Fabulous Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am constantly playing around with chocolate chip cookies, since I love them.  However, I am also picky about what I'm looking for in a chocolate chip cookie.  I absolutely LOVE my A-MA-ZING chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I love how they spread nice and thin and get a bit crispy. However, I also wanted something that could be puffier to bite into - but still with a wonderful taste that you can't tell is GF. (This is my goal in GF cooking - to make things that noone can tell IS gluten-free because they're so tasty).   My friend Julie (who often taste-tests for me - it's hard, but someone has to do it) said these cookies are her absolute favorite that I've made.  They were also good paired with a chocolate-peanut butter ice cream we simply had to taste-test for her husband. ;)  Enjoy!!!

The cookies look like this if you flatten slightly before cooking.  The picture below is the cookies if cooked as-is after being scooped onto the tray.

Fabulous Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 36-40 cookies (2 Tbsp cookie scoop)

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Cream the following:

1 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

Then add and mix lightly:

1 tsp water

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

2 eggs

In a separate bowl, mix together: (you want to mix gluten-free flours with xanthan gum before adding it to the wet ingredients, so you don’t get clumping)

2 cup white rice flour
2/3 tsp xanthan gum (aka, little less than 3/4 tsp)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, mix.

Fold in:
1/2 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (more or less depending on your personal preference)

Drop 2-Tbsp-sized scoops 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheet.  You can flatten slightly OR leave as-is for puffier cookies!   Bake at 350F ~10 minutes, until lightly browned on edges.   (You can also make smaller 1-Tbsp-sized cookies and bake ~7 minutes)

Remove from oven, let cool on pan a few minutes before removing to wire rack.

These freeze REALLY well!  I tend to freeze them once cool (after we've taste-tested them), and just pull them out to snack on when we (I) want a treat.  

Enjoy!!!

Lovely puffy cookies - this is how they turn out if you don't flatten at all prior to baking.