The toughest thing about being gluten-free is not knowing where to start out. You go from baking and cooking with “flour” to suddenly having to choose between 30 different flours and starches that you’ve never heard of before and have no idea what to do with. Most of the time you don’t even know where they come from(Sorghum flour? What’s a sorghum?).

These cookies are my favorite because you’d hardly know they’re gluten free from start to finish. They’re made with almond flour—everyone knows what an almond is—and don’t have any weird starches or gums you’d have to search high and low to find.

Besides that, they just taste good. Soft, gooey, and pillowy like a classic Tollhouse cookie. What’s not to love? Whether you’re new to gluten-free, just dabbling, or an expert, this recipe is worth the try.

Change up the recipe by adding pecans or walnuts into the batter. This time around I used dark chocolate chips and miniature chocolate chips.

You can see the original recipe that I posted almost 3 years ago(!!) here: http://www.thewannabechef.net/2011/05/04/almond-flour-chocolate-chip-cookies/ There are plenty of useful reviews and comments to help you make the perfect gluten-free cookie.

When you find a recipe that just works, you never want to stray from it. This is the third time I’ve posted about these cookies; I didn’t realize that the original recipe post is almost 2 years old until I sat down to write this one. In that time a lot of commenters have made these and enjoyed them and I hope a lot more will continue to.

I’ve tried to make other gluten-free cookie recipes in the past and ended up with a tray of flattened, cooked dough; thankfully I’ve never had a problem with these. They bake and spread just like regular chocolate chip cookies. This time I mixed some chopped pecans and walnuts into the batter. I didn’t think that they could actually get better but that proved me wrong.

I’ve now made this recipe with almond meal(finely ground almonds) and almond flour(finely ground blanched almonds) and can tell you it doesn’t make much of a difference. The ones with almond flour were a little softer as they baked and lighter in color but the end results were pretty much the same.

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

Ingredients(Makes about 12 cookies):

• 1 1/2 cups(6 ounces) almond flour or almond meal
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup chopped nuts(optional)

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.
3. Gradually beat the egg into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Add the almond flour, salt, vanilla and baking soda in with the other ingredients and mix well.
5. Add in the chocolate chips and nuts if using and fold them into the batter.
6. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and press them down gently onto a non-stick baking surface.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies rise and the edges have browned.
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool before moving. Store at room temperature in a sealed container.

Happy (almost) 4th of July! I know I’m five days early, but consider this my obligatory patriotic post.

A few weeks ago I went to an American citizenship party for some friends who recently passed the citizenship test. There was grilling and beans and red, white, and blue napkins so of course there had to be flag cake.

A family friend at this party recently had to cut gluten out of her diet; one of her favorite foods is chocolate cake so naturally I knew the cake I made had to be chocolate. I’d never experimented with almond flour and coconut flour in the same recipe but I thought I’d give it a shot. The texture was just like any good ol’ fashioned American sponge cake. You’d never guess it was gluten-free and grain-free.

The frosting also got a lot of praise, too. Then again, how can something with butter, cream cheese, and a pound of sugar not be good?

Make sure to use fresh fruit and to assemble it as close to serving as possible. The more the cake sits out, the more the juices from the strawberries runs into the frosting, and no one wants a runny flag.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Flag Cake

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 9 x 12 cake):

For the cake:

• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 6 extra large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons hot water

For the frosting:

• 1 4oz stick of butter, room temperature
• 1 8oz block of cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1lb box of powdered sugar

 Fruit topping:

• 1 half pint blueberries
• 1lb fresh strawberries

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave.
3. While the chocolate is melting, mix together the almond flour, coconut flour, sugar, and oil.
4. Mix the melted chocolate into the flour mixture completely.
5. Crack the eggs into the batter and beat each in.
6. Add in the vanilla, baking soda, and salt.
7. Add in the hot water and mix until the batter is smooth and slightly runny.
8. Grease a 9 x 12 baking pan. Pour the batter in in an even layer.
9. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the center of the cake has set. Remove from the oven and let it cool completely before frosting.
10. Combine the butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and half of the sugar in a large bowl.
11. With an electric mixer, beat together the ingredients until the sugar is entirely incorporated.
12. Slowly add more sugar into the mix until all of it is mixed into the frosting.
13. Spread a few tablespoons of powdered sugar on top of the cake and brush it all around to prevent the frosting from tearing the top of the cake.
14. Spread the frosting out all over the cake in an even layer and around the sides.
15. Make a square of blueberries in the top left corner of the cake.
16. Remove the stem from each strawberry and cut each in half. Lay them out top to bottom in horizontal lines in a flag pattern.
17. Refrigerate until ready to serve.  

There were practice American citizenship tests at the party. I scored a 12/20. I think that’s good enough not to be deported, right? Too bad how to make a flag cake isn’t part of the test.