For those who have a gluten allergy or are gluten intolerant, the good news is that today there’s a large variety of wheat-free flour blends now available at any supermarket. And while I love the convenience of using GF flour blends, I don’t always love the results, and I know that different brands yield different results. Instead, I like to experiment with different combinations of non-wheat flour, such as brown rice, sorghum, buckwheat and teff. Here’s my recipe for a basic chocolate chip cookie, made with a blend of brown rice and almond flour, and I think it’s a winner, which means even those who can have gluten will love them. The cookies have crisp edges and a cakey interior filled with pockets of melted dark chocolate and crunchy pecans. The finishing touch is a sprinkling of flaky Maldon salt on top, a wonderful foil to the caramel-like flavor of the cookies.
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Makes 13 large cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (117 grams) brown rice flour
- ¼ cup (25 grams) almond flour
- ¼ cup (33 grams) tapioca flour starch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/3 cup firmly packed (71 grams) dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons (113 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 1 large (50 grams) egg
- 1 cup (170 grams) dark chocolate morsels
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) pecans, coarsely chopped
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling on top (I use Maldon)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the brown rice flour, almond flour, tapioca starch, salt, baking soda and xanthan gum; whisk well to combine and set aside.
- In another large bowl, whisk together the sugars, melted butter and vanilla paste until blended. Whisk in the egg until completely blended. Add the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber or silicone spatula until well blended, then continue to stir for another minute. Stir in the chocolate morsels and pecans until well distributed through the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
- Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375˚F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a spoon or a cookie scoop, divide the dough into 50-gram (3 level tablespoons or 2 heaping tablespoons) mounds. Roll the dough mounds into balls and place 6 of them on one of the baking sheets. Flatten the balls with your palm, so that they are in a disc shape. Sprinkle with some flaky sea salt. Refrigerate the remaining dough mounds, covered, until ready to bake. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown, but still slightly soft in the center. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cookies cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
