Gluten-Free Cookies with Milk-free Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Baking Flour
• 1 tsp Bob's Red Mill Xanthan Gum
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 egg
• 2-3 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup Nestlé Allergen Free Chocolate Chips

Instructions

1. Combine flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, and powder in a bowl and set aside.
2. Cream butter, sugar, and molasses.
3. Add egg and vanilla to butter mixture and stir until combined.
4. A little at a time add flour mixture to butter mixture, then add chocolate chips.
5. I scooped about 2 tbsp per cookie (#40 cookie scoop) onto a pan, six per pan because they spread and baked at 350° for 12 minutes.
6. Remove from pan and place on a cooling rack or on top of a granite countertop covered with foil or parchment paper to cool.Makes about 24-ish cookies, but it is hard to know because we sampled the dough several times just to be sure. LOL

The Long Story

I had to write this recipe down because I combined two recipes. My son has a friend who has Celiac Disease and is allergic to milk. I attempted to make some chocolate chip cookies for her and it was like eating sweetened sand. Needless to say, we didn't pass on the gift.

I think it was partly a failure because the recipe author had decided it was possible to make gluten-free cookies without "any weird ingredients" like xantham gum. My understanding is that xantham gum replaces the job of the gluten and keeps things sticking together.

I also don't know if the gluten-free flour by King Arthur was the right choice either. It is rice and tapioca, I saw on the label. It was terribly grainy, even the cookie dough had a grainy mouth feel. But I didn't want to risk using the same flour again so I went with Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour.

At the time I was making those cookies, I added chocolate chips then had to pick them all out (I had not mixed them in yet and I have a daughter who was happy to pick them out and eat them for me) when my son said his friend was also allergic to the milk in chocolate. I instead ended up rolling them in sugar and cinnamon to make a snickerdoodle instead.

I would probably be sick all the time if I had these allergies because I have a love of all things sweet with a blatant disregard for my well-being.

So today, while grocery shopping, I grabbed some xanthan gum while on the baking aisle. But while there I walked down to the chocolate section to see if I could find a substitute for chocolate chips. Lo and behold...

I could not believe I had stumbled upon a milk-free chocolate chip. I was thinking I would find carob chips or chocolate melts! Thank you Nestlé! I bought these at Publix, which is where I can usually find odd things like xantham gum, almond flour, pepper drops (check out Delallo Pepper Drops if you like Peppedew Peppers) and apparently allergen free chocolate chips. Yes, I came home with all those things TO-DAY. I sent a picture to my son who shared my enthusiasm.

Out of necessity we both tasted the allergen-free chocolate chips and approved. They aren't exactly like regular semi-sweet chocolate chips, but they are a fantastic substitute.

When I got home, I started making the recipe from the back of the Nestlé bag, but it called for "weird ingredients" (e.g. palm oil) that I didn't have so I looked up a recipe from Bob's Red Mill and combined the two because I had already mixed the powdered ingredients together from the Nestlé recipe.

I worried, after tasting the flour, that the texture would be similar to the first version I made, but luckily it wasn't. The cookie dough has a odd flavor in my opinion, but that entirely cooks off once they are baked.

The cookies are lightly crisp on the outside, have a great chew on the inside, and taste completely normal in my opinion. My son and I actually think they might be the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made.

I think I am even more excited than my son to have these cookies delivered to his friend so that she can have a chocolate chip cookies without having to "regret it later."