These were, perhaps, the trickiest cookies I’ve made to date. I had a grand plan for creating some kind of “kitchen sink” gluten free cookie with pretzels and chips and chocolate chunks and, my favorite, chocolate/candy-covered sunflower seeds. I’d been planning to make these darn cookies for over a month, tinkering with the recipe idea on paper and waiting for ingredients to arrive, when I finally got the chance to make them this weekend. I optimistically tossed in all of the add-ins and, like most of my other cookie recipes, I chilled the dough in the fridge before baking. In the midst of an already-busy baking weekend, I missed my shot to get them in the oven before 10pm so decided to wait until the following day to bake the very-chilled dough.
Saturday morning rolled around and I scooped three test cookies onto a baking sheet and whipped them in the oven. You’re probably hanging on every word to this already-high-stakes story, so hang onto your seats for this next bit, folks. The resulting cookies didn’t spread, got brown on the bottom too quickly, and after a first test bite, I realized with horror that gluten free pretzels get soggy and terribly chewy if left in any moist environment for too long. Some of you probably saw this coming, props to you for being wiser cookie connoisseurs. I didn’t want to waste the whole batch so, with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix playing in the background as a much-needed distraction, I painstakingly picked out EVERY SINGLE piece of pretzel from the dough. I then chopped a new cupful of pretzels and tossed them in and baked three more cookies immediately, hoping the instant-bake would avoid the chewy, soggy pretzel problem. NEWS FLASH – it did not. I don’t know what it is about gluten free pretzels but they do not belong in cookies.
SO, after much ado, I give you the Gluten Free Monster Cookie – filled not with pretzels but with tons of chunks of dark chocolate, and tons of those candy-covered sunflower seeds. The cookie itself is chewy and satisfying, mixed with flaxseed meal, almond flour, and our go-to mix. I promise your cookie-making adventure will go much more smoothly than mine did with this brushed up recipe. If you’re into other straight-forward cookie recipes, try our gluten free nutter butters, or these awesome oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, or these brand new oatmeal cream pie cookies, or these sunny, colorful almond and white chocolate sprinkle cookies!
Gluten Free Monster Cookies
Equipment
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
- Electric mixer
Ingredients
- 3 large eggs
- 1 Cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 Cup white sugar
- 1 Cup salted butter room temperature
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 Cup golden flaxseed meal
- 1 Cup gluten free 1-1 flour mix with xanthan gum in it (if your mix does not contain xanthan gum, add 3/4 tsp of it now)
- 1 1/4 Cup arrowroot starch
- 2 1/2 Cups blanched almond flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 Cup good quality chopped chocolate
- 1 Cup candy covered sunflower seeds (like M&Ms but sunflower seeds)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325° F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, then grease the parchment paper with butter or cooking spray, set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the room temp butter with the brown and white sugar until lighter and fluffy. Add in the eggs and vanilla and continue to beat until smooth and combined. Then, using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the flour, flaxseed meal, arrowroot starch, and almond flour until mixed through (it will become much stiffer). Add in the baking powder and salt and mix to combine. Finally, add in the chopped chocolate (think the size of chocolate chunks for cookies), and the candy-and-chocolate-covered sunflower seeds and stir through until combined.
- Scoop cookie dough out by the 1/4 cup and roll into balls, then place about 4 inches apart and flatten to 1/2 inch thickness with your palm. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until just faintly brown around the edges. Remove and let cool completely before eating.
Tag @sisterssansgluten on Instagram if you snap a photo of your cookies!
Food photography and styling by Amelia Farber
2 Comments
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Keith
How about sprinkling fresh chopped gluten free pretzels on top of some kind of frosting after the cookies are baked?