Gluten Free Chocolate-Espresso Cookies

Baking gluten free is tricky. But when your best friend discovers she has celiac disease, and somehow you don't want to ice her out of social situations because of it, you have to adapt. And adapt your recipes.

The Epicurious "Chocolate-Espresso Cookies" recipe (originally from Bon Appetit in July 1997) adapts well if you remember the most important gluten free rule: your baking time needs to be significantly shortened. (I learned this the hard way trying to make gluten free cheesecake crusts using Pamela's GF baking mix. Threw several cheesecakes away before I adjusted. But it's also a lesson that needs repeating -- it's too easy to blindly follow the recipe.)

So here's a new version of the recipe with the lack of gluten in mind:

Gluten Free Chocolate-Espresso Cookies

Ingredients:

• 6 T. almond meal (that's what I used -- I bet you could experiment)
• 1/4 t. salt
• 6-8 oz. baking chocolate -- a mixture of unsweetened and semi-sweet, broken up
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 to 3/4 c. sugar (I err on the less sweet side generally)
• 2 1/2 t. instant espresso powder
• 2 1/2 t. vanilla
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350. Mix almond meal and salt together in a small bowl. Stir baking chocolates and butter in a heavy large saucepan over low heat until melted. Remove from heat. Use a hand mixer or Kitchenaid to beat eggs, sugar, espresso powder and vanilla until well blended. Stir egg mixture into warm chocolate mixture. Stir in dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.

Immediately drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto non-stick baking sheets (or use parchment paper), spacing 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until tops crack but cookies are still soft inside (about 7 to 9 minutes -- make sure to check so that they don't burn!). Transfer baking sheets to racks; cool 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks (carefully so they don't break!); cool completely.

Things to keep in mind:

• Let your chocolate mixture cool if you want the chips to retain their integrity -- if you put them in too soon they will melt!
• Since GF cookies tend to spread, it may be worth just letting the chips melt and grinding the nuts rather than leaving them "coarsely chopped." You get the taste without the idea of nuts -- and frankly, when my cookies are tending toward the lace-thin, individual pieces of chips and nuts may make them break more easily.
• Baking time: The original recipe (with 6 T. flour instead of the almond meal and 1/4 t. baking powder) calls for a 12 minute baking time. Know your oven, and experiment with your GF timing.
• Also, if your cookies turn to crumbles, it's no terrible loss -- they are fabulous sprinkled over vanilla ice cream.

Pretty delicious.