GF Chocolate Cookie Advice:

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Hi there fellow bakers! I have a question regarding baking gluten free chocolate chip cookies! The ones I made were good but a little too "puffy"...

I found this recipe online
  • 2 1/4 cups (~282 grams) gluten free flour blend
  • 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum omit if gluten-free flour blend has xanthan or guar gum already)
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, room temp
  • 3/4 cups (12 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 egg yolks (room temp)
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
I made the recipe without the Xanthan gum and the cookies grew quite large and fat in the oven! (was looking to bake a slimmer, less doughy cookie). Does anyone know if omitting the xanthan gum was the cause of this? Would love any tips for trying to make GF chocolate chip cookies again in the future!



IMG_3018.JPG
 
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Hi there fellow bakers! I have a question regarding baking gluten free chocolate chip cookies! The ones I made were good but a little too "puffy"...

I found this recipe online
  • 2 1/4 cups (~282 grams) gluten free flour blend
  • 1/2 tsp. xanthan gum omit if gluten-free flour blend has xanthan or guar gum already)
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, room temp
  • 3/4 cups (12 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 2 egg yolks (room temp)
  • 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
I made the recipe without the Xanthan gum and the cookies grew quite large and fat in the oven! (was looking to bake a slimmer, less doughy cookie). Does anyone know if omitting the xanthan gum was the cause of this? Would love any tips for trying to make GF chocolate chip cookies again in the future!



View attachment 1113

Since your cookies didn't spread, there has to be some kind of binder in the blend you used. Unless you used all almond flour. Almond flour will hold its shape for the most part if there's enough egg. But my guess is the blend you used has a strong binder in it.

If the binder is strong, the cookie won't spread. Temperature also affects spread. This blogger bakes her cookies at 375° . That really high for a cookie. That kind of heat means less spread. As the cookies bake, the water in the eggs, butter, and cream cheese evaporates and create steam. That steam causes the cookie to puff up. The less spread, the more the cookie will puff.

  • You can try reducing the oven temperature to 350.

  • You can try reducing the oven temperature and cutting your flour blend with 15% - 20% almond flour.

I've recently stopped using xanthan gum in my gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I prefer mostly almond flour with a bit of potato starch and sweet rice flour (pic below). I've made them with all almond flour as well. They hold together fine without gums.

Just an aside:
Every manufacturer creates their own blends, using whatever flours they choose, in whatever ratio they choose. So no two blends will perform the same.

The recipe you used is from My Gluten Free Kitchen website. She uses Gluten Free Mama's brand flour in the cookie. The particular blend she used contains the following:
White Rice Flour
Tapioca Flour
Potato Starch Flour
Almond Meal Flour
Sweet Rice Flour

Even if the blend you used has an ingredient list exactly like Gluten Free Mama's blend, the two flour blends would not perform the same because of the differences in ratios. If you made a blend using these flours and used say 60% almond flour, and at least 10% sweet rice flour, the cookies would probably hold their shape just fine without any additional binders like xanthan gum, guar, flaxseed meal, or chia seeds.


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Since your cookies didn't spread, there has to be some kind of binder in the blend you used. Unless you used all almond flour. Almond flour will hold its shape for the most part if there's enough egg. But my guess is the blend you used has a strong binder in it.

If the binder is strong, the cookie won't spread. Temperature also affects spread. This blogger bakes her cookies at 375° . That really high for a cookie. That kind of heat means less spread. As the cookies bake, the water in the eggs, butter, and cream cheese evaporates and create steam. That steam causes the cookie to puff up. The less spread, the more the cookie will puff.

  • You can try reducing the oven temperature to 350.

  • You can try reducing the oven temperature and cutting your flour blend with 15% - 20% almond flour.

I've recently stopped using xanthan gum in my gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I prefer mostly almond flour with a bit of potato starch and sweet rice flour (pic below). I've made them with all almond flour as well. They hold together fine without gums.

Just an aside:
Every manufacturer creates their own blends, using whatever flours they choose, in whatever ratio they choose. So no two blends will perform the same.

The recipe you used is from My Gluten Free Kitchen website. She uses Gluten Free Mama's brand flour in the cookie. The particular blend she used contains the following:
White Rice Flour
Tapioca Flour
Potato Starch Flour
Almond Meal Flour
Sweet Rice Flour

Even if the blend you used has an ingredient list exactly like Gluten Free Mama's blend, the two flour blends would not perform the same because of the differences in ratios. If you made a blend using these flours and used say 60% almond flour, and at least 10% sweet rice flour, the cookies would probably hold their shape just fine without any additional binders like xanthan gum, guar, flaxseed meal, or chia seeds.


View attachment 1115


Thank you so much Norcalbaker59!! That insight helped so much and I am really appreciative of the advice. Tonight I am going to try to bake the gluten free chocolate chips again but use almond flour with a bit of potato starch!

Also I'm living in norcal too and its great to connect with another norcal baker! :)
 
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Thank you so much Norcalbaker59!! That insight helped so much and I am really appreciative of the advice. Tonight I am going to try to bake the gluten free chocolate chips again but use almond flour with a bit of potato starch!

Also I'm living in norcal too and its great to connect with another norcal baker! :)

Ive been gluten free for about 10yrs now. I’m revising a number of recipes, so if you want, I can pass them on to you when I’m done,

I hope you’re not in the fire area! I’ve been displaced for a week nowo_O
 

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