Killer Chocolate Chip Cookies
What kind of a whack job would freely choose a gluten-free, dairy-free cookie over a “real” cookie that contains all the gluten and all the dairy? Well, me, that’s who… and all my people that give two shits about a healthy gut. Plus, this recipe makes damn good cookies. So, let’s talk about why this recipe is better than the one on the back of that yellow bag. First, the gluten. In people that are sensitive to gluten, and there are a fuckton of you out there whether you realize it or not, gluten may be responsible for that inflammation you’re feeling in terms of bloating and abdominal pain after eating, and can even cause other symptoms like joint pain, headaches, eczema, and urgent BMs. Yep, you might shit yourself. Second, the dairy, although the amount in one cookie is minimal, dairy is another pro-inflammatory food for many people. If you can skip it and not miss it, why wouldn’t you? And who’s eating one cookie?That brings us to #3, the sugar. Pathogenic bacteria in the gut thrive on sugar, so if you feed them, they will grow. Also, too much sugar can reduce the beneficial bacteria in your gut microbiome, which may lead to inflammation and leaky gut syndrome. So, here we sub out coconut sugar. And while it’s still a sugar, (the glycemic index is only 35 vs. 65 for refined sugar) there is a smaller blood sugar impact. Also in coconut sugar’s favor… it contains some prebiotics (inulin), and it has some anti-inflammatory compounds. Still don’t go bat shit crazy and eat the whole pan.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour
- 3/4 cup quinoa flour
- 2 tbsp tapioca starch (aka tapioca flour)
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 - 3/4 tsp cinnamon, optional
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup palm shortening
- 1 3/4 cups coconut sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tbsp dairy-free yogurt (I use Culina)
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups GF DF chocolate chips (I use a 10 oz bag of Enjoy Life Mega Chunks or 9 oz bag Hu Kitchen baking gems)
- 1 1/4 cups cup toasted pecans, chopped (optional, if you hate ‘em, leave ‘em out and don’t whine about it)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry stuff: brown rice flour, quinoa flour (don’t sniff it or you’ll puke), tapioca starch, xanthan gum, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Put it aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a large bowl with a spoon if you’ve got muscles), cream together the shortening and coconut sugar until it kinda starts to look like fluffy goodness, a couple of minutes. Add the eggs and keep that motor running, another minute or two, adding in the yogurt and vanilla along the way. Mix until well combined, and whip it good, about 3 minutes. It should be fluffy and smooth, perhaps not as fluffy as butter and sugar, but have no fear, it’ll still be damn good.
- Add the dry ingredients to the shit in the mixer bowl and mix until you’ve got a legit cookie dough – it will be sticky. Fold in the toasted pecans and chocolate chips until those little fucks are distributed throughout the dough, all equidistant from each other.
- Here’s where the big decision comes in. If you want to make just a few cookies now and put the rest of the dough in the freezer so you can pop out warm cookies later, do that. If you want to refrigerate your dough to make it easier to work with, do that. If you ain’t got time for that shit and you just need a damn cookie, and this is what I recommend, preheat your oven to 350°F and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat.
- Use a spoon to scoop out a golf ball-sized blob of dough and just plop it down on your cookie sheet. Be sure to leave enough room for those mofos to spread during baking. Smish the tops slightly if your dough is cold.
- Bake for 6 minutes, rotate your pan (unless you’re lucky enough to have a convection oven, then skip the rotation part) and bake an additional 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. If you like your cookies like you like your significant other, soft and doughy, then take ‘em out after 9 total minutes of baking.
- Coconut sugar bakes slightly differently than refined sugar, so keep your damn eye on that pan, or they’ll go from “Yay, cookies are ready!” to “Oh fuck, no!” in a matter of seconds. When they’re all done, let cool… who am I kidding, stick it in your pie-hole right away, yelling “Ow, hot hot hot!” as you swallow. But really, they’re better if allowed to cool and crisp up a minute first. But you decide.