These gluten free coffee walnut cookies are a DREAM (and also have actual coffee in them so if you’re like me and don’t normally drink coffee at all, I’d recommend avoiding eating these after 3pm lol). They’re a massively delicious cookie, with, as stated previously, lots of coffee, vanilla, toasty walnuts, and luxurious chunks of dark chocolate (I actually chopped up the leftover dark chocolate easter eggs that we had in the kitchen and tossed them in – utterly fantastic use of Easter chocolate). These cookies take inspiration from my coffee chocolate walnut cake, that I recently made again for one of my housemate’s birthdays. There’s something incredibly elegant and wonderfully indulgent about the combination of coffee, chocolate, and walnuts and if you haven’t tried the trio yet, these cookies are a great place to start (and then, of course, the cake is the next level up!). These cookies are also insanely easy to make! This is another installment in my ongoing goal to develop new, easy, fast gluten free cookie recipes that don’t rely on fancy/hard to find ingredients or take a day to make.
What other flavor combos/trios/mixes should I try to incorporate in more new easy gluten free cookie recipes? I’ve got a few more in the hopper, so expect to see those soon on a blog post near you, but I’m always looking for more ideas so if you have any and are up to share, please send them my way! In the meantime, I’m going to to eat another one of these gluten free coffee walnut chocolate chunk cookies because it’s Friday and it’s also before 3pm so I’m safe on the caffeine levels. To fuel your cookie cravings, here are a few other fun recipes! Easy cookie recipes: almond shortbread, chocolate mint shortbread, chocolate shortbread with cocoa nibs, chewy funfetti cookies, almond white chocolate sprinkle cookies. Leveled-up cookie recipes (take more time/have trickier-to-find ingredients): my absolute go-to hazelnut chocolate cookies, or these peanut butter sandwich (nutter butter) cookies, or these tahini chocolate chunk cookies, or these pistachio chocolate chunk cookies, or these ultimate chocolate chip cookies.
Tips for dreamy gluten free coffee walnut chocolate chunk cookies!
- Cream the butter + sugars for at LEAST a few minutes. It’s wild how important this step is and how much your butter and sugar will transform after beating it with an electric mixer for minutes and minutes. It’ll change color (become much lighter), look actually creamy (hence the term), and be a bit fluffy. That’s what you’re going for!
- Chill that dough! I recommend two hours, but at least do 1. If you end up chilling it longer though, be sure to let it rest at room temp for about 45 minutes to an hour because it will be too cold/hard at that point and the cookie dough won’t spread as much.
- Don’t overbake those cookies! This is basically the biggest key to getting that chewy center: if you overbake, the center will be just like the edges, crispy and crunchy with no chew. You want the cookie dough to be still soft/look a bit underbaked (they’re safely baked, don’t worry) in the center and as the cookies cool, the center will settle into that glorious chewy bit.
Gluten Free Coffee Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
- Electric mixer
Ingredients
- 1 Cup room temperature salted butter 227g
- ¼ Cup packed light brown sugar 58g
- 1 Cup white sugar 238g
- 1 large eggs plus one egg yolk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 15ml
- 2 ½ Tbsp instant coffee granules 37.5ml
- 2 Cup gluten free 1-1 flour mix that contains xanthan gum 338g (if your mix does not contain xanthan gum, add 1/2 tsp (1g) now)
- ¾ Cup arrowroot starch or cornstarch 110g (cornflour in the UK)
- 1 tsp baking soda 6g
- ¾ tsp. Salt 4g
- 1 ½ Cups chopped walnuts 160g
- ¾ Cup chopped dark chocolate 128g
- 1 Cup white sugar for rolling 201g
Instructions
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the room temp butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until lighter and fluffy (2-3 minutes – don't skimp on this step!). Add in the egg plus egg yolk and beat until smooth. Then, in a small bowl, dissolve the instant coffee granules with the vanilla extract, then pour this mixture into your cookie dough and beat until smooth, another 30 seconds. Add in the flour, starch, baking soda, and salt and mix by hand with a wooden spoon or spatula until fully combined (it will be quite stiff). Finally, mix in the chopped walnuts and chopped dark chocolate until they're fully distributed. Scoop dough into a smaller bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for two hours (if you chill it longer, you may need to bring it closer to room temp by leaving it out on the counter for an hour).
- Once the cookie dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit (180° C, no fan) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment and then start scooping out the cookie dough and rolling it into 2 1/2 inch round balls. Roll the balls in the cup of white sugar to coat the outside of the cookie dough ball, then press the cookie dough ball slightly so that you get a 2.5-3 inch patty (about an inch thick). Toss the patty in more sugar to ensure it's completely coated, then place 4-5 patties on the cookie sheet (~4 inches apart) and bake for 9-10 minutes. Let cookies cool COMPLETELY before removing from the cookie sheet (15 minutes) – they will be chewy in the center and crispy on the edges!
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cookies!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
