Many kinds of cookies must be avoided if you eat a gluten-free diet. Any cookie that contains flour is one that you will have to skip or modify to make it safe to eat. Gluten-free diets are generally followed by people who have celiac disease, a gluten allergy or a gluten intolerance, and using substitutions to make cookies allows you to enjoy your favorites. According to Living Without Magazine, you can use several gluten-free ingredients to create your own flour blend, which can then be used in place of traditional flour to make your favorite cookie recipe.
Step 1
Look over the cookie recipe you want to convert. This will help you figure out which ingredients contain gluten so you know which ones you will need substitutions for. Wheat, barley and rye are the items you will have to avoid. In many cases, oats should also be eliminated because they can be cross contaminated with gluten products. However, if you know the oats are safe, you can use them in your cookies.
Step 2
Make a flour blend that you will use as an alternative to the flour the recipe calls for. There are many flours made from things like garbanzo beans, brown rice, almonds and potatoes that you can use in place of regular all-purpose flour. For example, 1/2 cup rice flour, 1/4 cup tapioca starch and 1/4 cup cornstarch blended together creates an all-purpose gluten-free flour that you can use when you are baking cookies that call for wheat flour. This mixture replaces 1 cup of regular flour.
Step 3
Add xanthan gum to your gluten-free cookies. The replacement flours that are used for gluten-free cookies often result in a finished product that is crumbly. The xanthan gum helps reduce this problem by helping the ingredients to stick together when baking. You will need 1/4 tsp. for each cup of gluten-free flour that the recipe calls for. Too much stirring once the xanthan gum is added can make the cookies too chewy so don't overdo it.
Step 4
Double the amount of baking powder the recipe calls for. This helps the cookies rise better than they would otherwise because of the gluten-free flour blends used. You can also substitute baking powder when the recipe calls for baking soda for the same reasons.
Step 5
Use gluten-free butter or margarine. Most of these products are naturally gluten free, but be sure a knife isn't being used to spread it on wheat bread, then put back in the butter because this will contaminate the whole container with gluten and could result in a reaction if you are especially sensitive to gluten in your cookies.
Tips and Warnings
- Many kinds of chocolate chips, nuts and dried fruits are prepared using gluten or gluten by products so read the ingredients list carefully before you add any of these items to your cookies.
Things You'll Need
- Wheat flour alternatives
- Xanthan gum
- Baking soda
- Other cookie ingredients
