Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

This is everything I like in a chocolate chip cookie—especially the chewy part.  Most of the time, I prefer a chewy cookie to a crisp one.  This recipe is my adaptation of a Sally's Baking Addiction recipe, substituting oat flour for all the wheat flour, and adjusting some of the other ingredients to suit. It is extremely chocolatey, even if you substitute nuts for half of the chocolate chips!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (225 gm) Gluten-Free Oat Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup dehydrated cane sugar
• 1 large egg 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Method

• Weigh out the flour, or spoon it into a measuring cup.  Never scoop oat flour out of the package with a measuring cup.  It will compact, and you will get more flour than you need.  
• Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.  
• Cream the butter and sugars.  
• Mix in the egg, and vanilla.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.  
• Stir in the chocolate chips.   
• Preheat oven to 325 F.  Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.
• Place tablespoons of dough on the prepared cookie sheets a couple of inches apart.
• Bake 12 - 13 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom.  Oat flour doesn't brown as much as wheat flour, so Do Not overbake!
• Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

Variations:

• Substitute 1/4 cup peanut butter for 1/4 cup of the butter.
• Substitute chopped nuts of your choice for half of the chocolate chips (2/3 cup).

Chewy Ginger Snaps

The original recipe for these came from a nursing home kitchen where I worked, and I tried a few times to make a gluten-free version. They all tasted good, but I wasn't happy with the texture, and kept trying. When I realized that I needed to dramatically decrease the liquid content from the original (eggs and honey), I finally got the result I was looking for.

I always like to taste test the recipes with people who don't have to avoid gluten to make sure it's not just me who thinks it tastes good.  So I sent these along with my niece to her family gathering. One little girl came back for a second cookie, and confided to my niece that they were better than her Mom's ginger cookies—High praise!

Chewy Ginger Snaps

 

Makes about 3 dozen

 

Ingredients

•       1/4 cup honey

•       1/4 cup brown sugar

•       1/2 cup dehydrated cane sugar

•       1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

•       1 large egg, at room temperature

•       1 teaspoon molasses

•       3 cups (300 gm) gluten-free oat flour (cold)

•       1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

•       3/4 teaspoon baking powder

•       1 teaspoon ground ginger

 

Method

•   Weigh out the flour, or spoon it into a measuring cup.  Never scoop oat flour out of the package with a measuring cup.  It will compact, and you will get more flour than you need.  

•    Preheat oven to 350 F, and line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

•    Cream together the honey, sugars, and butter.

•    Add the egg, and molasses, and beat well

•    Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until well blended.

•    Roll dough into balls (about 1 tablespoon each), roll in cane sugar, and place on the prepared cookies sheets, about 2" apart.

•    Press each cookie down a bit with a fork dipped in sugar or flour to prevent the fork from sticking.

•       Bake for 12 - 13 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack.

•       Cookies will look puffy when removed from oven, but quickly flatten into a chewy cookie.

•       Store in an airtight container.  They freeze well.