Basic GF Cookies (With Modifications)

So I stumbled onto some good news for my sweet tooth (bad for my waistline) when I was trying to find a good snickerdoodle recipe for my youngest child. He’s kind of picky for a 12yo when it comes to sweets. He’d rather snack on pepperoncinis straight out of the jar than to eat cake or most chocolate. (I would call him a weirdo but he’s also got the most biting sense of humor I’ve ever seen in a child and I’d rather he didn’t make me the butt of his jokes if he becomes a famous comedian someday.)

We test ran a recipe first and it was really well received. But I wanted to try something a little different as I have some followers with egg allergies too. AND I was out of the Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 GF flour that the recipe had called for, so more research was needed to make that mix, as I had all the flours already. After mixing up a batch of the 1-to-1 mix copycat, it was down to some serious cookie making.

Most cookies start off with the basic ingredients, and depending on whether you want them softer, crunchy, fluffy or melty, you add a few more ingredients. Flour, a binder like eggs or a fruit puree, sugar, and activators. Flavorings are the last to be added.

So let’s start with the basic cookie recipe first and then a breakdown of the remaining ingredients for three popular kinds of cookies: Sugar, Tollhouse chocolate chip and Snickerdoodles.

1 cup butter, unsalted softened (2 sticks) (substitute coconut oil or ghee)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs (substitute applesauce or 1 TBS flaxseed + 3 TBS water per egg, stir together and let sit for about 5 minutes)
2 3/4 cup of a 1-to-1 GF flour (See my Bob’s Red Mill copy here)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

For Sugar cookies, add the following: 2 tsp vanilla extract

For Snickerdoodles: add 2 tsp cream of tartar to the recipe and then roll each 1/2 inch ball of dough in a mixture of 2 TBS sugar and 2 TBS cinnamon

For Tollhouse chocolate chip cookies, make the following changes:

1 tsp salt instead of 1/2
add 1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of all white
For fluffier cookies, add a 1 TBS or 1 TBS + 1 tsp of milk or coconut, almond or rice milk
2 cups chocolate chips (I prefer dark chocolate and GF like Enjoy Life brand. It’s also nut, soy and dairy free.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter and sugar in one bowl and whisk together the dry ingredients. Add and mix in the eggs one at a time until blended. Combine the dry and wet ingredients and add in remaining ingredients according to each recipe. Roll the dough into one inch sized balls. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet or silicon mat and press down slightly. Space the cookies about two inches apart. Bake for about 10 minutes.

ANNNND just for fun, here’s a fun chart Buzzfeed found from Handle the Heat.com about how to make different chocolate chip cookies. Add and subtract as you see fit.