Thursday, December 11, 2014

Product Review of Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies; My Recipe for GF Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here is the gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe included in my cookbook (which would be a great gift idea, by the way!).  :)  I am biased, I know, but I can rate my cookie recipe at a 10 and feel comfortable doing so.  We love the flavor, texture, and price compared to mixes.  We also love that the recipe is large, so we can freeze part of the batch to have cookies in school lunch bags or for snacks.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups brown rice flour
3/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup sorghum flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips* (if milk intolerant, use Enjoy Life® Chocolate Chips and Earth Balance® margarine in place of butter)

1. Preheat oven to 375 °F.  Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs.

2. Add brown rice flour, tapioca flour, sorghum flour, xanthan gum,baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips. Mix thoroughly.

3. Shape into small balls of dough and place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375°F for 10 to 11 minutes.

MAKES 34 TO 36 COOKIES

*As a variation, substitute 3⁄4 cup butterscotch chips and 2⁄3 cup toffee bits for chocolate chips.





However, when I am in a big hurry, it is nice to know there are a some great gluten-free chocolate chip cookie mixes at the grocery store.  I tried out three of them.  (I also have a blog post about Arrowhead Mills GF Cookie Mix in my post from 4-6-2012, and a blog post about Glutino Cookies on 5-31-2013).  It is kind of embarrassing that we love chocolate chip cookies this much. :)


Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix

I am rating this mix at 5 out of 10.  My first impression was that they have some type of bean flour in them, and sure enough...the label showed there is garbanzo bean flour in the mix.  The bean flavor didn't last long since the chocolate chips helped to offset it.  These cookies have a good texture and aren't too grainy, though they are slightly dry.  The taste was average, but we definitely ate them since there was chocolate in them. :)





Pillsbury Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

I am rating this product at 9.5 out of 10.  This was our favorite cookie out of the three--due to taste, time savings, and convenience.  It comes in a container similar to sour cream in size.  You can find this cookie dough in the refrigerator section, probably near the eggs and other Pillsbury cookie dough.  The only problem was that the quantity of cookies was too few for the price. These are delicious cookies, though.  My husband said he would rate them at 10 for gluten free and would rate them at 8 in comparison to a gluten cookie.  Yum!



Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Cookie Mix

I am rating this mix at 7 out of 10.  The flavor was quite good, but the dough was crumbly and difficult to form into a cookie shape.  The cookies were a bit grainy, as well.  Not that appearance matters too much, but as far as color and shape are concerned, they look the best out of the three mixes.