Gluten Free Vegan Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hello chocolate. You won’t even notice these cookies are missing gluten and dairy with all the indulgent dark chocolate in them.

I’ve tried making a number of biscuit recipes gluten and dairy free, but I find the most successful ones have something that helps hold them together. For instance peanut butter works well, or in this case chocolate. That’s why I love that the chocolate flavour comes from melting chocolate rather than adding cocoa, as when the chocolate sets it helps keep these cookies together. Plus real chocolate tastes great.

Make sure to check that the dark chocolate you use doesn’t contain milk, luckily lots of dark chocolate is accidently dairy free.

This gluten free vegan double chocolate chip cookie recipe yields 12 cookies.

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You will need:

• Heatproof bowl & pan
• Stand or hand held mixer (dough hook if you have one)
• Sieve
• Baking tray
• Silicone mat or baking paper

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 6 tbsp cold water
• 50g (3½ tbsp) hard vegetable shortening
• 450g (2½ cups) dark chocolate
• 170g (⅞ cup) brown sugar
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• 85g (⅔ cup) plain gluten free flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp xantham gum
• Pinch of salt

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Step 1

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F gas mark 3)

Line two baking trays with a silicone mat or sheet of baking paper. If you don’t have two trays you will need to bake them in batches.

Step 2

Whilst the oven is heating combine the ground flaxseed and cold water in a small container. Mix thoroughly before chilling in the fridge for about 15 minutes or until it forms the consistency of a whisked egg.

Step 3

Chop the dark chocolate and hard vegetable shortening into cubes and place half the chocolate and all the shortening in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir until the mixture melts completely and has a glossy shine.

Step 4

Whisk together the flaxseed mixture, sugar and vanilla extract, placing this in a large bowl or the bowl part of a stand mixer.

Step 5

Pour in the melted chocolate and vegetable shortening, mixing on a slow speed with the stand or handheld mixer until combined.

Step 6

Sift together the gluten free flour, baking powder, xantham gum and salt in a separate bowl. Then add a third at a time to the batter, beating in between additions.

Step 7

Gently stir in the remaining chocolate with a spoon until evenly incorporated, so as not to accidently break the chocolate into smaller pieces.

Step 8

Chill the dough for five minutes, this will help stop them spreading too much and help bring it together initially. Keep an eye on the dough or the chocolate will solidify. Once cooler press the dough together with your hands and divide half, then separate each half into six balls, rolling in the palm of your hand.

Step 9

Space the balls of dough out on the prepared tray. Very lightly press the tops of the balls, you don’t need to flatten them as they will spread out while baking. Bake for ten minutes.

The tops of the cookies will begin to look cracked but they will still be soft when they come out the oven. If you are quick you can neaten up the edges by gently pushing them with a spatula. The cookies do spread quite a lot when baking, as the chocolate is runny but they will harden and basically taste like a mouthful of chocolate. After a few minutes it will crisp up and crumble if pushed, so speed is of the essence.

Allow to cool and solidify before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Thanks for reading.