You are probably asking yourself: how many chocolate chip cookies does this woman think we need? I know, I have 3 other recipes in addition to this one: Chocolate Chocolate Chip; Chocolate Chip; and Chocolate Chunk. I can’t help it–I love chocolate chip cookies. There is something so basic and so classic about them–they are perfect for so many reasons. And really, you can’t really have too many chocolate chip cookies, can you? And these are so easy and quick to make–they are a perfect addition to the holiday cookie plate.
Every year at this time, I remember a certain kind of chocolate chip cookies made by my grandmother. They were lighter than normal and more crunchy. Other people have served similar ones. After doing a bit of research, it turns out that these cookies are made with powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar and they contain no eggs. So, they are a lot like shortbread.
This year, I finally turned my attention to developing a recipe that matched my memories. This is definitely one of those recipes you need when you quickly have to make cookies for an event and you have very little time. I brought these to my food-oriented cookbook club meeting this week and everyone raved about them. And they are perfect for school bake sales. Yay!
Old Fashioned Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten-Free + Egg-Free (edited to correct flour amount)
Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen
Ingredients
1 cup (230 g; 2 sticks) butter (cold), cut into 1 tablespoon size pieces
1 cup (115 g) powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups (315 g) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour mix
1 cup/170 g semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 C/Gas Mark 4. Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitter with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium until smooth and creamy. This will take a minute or two. You will probably need to scrape down the sides a few times. Add the powder sugar and beat on medium until smooth. Scrape down the sides. Add the vanilla and beat until combined. Add flour and beat on medium until combined. Scrape down sides. Add chocolate chips and beat on slow until just combined. The mixture will be very stiff–I usually have to remove the bowl from the mixer and do a final mix by hand in order to make sure all of the flour and the chocolate chips are combined.
Roll tablespoon-sized lumps of dough into balls with your hands. Place the balls on the lined cookie sheets, with at least 2 inches between each. Flatten each ball with the tines of a fork. This will leave a lined impression on the cookies.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 16 minutes. The longer you bake them, the more browned they will become on the bottom and the more crunchy they will be.
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Pat E.
I was looking for something sweet to make tonight, and then I realized we’re out of eggs — but then I came across this recipe! I only had mini-chocolate chips and this came out so yummy! Almost like a chocolate shortbread. This will be my new “go to” cookie recipe.
Jeanne
Pat: Yay! I’m so glad!
Marie
I am new to gluten free baking and a baker at heart, so learning to bake gluten free has been a challenge. I am so very thankful I found your web site, your information and recipes are amazing!!!! Your basic flour mix is just what I was looking for because I am grinding my own grains and it seems to be a great blend! All your recipes I have tried have been outstanding, I’m once again excited to be in my kitchen baking!
I just made your old fashioned chocolate chip cookies and my dough was not stiff and then I realized the flour measurement by grams is wrong, I believe it should be 315 g. Is that correct? I’m finding that measuring by grams has made a big difference on how recipes turn out. Thank you again, keep the recipes coming!!!!
Jeanne
Marie: Oh, geez. Thank you so much! I’m a dork. Just changed it! And I’m so glad you like my recipes–yay!
Tamsin Kurth
I have just made these and I won’t embarrass myself by telling you how much of the dough I ate and how many cookies I ‘tested’….needless to say they are VERY good. I found an organic powdered sugar made with tapioca starch instead of corn (my daughter is sensitive) and it worked just great. I can’t wait to let my daughter try them when she’s done with school!
Jeanne
Tamsin: Yay! I’m so glad! And I love the corn-free powdered sugar, too!
Jeanne Sauvage (@fourchickens)
@patricia_eddy Ah, OK. Here’s a good one. Use your dairy-free butter replacer of choice: http://t.co/QOIDxQnZ52
gaye
Hi
Can you use butter substitute for dairy allergies? Or would coconut
oil work better?
Thanks
Gaye
Jeanne
Gaye: Yes! I usually use Spectrum Soy-Free Butter Substitute. It’s softer than regular butter, so you may want to refrigerate the dough before baking the cookies–they will spread (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Happy baking!
Ashley L
What could I use in place of the powdered sugar? We cant do powdered cane sugar or regular powdered sugar due to allergies. Otherwise this recipe would be perfect for us.
admin
Ashley: You can grind granulated sugar in a blender to make a homemade version of powdered sugar. Blend 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar to 1 tablespoon of cornstarch or tapioca flour/starch.
Tara
I made these cookies so many times this holiday season. The first time I made them they went flat. I tried them again and chilled my dough and they came out perfect. I also altered them slightly by just leaving the chocolate chips on the side and rolling the plain dough and then dipping them into the chocolate chips so they covered the top. I then decided to use this dough to make sprinkle cookies. Left out chocolate chips all together and rolled the dough and then dipped the ball into the sprinkles and baked. Awesome! Our favorite allergen free cookies for sure!
admin
Tara: Oh, I’m so glad!!
Judy
Thanks for the correction. I will definitely make them again. They really had a good taste.
admin
Judy: Thanks for pointing it out to me (along with Bonnie). You guys keep me in line–thank goodness!! 🙂
Judy Golden
I had also left a message on facebook regarding these cookies. I used very cold butter and they ran altogether. I was wondering if the amount of butter (2 sticks) was incorrect or the amount of flour (1 1/4 cups) in the recipe was incorrect. They were baking in a pool of melted butter. They tasted good but very greasy and looked awful. They were not pretty like yours. I will try again using only one stick of butter.
admin
Judy and Bonnie: Gah! You are right! The flour amount was incorrect. It’s supposed to be 2 1/4 cups of flour. Thank you so much for catching that!! Wow, I’m a dork.
Bonnie
Jeannie,
I’m wondering if there could be an error in the amount of flour printed? My cookies went completely flat! Or could it be the butter I used?
Bonnie
PS They taste great anyway. I added flour to the remaining dough and it seems to be more like your cookies look.
admin
Bonnie: Could it be that your butter was warm? I used cold butter, which makes a stiff dough. If the butter is warm, the dough will be much more pliable and will bake into more flat cookies.