My Family's Favorite Gluten-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

These delicious cookies have been a favorite of my little family since Greg and I were first married! Thus, when we realized nearly half of our family members couldn't eat them anymore because of their deadly gluten, I knew I had to find a way to make them gluten free!

*Side note: for tips on avoiding gluten cross-contact while baking in your kitchen, see my post Celiac Disease: Gluten Cross-Contact.

When I first began making these cookies gluten free, they were not so good. They were crumbly and gritty. So sad face! :(

Thankfully, my little family endured my baking experiments and their patience paid off. After reading the superb baking tips in America's Test Kitchen's The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook, I finally figured out a way to make our beloved cookies gluten free—and moist and chewy—just like they were originally intended to be! Yay YAY! Without further ado, here is my recipe for...

Gluten-Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

by Adrie Peterson 

2 cups America's Test Kitchen gluten-free flour blend*

3/4 cup Hershey's unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (two tablespoons less than two sticks)

1 and 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or othervegetable oil of your choosing (just eyeball the 1/2 tablespoon)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 10-ounce package Reese's peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, sugar, and xanthan gum. Add butter, extra-virgin olive oil and vanilla extract. Mix very well. Add eggs. Mix very well. Add peanut butter chips, combine. Use a small cookie scooper and drop cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350°F. for 11 minutes. (I like our cookies a little firmer than the original recipe calls for.) Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack. Makes 4 dozen cookies! (I've found these cookies stay moister/chewier if I freeze them inside two Ziploc gallon bags and take them out a few minutes before we're going to eat them.)

*America's Test Kitchen Gluten-Free Flour Blend 

24 ounces (4 and 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup) white rice flour

1 and 2/3 cup brown rice flour

1 and 1/3 cup potato starch/flour

3/4 cup tapioca starch/flour

3 tablespoons nonfat milk powder

Whisk all ingredients together in a large bowl until well combined. Transfer to airtight container and freeze. (I use a Ziplog gallon bag.)

I hope you enjoy these yummylicious cookies! :)