Take a gamble: Substitute gluten-free flour in recipes

I’ve found that substituting gluten-free flour in cookie recipes can always be a gamble. Some cookies really rely on texture as a component of their overall enjoyment. Gluten-free flour can make certain recipes feel a bit dry, sandy, and lacking in that ideal chewiness. However, desserts that lean more fudgy, such as brownies, tend to be excellent with gluten-free flour. They don’t rely heavily on flour for texture; instead, they use the fats and moisture from the other ingredients to make a dense and delicious treat.

These hot chocolate cookies have an almost brownie-like fudginess, which makes them wonderful to use with gluten-free flour. The marshmallow filling keeps it from being a chocolate overload and adds a bit of fun chew to them. Obviously, you can use regular flour for these cookies, but it’s nice to have a cookie recipe that tastes and feels the same even if you swap to gluten-free flour.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Yield: About 15 cookies

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups (250g) gluten-free flour (such as King Arthur’s 1:1 Gluten Free flour) or regular all-purpose flour

• 2/3 cup (65g) unsweetened cocoa powder

• ½ tbsp espresso or coffee powder

• ½ tsp cinnamon

• 1 tsp baking soda

• ½ tsp salt

• ¾ cup (170g) butter, room temperature (Must be softened but not melted! Ideally, your finger will make a dent in the butter when pressed down on.)

• ¾ cup (165g) brown sugar

• ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar

• 2 eggs, room temperature

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 15 regular sized marshmallows

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. Add your flour, cocoa, espresso powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder into a bowl and mix.

3. In another bowl, add your butter and both sugars and cream. Once it’s well mixed and fluffy, add both your eggs and vanilla and mix again until incorporated.

4. Add your bowl of dry ingredients to your butter-egg mixture and mix.

5. Portion your dough out into around 15 balls and set aside. Once portioned out, flatten a dough ball with your hand, put a marshmallow on it, and then close the dough around the marshmallow. Roll back into a ball and place on your baking tray. Repeat with all dough balls.

6. Leave at least 3 inches between each dough ball on the baking tray as they will spread a bit.

7. Bake for 10 minutes and let them fully cool on the pan before removing. Enjoy!

Some tips and tricks:

• Espresso powder and cinnamon are not necessary, but espresso/coffee deeply enhances the flavor of chocolate in baked goods. A touch of cinnamon adds a layer of dimension to your flavors.

• When you’re rolling and stuffing the cookie dough with marshmallows, it’ll likely be sticky and a bit messy. It’s good to wipe your hands often with a wet paper towel every now and then.

• Get a kitchen scale! It’s far easier to weigh your finished dough on a scale and be able to portion it into 15 pieces by weight. Eyeballing 15 balls of dough to be the exact same size is a headache.