Yesterday, Jeffrey Larsen’s Gluten-Free Baking at Home made its way into the world. It’s filled with 100+ recipes for gluten-free cakes, cookies, scones, breads, biscuits and more. And while it is a goldmine for anyone on a gluten-free diet who loves baking (and/or eating treats!), the many tips and tricks peppered throughout — the culmination of 18 years of testing and retesting — make it a treasure for any baker. Let’s dive right in with three tips I picked up from Jeffrey’s gluten-free chocolate chip cookie, which are soft and chewy and exceptionally tasty. Jeffrey revised the recipe 14 times (!!) before giving it the green light.
3 Tips For Making The Best Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Tip 1: Refrigerate your cookie dough. Jeffrey says: “Cookie dough should always be set aside to chill in the refrigerator before it is baked. This allows the fat to solidify, which keeps the cookies from spreading as they bake.” Moreover, by allowing the flours to fully hydrate during their time in the fridge, you’ll avoid baking off a “gritty, flat cookie.” I do this with my favorite soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie dough balls, and it makes a world of difference: cookies baked from refrigerated dough (preferably 2 to 3 days refrigerated) compared to freshly mixed dough are hands-down superior both in texture and flavor. Now I know why. Tip 2: Take it one step further: Portion the cookie dough, and freeze it. Bake straight from the freezer. Jeffrey says: “Freezing cookies, scones, and biscuits before baking allows for a more gradual bake and thus less spread and a higher rise. If the butter in each of these items is frozen, it takes longer for the butter to melt.” Makes sense. Note: The timing with cookies baked straight from the freezer does not change. Tip 3: Use clarified butter. Part of Jeffrey’s interest in using clarified butter stems from having personal trouble with lactose — clarified butter is both lactose- and casein-free, the two allergens that make dairy troubling for many people. But there’s another reason to use it in baking and in cookies in particular. Jeffrey describes clarified butter as “miraculous” because it keeps cookies from spreading as they bake. Butter has a lot of water in it — clarifying it removes both the water and the milk solids, leaving the butter fat behind. Interesting, right? Friends, I’m only just scratching the surface here. Here’s a bit more:
Highlights From Gluten-Free Baking at Home
Weight measurements. Measuring by weight is important for consistent and accurate results in all baking but most especially in gluten-free baking: if you’ve every scooped potato starch or tapioca starch, you’ll know why — it’s as light as dust, which makes the chances of measuring it inaccurately by volume very high.Unique formula for each recipe: Jeffrey does not use a one-mix-fits-all approach to gluten-free baking. The ingredients — the various flours, starches, leaveners, etc. — for each recipe have been thoughtfully chosen based on the item being baked: a flaky biscuit, a buttery scones, a tender cake, etc.Care for nutrition and flavor: Jeffrey does not settle on using rice flour, a great ingredient for gluten-free baking not only for its neutral flavor but also for its performance. Because many rice flours on the market contain high amounts of pesticides and heavy metals, Jeffrey uses them sparingly.Whole grain and nut flours: Jeffrey’s recipes include almond, oat, sorghum, millet, teff, and buckwheat flours to name a few.Dairy-free and vegan substitutions: It is rare to find treats that are both gluten-free and vegan, and Jeffrey offers alternatives to milk, butter, and eggs in nearly every recipe.Vegetable and fruit purees: Inspired by an old cake recipe that used whole poached oranges, Jeffrey used the technique to create a variety of purées to add to his breads and baked goods, which not only add flavor but also nutrition. (He also has a tip on using high-quality baby food if you don’t feel like making your own purée.)
There’s so much more, too: from the tutorials preceding each chapter to Jeffrey’s food styling tips inserted throughout. For instance, for a better presentation of your chocolate chip cookies, don’t mix in all of the chocolate chips — set some aside for adding on top of the cookies just before baking. So smart. Final Note: Jeffrey, if you are unfamiliar, is not only a food stylist but also a recipe developer, pastry chef, and instructor living in the Bay Area. He was the food stylist for the Bread Toast Crumbs photoshoot, which was hilarious because he couldn’t eat any of the food we churned out day after day for two weeks. He is a perfectionist and an artist, not to mention one of the kindest, best people I have ever met.
My 5 Tips for Exceptional Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie How-To:
Jeffrey Larsen’s Gluten-Free Baking at Home: No reviews Notes:
For best results: Use a scale. For best results: Make the batter at least a day in advance. Better: make the batter in advance, portion the batter into balls, and freeze the balls. These cookies bake best straight from the freezer. In place of almond meal, you can use: pecan meal, sunflower meal, hazelnut meal or 45 g (1/2 cup) oat flour. Clarified butter. Jeffrey describes clarified butter as “miraculous” because it keeps cookies from spreading as they bake. Butter has a lot of water in it — clarifying it removes both the water and the milk solids, leaving the butter fat behind. You’ll want to clarify a little bit more than 3/4 cup — I clarified a cup to ensure I had 3/4 cup to use in the recipe. In place of the eggs, you could use 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce. I prefer chocolate wafers to chocolate chips. Local friends, you can find the Guayaquil Pistoles (64% cacao) at Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany or online. Guittard chocolate wafers are more readily available.
