Gluten-free baking can be discouraging for those who only want to dabble at it: you often dive into a tempting recipe only to discover it calls for three different types of flour and various thickening gums. It sounds daunting, and you don’t necessarily want to invest in ingredients that will just go rancid in your kitchen cabinet.
“Naturally” gluten-free chocolate cookies
I am more attracted to naturally gluten-free baked goods that use “regular” ingredients — though I recognize the notion is highly personal. But in the case of these gluten-free chocolate cookies, they can be put together by hand in no time at all, from just four easy-to-find ingredients: almond flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and butter.
You’ll be wowed by these divine little sablés — crisp as you bite in, then meltingly tender on the tongue, not too sweet but strongly chocolate-y, with roasted notes and the touch of salt that changes everything.
These gluten-free chocolate cookies are a recipe idea I’ve had on the mind for a long time, and I recently came around to developing it, to great success. Knowing that they are based on such a simple formula, you may be just as wowed as I was tasting these divine little sablés — crisp as you bite in, then meltingly tender on the tongue, not too sweet but strongly chocolate-y, with roasted notes and the touch of salt that changes everything.
Though I generally use a silicone baking mat for cookies, I find it more convenient to use a good parchment paper here. I use it to roll up the dough into slice-and-bake logs, wrap them up for setting in the freezer, and slide the cookies onto a rack super gently at the end of baking — gluten-free cookies are typically fragile when still warm, so they need to cool completely undisturbed before they’re all crisped up and ready for action.
Tell me everything!
Do you also feel put off by recipes that call for two kinds of gums and various specialty flours? Did a particular recipe or circumstance convince you to give in and build a gluten-free pantry?
PS: Here’s an index of my gluten-free recipes. And if you decide to invest in a bag of almond flour (I buy it by the kilo at G. Detou in Paris), I can offer many more recipes to make good use of it.
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Ingredients
- 200 grams (2 cups) almond flour
- 40 grams (1/3 cup) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 40 grams (3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon) organic coconut sugar or unrefined cane sugar (such as Rapadura)
- 100 grams (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together the almond flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt. If there are clumps, crush them out carefully with a fork.
- Add the butter and mix with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture comes together.
- Divide the dough in half. Place one half on a piece of parchment paper and use the paper to roll the dough into a log, about 3 cm (1 1/4 inch) in diameter. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
- Wrap the logs tightly and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 150°C (300° F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the dough logs into 1-cm (1/3-inch) slices.
- Arrange on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 20 minutes, switching the sheet halfway through for even baking.
- Let stand for 5 minutes on the sheet, then slide the parchment paper onto a rack. Allow to cool completely.
