My mother collects house guests the way most women collect shoes or tea pots. She loves having a full house. Think Blind Side but with more people! Growing up it was pretty fun especially when my "brothers" were in high school. They were all playing football together and regardless of how many guys were technically living at our house dozens of them would be there. You'd wake up on a Saturday morning and find them draped over every surface in the living room- couches, floor, coffee table- wherever they found room. I'd creep over them (which wasn't easy considering their size!) and head to the kitchen. It became a ritual. Mom would make spaghetti or lasagna and I would bake 4 batches of chocolate chip cookies. And they would devour them.
To this day I still get requests for those chocolate chip cookies. And I just knew that there was no way to make a gluten free, dairy free, egg free, soy free, corn free version that would be any thing like those amazing cookies. I was dead wrong!
The gorgeous Jorja B. (who led me to the gluten free pancakes I have be enjoying all week) also suggested I try the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from elana's pantry http://www.elanaspantry.com/dairy-free-gluten-free-chocolate-chip-cookies/
I was nervous for a few reasons. First, these cookies have some serious nostalgia attached to them and the likelihood that the allergy free version would be able to compare was highly unlikely. And secondly, my first allergy free cookie attempt hadn't been great. It was okay but not amazing. But I did some research. And I bought an amazing cookbook by Erin McKenna, the owner of Babycakes which is a gluten free/allergy free bakery in NYC, called Babycakes Covers the Classics: Gluten Free Vegan Recipes from Donuts to Snickerdoodles. At the beginning of the book (which is available by viewing the free preview on amazon) there are a TON of tips about baking allergy free. I had done pretty much everything wrong!
1) when using coconut oil it MUST be melted to be measured properly. Oops!
2) when the batter is runny, either the wet ingredients were over measured or the dry under measured. Best way to fix it- add more flour! This worked beautifully in my chocolate chip cookie batter.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (NO gluten, soy, dairy, eggs)
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1/2 tsp salt (I usually reduce this to 1/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp baking soda
A dash of cinnamon (an option suggested to me by Jorja; it compliments the almond flour nicely)
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup light agave nectar
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chips (I used dairy free, soy free chips I found at Whole Foods)
Directions
Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Note: the almond flour is difficult to measure if it isnt at room temperature. I have been storing it in the freezer so I warmed it in the microwave until it crumbled and then measured it. I also seem to be consistently under measuring my almond flour so I plan to start packing it like brown sugar when I measure.
In a small bowl whisk together wet ingredients and add to dry, combining well. If the batter is too wet, add almond flour a little at a time until the dough has the right consistency.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Drop by the tablespoon on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 7-10 minutes at 350F. The longer you leave the cookies in the oven the better they stay together after cooling. When the cookies look done leave them for an extra minute- it will make a big difference later!
Enjoy!
These cookies were GREAT but a little on the sweet side for my taste. I
will probably reduce the amount of agave nectar next time I make them.
This should help with the fact that my dough was too wet and I had to
add more almond flour to thicken it to the right consistency.
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