Well winter is officially here in chilly Saskatchewan. Big thumbs down. If I’m being honest, we’ve been fortunate to have a mild autumn, aside from a bit of early snow in October that melted quickly. To say that winter took us by surprise is kind of silly since it is the middle of November already. But yet, like every year, it did take me by surprise. One Sunday it was sort of warmish with a nip in the air, then overnight it snowed and the temperature dropped while the arctic air picked up and just like that we had -22ºC windchills and winter was here. Not cool, but not completely unusual for our part of the world. It always leaves me wondering why we live in this part of the world, but we do, and I need to work on my attitude about it, obviously.
One thing the cold weather prompts me to do is get back to experimenting in the kitchen. This recipe is a result of one such experimentation session. I came home from work and felt like baking cookies and so that’s what Jonas and I did. I don’t usually have great success just winging it when it comes to baking in general, especially gluten free baking. That might seem surprising considering the number of gluten-free baked goods recipes that are on this blog. This time, though, I totally did wing it and was expecting a complete fail but happily, they turned out wonderfully. So wonderfully, in fact, that Levi raved about them incessantly. His words were, “I don’t like chocolate cookies and yet I’d choose these chocolate cookies hands-down each and every time.” I guess that’s saying something.
As always, these cookies are gluten free and the cookie dough itself can easily be made dairy-free by using a dairy-free butter substitute like Earth Balance. The baking chips I used are not dairy-free but if you wanted to substitute those for something different that are dairy-free I’m sure the cookie would still be great.
I tried out a new flavour of baking chips with this recipe, on a whim. They’re Chipits Sea Salt Caramel baking chips. Truthfully, I don’t know if they’re a limited edition or seasonal product. If you have a chance to give them a try, I would recommend it. It’s a fun treat. If you don’t have access to these specific baking chips, they’d be just as good with white chocolate chips or regular ol’ semisweet chocolate chips.
These cookies are chewy and decadent. The addition of cinnamon gives them just a subtle warmth and seems to intensify the cocoa flavour.
They freeze well – and I especially enjoy them cold after thawing just a few minutes from the freezer. Freezing them also helps me with self-control, because they’re so good I could just eat, and eat, and eat. I curse this sweet tooth of mine that showed up when I was pregnant and isn’t quitting any time soon … still four years later.
- 1 cup hard margarine, softened
- 1½ cups brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1⅔ cups brown rice flour
- ⅓ cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder (see notes)
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups Chipits Sea Salt Caramel baking chips (or any baking chips of your preference)
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, cream margarine and brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine.
- Add vanilla extract.
- In a separate bowl, sift together brown rice flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add to brown sugar mixture, beating well to combine.
- Fold in baking chips.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop batter on prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool slightly on baking sheet before removing to cooling rack.
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