Soft, chewy, and golden crisp on the outside, these gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are the BEST! And oh yeah – they don’t skimp on the chocolate chips!
Okay, first thing’s first: yes, I’m a dietitian. Yes, this blog is about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. So what’s a chocolate chip cookie recipe with butter and sugar doing here?
First – it’s not because these chocolate chip cookies being gluten-free makes them inherently a more nutritious choice. It doesn’t.
It’s because a healthy lifestyle is one that lets you live your life. And while different things work for different folks, there is certainly room for you to enjoy your favorite treats in any lifestyle! Health isn’t black and white – you can eat salads, roasted vegetables, crunchy chickpeas, and quinoa pilafs to your heart’s content AND you can enjoy occasional cookies, french fries, adult beverages (21+ please!), and other treats, too.
Okay, now that that’s settled. 😉
Why are these the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies ever?
I’ve tried a LOT of gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipes in the five years I’ve been eating gluten-free. And y’all…there are a lot of not-so-great ones. Here’s why I love this recipe and think it’s the best:
- They’re soft and chewy, and get slightly crisp on the outside.
- If crisper cookies are your thing, just leave them in the oven a couple minutes longer.
- It’s full of chocolate chips.
- You don’t need to buy fifty different flours and gums and starches. Just get one bag of gluten-free cup-for-cup/ measure-for-measure flour. I use King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour.
- It uses regular sugar and brown sugar – no expensive coconut sugars or other fancy “healthy” sugars (that really aren’t “healthy” and still are treated as sugar by your body).
- There are no gritty textures.
- No weird flavors or aftertastes from specialty flours.
- They’re freaking delicious!
How to Make the BEST Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
For ingredients, you need:
- gluten-free measure for measure flour
- baking soda
- butter
- cane sugar
- light brown sugar
- vanilla extract
- egg
- chocolate chips or chunks
While you could just use a whisk to cream together your butter and sugars, I really prefer a mixer. I always use my Kitchen Aid stand mixer (mine’s in cobalt blue, I love it!), but an inexpensive hand mixer works well, too.
Then you follow the same process you do for most any cookie recipe!
Cream together softened butter with the sugars for a few minutes until soft, smooth, and creamy. Add in a room temperature egg and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and briefly mix until just combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips.
When it comes to baking, you can use any baking sheet – I love using half sheet baking sheets lined with these silicone baking mats.
To portion out the cookie dough, I use a small cookie scoop. It helps create a uniform cookie, which is great for even baking. Plus it’s really quick to scoop out and on to the pan!
Then bake your cookies, let cool a few minutes, and they’re ready to be enjoyed!
Know Your Oven
One of my biggest tips when it comes to baking of any kind is to know your oven. If you feel like you have a hard time baking or often overcook or burn things in the oven, check what temperature your oven actually runs at compared to what you’re setting it at. Just get an oven thermometer to check!
The Biggest Mistake People Make When Baking
If you feel like your cookies (or muffins, cakes, etc.) never turn out like the pictures do or taste too dry, usually it’s because you aren’t measuring flour correctly.
Do you do any of these things?
- Use your measuring cup to scoop into the flour?
- Pat the flour down, pack the measuring cup, or scoop into packed flour?
- Not use a flat spatula or knife to level off the top?
If you do any of the above, your baked goods likely are ending up with more flour than called for by the recipe.
The most accurate way to measure flour is per grams. But honestly, I didn’t even list gram measurements here because I know the majority of my United States-based readers (where most of y’all reside!) don’t have or use a kitchen scale.
So to try to measure as accurate as possible, try the following:
- Make sure your flour isn’t packed.
- Carefully spoon flour into your measuring cup (again – don’t pack it or use packed flour!).
- Use a flat edge, like the flat side of a knife or a spatula to gently scrape across the top of the measuring cup to remove excess flour (without accidentally pressing more flour in, like you may if you use a finger or spoon).
Also for best accuracy in measuring dry ingredients like flour, be sure to use measuring cups, not glass liquid measuring cups.
Does it matter what type of chocolate is used?
Nope, as long as you use what you like! I’ve tested this recipe dozens of times over the past few months, and have had multiple taste testers and recipe testers! Ultimately when it comes to the chocolate – use what you like! My husband loves these cookies with mini chocolate chips whereas I enjoy them most with either just semi-sweet chocolate chips or a blend of semi-sweet chocolate chips and bittersweet or dark chocolate chunks. I’ve also just chopped a chocolate bar, before, too – chocolate is chocolate, still works great!
What type of gluten-free flour is best?
I use and love King Arthur Gluten Free Measure for Measure Flour. I know one recipe tester used Bob’s Red Mill measure for measure gluten-free flour with success. Some different brands of gluten-free flour can have slight variations, but the most important thing is to be careful with accuracy of measuring like I detailed above (you don’t want hockey puck cookies!).
