Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies

 

Espresso laced chocolate chip cookies- gluten-free + vegan.

You knew it was only a matter of time before I'd post another cookie recipe. I love baking cookies- it's painfully obvious. (What the bleep else are you going to do in the desert, stuck out in the middle of sand and pinon with no neighbors to speak of- if you don't count the coyotes and stink bugs, that is?)

That's right. You start thinking about gluten-free flours and raw agave nectar and semi-sweet chocolate chips. You conjure cookie dough in your mind's eye- a richly flavored hearty dough made with buckwheat, millet and quinoa flours. You add a generous dusting of cinnamon. Some strong and hot espresso. Bourbon vanilla.

You taste the dough on your fingers.

This is gonna work, you say out loud. So you write it all down on a slip of paper. You slide a baking sheet into the waiting oven. The kitchen starts to smell like the bakery in Stranger Than Fiction. Warm and spicy and sweet all at once. (What, you don't have Smellavision?)

Your husband walks through the pink stained wooden door. He smiles.

Here, you say, breaking apart a tender, melting biscuit and lifting it to his lips.

Have a cookie.

Espresso laced chocolate chip cookies. For grown-ups.

Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookie Recipe- Vegan and Gluten-Free

These coffee flavored cookies are higher in protein than your average gluten-free cookie made with old school white rice flour and starches. They're on the hearty side, with an assertive grainy flavor. Your taste buds will appreciate them best if you've been eschewing refined starches and sugars for a little while- I'm not gonna lie.

If you're brand spanking new to the gluten-free game I might suggest one of my other cookie recipes first, because buckwheat and quinoa can be an acquired taste for some. But if you enjoy whole grains and quinoa, and the subtle sweetness of agave nectar, do give these a whirl. They're delicious.

Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with an Exopat or parchment paper.

Ingredients:

1 cup GF buckwheat flour

1/2 cup GF millet flour

1/2 cup GF quinoa flour or sorghum flour

1/2 cup potato starch

1 tablespoon arrowroot

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon- or more, to taste

1 pinch of nutmeg, to taste

1/2 cup Spectrum Organic Shortening

1/2 cup raw organic agave nectar

Ener-G Egg Replacer for 1 egg, mixed

1/4 cup espresso- double strength, sweetened to taste with stevia

1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract

1 cup dairy-free semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life soy-free chips)

Note: If you can use eggs, it's perfectly fine to substitute one large free-range organic egg for the egg replacer.

Instructions:

Whisk the gluten-free flours with the remaining dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Add the wet ingredients and beat by hand until the dough comes together. This dough was a tad wetter than other cookie dough I've been making- but when I tasted it I decided NOT to add more flour. (If by some chance your dough is too stiff, add a tablespoon of hemp/soy/coconut milk- as needed- until the dough is a bit softer.)

Stir in the semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Note: Cover and chill the dough before baking if you like. I did not chill the first batch and the cookies baked at 17 minutes. The second chilled batch took a minute longer.

Scoop the dough with a spoon and form the dough into balls slightly smaller than golf balls. You don't need to be fussy. I dropped the dough onto the Exopat and smoothed the edges a bit, not pressing down too much- just slightly (if you press gluten-free dough balls too flat the cookies tend to spread too much).

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. The longer you bake the cookies, the crisper they will be on the outside. If you like a cakey cookie- check them at 15 minutes. They need to be pretty firm to a light touch. They will crisp up a bit more as they cool.

Note: An Exopat or parchment helps keep the cookie bottoms from scorching.

Cool these babies on a wire rack. Wrap each in foil, bag and freeze for future yumminess.

This batch made 22 medium cookies.

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

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