Take A Bite

Celiacs and lactose rejoice! Perfect CCC’s free of dairy and gluten are here and just as perfect. I quote my father when I say, (my very non-lactose and non-gluten free father) “These gluten-free and dairy-free cookies are the (insert bomb emoji here).”

Coconut oil replaces the butter and dairy-free chocolate chips are used in replacement of the original stuff. I use gluten-free flour for a 1:1 swap for all purpose and they come out great! Just make sure to chop your chocolate up so you get specs of chocolate throughout, and you must sprinkle with flaky Maldon salt to get the Perfect CCC signature touch!

Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Perfect CCCs
yields 30 cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup melted coconut oil (measures 1/2 cup as a liquid, not solidified)
1/2 cup olive oil (use a basic, not fancy olive oil)
3¼ cups gluten-free flour (i use this brand)
1 ¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 ½ cups light or dark brown sugar, firmly packed*
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
12 ounces, Enjoy Life dairy-free chocolate chips, roughly chopped (key step)
Maldon salt

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl mix both sugars. *You can use light or dark brown sugar. I like a dark cookie so I prefer dark brown sugar, but I switch off depending on what I have on hand. Pour the melted coconut oil and olive oil into the bowl with the sugars and whisk until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking to combine. Stir in the vanilla.

In two batches, add the dry ingredients into the oil sugar mixture. I use a wooden spoon to incorporate. Once the dough has almost come together, but still a little floury, add the chopped dairy-free chocolate chips.
*I roughly chop my chocolate chips, so I can get more chocolate in each bite. I also love those little shavings of chocolate sprinkled through the dough!

Form 2-3 tablespoon size balls. I use a 2 tbsp. size cookie scoop, but overload the scoop a little bit to get a larger ball of dough. Place them on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart and fluff them a bit*. Do not overcrowd the pan. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with flaky Maldon salt and any extra chocolate bits leftover from chopping.

Bake for 9 minutes, rotating the pan around halfway through. Bake until just barely golden around the edges, the key is to not over bake these! Shy on the underdone side.

TIPS:
Olive Oil: I note above, but when it comes to olive oil, please use a basic light olive oil. Nothing fancy or imported from Greece. You don’t want your cookies to taste like olives. I use Trader Joe’s or Bertolli light olive oil.

Chocolate: I feel most comfortable using Enjoy Life brand of dairy-free chocolate morsels. I opt for the chunks because they chop up best which is a key step of Perfect CCC. You can however you any brand of dairy-free chocolate morsels you like. Even super dark chocolate will work, just check the ingredients to make sure there isn’t any milk added.

Sugars: Do NOT, I repeat, do not use Trader Joe’s cane sugar or brown sugar. I love their olive oil for this recipe, but their organic cane sugar and brown sugar does not cut it. I’ve had multiple people, including myself, use these two sugars and say their cookies didn’t turn out. The sugars are not granulated enough. I don’t know quite how to explain it, but they are too corse and lead to a weird texture in the cookie. I have not tested this recipe with coconut sugar so I can not speak to how that will work.

*Fluffing stage: After using the cookie scoop, I give the cookies a “fluff.” Simply just rough the cookies up a bit so more chocolate chips are showing on the top and they are more rustic looking balls of dough instead of perfectly scooped. Then sprinkle with Maldon and more chocolate if needed.