.)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. aluminum free baking powder

340 g. (2 cups) chocolate chips (GF .. and if you're dairy-free, the same.)

175 g. (1 1/2 c.) chopped pecans

Procedure:

1. Whisk together the flour blend, xanthan gum (if adding), baking powder, baking soda and salt and 

     set aside.

2. In the bowl of your Kitchen Aid or electric mixer, beat butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla 

    powder (or extract) and beat until incorporated.

3. Add eggs, scraping down the bowl as needed. Make sure all ingredients are well combined.

4. Add dry mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture until blended. 

5. Dump in the chocolate chips and pecans, blending until just incorporated.

6. Using parchment paper or plastic wrap, separate into 3 portions. Roll each into a log about 10"-12"      long, depending on how big a cookie you want. Place the logs on a small cookie sheet and                  refrigerate until firm .. a few hours, or overnight. You can freeze the logs and slice and    

     bake them frozen. Just add additional bake-time.

7. Preheat oven to 350º F.  and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

8. Slice cookies approximately 1/4"-1/2" desired thickness and place on sheets approximately 1"             apart (they don't spread, but they need their personal space.)

9. Bake time depends on your oven, where in the oven you've placed them, if they're cold, room             temperature or frozen, how thick you've sliced them, and like that. But figure about 10 minutes,           more or less. They're ready when they're golden brown.
10. Cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes before removing from parchment. Cool on racks.

Yield will vary, but figure about 3 dozen.
These will keep for a couple of days, but they're best eaten the day they're baked.
They freeze magnificently.

*A simple GF blend (make sure you use SUPERFINE rice flours for baking. Both white and brown superfine rice flours are sold by Authentic Foods. Vitacost.com is your best and least expensive resource for these (and so many other ingredients. Vitacost.com produces their own house brands that are great and are less expensive than Authentic Foods.): 

6 c. superfine brown rice flour, 2 cups corn or potato starch (I like one of each, but either will do), and 1 cup of tapioca starch. Whisk together, combine them WELL; and keep in a tightly lidded container. I suggest you buy Cambro containers for flour mixtures. They will do you a solid for storing flour mixtures and later on, dough mixtures! I have them in many sizes.

If you want to buy a GF flour blend, here are a couple of good quality blends:
Authentic Foods

Cup4Cup (pricey but good - very 'soft' blend, but there are now different varieties .. check it out!)

Better Batter (has xanthan gum)