Connie’s ORIGINAL G/F Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Hey friends,

Quick question…have y’all subscribed to the Connie’s Truffle House Newsletter? If not, Please Please Please subscribe. All you have to do is click on the SUBSCRIBE box & enter your email. Y’all know me…your email info is totally private! Another way to subscribe…just email me at conniestrufflehouse@gmail.com. I’ll add you to our list of subscribers. THANK YOU! With that said, last week’s NL was all about my mission to create a Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie that is delicious and doesn’t taste gluten free! That leads us to this week’s Newsletter!

Friends, I’ve got to be honest with you! I am so ready to get out of the house & hug my family, friends and walk into a store! But, in the meantime, I’ve got to say I’m having a blast! The Stay-at-Home Mandate has given me time to do things I love to do! Going through recipes, my collection of cookbooks & experimenting in the kitchen ranks high on the list.

As I mentioned in last week’s Newsletter, I’ve been on a mission to create a delicious g/f chocolate chip cookie that doesn’t taste gluten free. I’ve taken this quest seriously & I’m ready to share the results.

After spending countless hours in the kitchen playing with ingredients & asking Bill to be my guinea pig, I settled on what I believe to be my Favorite Original G/F Chocolate Chip Cookie. My journey took me on a fascinating & surprising detour. Last week’s Newsletter included a pic of the Nestle Toll House recipe with a note at the bottom saying this was John’s favorite CCC!

Fast forward to 2020 & the Toll House chocolate chipper is still one of the most popular cookies in history! I just had to know more so started reading all about this iconic delight. Click Here for the article:

I love this article and got a kick out of a 2005 quote from Malcolm Gladwell…”It seems that the only thing you can’t do to a cookie is make it healthy”. LOL!

If you’ve stayed at a Doubletree Hotel, you’ve received their warm chocolate chip cookies when checking in. It’s awesome that the hotel recently published their “secret” recipe, which was perfect timing for my CCC Mission! I discovered the Doubletree cookie has the same basic ingredients & measurements of the Toll House recipe with a few exceptions. The Doubletree recipe adds cinnamon, oats & walnuts; therefore, creating a Toll House Chocolate Chip OATMEAL Cookie! LOL

This realization got me to thinking? Why are so many bakers trying to reinvent something (The Toll House CCC) that seems pretty doggone perfect! Myself included! My answer: I love the challenge of making a recipe “MY VERY OWN & it’s got to be GLUTEN FREE”!

After countless cookies baked & tasted, I came up with a G/F CCC recipe that Bill & I LOVE.

Before I reveal the winner of the G/F CCC Blind Taste Test, I’ve got to say there was NO runaway winner from the beginning. As I mentioned earlier, the Toll House Cookie has been around since 1939 & why mess with perfection, right? Well, I did & it took many hours to come up with a cookie that, in my opinion, rivals the Toll House CCC!

DRUM ROLL, PLEASE! WINNER: CONNIE’S ORIGINAL G/F CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE. Ok, you may be thinking…of course, your cookie won, Connie, you’re writing the blog! Good Point! But, in all honesty, the blind taste test was done fairly. I took plates of 5 different chocolate chip cookies to friends and family. They had no idea of the ingredients to each cookie. I asked them to rank the cookies from 1-5 and then tallied up the score. As I said, my Original G/F CCC did not win by a mile…in fact, the 2nd place cookie was just a few points shy of winning! Truthfully…there were no losers in this contest!

DRUM ROLL AGAIN for 2nd place…the Good Ole 1939 Nestle Toll House Cookie! I wasn’t surprised at all because it was a close race! So, to all of you Toll House Fans out there…you’ve got Great Taste!

And, to all you bakers out there, keep on experimenting in the kitchen with whatever gives you JOY! I hope you’ll try my cookie. I included some tips with my recipe that I hope will be helpful.

Oh, by the way…If you like an OATMEAL chocolate chip cookie, just add g/f oats (lightly chopped) to the flour mixture. It’s delicious!

I’m looking forward to making a video again with Michael Conway. Kristin was kind enough to edit this very unprofessional video for me! Bill & I are definitely NOT videographers!

