How to Make the Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Whether you’ve gone gluten-free because of an allergy or it’s your turn to bring a treat to work that everyone can enjoy, baked goods can be tricky when you can’t use regular flour. Especially when you want to make something as classic as a chocolate chip cookie.

Luckily, Taste of Home’s resident gluten-free expert, Deputy Editor Ellie Martin Cliffe, has shared her secret gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe that’s easy for gluten-free newbies and pros. The taste and texture of these delectable cookies are so good, we bet you won’t even be able to tell they’re gluten-free! Keep reading to get her recipe, plus some tips for the most tender cookies you’ve ever had.

Add these other gluten-free cookie recipes to your recipe book.

How to Make the Best Gluten-Free Cookies

Ingredients:

1 ¾ cup gluten-free flour (we love Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to1 Flour)
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup butter
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk (bump it up to 2 tablespoons if the dough feels too thick)
1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract
1 package chocolate chips

Yields 24 cookies

Recipe inspired by Chandice Probst of This Vivacious Life.

Instructions:

Step 1: Prep

In a medium bowl, mix together your flour, salt and baking soda until they’re nice and combined.

In a separate large bowl, cream the softened butter and sugars with a hand mixer until fluffy. Forgot to take the butter out of the fridge? Here’s how to soften butter in a snap.

Then, beat in the egg, milk and vanilla extract, continuing to mix until it turns a light yellow.

Step 2: Mix Wet and Dry

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, about half a cup at a time. Keep beating until they are fully incorporated, and then stir in the chocolate chips. These are our Test Kitchen preferred chocolate chip brands.

Test Kitchen Tip: If your dough feels too thick or crumbly, add in a little more milk. Gluten-free flour tends to run a little drier than regular flour, so milk is added to keep the dough moist and prevent the cookies from getting chalky.

Step 3: Rest

Cover the cookie dough with a lid or plastic wrap and then place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 375°.

Test Kitchen Tip: Resting the cookie dough allows the gluten-free flour to get nice and hydrated, so make sure you don’t skip this step or else your cookies could come out dry and gritty.

Step 4: Shape and Bake

Using a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop or measuring spoon, drop the dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet (we love this jumbo-sized one from Nordic Ware). Pop the cookies in your oven for 8-10 minutes or until they’re golden brown.

Step 5: Cool and Eat

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool and then dig in! Store leftovers (if there are any!) in an airtight container. We can show you how to store cookies to keep them fresh.

Want more baked goods? Try this gluten-free sugar cookie recipe.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Tips

Which gluten-free flour is best for cookies?

Our go-to gluten-free flour is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to1 Flour, which can be used in non-gluten-free recipes without changing any measurements or proportions. Plus, the neutral flavor won’t overpower the chocolate and vanilla in this recipe. Here’s more on converting recipes to be gluten-free.

If you love a chewy cookie, switch out ¼ cup of the gluten-free flour for oat flour. Oat flour is still gluten-free, but will add some texture to your cookies. You can buy oat flour or make your own by grinding steel-cut oats into a flour-like powder with a food processor or blender.

Can these gluten-free cookies be made dairy-free?

Yes, these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies can also be made dairy-free. To do so, simply substitute the butter for equal parts coconut oil, non-dairy butter or shortening. Ellie’s favorite dairy-free substitution is butter-flavored Crisco, which will still give you a rich, buttery flavor.

For the milk, feel free to instead use whichever milk alternative you’d like. Soy will give you results that are most similar to cow’s milk, because of its high protein content, but any milk should work. Read up more on adjusting baking recipes to be dairy-free. Don’t forget to check that your chocolate chips are dairy-free, too.

By the way, when using non-dairy products, it’s especially important to chill your dough. Non-dairy fats tend to spread more easily, which means your cookies could come out flat if they’re not chilled. So, rest your cookie dough in the fridge for at least 45 minutes before baking.

Do gluten-free cookies take longer to bake?

Nope! In fact, these cookies take slightly less time to bake than their gluten counterparts. This gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe takes about 8-10 minutes to bake per batch, while our traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe takes 10-12 minutes to bake per batch.

Why do gluten-free cookies go flat?

If your cookies have gone flat, it’s likely they weren’t cooled enough before baking. When fat, whether it’s butter or a non-dairy alternative, is heated, it goes flat and spreads out. Just think about how a stick of butter left out on the counter for a while will soften and start to lose its shape. The same goes for when that butter is mixed into the cookie dough. To keep the fat more solid, and retain its shape, never skip popping the dough into the fridge before baking.

Can I add mix-ins to these gluten-free cookies?

When it comes to these mix-ins, the sky is the limit! These are some of our favorite gluten-free cookie additions:

Toasted nuts like walnuts, almonds or peanuts
Chopped candy bars
White chocolate chips
Almond extract
Sprinkles
Peanut butter
Shredded coconut
Dried fruit

Take a look at these other ways to dress up cookie dough.

Now that you’ve mastered gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, learn how to make gluten-free vanilla cupcakes.

Check out more of our gluten-free desserts

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Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Guests will stand in line to kiss the cook when these treats are served! For a change of pace, try them with chunky peanut butter, too. —Canada60, Tasteofhome.com Community