Chocolate Chip Cookies with Puddleglum on a Tuesday Night
For the past several hours, the page in front of me has been completely blank. I have not even written and erased anything. I got up and made dinner. I had a glass of wine. I came back. But the page remained blank. When I woke up this morning, there were at least three major topics about which I wanted to write; as the day wore on, it slowly managed to erode the entirety of my motivation down to one unscalable cliff face, replete with swirling snatches of things that only look like things that probably used to make sense. I do not want to write a blog tonight.
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What I do want, however, is to make cookies. Alas, the bowl brought out for mixing cookie dough is also empty, and has been so since before this writing venture began. So now I am striking a deal with the mixing bowl, using the blog. I will set aside the discussion of gluten-free pumpkin pie. I will ignore the fading desire to list sources for vegan holiday treats. I will certainly not try to make interesting reading out of the chemistry of eggs in baking. No. Rather, I will instead share with you my favorite cookie recipe, so that, blog being completed, we can all go make chocolate chip cookies, and enjoy a world that is brighter, and merrier, and far less mired in wordy marshland.
Earlier this week, a friend of mine who is not gluten-free decided that she would bake gluten-free cookies for another acquaintance of hers. It was her first gluten-free baking experience, and though I gather that it went significantly better than my first gluten-free attempt at cookies, her comment to me shortly after was, "I'm starting to understand the Holy Grail quest for the gluten-free community to find good recipes..."
Gluten-free baking is no walk in the park. This is not news. But every so often a recipe that is truly good - good enough to be reliable - will turn up. And when that happens, you hold on to it.
Not long after I was issued the medical legislation that would expropriate my diet from gluteny things (just long enough to realize that chocolate chip cookies would never again be the easiest thing to take to a party) a kind-hearted friend forwarded me a link for a gluten-free chocolate chip cookie recipe they'd never tried. It was a remake of their own favorite recipe, done by one of their favorite Food Network personalities. And I was plenty skeptical. 
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These cookies, it turned out, are the most chocolate chip cookie of any gluten-free chocolate chip cookie I've ever attempted to make. They are consistently good, consistently predictable, and surprisingly forgiving. Over the years, I've managed to make multiple different kinds of cookies with success, using the flour ratios described here. I've made these with alterations as slight as adding walnuts, to alterations as significant as making them egg-free. When the stars align perfectly, they've even been known to simultaneously survive the loss of both egg and dairy.
Try the recipe.
Experiment!
Eat cookies.
Enjoy.
The Chewy Gluten Free Cookie Recipe - from Alton Brown
8 ounces unsalted butter
11 ounces brown rice flour, approximately 2 cups
1 1/4 ounces cornstarch, approximately 1/4 cup
1/2-ounce tapioca flour, approximately 2 tablespoons
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ounces sugar, approximately 1/4 cup
10 ounces light brown sugar, approximately 1 1/4 cups
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
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