Moist and tasty with a cake-like texture, these gluten-free, vegan chocolate chip cookies are made with healthy ingredients like apple sauce and maple syrup.

overhead view of Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Healthy Ingredients

Looking to make some sweets for your sweet but don’t want to stray too far from the healthy road? This recipe is a healthier interpretation of a classic.

Protein-rich chia seeds replace the egg.
Apple sauce and a bit of grapeseed oil replace the butter.
Maple syrup adds just the right amount of sweetness.

Moist and Tasty is Key

When our daughter was diagnosed with a wheat allergy, we quickly learned not all gluten-free products are created equal. If it doesn’t say “moist and tasty” on the package, it probably isn’t. The additional need to avoid dairy can make things extra tricky. It’s hard to find good store-bought gluten-free and dairy-free chocolate chip cookies. The better option is to make your own.

Simple Steps

These gluten-free, vegan chocolate chip cookies are actually pretty simple.

You mix the dry ingredients.
Add the wet ingredients.
Add some chocolate chips and nuts.
Drop rounded spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake.

You can have warm, gooey-chocolatey, cake-like cookies in about 30 minutes.

About Xanthan Gum

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies on a baking sheet

I use xanthan gum as a binder/stabilizer. If you avoid xanthan gum (a potential allergen for some folks), ZestforBaking.com offers some possible substitutes.

I like the consistency achieved with xanthan gum.

What’s Needed?

The recipe explains how to mix these cookies by hand, but a stand mixer can do the job more quickly and easily. I also like to bake cookies in my toaster oven instead of heating up my big overn for just a few dozen cookies.

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Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

This healthy recipe yields moist and tasty cookies with a cake-like texture.

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 10

Total Time 25

Servings

Author Veggie Primer

Ingredients

2¼ cups gluten-free all purpose flour I use Bob’s Red Mill
½ tsp. xanthan gum
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. fine sea salt
1 Tbsp. chia seeds
¼ cup water
¼ cup grape seed oil
½ cup natural unsweetened applesauce
¾ cup maple syrup
¼ tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup dairy-free mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts walnuts or pecans are nice

Instructions

Grind 1 Tbsp. of chia seeds in a blender or coffee grinder and stir into ¼ cup of water and set aside to allow to thicken.
Preheat oven to 375º. (I like to use my convection toaster oven – which heats up quickly, so I usually preheat after the dough is mixed – but you’ll want to turn a conventional oven on sooner.)
Combine flour, xanthan gum, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir with a wire whisk to mix the ingredients.
Add chia seed mixture, grape seed oil, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and stir with a large spoon until the ingredients are well mixed.
Add chocolate chips and chopped nuts and stir to mix well.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop rounded spoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart on the paper.
Bake 8-10 minutes in a conventional oven or until cookies are set and tops begin to brown. (Bake 7-8 minutes in a convection toaster oven.)
Use a spatula to remove cookies from baking sheet immediately and cool on a wire rack.

Notes

The recipe makes about three dozen cookies. A serving size is about two cookies.

I use two cookie sheets and prepare one while the other is baking. I don’t find it necessary to change the parchment paper each time; the paper holds up to two or three bakings.

Note: Nutrition information is a rough estimate for special dietary needs. I subscribe to the theories presented in the book Whole and believe we should focus on eating a variety of whole foods instead of counting calories or keeping track of individual nutrients.

Nutrition

Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies pin

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