I have always loved to bake, and I find it to be a very relaxing activity. However, earlier this year my dad was placed on a strict FODMAP-free diet, and what used to be a calming hobby quickly became a frustrating merry-go-round of failed attempts at recreating our old favourites. It took me a while, but I finally tampered enough with our old recipe to create a brand new, gluten-free, FODMAP-friendly chocolate chip cookie recipe that still retains the perfect chewy cookie we all know and love. The recipe below uses mostly ingredients you can find in your pantry, and I’ve added a couple of tips at the bottom to help you achieve ultimate cookie glory. (For those of you who aren’t gluten-free, the flour can be replaced with regular flour, and for those who aren’t concerned with sticking to a FODMAP diet, you can use any kind of chocolate chips.)
You Will Need
- 125 g butter, softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ⅓ cup caster sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla, essence
- 1½ cups plain, gluten-free flour
- ½ cup cocoa
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
What to Do
1. Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Whisk in egg and vanilla. Sift, and then stir in flour and cocoa, and then fold through chocolate chips.
2. Place teaspoonfuls on greased baking trays. Bake in a moderately low oven 160°C (that’s 320⁰F) for 10–15 minutes or until cooked. Cool on a wire rack.
Tips
- It can be tempting to just throw the flour in without sifting it. DON’T! Gluten-free flour is more coarse than normal flour, and to get a nicer consistency you will definitely need to sift it.
- To get the best chewy center out of these cookies, focus your efforts on creaming the butter and sugars. At least 5 minutes will get the best result.
- Bring the eggs and butter to room temperature.
- Use an ice cream scoop when dividing the mixture to create evenly shaped balls.
- Make sure your oven is properly preheated before putting cookies in them.
- You should take your cookies out of the oven when they’re very very slightly underdone. Leave them on the tray to cool before transferring to a wire rack. The cookies will continue to cook through when taken out of the oven, and if you leave them in until they’re cooked all the way, they become slightly overcooked and crunchier.
- Store in an airtight container.
So there you have it: delicious FODMAP-friendly cookies!