If you test with another brand of gluten-free flour (or even whole wheat or regular all purpose flour), leave a comment with how your cookies turned out!
Do you need to chill the dough?
No. I found chilling the dough beforehand made the cookies slightly puffier, but in a comparison, my husband and I both actually preferred the cookies where the dough went straight from being mixed to the oven. Which is great! A no chilling cookie dough recipe is the perfect low maintenance chocolate chip cookie recipe I want!
Freezing Instructions
You can freeze these cookies two ways. The first, is by freezing the baked cookies once they’re cool. A little secret of mine is that I actually love cold cookies just a few minutes out of the freezer. 🙂
The second method of freezing is my personal favorite. Scoop the cookie dough onto a silicone mat or parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (or cutting board, or whatever flat surface will fit in your freezer). Make sure the cookie dough balls are not touching. Freeze in the open air for a couple hours. Once cookie dough balls are frozen solid, transfer to a ziplock bag or airtight container. These can be frozen up to three months.
When you’re ready to bake your frozen cookie dough balls, just place them on a silicone mat or parchment-paper lined baking sheet as you’re waiting for your oven to preheat. Bake as normal (350 degrees, 10-12 minutes), possibly adding just one extra minute if your oven preheats quickly.
And there you have it – fresh baked gluten-free cookies basically on demand. 😉 Because truly, what is better than a fresh baked cookie?
All in all, these are the best gluten-free chocolate chip cookies I ever wanted. And for the record, my taste testers were primarily folks who don’t eat gluten-free, so it’s a cookie recipe to be loved by all – not just gluten-free folk!
More Gluten-Free Dessert Recipes
If you want to try more of my favorite gluten-free dessert recipes, try these!
- Pumpkin Pie Crumble Bars
- Chocolate Avocado Truffles
- Healthy Buckeyes
- Skillet Brownies with Raspberries (grain and gluten-free!)
If you love this recipe, I’d love if you shared on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest! Thank you!
The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- ⅓ cup white cane sugar
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1¾ cups gluten-free measure-for-measure flour (217 grams)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ cups chocolate chips (one 12 oz bag)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
- Using a stand mixer (or a hand mixer with a large bowl), cream softened butter, white sugar, and packed light brown sugar for 3-4 minutes on medium speed, or until soft, smooth, creamy, and evenly incorporated.
- Add the room temperature egg and vanilla extract. Turn the mixer back on to medium speed and cream together another minute.
- Add the carefully measured dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- Using a small cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto silicone baking mat lined baking sheets. (If you don't have a cookie scoop, each cookie dough ball contains about 2 tablespoons cookie dough and has a diameter of about 1.6 inches.) Don't overcrowd cookie sheet as cookies will spread. Place cookies a couple inches apart, 12 cookies per baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until desired crispness.
- Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
How many grams of flour do you use? My cookies spread too much!
Oh no! I’m out of town this weekend, but I’ll test these again on Monday and add the grams measurement to the instructions/ make any necessary adjustments. So sorry!
Hey Renee! I’ve tested the recipe a couple more times and have updated the measurement/ grams for the flour. I hope this gives you a better result! Merry Christmas!
Perfect! Thank you so much! Merry Christmas to you too!!
I’d like to use coconut flour in this recipe. Will I run into any issues if I substitute?
Yes. This recipe will not work with coconut flour. Coconut flour is incredibly absorbent and works completely different than all purpose/ measure-for-measure gluten-free flour. I would suggest googling a coconut flour chocolate chip cookie recipe. Good luck!
These were delicious! Made them with mini chocolate chips and (leftover from Christmas haha) mini m&Ms. Very quick and easy to make as well. Will definitely be making them again. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you so much, I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed them!
I have made them twice over the past week for my teenage son who hasn’t had a good chocolate chip cookie since he went gluten free a few years back due to health reasons. I saw tears in his eyes and he asked me multiple times if I was sure they were gluten free! He said they were sinful. Also everyone else in the family can’t stay away from them-they can’t believe it’s gluten free❤️
Awww, Tai, thank you so much for sharing this sweet comment! I’m SO happy for your son and your whole family, that you guys can all enjoy these cookies together. Thank you!
Hi! I used Bisquick GF flour and they were delicious! Everyone came running for them! Thank you!
Thanks so much, Leah! I love hearing what other flours/ substitutes work for folks! Glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
These turned out surprisingly well. I say surprisingly because I’m pretty bad at baking. I didnt cream the butter and sugar enough so the dough seemed too dry to me, but I pressed on, and they turned out great. Def will make again!
Hey Travis, so glad you had success even though you’re not a baker (yet!). 😉 Glad you enjoyed, have a great day!
