Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Oat-free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

… Creating Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies without Oats!

Creating a chew, or special textural quality, in gluten free recipes is often achieved by adding a percentage of gluten-free oats or oat flour. I’ve been doing this for years with delicious success.  I’ve included them in my cookies and bars, waffles, meatballs, and my croquettes.

I know many of you, however, cannot or choose not to include any oats in your gluten-free lifestyle. We’ve needed to make this adjustment recently for some family members as well. That’s when I realized how many of my recipes do include some variation of oats.

Since I’ve become aware of this, I’ve started altering many of those relied upon recipes into oat-free versions. I’ve found an alternate ingredient that, cup-for-cup, will substitute perfectly in most situations … sweet white sorghum flour.

This new version of my original Almond Hazelnut Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe subs the oats with sorghum flour and swaps the hazelnut flour for equal parts of almond flour.

These cookies come out tasty, with much the same flavor, and a very similar chew to the almond hazelnut chocolate chip cookies. Not overly nutty, with a mild sweetness from the sorghum. I have to admit that the oat/sorghum substitution worked better than I’d anticipated, and am really pleased that there isn’t any flour taste to them, which I was concerned would happen. They are not as crispy on the outside though, so I’d relate them more (texturally) to my traditional chocolate chip cookies – again minus the oats. I really like the results this new recipe turns out.

Since everyone has their own idea of what the perfect chocolate chip cookie is, I think it’s fun to be continuously experimenting with different flours and ingredient combinations. I encourage you to give these a try if you’re oat-free (and even if you’re not), and let me know what you think of using sweet white sorghum flour instead of oats. I think you’ll like the changes. Be sure to check out the gluten-free, dairy-free, oat-free waffle recipe I’ll be sharing tomorrow.

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Oat-free Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep time: about 20 minutes, 10 active and 10 inactive

Bake time: about 12 minutes per cookie sheet, oven temps vary

Oven temp: 375ºF

Makes: about 36 3 1/2 – 4-inch cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (115g) sweet white sorghum flour – I use Bob’s Red Mill

1 2/3 cup (190g) g/f all-purpose flour – I use Bette’s Gourmet 4 Flour Blend

Scant 1 cup (100g) blanched almond flour – I use Honeyville brand

1 teaspoon guar gum or xanthan gum – omit if it’s already in your flour blend

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

10 ounces semisweet chocolate chunks – Enjoy Life Semisweet Chocolate Mini Chunks

1/3 cup margarine – I use Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread – soy free

1/3 cup grapeseed oil

1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs (equal to 1/2 cup), room temperature if possible

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Stir together flours, guar gum, baking soda, and kosher salt in a medium bowl.

Add chocolate chunks and stir to coat chocolate (this helps it mix better into the dough and stay more evenly distributed). Set aside.

Blend margarine, oil, and brown sugar with electric mixer (I like to use my Kitchen-Aid) until sugar has dissolved and mixture is creamy.

Beat eggs into sugar mixture until well incorporated and creamy again.

Add vanilla and stir well.

Pour dry flour mixture into the wet mixture. Stir on low in mixer, or by hand, until well mixed.

Set cookie dough aside at room temperature for 10 minutes. This allows the dough to “set” and bake with much better results.

Scoop 6 dough balls, (using a #40 scoop, 30g of dough, or about the size of a walnut) onto parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them well.

Bake at 375ºF for about 12 minutes (ovens vary). These cookies will be rather flat and lightly browned when done.

Transfer cookies, still on parchment paper, to a cooling rack. Let rest about 2 minutes to firm up. Remove from parchment paper using a spatula and transfer to cooling rack to finish cooling. If you leave them on the parchment, they will be come damp on the bottom and not be as good.

Store at room temperature in a re-sealable container. I like to keep mine in a large metal cookie tin lined with wax paper. I add a scrunched up piece of wax paper over the top of the cookies too. Should keep 3-4 days.

Have you used sweet white sorghum in your baking recipes? Be sure to leave me a comment letting me know your experiences!

Safe food is a journey … Thrive™

Other recipes you might enjoy:

Coconut Pecan Chocolate Chip Bars

Crispy and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies