The ultimate chocolate chip cookies - these are thick, soft, & chewy, layered with big chunks of chocolate, and entirely gluten-free!
Everyone has their own idea about what makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie. In my mind, the perfect cookie is thick, with a soft, chewy & dense center, and no shortage of chocolate. It's rich & buttery, with a dough highlighted by brown sugar & vanilla extract for extra flavor. These cookies are all those things, AND they're gluten-free!
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Tips for making super soft and chewy cookies
When it comes to making cookies that are extra soft and chewy, there's a few tricks I keep up my sleeve:
Ingredients
Cream Cheese: Adding a little bit of cream cheese to your cookie dough helps keep your cookies thick and extra-soft. It's the secret to all those "soft-baked" cookie recipes, and one I also used in my favorite gluten free chocolate cookies. It works wonders!
Cornstarch: Mixing a small amount of cornstarch in with your dry ingredients is another great way to make sure you wind up with extra-tender cookies.
Brown Sugar: Using brown sugar in place of white (granulated) sugar in cookie dough also helps them stay soft, because the extra liquid content adds moisture to the cookies. Plus, it adds an extra layer of flavor to your cookies that white sugar simply doesn't have!
Egg yolk: I almost always replace one whole egg with an egg yolk in my cookie recipes. The extra fat from the yolk helps produce a more rich and tender cookie.
Other tricks
Don't overbake! Many recipes call for baking cookies until they're golden-brown, but for super-soft cookies, you want to bake them just until they look puffed up and dry on top. Aim for under-baking rather than over-baking.
What kind of chocolate to use
Classic chocolate chips are great for recipes like my gluten free chocolate chip muffins, but when it comes to cookies I highly recommend using chocolate wafers. Because they're wider and flatter, they create large pools of chocolate that get layered into your cookies, increasing the ratio of chocolate to cookie in every bite.
How to keep your cookies thick and prevent spreading
Use softened (not melted) butter. I realize it requires forethought to take your butter out to soften ahead of time, but for perfectly thick cookies, it's important! Softening your butter just to room temperature makes it soft enough to cream with the sugar, but still cold enough for your cookies to bake up nice and thick.
Chill your cookie dough! Again, I KNOW, this is kind of a pain. But it's worth it! The colder your dough is before baking, the less your cookies will spread in the oven. Plus, the extra time in the fridge gives all the flavors a chance to really develop for better-tasting cookies.
Use a silicone baking mat. You might not think it makes a difference, but time and time again I've seen that it does. All things equal, cookies baked on a silicone liner always end up thicker.
For thinner and crispier cookies
If, by chance, you prefer a thin and crispy cookie, you can bake these right away (rather than chilling the dough first), and bake them on parchment paper instead of a silicone liner. You can also bake them until they start to turn golden. This will make your cookies thinner, with crispier edges.
How to freeze chocolate chip cookie dough
It's super easy to freeze cookie dough to bake later. After the dough has chilled in the refrigerator for about an hour or so, portion it out into balls as if you were getting ready to bake the cookies. Place the balls of cookie dough on a baking sheet and transfer them to the freezer until firm. Then, move them to a zip-top bag and store in the freezer until ready to bake. Remove them from the freezer while your oven is preheating and increase the baking time as needed (usually an extra couple minutes).
Storing gluten free cookies
I've found that gluten-free cookies really don't store as well as regular chocolate chip cookies, and these are no exception. They are best served fresh. However, they will keep in an airtight container for a few days.
More chocolate chip cookie recipes
The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {gluten-free}: These are my all--time favorite Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They're also soft and chewy, but heavy on the oatmeal for lots of extra texture.
Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies {gluten-free): For a classic, not too soft, not too crispy cookie, these are your go-to.
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies: This was my previous go-to recipe before I went gluten-free. It's very similar to the one you see here, and perfect for anyone looking for a recipe with standard all-purpose flour.
PrintSoft & Chewy Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
The ultimate chocolate chip cookies - these are thick, soft, & chewy, layered with big chunks of chocolate, and entirely gluten-free!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Chill Time: 12 hours (overnight)
- Cook Time: 11 minutes (up to 13)
- Total Time: 31 minutes (up to 33)
- Yield: 20 cookies
- Category: cookies
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups, spoon and level (10 ⅝ ounces) gluten-free all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ cup or 1 ½ sticks (6 ounces) butter**, softened
- 2 ounces cream cheese
- 1 ½ cups, packed (11 ¼ ounces) brown sugar
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature***
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate wafers
Instructions
- Whisk dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.
- Mix wet ingredients: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a bowl and handheld electric mixer), cream together the butter, cream cheese, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and yolk one at a time, wiping down the bowl and beater as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold in with a spatula just until mostly incorporated. Add 10 ½ ounces chocolate and fold into batter until just combined and dispersed throughout.
- Chill: For best results, transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate overnight before baking****.
- Prep oven: When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with silicone liners*****. Position oven racks in the top and bottom-third positions.
- Scoop cookies: Scoop dough by 2 ounce portions (about 3 tablespoons per cookie) and shape into balls. Divide between the prepared baking sheets with no more than 9 cookies on a single sheet. Use the remaining chocolate wafers to press a few pieces of extra chocolate into the top of each cookie.
- Bake: Bake cookies in preheated oven for 11-13 minutes, switching racks and rotating halfway through, just until the tops no longer look wet (you're not looking for golden-brown cookies here).
- Cool: Allow cookies to cool on pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. These are best served fresh at room temperature, but can be stored for a few days in an airtight container.
Notes
**I made these with salted butter and love them that way, but if you tend to be sensitive about salt I'd suggest using unsalted butter.
***To quickly bring eggs to room temperature, place whole eggs in a bowl filled with warm water to cover. Let sit for 5-10 minutes before cracking/using.
****If you prefer thinner cookies with crispier edges, you can bake the cookies immediately. Otherwise, I highly recommend letting the dough chill; it will keep in the refrigerator for at least a week.
*****If you don't have a silicone liner you can use parchment paper, but your cookies may not turn out as thick.
Trisa Pittman
I made these for a friend. About two minutes after my husband dropped them off she frantically called to make sure they were gluten free. She said they were the best she's ever had.
Alexandra Azary
That's an amazing compliment; thank you for sharing! I'm so glad they were a hit!
karrie
I made these cookies and they are the best! I only added 1/4 cup of oat flour and omitted that much gf flour!
Alexandra Azary
Love that idea!
Alex
Are there any stores that sell these in frozen form so it can be baked in demand?
alexandra
Haha you would love that. ;)