As of lately, it is very rare for me to eat a really sweet indulgent treat. Don't get me wrong, anyone who knows me well knows I love sweets, but I normally prefer ones that have been made healthier in some way (lower in sugar, lower in fat, etc.). Not this time. In a moment of weakness last night, I gave in to a craving. I HAD to have chocolate chip cookies, but not any kind of chocolate chip cookies. Only the ones from my childhood would do... Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.
I immediately made the cookies (but gluten and dairy free of course).
Once I told my Facebook readers what I was making, several requested I post the recipe. So here you are... PLEASE make sure you read the recipe notes prior to making these bad boys!
Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free, dairy free, soy free)
Yields about 3 dozen cookies
This recipe has been adapted from the Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.
1 cup palm shortening (I use Spectrum)
2 cup palm sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
½ teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup tapioca starch
1 cup super fine sorghum flour (I use Authentic Foods)
¼ cup almond flour
1 cup allergy free mini chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life)
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the shortening and sugar.
- Whisk in the vanilla and the eggs until just blended.
- Add the xanthan gum, sea salt, baking soda, and tapioca starch and stir until blended.
- Whisk in the sorghum flour and almond flour, and then the chocolate chips.
- Drop by rounded tablespoon onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 9 – 11 minutes.
Megan's Recipe Notes:
- I don't recommend using a substitute for the palm shortening. Shortening is a thicker substance than coconut oil or olive oil, etc, so if you use different oil, your cookies will turn out very flat and thin. If you tolerate organic butter, I think it would work well (just make sure it's soft and not melted).
- I use palm sugar in this recipe. If you do not use palm sugar, but cane sugar or sucant, decrease the amount used to 1 ½ cups. Palm sugar is less sweet than either cane sugar or sucant, so if you use a full 2 cups of either, your cookies will be overly sweet (and they are already plenty sweet!).
- Super fine sorghum flour is a key ingredient in this recipe. It adds to the smooth (non gritty) texture, but if you don't have access to super fine sorghum, feel free to use regular sorghum flour.
- I added almond meal to this recipe because it adds such a wonderful texture and taste to baked goods. If you are allergic to almonds, simply substitute more sorghum flour, or a ¼ cup of super fine brown rice flour.
Enjoy!
Megan
Vicky says
These look delicious and they look like they "Crunch" ! Lovely!
Danielle says
Oh these look super Yummy! Like cookies from my childhood 🙂
Laura says
I have never tried fine sorghum flour before, but judging by the smooth perfect texture of these cookies, I need to give it a whirl. These babies would be gone in seconds at my house!
Kelly Smith says
Would an egg replacement of some kind work in these? We are needing to eliminate eggs for 6 months.
Megan says
Hi Kelly,
An egg replacement might work, but I haven't tried it myself. If you do try making them using an egg replacement, increase the xanthan gum to 3/4 teaspoon. When you remove the cookies from the oven, you'll have to let them completely cool on the cookie tray before removing them. Please let me know how they turn out if you try it! Good luck!
🙂 Megan
sarah says
I use chia seed as egg replacement. You don't have to add more gum due to the texture of chia. I grind them and soak a tsp in 1/4 cup of liquid they gel up (depends on what u prefer, almond milk or coconut milk work beautifully) you may need more than a quarter cup, I eyeball it to equal the amount of egg I am replacing. Tsp works great for 2 eggs. May take some experimenting but its worth it.
Kelly Smith says
Only one teaspoon of ground chia to replace 2 eggs? I thought the standard was 1 TB ground chia plus 3 TB liquid per egg.
Edonna says
mmmm...I was wondering what to bake today for my lunches next week!
Edonna says
ooooohhhhhh Megan!!!! I just put the first pan in. I was always one to eat the cookie dough. And this is soooo close to the original recipe as far as the dough goes. I will say that I used a GF flour blend my friend developed using a grain mill-sorghum, millet, brown rice and buckwheat for the sorghum flour. And instead of almond flour I used mesquite flour, just because I have it. My sister trimmed her mesquite trees and found a place to mill the beans...pod and all!
Thank you again for sharing!!!
Alaine @ My GF & DF Living says
These look like they would have a good crunch. I will have to try them with egg replacements to. I will try using Ener-G egg replacers I think. Thanks for posting 🙂
Heidi says
I hope those taste as good as they look! I can't wait to try them. I would love it if you visited my new Gluten-Free Monday party at OneCreativeMommy.com and linked up this and any other idea you would like to share. I hope to see you there.
Brandae says
Just baked these and ate WAY too many! I was out of spectrum shortening so used half organic butter and half coconut earth balance. Used a mix of vanilla stevia, sucanat, palm sugar and was out of almond flour so used teff. I have some pretty picky eaters - they usually are quite critical of my GF desserts, but they LOVED these. The six year old said, "Wow, Mom! These are just like the old days' cookies!". High compliment!
Thank you!
Elaine says
Hi Megan,
I made these the other day and have to say they are the BEST chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten, gluten or no gluten! I think the palm shortening is key. They were crispy on the outside but chewy inside. Thanks for a great recipe! I am almost hesitant to share them with my wheat eating family! 🙂
Robin Muller says
THese look awesome! But do you have a printer friendly version?
Megan says
Hi Robin,
No printer friendly version yet. It's quite a bit of work to do that (I have to manually go into each post and re-write it). Slowly but surely I will get to it!
Hugs,
Megan
Robin Muller says
OH MY, i just made these ..holy cow are they delicious! I did tweak the recipe...I did 1/2 cup each of b.sugar and white sugar..I used VEGAN margarine, and I added about another 1/2 cup of almond flour to the recipe (until the dough looked right) and 1/2 tsp of xanthum gum. and also 1 cup of cranberries..YUM!!
Megan says
Robin,
You are sweet! Thank you for leaving me a comment and letting me know you tried them! I'm glad you enjoyed them.
Hugs,
megan
Caroline Horne says
Oooh, I'm hosting coffee at church this Sunday and want too make sure that Pastor Jim and I can eat anything on the table without having to worry. I think I'll add just a hint of cinnamon just like my mom did, it really brings out the chocolate.
Caroline Horne says
Just ate 2 of them. Must Stop Now!!!
Megan says
Hi Caroline!
Thank for sharing the tip on the cinnamon! I will have to try that sometime. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the cookies. Hugs to you!
Megan
Renee says
Is the palm sugar coconut palm or palmera palm? Do you have a recommendation for brand or where to procure? Thank you! Renee
Tammy says
Hi Megan, I followed your recipe on every ingredient with the exception of using hazelnut flour instead of almond flour (it's what I had on hand) and these turned out fantastic! I can definitely fool my non-gf family and friends with these. Thank you for sharing!
Megan says
You're welcome! Glad you enjoyed them! 😉
Megan
Lizzie says
I have 6 little ones that LOVED these cookies. Thank you for posting the recipe. Do you know if the dough freezes well?
Megan says
Glad your LO LOVED these cookies! That makes my heart happy! I have not tried freezing the dough, but I think these would be great frozen. 😉
April says
Megan can you tell me what the xantham gum does and what if it's left out? Thank you.
Megan says
Hi April,
The xanthan gum binds everything together. If you were to leave it out, you'd end up with a very crumbly cookie. I don't recommend leaving it out.
GwenH says
I used butter in my cookies and they spread like crazy... I only made one pan, what can I add to the remainder of the dough so they don't spread so much?
Megan says
Hi Gwen,
Sorry to hear that. You could try adding some more sorghum flour to see if that firms up the dough some. Also, refrigerating it might be a good idea too.