Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's creeping up on the holiday season, and time to start thinking about baking.

Often times this is the time of year that is most disappointing to any one with a dietary issue, be it Celiac or dairy issues, or nut allergies. Baked goods are everywhere, and when other people are making them and sharing them with you in the office or a family get-together, it can be very difficult to know exactly what is in it.

And when it comes to switching up our own baking habits and trying new recipes, the results can be a bit, shall we say, less than ideal. It can be overwhelming trying to figure out the correct balance of flours, gums, and starches to add to any recipe. Or even finding the right flour for the right job, can take so much experimentation.

Luckily, after a lot of playing around in the kitchen myself, I've figured out that two of the best all-rounder flours for baking are Pamela's All-Purpose Flour Artisan Blend, and President's Choice Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Blend. These are the flours I recommend for this recipe, but if you have been baking with other flours and found one that you like, feel free to sub it in.

Note: A nut flour would not work in this particular recipe.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Passive Time 20 minutes
Servings 16 cookies

Measurement	Ingredient
1 cup	all-purpose gluten-free flour blend (I prefer Pamela's or PC brand)
.5 tsp	salt
.5 tsp	baking soda
.25 cups	coconut oil
.25 cups	coconut butter
2 egg(s)	room temperature
.5 cups	coconut sugar (can use demerara or dark brown)
.25 cups	granulated sugar
1 tsp	vanilla extract
1 cup	chocolate chips (mini chips are best for these cookies)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Melt the coconut oil and coconut butter together in small bowl. Cool back down to room temperature.
2. Cream the coconut oil/butter mixture and two sugars until light and fluffy, using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment or, if you're like me and don't have one of these, use a hand electric mixer on high. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well - the mixture should be much lighter in colour by the end of mixing.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the butter with the mixer on low speed, mixing only until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand using a spoon.
   
4. Let the dough chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Remove from fridge, and shape into 1.5" diameter balls (a little smaller than a golf ball), place them evenly apart on the cookie sheet. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly.
5. Bake for exactly 16 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone, very soft). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

This recipe is based on Ina Garten's Chocolate Chunk Cookies recipe, located on the Barefoot Contessa website and in the Barefoot Contessa Parties! cookbook.