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Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup brown rice flour (nice to use whole grain)
1/4 cup red lentil flour, packed firmly (NOTE 1)
1/4 cup millet flour, packed firmly (NOTE 2)
3 Tablespoons arrowroot flour (NOTE 3)
6 Tablespoons sweet dairy butter or Willowrun margarine (NOTE 4)
1/4 cup brown sugar (NOTE 5)
1/4 cup white sugar (NOTE 5)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda (NOTE 6)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips (NOTE 7)
1 to 2 tablespoons water


Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (NOTE 8).
Warm the margarine to soften it - but not to the point of being liquid.
Prepare cookie sheet with a light no-stick oil spray.
Mix all dry ingredients except chocolate chips.
Add the butter/margarine and work it into the dough.  Add the vanilla extract.  The texture should be JUST on the "I think this may be too wet" side.
Make into approximately 1.5 inch diameter balls.  Each of those becomes a cookie, and you should have about a baker's dozen.
I added 6 chips per cookie, but it depends on the size of chips.
Flattened each cookie slightly before putting it on the baking sheet.
Bake at exactly 375 degrees (at sea level) for 10 to 12 minutes.
Turn sheet once half way through if your oven requires it.
Take out, let cool, remove & either eat or set on paper towel to cool more & eat later.


Serving Information:

Yields 1.5 cups cranberry sauce, 4 to 6 servings.


Notes: NOTE 1:  This is the "new flour".  I have not found it marketed commercially, although I have looked.  It is surprising because red lentils are so cheap and abundant.  What I did was to take lentils and pulverize them in my blender until I achieved a powder.  Of course, in a blender, some of it became flour and some was "meal" sized.  So there may be more research to do (to find out if meal size or flour size works better) when you start working with it.  I chose red lentils rather than green because the flavor is slightly more delicate and because when baked they add a nice color.

NOTE 2:  By itself, millet flour or meal has a good texture but a bitter aftertaste.  By itself, red lentil flour is mushy and mealy and doesn't have a floury texture, although it is sweet, but somewhat "beany".  Together in equal proportions they bring out the best of qualities of each.

NOTE 3:  This is my egg substitution.  If you prefer to use eggs instead of arrowroot, you will need to make sure there is also enough flour by increasing the amount of brown rice flour from a half cup to 2/3 cup.  I found that tapioca flour and corn starch works as an egg substitute better when you want a chewy result (i.e. brownies), but that arrowroot flour works better when you want the result to be crisp.

NOTE 4:  Real dairy butter tastes better in this recipe, although then the recipe is not Vegan.  The recipe also works with Willowrun Margarine, which I use because I know that brand is Vegan.  I have not tried Crisco or other vegetable shortenings.  I think that some (poly unsaturated) oils might ruin the texture of the cookies, and we have to watch out about taste, too.

NOTE 5:  I tested this recipe with all brown sugar and the problem was that the cookie stuck to the roof of the mouth and teeth.  With all white sugar, it seems to miss some of the "real chocolate chip cookie" flavor.

NOTE 6:  If you use more than half a teaspoon baking soda, the baking soda can be tasted (so don't).

NOTE 7:  I used Nestle's Toll House chocolate chips.  If you want the cookies to be vegan, remember to check the ingredients in the chocolate chips.  For toll-house sized chocolate chips, I found I was using 6 chips per cookie.

NOTE 8:  The cookies never achieved the right texture baking at 350 degrees:  they either fell apart or were hard as rocks all the way through.  I wanted the texture to be "crisp", meaning top and sides harder than the middle.  I was only able to achieve this at 375 degrees.  Since we are using non-gluten flours, we can't assume that 350 degrees is going to be the best baking temperature.

Misc NOTE:  I did not try xanthum gum in this recipe.  I did try it with many different types of flours including quinoa, amaranth, white corn; etc.  I found this to have the best taste and texture.

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