Ingredients:
1/2 cup brown rice flour (nice to use whole grain)
1/4 cup red lentil flour, packed firmly
(NOTE 1)
1/4 cup millet flour, packed firmly
(NOTE 2)
3 Tablespoons arrowroot flour
(NOTE 3)
6 Tablespoons sweet dairy butter or Willowrun margarine
(NOTE 4)
1/4 cup brown sugar
(NOTE 5)
1/4 cup white sugar
(NOTE 5)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
(NOTE 6)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
(NOTE 7)
1 to 2 tablespoons water
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
(NOTE 8).
Warm the margarine to soften it - but not to the point of being liquid.
Prepare cookie sheet with a light no-stick oil spray.
Mix all dry ingredients except chocolate chips.
Add the
butter/margarine and work it into the dough. Add the vanilla extract.
The texture should be JUST on the "I think this may be too wet" side.
Make into approximately 1.5 inch diameter balls. Each of those becomes
a cookie, and you should have about a baker's dozen.
I added 6 chips
per cookie, but it depends on the size of chips.
Flattened each
cookie slightly before putting it on the baking sheet.
Bake at exactly
375 degrees (at sea level) for 10 to 12 minutes.
Turn sheet once half
way through if your oven requires it.
Take out, let cool, remove & either eat or set on paper towel to cool
more & eat later.
Serving Information:
Yields 1.5 cups cranberry sauce, 4 to 6 servings.
Notes:
NOTE 1: This is the "new flour". I have not found it marketed
commercially, although I have looked. It is surprising because red
lentils are so cheap and abundant. What I did was to take lentils and
pulverize them in my blender until I achieved a powder. Of course, in a
blender, some of it became flour and some was "meal" sized. So there
may be more research to do (to find out if meal size or flour size works
better) when you start working with it. I chose red lentils rather than
green because the flavor is slightly more delicate and because when
baked they add a nice color.
NOTE 2: By itself, millet flour or meal has a good texture but a bitter
aftertaste. By itself, red lentil flour is mushy and mealy and doesn't
have a floury texture, although it is sweet, but somewhat "beany".
Together in equal proportions they bring out the best of qualities of
each.
NOTE 3: This is my egg substitution. If you prefer to use eggs instead
of arrowroot, you will need to make sure there is also enough flour by
increasing the amount of brown rice flour from a half cup to 2/3 cup. I
found that tapioca flour and corn starch works as an egg substitute
better when you want a chewy result (i.e. brownies), but that arrowroot
flour works better when you want the result to be crisp.
NOTE 4: Real dairy butter tastes better in this recipe, although then
the recipe is not Vegan. The recipe also works with Willowrun
Margarine, which I use because I know that brand is Vegan. I have not
tried Crisco or other vegetable shortenings. I think that some (poly
unsaturated) oils might ruin the texture of the cookies, and we have to
watch out about taste, too.
NOTE 5: I tested this recipe with all brown sugar and the problem was
that the cookie stuck to the roof of the mouth and teeth. With all
white sugar, it seems to miss some of the "real chocolate chip cookie"
flavor.
NOTE 6: If you use more than half a teaspoon baking soda, the baking
soda can be tasted (so don't).
NOTE 7: I used Nestle's Toll House chocolate chips. If you want the
cookies to be vegan, remember to check the ingredients in the chocolate
chips. For toll-house sized chocolate chips, I found I was using 6
chips per cookie.
NOTE 8: The cookies never achieved the right texture baking at 350
degrees: they either fell apart or were hard as rocks all the way
through. I wanted the texture to be "crisp", meaning top and sides
harder than the middle. I was only able to achieve this at 375
degrees. Since we are using non-gluten flours, we can't assume that 350
degrees is going to be the best baking temperature.
Misc NOTE: I did not try xanthum gum in this recipe. I did try it
with many different types of flours including quinoa, amaranth, white
corn; etc. I found this to have the best taste and texture.