Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies are nutty, easy and delicious, and because they are naturally gluten free you do not need any unusual ingredients to make them. Keep reading to check out other Creative Cookie Exchange ideas for gluten free cookies! Affiliate links have been used to link to items I am referring to in this post.
People. These cookies. These cookies were amazing. Like argue over who got how many and disappeared within twenty four hours amazing. Maybe you regularly binge on gluten, you still need these in your life.
These Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies were adapted from Claire Ptak’s The Violet Bakery Cookbook
The Violet Bakery Cookbook is a different looking cookbook, smaller than most of them, yet still loaded with drool-worthy matte photographs. Ptak is another standout from the Chez Panisse family, and her book definitely embraces a certain California sensibility of baking with various whole grains and natural sweeteners, although not to the extent of completely eschewing traditional ingredients. Sometimes these books inspire me yet don’t actually motivate me to make any of their dishes; not so here. I am so glad I tried this cookie recipe. I am not sure what I expected, but the thick and chewy chocolate delight I bit into far exceeded those expectations. I called these “Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies” with some trepidation–because really these are just delicious chocolate cookies. But Ptak’s name, “Nutty Chocolate Barbados Biscuits” just made no sense, as I did not use dark brown sugar from Barbados nor am I living in England as she is where they call cookies biscuits. So I let SEO rule the day, and Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies they are.
Closely adapted from Claire Ptak. I strongly preferred these cookies sprinkled with vanilla salt--but the rest of my family enjoyed them both ways. If you can confirm that your dark chocolate (not all are!) is dairy-free, these cookies are also dairy free.
- 100 g (3 1/2 oz) dark chocolate, around 70% cacao, chopped (I used Scarffen Berger bittersweet)
- 125 g (4 1/2 oz) pecans
- 1/2 t fine sea salt
- 150 g (14 T; 3/4 cup + 2 T) brown sugar
- 1 T natural cocoa powder (I used Scharffen Berger)
- 125 g (17 T; 1 cup + 1 T) almond flour (you can also use almond meal)
- 2 t vanilla extract
- 2 egg whites
- coarse vanilla salt for sprinkling
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Preheat the oven to 350 F (or 320 F convection). Place racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven.
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Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Using a heatproof bowl (glass or metal), place the chopped chocolate in the bowl and place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (you are creating a double boiler). Do not let the chocolate bowl touch the simmering water. Stir the chocolate until melted smooth and then set aside to cool a bit while you work.
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Place the pecans, salt, brown sugar and cocoa in a food processor with the blade attached. Process until finely chopped.
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Add the almond flour and process again. Scrape the sides if needed.
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Add the vanilla and pulse a few times.
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Add the egg whites and pulse. Scrape the sides again.
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Drizzle the chocolate over the top of the mixture. Pulse until the mixture clumps together and forms a ball of dough (it will happen quickly).
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I found it easiest to transfer the mixture to a new bowl. I used a medium sized cookie scoop, aiming for a scant 2 tablespoon scoop, to scoop the cookies out. I got 12 to a pan but then only had 4 cookies leftover, so arrange them however works best for you with no more than 12 to a pan.
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Sprinkle with coarse vanilla sea salt if desired.
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Bake for 12-16 minutes, until the cookie is no longer shiny wet, has puffed a bit and is set. When you tap the cookie lightly it will be dry. If you are not using convection, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking time.
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Let cool on pan for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.
I highly recommend you weigh your nuts for optimal results. Nuts are particularly tricky to measure by volume, and I am grateful to Ptak for using weight measurements on her nuts. This also means that you can process your own almond meal if needed.
Gluten free cookie recipes are a great idea to have on hand since you never know when you will encounter someone with a gluten allergy–and believe it or not there are tons of delicious gluten free cookies out there! Keep reading to discover the ones we’ve made this month.
You can also use us as a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts (you can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). You will be able to find them the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month! If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.
If you are looking for inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:
- Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Hazelnut Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from All That’s Left Are The Crumbs
- Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies from Cream and Butter Blog
- Almond Joy Coconut Macaroons from Food Lust People Love
- Gluten Free Chocolate Cookies from The Spiced Life
- Peanut Butter Snickerdoodles from 2 Cookin Mamas
- Flourless chocolate cookies from Flours & Frostings
- Fudge Cookie Bites from What Smells So Good?
Looking for a collage to pin?
The cookies look just awesome Laura. I too somehow scored a copy of the Violet Bakery cookbook after it featured in some “Cookbooks worth having” list of some sort. The egg yolk chocolate chip cookies are really good. Should give these chocolate ones a try too.. !
Good to know, I will look for that recipe!
I love that these don’t require “special” flours and such! They look so “poppable.” I don’t think I could stop.