Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sensitive I am a sensitive person. This is something I accept, but I am not so sensitive that I cannot stand up in the face of mockery of my sensitivity. Lately, my stomach has also been playing the sensitivity card. It is very hard for me to stand up to my stomach. For the past four years I’ve been dealing with some health issues. I always look for alternative or natural solutions. Some work, some don’t. In my latest round of nutritional research, one phrase kept coming up over and over: gluten-free. That I was gluten-sensitive or intolerant wasn’t real to me. When I ate bread or pasta I didn’t always feel craptastic afterwards. My stomach wasn’t even the worst part of it―it was the body pain that I was contending with on a daily basis. In July was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, after two years of feeling like absolute shite. I’ve tried a boatload of things to remedy this, natural and not, none of which was successful. I decided to go gluten-free and see what happened. I fully expected it to fail; by that I mean I fully expected to experience no change in how I felt. By the end of the first day, I felt better. I actually had a few days of zero body pain. I couldn’t believe it. Though I am not gluten-intolerant (no celiac disease, which I’m happy about), I know that gluten is not my friend. This realization threw a wrench into my life in a big way, since, you may have noticed, I kinda like to bake. So I began my gluten-free adventure with something easy, and something I knew Dan and Max would be willing to eat: chocolate chip cookies. Dan and Max were real troopers during the testing, and their input was invaluable. After countless batches, when I couldn’t even bring myself to say “chocolate chip cookie,” they encouraged me to carry on―and happily ate every crumb of every cookie I made. Whether you’re gluten-sensitive, gluten-intolerant or gluten-happy, I hope you try these. I’m off until after the New Year. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season filled with love, good cheer and tasty things to eat. As we used to say in third grade on the last day of school before Christmas vacation: See you next year! Chocolate Chip Cookies Gluten-Free + Vegan Makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on size Since many people who have issues with gluten also have issues with dairy, these suckahs are vegan. If dairy is your friend, you can sub the same amount of butter. With butter, the baking time is less, about 8-10 minutes. I tried a bunch of different flour combinations, and the one I think yields the tastiest result is below. Authentic Foods makes GF Classical Blend flour. It consists of extra-finely ground brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca flour. If you want to mix this up on your own, Annalise Roberts breaks it down in her great book Gluten-Free Baking Classics. She says to use 2 parts brown rice flour, ⅔ part potato starch and ⅓ part tapioca flour. Whenever you use rice flour (white or brown), make sure it’s extra-finely ground or you will get a gritty cookie, muffin, cake. This will not make you any friends. You can also add some nuts (½ cup or so), if you roll that way. ¾ cup almond meal (I like Trader Joe’s) ⅔ cup GF Classical Blend flour ⅓ cup coconut flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill) 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1½ sticks (¾ cup) Earth Balance or other dairy-free margarine, melted and cooled ½ cup sugar ½ cup brown sugar, packed ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup vegan semisweet chocolate chips 1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Line baking sheet with parchment. If you don’t want to use parchment, that’s fine. Just don’t grease the baking sheet. 2. In medium bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda and salt. In large bowl, whisk together Earth Balance, sugars, applesauce and vanilla. Stir flour mixture into Earth Balance-sugar mixture until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. 3. Drop teaspoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes, depending on size. If cookies are a little puffy, hit the baking sheet against your counter to deflate. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes then transfer to rack. When completely cooled, store in airtight container for up to 3 days, though I doubt they’ll last that long.