I have a friend who has the most food allergies of anyone I've ever met. Ready? Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy, Peanuts, and Mustard Grain. But, also, he loves dessert! Chocolate especially (I recently showed him how to make the Hervé This mousse). I also know plenty of others who are either Vegan or Gluten-Free, if not both, and I made these cookies for a recent party and people flipped out!
They are soft and chewy, but are definitely some of the best gluten-free cookies I've ever had - you can really barely detect the typical GF texture. They're also naturally vegan (as in I didn't adapt them to be) - coconut oil gives them that chew and moistness, and pumpkin is a pretty natural egg-replacement. You could easily make them with regular flour instead and nix the xanthan gum, but I can't vouch for how different the baking time/process would be.
They have a deep pumpkin pie and molasses-y flavor, studded with the dark sweetness of chocolate. I promised more than a few this recipe would be up asap, so -
Happy Baking!
Adapted from Baker by Nature
MAKES 19 Cookies
INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES
1/2 cup refined coconut oil* (make sure it's completely solid, not melted at all)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (100g)
3/4 cup dark brown sugar (155g)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 Tablespoons molasses
2 Tablespoons coconut milk (or almond or soy)
1/3 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)**
2.25 cups gluten-free flour (I like Bob's 1-to-1; 333g)
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1.25 cups dairy-free chocolate chips or chunks, plus some extra for dotting the cookies after baking
*You can use unrefined coconut oil if you'd rather, though the cookies might have a slight coconutty taste. which is lovely
**What to do with the leftover pumpkin? Make this Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread or this Pumpkin Pie Baked Oatmeal.
stand mixer
medium mixing bowl
spatula
2-3 large cookie sheets & parchment
food scale or cookie scoop (optional)
DIRECTIONS
Heat your oven to 350F.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together 333g gluten-free flour (2.25c), 2tsp xanthan gum, 1tsp baking soda, and 1/2tsp salt - set aside.
In your stand mixer, cream (beat on medium-high) 1/2c solid coconut oil, 100g sugar (1/2c), 155g dark brown sugar (3/4c), and all the spices about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl halfway through.
Add 2tsp vanilla, 2TB molasses. 2TB coconut milk, and 1/3c pumpkin puree - mix well on medium-high until fully combined.
Add the dry ingredients and mix well on medium-high (starting on low so everything doesn't go poof) for about 1 minute until completely combined - you may need to scrape down the sides in the middle.
Add 1.25c dairy-free chocolate chips, and mix about 10 seconds until dispersed.
In order to make the cookies look uniform, you need to scoop the batter either with a cookie scoop or by weight - I use a 2” cookie scoop. Place dough scoops about 2" apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets and press them down gently so the tops are flattened.
Bake for 10 minutes, and as soon as you remove them hand-place a few chocolate chips on top of/into the top of each cookie. As your cookies cool to room temperature the chocolate with melt a little and then re-harden to make your cookies look great. A few might fall off once they're cool, and that's fine.
Cool the cookies on their cookie sheets until room temperature. Once the chocolate on top is no longer tacky, store in tupperware. They're even better the second day, and will last up to 5. They freeze well too (though if you're definitely going to do this I'd skip adding the extra chocolate chips to the tops cause they'll likely fall off). Defrost in a single layer at room temperature.
