Description
From Jeffrey Larsen’s Gluten-Free Baking at Home
Notes:
- For best results: Use a scale.
- For best results: Make the batter at least a day in advance. Better: make the batter in advance, portion the batter into balls, and freeze the balls. These cookies bake best straight from the freezer.
- In place of almond meal, you can use: pecan meal, sunflower meal, hazelnut meal or 45 g (1/2 cup) oat flour.
- Clarified butter. Jeffrey describes clarified butter as “miraculous” because it keeps cookies from spreading as they bake. Butter has a lot of water in it — clarifying it removes both the water and the milk solids, leaving the butter fat behind. You’ll want to clarify a little bit more than 3/4 cup — I clarified a cup to ensure I had 3/4 cup to use in the recipe.
- In place of the eggs, you could use 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
- I prefer chocolate wafers to chocolate chips. Local friends, you can find the Guayaquil Pistoles (64% cacao) at Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany or online. Guittard chocolate wafers are more readily available.
Ingredients
- 108 g (3/4 cup) potato starch
- 90 g (1 cup) gluten-free oat flour
- 90 g (3/4 cup) sorghum flour
- 45 g (1/2 cup) almond meal, see notes above
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 285 g (1 1/2 cups) firmly packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup melted and slightly cooled clarified butter or coconut oil, see notes above
- 2 eggs room temperature, see notes above
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 10 to 12 ounces (2 to 2.25 cups) chocolate chips, see notes above
- flaky sea salt, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the potato starch, oat flour, sorghum flour, almond meal, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the brown sugar and clarified butter on medium speed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition. Add the vanilla, and mix until fluffy and light in color, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix on low speed until well incorporated. On very low speed, mix in the chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 3 hours and up to 5 days. This step is important, so the dry ingredients have a chance to absorb all the moisture, which keeps the cookies from spreading too much when baked. Optional: I like to refrigerate the dough until it is firm enough to scoop, an hour or two. Then I portion the dough into 48 g balls using my scale. Then I freeze the dough balls on a tray before transferring them to an airtight container or ziplock bag. Jeffrey says these cookies bake best straight from the freezer, and I agree.
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray a cooking sheet with gluten-free nonstick spray or line with parchment paper.
- If you haven’t portioned the dough balls out already, use a 1-ounce scoop or a tablespoon measure, portion out the dough and roll into balls. Arrange the balls on the prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with sea salt if you wish.
- Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on the sheet pan. Once the cookies are completely cool, test one. If you like the texture/consistency, transfer cookies to a rack and repeat. If the cookies are overcooked, reduce the cooking time with the next batch. If the cookies are undercooked, increase the cooking time. I find 12 minutes for my 48g dough balls to be perfect.
- Prep Time: 24 hours
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert/Cookie
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
