Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, a recipe in progress

My chocolate chip cookies have always spread a little more than I would like, and when I started baking gluten-free, the "cookie brittle" incidents grew worse.  I've read up a little about the science of baking and recipe conversion and figured out some of the places where I've gone wrong, but I still haven't quite found a standby chocolate chip cookie recipe.  Possibly because I keep losing the little slips of paper where I write down what I did last time.

So I decided to start blogging the iterations.

I like whole grains, and I like fiber in my baked goods, so this recipe has a good bit of whole grain flour.  The stevia is more an attempt to correct texture than to reduce the sugar content.  My GF cookies tend to spread out into sheets of cookie brittle, even when the dough has been refrigerated overnight.  Adding more flour didn't seem to help, so I decided to try replacing some of the sugar, since artifical sweeteners tend to lead to drier baked goods.  (I've seen recipe conversion advice that recommends that you think of sugar as part of the liquid in your recipes.)

3 7/8 oz. expeller pressed coconut oil
4 oz. salted butter
3/4 c. light brown sugar
stevia sweetener equivalent to 3/4 c. sugar (the volume will vary by brand)
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp double strength vanilla

1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
25 grams golden flax meal
50 grams sorghum flour
75 grams teff flour
150 grams 40/60 All Purpose Blend

12 oz. chocolate chips
1 c. walnut pieces, toasted (optional)

If you're using nuts, take the time to toast them in a toaster oven or a dry pan -- it greatly improves the flavor.  I store my raw nuts in the freezer, and find that the "medium" toasting cycle in my toaster oven gets them perfectly warm and brown if I spread them on a foil covered pan and pop them in to the cold oven.

I also weigh out the flour and measure the soda and salt on top before I start mixing.

Let the butter and coconut oil come to room temperature, and cream them together with the sugar and stevia using an electric mixer.  Start on the lowest speed so you don't spray light, fluffy stevia powder all over the kitchen.  Scrape down the bowl, and beat on medium until light and fluffy, and everything is a uniform color.  (No white blobs of cold coconut oil.)

Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat until well combined.  Scrape down the bowl, and then add the flax meal, flours, baking soda and salt.  Scrape down the bowl once or twice and mix until well combined.  Then mix in the chocolate chips and toasted nuts (if using).

Scrape the batter into a smaller bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.  (I occasionally mix up cookie dough before breakfast so it will be ready to bake at dinner time.)

Scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet, and bake 11 minutes at 350F.