Connie’s Original Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie

WINNER OF THE BLIND TASTE TEST During Covid19 “Stay at Home” Mandate, Including numbered baking tips

Print Recipe

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 24 with a small scoop of dough

Ingredients

2 ¼ cups gluten free flour (I use Cup4Cup) (1)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp fine sea salt
"smidge" of cinnamon (which is less than a pinch! LOL! ) (2)
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, slightly melted & cooled or 1 ½ sticks softened butter (3)
2 ounces cream cheese, room temp (4)
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup + 1 ½ tsps. granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp vanilla extract (good quality)
2 egg yolks, room temp (5)
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips (6)
½ cup chopped high quality 75% or higher dark chocolate (I used Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt – for a pop) (7)
½ cup chopped toasted pecans, opt.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
If using softened butter, place in mixing bowl with the softened cream cheese. Beat several minutes until light & fluffy.
If you’re using melted butter: slightly melt the butter in the microwave, set aside to cool. (Slightly means not all the way melted; while cooling, the rest of the butter will melt). Put the room temp cream cheese in a mixing bowl & poor the cooled butter over it. Mix until smooth & creamy.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt & cinnamon; set aside. See notes on measuring flour. (1)
To the butter & cream cheese mixture, add the brown sugar & granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed for 2 – 3 minutes until well combined & fluffy. If you’re using softened butter, mix until creamy & well combined.
Add the egg yolks, one a time, beating on low for one minute & then add the vanilla until blended.
Add the flour mixture 1/3 at a time, mixing on low until combined. Scrape down the sides and up from the bottom of the bowl. Repeat until the flour has been well combined. (8)
Stir in the chocolate chips, chopped dark chocolate & pecans until well combined.
Cover the mixture & refrigerate for at least 4 -24 hours. Super important! Why: (9)
Remove from frig & bake by dropping small ice cream scoops on the lined cookie sheet; approximately 2 inches apart. My favorite cookie sheet is light in color & measures 17 ½ x 13; 12 mounds of tough fit perfectly. (10)
Sprinkle with chopped Lindt dark chocolate with sea salt & give a quick turn of a sea salt grinder on top, opt.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes (oven vary!) until the edges are just starting to brown. Remember cookies continue to bake while cooling. (11)
Let cool for 2-4 minutes & then remove to a wire rack.

Notes

I HOPE THESE BAKING TIPS WILL BE USEFUL

(1) Spoon the flour into the measuring cup & then scrape the excess off with a knife. Dipping the measuring cup into the bag of flour can result in more flour than the recipe calls for.

(2) “Smidge” aka “Smidgen vs. Pinch. Did you know there are actually measuring spoons for smidge, pinch & dash?

A SMIDGE is 1/32^nd teaspoon (that’s not much!) A PINCH is 1/16 teaspoon & a DASH is 1/8 tsp.

(3) Melted vs. softened butter? I love doing both! If you like chewier cookies, melt the butter & make sure it’s had time to cool off. Softened butter will make a “higher” cookie. Keep in mind, chilling the dough first will bond the melted butter dough well & hopefully keep the cookies from spreading too much during the baking process.

(4) Did I say Cream Cheese? YEP! I love cream cheese! I guess that’s why I love baking cheesecakes! I’ve been experimenting with cream cheese in my cookie dough & LOVE the combo of cream cheese & butter! My original recipe calls for 2 sticks of unsalted butter. With the addition of cream cheese, cut the butter to 1 ½ sticks or 12 tbsps. The 2 ounces of softened cream cheese will make up the difference & give a rich flavor! Try it! I think you’ll LOVE it!

(5) I’ve always used 2 whole eggs in my cookie dough recipes, but recently tried egg yolks only! Why? Please don’t judge me, the yokes are where the fast is in an egg. And, the yoke “fat” will make your cookies richer & more moist & chewier. DELISH!

(6) I love chocolate chips, but as Bill told me in Sept 1970, he likes some dough with his chocolate chips. I go easy on the chips when folding them in. I can always add more, but can’t take the ones in the dough out! (Kind of like toothpaste) LOL!

(7) Adding high quality dark chocolate takes these chocolate chip cookies to the next level. One of my favorite dark chocolate bars is Lindt Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt. The pop of sea salt reminds me of eating one of my dark chocolate truffles. The combo of dark chocolate & sea salt is divine.

(8) Don’t over mix your cookie dough, which can result in flatter, crispier cookies.

(9) As tempting as it is to bake the cookies immediately, set dough in frig from 2 – 24 hours! Why? The ingredients have time to hang out & bond! The colder the dough before heading to the oven, the less spreading during cooking, especially if using melted butter.

(10) Too many cookies on your cookie sheet is a big no no! They won’t bake evenly (they’re sharing the heat) & may “run into each other”. What a visual!

(11) If you want to make the cookies look perfectly round, now’s the time to fix ‘em. Straight out of the oven, take a metal spatula & gentle “push” the warm cookie to make a nice round shape.

Keyword gluten free

ENJOY A LITTLE TASTE OF HEAVEN
RIGHT HERE IN AUSTIN, TEXAS!

Love,
connie

On April 24, 2020 • By Connie