The BEST Gluten Free & Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Long time no recipe, huh? I have been working on this recipe for weeks (maybe months?). I tried this recipe 3 times before finally perfecting it. I've gotten pretty good with gluten free & vegan baking. It's an adjustment but I'm figuring it all out. That being said, I had yet to master a chocolate chip cookie recipe until this past Sunday.

I used to really take pride in my ability to make a killer batch of chocolate chip cookies in under an hour. When I quit gluten, dairy, eggs and sugar; chocolate chip cookies were a devastating loss. My family has been trying different chocolate chip cookies for the past year until we stumbled on this recipe and fell in love. That being said, this recipe seems rather fickle - just the tiniest change results in completely different cookies. I made these on Sunday and was ready to do a little happy dance because they turned out perfect! I will detail exactly how I made so you can have perfect chocolate chip cookies too!

This recipe is out of Cara Reed's Decadent Gluten Free & Vegan Cookbook. You can find the recipe on page 37.

Start by combing the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Whisk together 2 cups of gluten free flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. When the dry ingredients are combined, set them aside.

***A note on the gluten free flour - I have sworn by Cara Reed's all-purpose blend and have always made these cookies with that GF blend. I still love Cara Reed's GF flour blends, but I tried switching out the flour in this recipe and LOVED the result. We found King Arthur Flour's Gluten Free flour blend at Costco and picked up a bag. I used that GF flour in this recipe and I think it worked better. I highly, highly recommend using King Arthur Flour's GF flour blend in this chocolate chip cookies recipe.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream 1 cup of vegan butter together with 1 1/4 cups of coconut sugar with an electric mixer. Make sure your butter is at room temperature here. We keep our butter in the fridge so I microwaved it for 10 seconds before mixing it with the sugar. Careful with the butter here though - you definitely don't want melted butter!

***For reference, I use Melt Vegan Butter.

Prepare 1 vegan egg (I use Bob's Red Mill egg replacer). When the egg replacer is congealed add it to the butter mixture along with 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.

When the wet ingredients are combined, add the flour mixture to the medium mixing bowl and stir until the batter is uniform. Fold in 1 1/2 cups of dairy free chocolate chips.

Use a heaping Tablespoon of dough to form each cookie. Place the cookies along a baking sheet about 2 inches apart (give them room to spread!).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. My cookies were in for 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Gluten Free, Vegan & Refined Sugar Free
yield 3 dozen cookies

ingredients
2 cups gluten free flour (I use King Arthur Flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup vegan butter (I use Melt)
1 1/4 cups coconut sugar
1 vegan egg (I use Bob's Red Mill egg replacer)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dairy free chocolate chips

directions
1. Combine the GF flour, the baking and the salt in a small mixing bowl. Set the dry ingredients aside.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter (at room temperature) and coconut sugar together.
3. Prep the vegan egg. Once congealed, add the vegan egg along with the vanilla extract to the butter mixture. Stir until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture to the medium mixing bowl and stir until the batter is uniform.
5. Fold in the dairy free chocolate chips.
6. When the batter is combined, use a heaping Tablespoon of dough to form each cookie. Roll the cookie into balls and place them about 2 inches apart along a baking sheet.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Once preheated, bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. let the cookies sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes until they are cool enough to touch. Then, transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Happy Tuesday!