I love cookies. I love to bake them and I love to eat them. Before going gluten free cookies were my favorite thing to bake. I made them often and gave them away to friends or sent them to work with my husband. And I loved to experiment with new recipes and flavors.
But then gluten free eating entered my life and cookies were no longer my favorite thing to make because they often resulted in many disasters in order to get that end result of a really good cookie.
As I have become more familiar with the various gluten free flours though and what works and what doesn’t, my love of cookie making is coming back, and I am so glad because I have missed cookies.
This gluten free Chocolate Cranberry Cookie that I am sharing today is adapted from a recipe that I made many times over the years. I decided to give it a try gluten free and I was so happy that it turned out on the first try.
These were so good and everyone in my family enjoyed them. In fact my gluten eating husband ate four of them when he got home from work the other day and he kept saying these are so good.
I love it when I can make a gluten free recipe taste as good as the real thing. And when a gluten eating person can’t tell the different.
Gluten Free Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Chocolate and dried cranberries in a delicious gluten free cookie.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup rice flour
- 1/2 cup sweet rice flour
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips (read labels to be sure they are gluten free)
- 1 cup white chocolate chips (read labels to be sure they are gluten free)
- 1 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
Instructions
- In a bowl cream butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs and mix well.
- Beat in vanilla.
- Combine the rice flours, cornstarch, xanthan gum, baking soda, and salt, and gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
- Stir in the chips and dried cranberries.
- Drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-8 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool for about 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
40Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 163Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 85mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 1gSugar: 15gProtein: 1g
Nutritional values are approximate and aren't always accurate.
About how many cookies does this recipe make?
I did not count them, but I think it made about 2 1/2 dozen. I hope that helps.
Thanks! That helps me with my planning!
Do you think you can use all butter? Not a big fan of shortening, but understand the baking need for it.
The shortening helps give them a really nice texture and I have never tried them without it, so I am not sure how it would change these, but it might be worth trying. If you do I would love to hear how they turn out.
Success! I made the above cookies with only butter & they turned out fantastic. I have missed baking cookies since having to go GF. Yeah! I now have a fantastic CCC recipe. Thank you so much. Only change I did was let the batter sit for about 2 hours in the fridge. In my experience with GF baking, many batters do better when allowed to rest for a bit. I think the flours absorb more of the moisture. I didn’t take a picture, but they were exactly like yours above: crisp edge & soft chewy center. So Good. Thanks again for all you do.
Thanks for letting me know that they worked with all butter. And I am so glad that you enjoyed them!
I am new at this GF baking. Why is the xanthan gum in recipes. Must you have it in recipes?
Xanthan gum replaces some of the characteristics that gluten gives things. For example chewiness in bread and pizza crust. It also helps hold cookies together. It is not necessary in all gluten free things, I don’t always use it in muffins and quick breads, but for many gluten free items it is necessary and if left out, the results will not be as good or the same. They are other gum available that people use, but I prefer xanthan gum. Here is a post I did on it a while ago. You might find it helpful. https://lynnskitchenadventures.com/lra/xanthan-gum/