I stumbled upon this small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe recently, and was so excited that I could finally make chocolate chip cookies without having dozens of them lying around the house. The recipe was so good that I decided to try and adapt it to be gluten free. While I’m not gluten free, I have a lot of friends who are, and I’m always looking for ways to make baked goods a little healthier.
Don’t get me wrong, these are still cookies, but because they are made with quinoa flour, they have added protein, fiber, and nutrients that you wouldn’t get from using traditional white flour. Note that the quinoa flour gives these small batch gluten free chocolate chip cookies a little bit of a nutty flavor, but everyone I tested them on really enjoyed it!
Small Batch Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 6 tablespoons quinoa flour* or 6 tablespoons of whole dry quinoa
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons flax seed meal
- 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon molasses
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
*NOTE: You can absolutely buy quinoa flour at the store, but it can be extremely expensive so I always just start with the whole ingredients and grind them into a flour using my nutribullet.
Preheat the oven to 375 and line baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
Start by prepping the dry ingredients. If you’re making your own quinoa flour, (which I highly recommend) place dry quinoa, cornstarch, flax seed meal, baking powder, and baking soda in a blender or nutribullet. Blend until everything comes together and becomes the consistency of whole wheat flour. If you’re using store bought quinoa flour, just mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl, but make sure to mix very well so that everything is equally distributed throughout. This will ensure that the gluten free “flour mix” will work properly.
In a medium bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 20 seconds.
Add the salt, sugars, and molasses, and beat for about 30 seconds. The mixture will turn a pale color and be fluffy.
Next, add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until combined.
Add the quinoa flour mixture to the wet ingredients in two batches, mixing after each addition of the dry ingredients until combined.
Add in the chocolate chips and mix so that they are equally distributed throughout the mixture.
Scoop the dough into 12-15 dough balls using a mini ice cream scoop, and space them evenly on the baking sheet. I came out with 15 cookies.
Bake for 9-10 minutes, removing the cookies from the oven when the edges just start to turn golden brown. The gluten free chocolate chip cookies will look a little puffy when you take them out of the oven, but don’t worry, they will start looking normal as they cool.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 20 minutes. These gluten free chocolate chip cookies are delicate, so they need to cool almost completely before you handle them, otherwise they will fall apart. When the cookies are cool, use a spatula to gently remove them from the baking sheet, and enjoy!