Gluten Free Toll House Cookies, a la Fire and Salt

This is less of an original recipe and more of a link to one of my favorite gluten free sites, but I need some time to bounce back from those horrible GoDaddy Super Bowl commercials, so here we go.

My friend Brian is a fireman and gluten free blogger of the most interesting kind: he himself does not have celiac's disease, but his wife does, and he loves to cook for her, so he creates these fabulous gluten free concoctions that really are divine. I always dive into his site, Fire and Salt, looking for inspiration, and I usually find it. This happens to be one of the most inspired kinds of chocolate chip cookie recipes ever invented, The Toll House Cookie. When I saw that Brian had a recipe for these, I jumped right into the kitchen to make some because his photos make them look so good. Perfectly crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. Right out of the oven these are heavenly. (Although, I recommend you let gluten free cookies sit on the cookie sheet for five or ten minutes so they don't fall apart on you.) I haven't eaten this kind of cookie for years (mostly because I weaned myself from flour filled foods and found other substitutes) and when I took my first bite I was five years old again in the kitchen of our apartment having a foodie moment. Yum-o.

It's amazing to me what kind of power recipes have over food. There are cookies, and there are cookies, and there are cookies. The same exact ingredients are present in many recipes, but the amounts and combinations of each one can create such a different experience. I always make a Mrs. Field's type recipe for chocolate chip cookies, which has more of a cakey texture. But my mom would always make the Toll House recipe because it was easy and printed right on the bag of chocolate chips, so those are the ones I always ate as a kid. Like I said, crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. It's magic. But both recipes have two eggs, two-ish cups of flour, butter, salt, vanilla, and chocolate chips. That's the miracle of the recipe! Good ones create their own distinct flavor and memory. Good gluten free ones come as close as possible to the "real" thing. And this one is pretty darned close. One day I hope to master the art of recipe creation, as it is the gateway to food nirvana.

My cookies were also gargantuan, which didn't mean I wasn't secretly pleased with them, but it did mean I had to cook them about four minutes longer. I know, a simple correlation, but I needed reminding from my 13 year old when I was complaining about the cookies not being done. "The scoops were SOOOO big, Mom. They're going to take FOREVER to cook." (Eye roll) Aah, the joys of beginning Home Ec. I used a medium-sized scoop but should have used the tiny one I used for whoopie pies. Then the cookies wouldn't have been 1,000 calories each. And, of course I used Grandpa's Kitchen flour, but you'll have to check out Brian's site to see what his favorite flour blend is, and get the delicious recipe.

Happy eating!