Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Melt and cool the butter

   Melt the butter gently, then set it aside until it feels barely warm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Hot butter will dissolve the sugars into a slick, soupy dough and your cookies will spread into lace, so give it the full cooling time.

2. 2

   Whisk the sugars into the butter

   In a large bowl, whisk the cooled butter with both sugars for a solid minute, until the mixture looks glossy and thick like wet sand. You are not creaming air in here — you are dissolving the sugar, which is what gives you those shiny, crackled tops.

3. 3

   Add the egg, yolk and vanilla

   Whisk in the whole egg, the extra yolk and the vanilla, beating hard for about 30 seconds until the batter turns smooth, thick and slightly paler. The extra yolk is your chewiness insurance.

4. 4

   Combine the dry ingredients

   In a separate bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour blend, baking soda and fine sea salt. Check your blend's label first: if it already contains xanthan gum or guar gum, skip the xanthan entirely, and if it doesn't, whisk it in now so it disperses evenly rather than clumping in the dough.

5. 5

   Bring the dough together

   Fold the dry ingredients into the wet with a sturdy spatula just until no dry patches remain, then fold in the chocolate. There is no gluten to overwork here, so mix confidently — just stop once it's uniform. The dough will feel looser and slightly gritty at this stage, which is normal.

6. 6

   Rest, then chill the dough

   Let the dough sit at room temperature for 30 minutes first. This is the step that matters most in gluten-free baking: the rice flours and starches need time to drink up the moisture, and skipping it leaves a sandy texture. Then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 3 days.

7. 7

   Shape and heat the oven

   Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line two baking sheets with parchment. Scoop the cold dough into 3-tablespoon balls, roughly 58g each, and space them at least 2 inches apart. Roll each ball smooth between your palms — gluten-free dough is more prone to cracked, dry-looking edges, and a smooth surface bakes up neater.

8. 8

   Bake

   Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, until the edges are deeply golden and the centers are puffed and matte rather than wet-looking. Gluten-free cookies need that extra minute of color, but pull them while the middles still give — they firm up dramatically as they cool.

9. 9

   Settle and cool

   Swirl a wide glass around each cookie to round the edges if you like, sprinkle with flaky salt, then leave them on the hot sheet for a full 8 minutes. These are fragile straight from the oven and need the extra time to set before you move them to a rack.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Rap the baking sheet firmly on the counter two or three times at the 9-minute mark to deflate the domes — this is the trick behind those rippled, bakery-style ridges.

• 2.

  Use a mix of chips and roughly chopped chocolate bar. The shards melt into wide puddles while the chips hold their shape, so you get both textures in one bite.

• 3.

  Press a few extra chocolate pieces into the tops of the dough balls before baking so the finished cookies look as chocolatey as they taste.

• 4.

  Dough balls freeze beautifully. Freeze them solid on a tray, bag them, then bake straight from frozen with 2 extra minutes.

• 5.

  If your cookies spread too much, the dough was too warm. Chill the shaped balls for 15 minutes and always start with a completely cool baking sheet.