I made these exactly to the recipe, but they spread all over the pan….scooped them off and froze them as they were in crumbles…will use them for the crust for a cheesecake perhaps, but there is definitely something wrong with the ingredient measures I think. Yummy tasting though 🙂
Hi Dana! Oh no! It sounds like you used too little flour – did you measure in grams? I’ve had hundreds of people make these cookies, with many excellent reviews and pictures of finished cookies shared on Pinterest, Instagram, to my email, and even texted to me from friends and family. Respectfully, I don’t think it is the recipe. If you want to send me an email (lindsey @ nutritiontofit.com – remove spaces) or even send me a DM on Instagram (@nutritiontofit), I’d be happy to help you troubleshoot what went wrong. Thanks!
Wow!! These are so good!! ☺
Thank you so much, Katherine!
I used Premium Gold gluten free flour blend and a smidge of Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten free flour, both of which contain xanthan gum and my cookies turned out beautiful. Because my butter was not soft enough when I creamed it my cookie dough was very dense but I added a couple table spoons of flax seed milk and it softened up and the recipe still turned out great!
So glad to hear they turned out well!
Hi, my cookies weren’t done after 15-17 minutes and cooking for a few minutes out of the oven…any advice? I am not at a high altitude
Hi Tosha! Couple things to check: 1. how big were your cookies? The cooking time is based on a cookie of about 2 tablespoons of dough. and 2. Is your oven calibrated correctly? I ask because we recently moved and until we had the oven repaired, it wasn’t holding a stable temperature and was taking nearly twice as long to bake. If you’re unsure about your oven temp, you can buy a simple oven thermometer to check and see what temperature it’s actually cooking at compared to where you have it set. I hope that may help!
Did everything to the T with the recipe. The dough seemed dry. Went and made the cookies anyway. They have been baking for 15 minutes and seem to not be done all the way. When I make gluten cookies everything turns out just fine and only have to bake 8-10 minutes.
Hey Sarah, I’m sorry you’re having trouble with the recipe. To help troubleshoot, what specific brand and type of flour did you use? And how did you measure the flour? It’s very common for many to accidentally pack in too much flour in measuring cups (hence the detailed flour measuring instructions in the post, along with the measurement of flour in grams – the most accurate method for any type of baking). And how many cookies did you get out of the recipe?
Maybe put butter at room temperature instead of softened.
I followed the recipe and my cookies came out great!
Thanks For This Recipe
Thanks, Bonnie, glad you enjoyed them! I hesitate to change to “room temperature” because in some environments, room temperature can actually be too warm! (Softened is considered around 68 degrees.)
So I made these cookies tonight, and let me tell you, you should follow the recipe.
I didn’t have one-to-one flour, I just had regular gf flour. I didn’t have enough, so I used some gf pancake mix.
Don’t do that.
I made the recipe with my own “adaptations,” and it immediately melted into one giant cookie. Very thin, very cakey. After ten minutes, I took them out, patted myself on the back for a job horrifically done, and scooped a bunch of them (I dare not use the word “cookies” any longer and continue to disgrace the author’s recipe) into a bowl and slapped some whipped cream on top.
Are they good? Sure. For a hybrid, improperly cooked dessert. Is the texture terrible? Absolutely. I don’t care, because it tastes fine, and I’m going to eat it because I’ve been quarantined in my house for a month and I’m going insane. But it would’ve been WAY better if I had followed the recipe.
I’ll come back and update when I have been able to accurately make this.
Wow Amber, sounds like you had quite the baking adventure tonight! We made these cookies again today, too – wish you were one of my neighbors we shared them with, sounds like you could have used them! Hopefully you can make the recipe as written soon. 🙂
I have never baked Gluten free and this recipe was super easy to follow! I loved how they turned out!!! Thanks for making Gluten free baking easy for me😁
Yay, so glad they were easy and you enjoyed them!
Hi –
Super excited about this recipe. My cookies required almost double the baking time at high altitude. Is this normal for baking? I am new to baking and I am baking way above sea level, so I am looking for advice and insight.
Hey there! High altitudes definitely affect baking – check out this post from Quaker that has some insights on alterations you can make. https://www.quakeroats.com/cooking-and-recipes/baking-101/welcome-to-baking-101/high-altitude-baking Typically high altitudes won’t require a lot of extra baking time – I wonder if you used a larger scoop/ portion of cookie dough per cookie?
Just wondering what I could do to adapt this recipe for no egg? Thanks!
Hi Jen! I’d try a flax egg. Mix 1 tbsp milled flax seed with 3 tbsp warm water and let sit for at least a few minutes to let it thicken. I haven’t tried a flax egg with this recipe yet (I’ll make a note to try it the next time my family makes them), but I’ve made other cookie recipes with flax eggs successfully before. Let me know how it goes!