Gluten Free Walnut Chocolate Chip Bars

One of my FAVORITE loves of life is cooking for my family and friends, and them enjoying what I make! I am going to start adding gluten-free and other fav dish recipes here so that you can try them out too, if you have a finesse for cooking!

I have included 2 recipes- 1 is the easy way to make them, and the 2nd is for when you want to take the time and make some gluten free chocolate chip cookies with some TLC!

I love Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix. And so do my neices and nephew when I make them! I wanted to make cookie bars just to try something different, so I basically mixed all wet and dry ingredients per Betty Crocker's Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe instructions. For those of you who do not eat eggs, yogurt is a natural substitute- for one egg, instead use one tablespoon(Tb) yogurt. Any plain yogurt will do, or if you want more of a vanilla taste add vanilla flavored yogurt instead!

Once I have the dough ready, I lightly grease the a baking sheet with organic butter or a light olive oil. The thickness when you lay out the cookie dough onto the cookie sheet should be about half an inch. Press the dough onto the cookie sheet and press down and to the edges if it is smaller in size(the cookie sheet), if the sheet is larger, one of the sides will require you to make the edges into a straight line to form a rectangle.

Once you have that, get some Trader Joes Walnuts, or any fairtrade, organic walnut brand, and chop them so that they are little peanut sized peices. Sprinkle over the cookie dough, and press into dough so that they can cook evenly.

I think the cooking time is about 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Once it's done, leave to cool, then cut when it is lukewarm or cooled down completely(if you can wait!), and cut into 2" x 2" peices, and ENJOY!

Here is the next choco chip cookie recipe, courtesy of Gluten Free On a ShoeString, a great blog for gluten-free cooking! 

Ingredients

2 cups (280 g) high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
10 tablespoons (125 g) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (55 g) packed light brown sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening, melted and cooled
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 extra-large egg at room temperature, beaten
9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon cornstarch

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 325°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set it aside.
  
• In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well. Add the brown sugar and whisk, working out any lumps in the brown sugar. Add the butter and shortening, then the vanilla and egg, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick.
  
• In a separate small bowl, toss the chocolate chips with the cornstarch to coat. Add the chips and cornstarch to the cookie dough in the large bowl. Mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
  
• Scrape the dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Shape it into a log about 2 1/2 inches in diameter and close the plastic wrap tightly over the log. Place the dough log in the freezer until firm, about 15 minutes.
  
• Remove the cookie dough from the freezer, unwrap, and slice with a large serrated or very sharp chef's knife thickly in cross-section into rounds that are nearly 3/4-inch thick. Place the rounds about 1-inch apart on the prepared baking sheet, and bake, rotating once during baking, until the cookies are lightly golden brown and set, about 12 minutes.
  
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet until firm. Store any leftovers in the freezer, in a freezer-safe container or wrap.
  

I love both, have tried both, and am sure any chocolate chip cookie lover will not know the difference between these and the regular ones! And remember, use yogurt to substitute eggs, if you do not eat eggs!

Bon Appetite!