Simple Perfect Gluten Free + Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I have been on a quest to create the most perfect chocolate chip cookies for various diets/allergies. I worked super hard on nailing down an exact copy of the nestle toll house chocolate chip cookies & posted them- BUT they call for an egg. So I really wanted to figure out an incredible vegan cookie. My goal was simple- without needing any sort of egg replacement & using a flour blend really easy to find.

I love how these cookies turned out. Love love love! I went through so many variations and tested out many changes to finally land on this recipe. They are perfect in every way both in flavor and texture. You will LOVE them. Plus you only need the most basic of ingredients.. King Arthur flour blend, vegan butter, white and brown sugar, salt, vanilla, baking soda and chocolate chips! There’s no need to chill the cookie dough. You can just throw together the dough, scoop & bake. You’ll have delicious cookies finished within 30 minutes. They are soft and chewy in the center and perfectly crisp on the bottom and edges.

Lets talk about the chocolate chips. One of the assumptions I made through my baking journey is that chocolate chips, chunks, m&m’s and on can be interchanged with no change to the cookie. This isn’t true at all! Chocolate chunks will make it so the cookies don’t spread as much, cookies with m&m’s spread way more as the sugar from their shell releases into the dough. So just so you know with this recipe & others- any changes will truly change the results. For best results stick with chocolate chips. Regular or mini sized will work fine! If all you have is chocolate chunks give them a good chop before stirring the chocolate in.

For the vegan Butter I suggest using Earth Balance Butter Sticks. You may try other brands but know that there is a lot of variety brand to brand and they don’t all perform the same. Earth balance is the best when it comes to mimicking how real butter works.

Of course you can just use regular salted butter too if making them dairy free isn’t a concern.

Organic Cane Sugar

Believe it or not there is a difference between regular cane sugar and organic. Organic tends to be a bit courser whereas regular is ground super fine. The finer the sugar the more the cookies spread. I tend to always work with organic and so therefore my recipes are perfected to spread the right amount using that. If you swap it out for regular your cookies may spread too much. My favorite organic cane sugar is from the brand Wholesome Foods. I used that for this recipe.

To make the cookies Corn Free

Just use a brand of corn free baking powder & pick up some corn free chocolate chips and you’ll be good to go.

Using other gluten free all purpose flour blends

The bad news is that there isn’t truly a gluten free measure for measure flour or cup for cup. Its a marketing ploy. There are blends that work decent in place but never exactly. Each and every blend is totally different. For example I LOVE better batter - but in this recipe it would make for cookies that do not spread at all.

So of course you are welcome to experiment. But please keep in mind that there are no guarantees. Any change means the recipe will change. Cookies that are meant to spread tend to be sensitive to small changes.

Lets talk about Butter Temperature:

The temperature of your butter will make a big difference in how much the cookies spread. The more melted your butter is..the more the cookies will spread. Room temperature will give you results like mine. I find that for example frozen butter than I warmed up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (and melted a lot) resulted in cookies that spread a bit too much. Butter out of the fridge into the microwave warmed up for 15 seconds was the next best option after using room temperature. Those results were similar. 

Now the crucial step for these cookies to have the perfect spread is giving their tray a wack in the oven once or twice mid baking. It makes them spread the perfect amount. The timing that you do this step affects the end result of the cookies too!

Here is my rule of thumb:

For the thinnest cookie option (still with some good texture!) Bake the cookies for 6 minutes - open the oven and wack the tray once or twice. Close the oven and bake the cookies for another 10-12 minutes until golden brown on the edges.

For a medium thick cookie (this is my preference- this method gives you cookies with a nice spread but a bit more texture in the centers). Bake the cookies for 8 minutes- open the oven and wack the tray once or twice. Close the oven and bake the cookies for another 8-10 minutes until golden brown on the edges.

For the thickest Cookies (these will still have some spread) skip opening the oven at all and let them bake for 16-18 minutes until golden brown on the edges. 

Perfect Gluten Free + Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Yield: -13 Cookies+

Author: Brittany Angell

( 0 reviews )

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 17 MinTotal time: 27 Min

I really wanted to come up with a SIMPLE gluten free & vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe using a flour blend super easy to find without the need for flax eggs or any other egg replacement. It took quite a bit of trial and error but I nailed down a recipe that will become a staple in your home. Even if you don't need to avoid eggs & dairy you'll enjoy these cookies just the same. They have the perfect balance of soft centers & crispy edges. Make sure to measure your ingredients carefully and accurately. It makes a big difference in how they turn out.

IngredientsUSMetric

• 8 Tbsp Room Temperature/Softened Earth Balance Butter
• 56 Grams Organic Cane Sugar (I used the Wholesome Foods Brand)
• 43 grams Brown Sugar (I used the classic brown sugar sold in most stores that comes in a bag!)
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Tsp Salt
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
• 120 grams King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour
• 3/4 Cup Dairy Free (Vegan) Chocolate Chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment & set aside.
2. Add to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a bowl using a hand mixer) the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and salt. Whip on high for 20-30 seconds until smooth.
3. Add in the baking soda and King Arthur flour. Mix again until the dough comes together. Pour in the chocolate chips and stir them in by hand.
4. Using a cookie scoop that holds roughly 1 1/2 Tbsp of dough scoop 12-13 cookies evenly spacing them out on your cookie tray giving them room to spread.
5. Bake the cookies for 16-18 minutes. *PLEASE review my notes below about opening the oven mid way through baking and giving the tray a wack- to give them the perfect spread. Follow the directions for your preferred cookie thickness opening the oven at either 6 minutes, 8 minutes or not at all. The cookies are done baking when they are cooked through and have golden brown edges.
6. Allow to cool before removing them from the pan. Store at room temperature in a sealed bad or container or freeze for another day.

Notes

The temperature of your butter will make a big difference in how much the cookies spread. The more melted your butter is..the more the cookies will spread. Room temperature will give you results like mine. I find that for example frozen butter than I warmed up in the microwave for 20-30 seconds (and melted a lot) resulted in cookies that spread a bit too much. Butter out of the fridge into the microwave warmed up for 15 seconds was the next best option after using room temperature. Those results were similar.

Now the crucial step for these cookies to have the perfect spread is giving their tray a wack in the oven once or twice mid baking. It makes them spread the perfect amount. The timing that you do this step affects the end result of the cookies too!

Here is my rule of thumb:

For the thinnest cookie option (still with some good texture!) Bake the cookies for 6 minutes - open the oven and wack the tray once or twice. Close the oven and bake the cookies for another 10-12 minutes until golden brown on the edges.

For a medium thick cookie (this is my preference- this method gives you cookies with a nice spread but a bit more texture in the centers). Bake the cookies for 8 minutes- open the oven and wack the tray once or twice. Close the oven and bake the cookies for another 8-10 minutes until golden brown on the edges.

For the thickest Cookies (these will still have some spread) skip opening the oven at all and let them bake for 16-18 minutes until golden brown on the edges.

*Some chocolate chip cookies look a bit raw when you pull them out of the oven. That is not the case with this recipe. They will look done! The cookies may sink a little as they cool which makes them look even better!

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