Gf + Df Caramel Chai Crinkle Cookies
If you are a fan of soft & fluffy crinkle cookies then you NEED to try this fun caramel chai variation. Man oh man are they delicious. They turned out so incredible that I knew immediately that more flavors need to happen heading into November.
I used my favorite gluten & dairy free pillsbury yellow cake mix (because it NEVER fails me. Truly its one of the best gluten free boxed items in existence. Plus it allows me to massively simplify recipes and only need to call for a few ingredients.
A quick note about that mix- I have had a few people message me to say its not Dairy Free.. which had me so confused. I sent each of them a photo of my box and then they felt confused bc my box is indeed dairy free. We came to the conclusion that pillsbury must have updated their mix & not every store has the newest version. So, if you stumble across the form of this mix that has dairy and thats not an option for you- keep looking as the majority of the boxes out now are dairy free.
I have had the best luck finding this yellow cake mix at walmart (its also by far the best price there). If you live in the cleveland area I have also seen it at Fresh Thyme Market and Heinens.
As for the caramel- You of course can just snag a bag Werthers Original caramels or even the cubed kind. Since I’m dairy free I ordered Cocomels on Amazon. They are made from coconut milk & holy cow are they good!! They worked perfectly in these cookies too.
Note: If you don’t like coffee flavor (GASP!) haha. Then you can swap out the coffee for milk (regular or dairy free) and omit the ground coffee from the recipe.
Recipe tips & tricks:
Can you remove dairy?
If you are allergic to dairy- no problem. I recommend using Earth Balance buttery sticks. Other brands of vegan butter may work too but I find their melting point differs from real butter enough that they may spread more than the recipe intends. With fluffy cookies like this- spreading more wont hurt the recipe too much so I think this is a safe place to experiment.
Can you remove the eggs?
I woudn’t recommend it.. not unless you have the skills and time on your hands to try different things out.
Can you sub the king arthur baking gluten free cake mix? I wouldnt. The king arthur mixes contain more sugar so therefore the cookies will spread too much. Look for a cake mix with the same amount of sugar and carbs per serving.
Can you sub in other flours? No. The cake mix has sugar, salt, vanilla, baking powder/soda & a blend of flours. I’m able to simplify the recipes down to 5 ingredients because of that. No flour alone will perform the same.
I used gram measurements. Why?
Gluten baking can be seriously hit or miss if it’s not precise. ESPECIALLY cookies. No two people measure a cup of flour the same. If you want to make absolute sure that your cookies turn out grab an inexpensive kitchen scale. It’s so much easier- you’ll never look back .
How to tell when Cookies are done baking?
They should be lightly golden on the bottom edges. They will continue to cook through as they cool down.
Gluten Free Caramel Chai Crinkles
