Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These gluten free cookies are chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. They are perfect for dipping into your morning coffee or for sharing with your family on a special day! This recipe doesn’t use any gum, yet, the cookies don’t fall apart.

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Why You Will Love This Recipe

– The cookies have both peanut butter and chocolate flavor in every bite;

– These chocolate chip cookies spread so well!

– No gum is needed for these gluten free cookies to stay in one piece after baking.

– Cookies like these go great with a cup of tea. Since these are so sweet, you won’t need all that sugar in your tea to make it taste great!

Tools You Might Need

– A digital scale. This tool is super important for any recipe, ESPECIALLY for gluten free baking.

– An oven thermometer. It is very common for ovens to be off on their temperature, so getting a cheap oven thermometer is going to ensure your cookies turn out as good as they can get!

– A hand mixer.

– A rubber spatula.

– Mixing bowls.

– A whisk.

– Parchment paper. You can bake cookies directly on the sheet pan with some grease but I prefer paper as it prevents the cookies from sticking and breaking.

– An ice cream scoop (or just use your hands!)

– Parchment paper.

Ingredients

Peanut butter – I used my homemade peanut butter. Making peanut butter at home only requires peanuts and a food processor. It is ready in 5 minutes! I never buy peanut butter at the store anymore.

Chocolate chip – in Europe chocolate chip is not very common and it is rather on the expensive side, so we use chocolate for most recipes. Just chop the chocolate into little pieces and use as you would chocolate chip! This also allows you to control the quality of the chocolate used.

Gluten free flour – in every country there are different gluten free flour blends that act differently in recipes. This is why I am writing down the exact types of flour used so that you can make this recipe no matter what country you are making it in!

Sugar – these peanut butter chocolate chip cookies have lots of sugar! Feel free to lower the amount of white sugar if you would prefer a less sweet version.

Lard – feel free to use vegetable shortening or butter. It is way cheaper to buy lard and it doesn’t affect the quality of the cookies. So, I use lard as I like baking and if I used butter for every recipe I would go broke! Here you can check a list of fats that work great in baking.

Substitutes and Swaps

Lard – if substituting for shortening use a 1:1 ratio, for butter you will need 115 grams instead of 70 grams. For more options (including vegan ones) check out this extensive list of lard and bacon grease substitutes.

Baking soda – this ingredient helps the cookies spread. I did not test the recipe with baking powder but you can try it and let me know how it turned out!

Sugar – you can substitute for coconut sugar but not for any other sweeteners.

Gluten free flour – feel free to use another type of gluten free flour if you wish, although I haven’t tried these chocolate chip cookies with another flour.

Gum – this recipe doesn’t call for xanthan or guar gum but if you would like to use it you can, just be careful not to overmix the dough as gums don’t like much mixing.

Step by Step Recipe

Step 1 – Preheat the oven

Preheat the oven to 150C (300F). Gluten free likes lower temperatures! To make sure your oven temperature is right use an oven thermometer (they are really cheap!).

Step 2 – mix the dough

Beat the sugars, peanut butter, and lard (or shortening/butter) with a hand mixer until combined and smooth (2-3 minutes). Add eggs and mix until evenly incorporated. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and mix well, then add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet ingredients. Use a rubber spatula to mix the dough. Chop the chocolate, add to the bowl, and mix.

Step 3 – Bake the cookies

If the dough is too sticky to work with, wet your hands and it will solve the problem! You can use an ice cream scoop for this step or, if you don’t have one, use your hands. Roll the dough into medium-small size balls and spread it onto the sheet pan leaving some space for spreading. Press each ball down with a fork to give the cookies a head start and ensure they spread as they bake. Bake for 11-13 minutes. Let the cookies cool for a minute or two, then carefully place them onto a cooling rack. Enjoy with a cup of warm milk or a hot coffee!

Expert Tips

– Use a digital scale for better measurements. I can’t even tell you how many batches of cookies I ruined because of incorrectly filling up my measuring cups or because of using a different type of gluten free flour than what was called for in the recipe! However, using a scale solves this problem.

– Get an oven thermometer. This will keep your mind at peace concerning the temperature you are baking at. I burned a few loaves of bread before I decided it was time to get a thermometer! I did not regret it.

– Let the dough rest for 30 minutes before baking if you can. It will improve the texture of the cookies.

– This recipe doesn’t need any gum but if you decide to add it be careful not to overmix your dough.

– Make homemade peanut butter to save money and time.

FAQ

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