GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Who doesn’t love a good chocolate chip cookie?  It’s a timeless treat that almost everyone can agree upon!  Around here, we never tire of new spins on this classic recipe.  Milk chocolate or dark chocolate, flat and crispy or soft and chewy…. we’re up for anything chocolate chip cookie related.  To include today’s featured recipe — a gluten-free variation that looks just as tempting as the original.  These perfectly large cookies, with golden brown edges and an abundance of chocolate chips, look decadently delicious!

Today’s recipe comes to us from the new book, Beach House Baking, by Lei Shishak.  As the owner of Sugar Blossom Bake Shop in charming San Clemente, California, Lei Shishak has perfected recipes that capture the essence of beach living — sweet and simple recipes that are perfect for summer baking.  Inside the pages of her new book, you’ll find playful treats like Boardwalk Butter Cookies and Sweet and Salty Beach Bod Brittle, coupled with everything from pies to popsicles and muffins to cupcakes.  Not to mention frosty ice cream sandwich recipes like an espresso banana combination that Lei affectionately named Nantucket.  While each recipe is labeled to denote those which are heart-healthy, vegan or gluten-free, we love that Lei also highlights which recipes are quick-prep or perfect for picnics at the beach.  Because really, doesn’t a Daybreak Muffin and a morning sunrise over the ocean sound pretty amazing?  Even if the beach is far from your kitchen, the recipes in this book will bring the sun and the surf to your door.

Now, let’s enjoy these Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Lei Shishak, author of Beach House Baking, gives us the scoop on these cookies:

“It has become clear that gluten free is a strong and growing trend in the food industry.  The good news is that gluten-free flours and ingredients have continued to improve from the early days when there was a definite difference in taste from traditional flour products.  I’m including gluten-free desserts in this book that taste as delicious as my other recipes even if you are not gluten sensitive.”

GLUTEN-FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
a recipe from Beach House Baking, by Lei Shishak
(makes about 16 cookies)

½ cup + 3 tablespoons white rice flour
¼ cup potato flour
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1⁄3 teaspoon xanthan gum
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons (3⁄4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla  extract

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a couple cookie trays with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

2.  Whisk all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Add chocolate chips to mixture and set aside.

3.  In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape bowl. Add egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Scrape bowl. Add dry ingredients and mix for 1 minute on low speed.

4.  Scoop the dough onto the prepared trays (I use a 1-ounce ice cream scoop), and bake for 13 to 14 minutes or until just lightly browned on edges. Remove from oven and let cool completely on trays.

Excerpted from Beach House Baking, by Lei Shishak.  © 2014 by Lei Shishak.  Published by Skyhorse Publishing.  Used by permission of the publisher.  All rights reserved.