These allergy-friendly chocolate chip cookies are made without dairy, egg, gluten, nuts, and soy, but they don’t require any fancy ingredients. They’re even gum-free and completely butterless. Despite their simplicity, they’ve still been dubbed the “People’s Choice” cookies for their perfectly sweet flavor and lightly chewy texture.
Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookies with No Need for Special Ingredients
This recipe is from Cookies for Everyone! by Leslie Hammond and Betsy Laakso. These ladies skip substitutions, and instead rely on baking basics to create sweet treats. They shun dairy alternatives, egg substitutes, and gluten-free baking blends. For the flour, they keep it simple with rice flour and tapioca starch. These might sound specialty, but both been around for decades. And, they can even be substituted if absolutely needed. We’ve added some options in the FAQs below.
What Can I Substitute for the White Rice Flour?
In a pinch, you could use brown rice flour or sorghum flour. You could also substitute your favorite gluten-free flour blend for both the rice flour and the starch. Just make sure your blend doesn’t contain any gums.
Can I Substitute Coconut Flour for the Rice Flour?
Coconut flour is not a suitable 1:1 substitute for rice flour. Grain-free flours in general behave quite differently in baked goods than grain-based flours. But coconut flour is also extremely dry. It requires a lot more moisture in the recipe and creates much more delicate results (you usually need lots of eggs with it!).
What Can I Substitute for the Tapioca Starch?
You could use arrowroot starch or cornstarch instead. You could also substitute your favorite gluten-free flour blend for both the rice flour and the starch. Just make sure your blend doesn’t contain any gums.
What Type of Oil Should I Use?
Leslie and Betsy use vegetable oil, but be aware that it can be made with soybean oil. You can use your favorite neutral-tasting oil for baking. Some popular ones include canola oil, rice bran oil, grapeseed oil, and extra-light (not extra-virgin) olive oil. If you opt to use coconut oil, melt it, and make sure the water you use is at room temperature. Also, keep in mind that unrefined coconut oil might influence the flavor of these allergy-friendly chocolate chip cookies a little.
Can I Substitute Buttery Spread for the Oil?
I can’t recommend this. You might need to make other adjustments to the recipe since the butter alternative would add more water and would be lower in fat.
Where Can I Get Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Chips?
I like to use Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips, and that’s what Betsy and Leslie use, too. They are sold in stores, but I usually order them online.
Can I Use Milk Alternative instead of Water?
You can, but there’s really no need to. Just use water and save the milk alternative for cookie dunking!
Special Diet Notes: Chocolate Chip Cookies
By ingredients, this recipe is dairy-free / non-dairy, egg-free, gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, vegan, and vegetarian.
Allergy-Friendly Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the brown sugar, oil, vanilla, and salt to a mixing bowl. Mix with a hand mixer or wooden spoon until combined.
- Add the flour, starch, and baking powder, and mix until combined.
- While mixing, slowly pour in the water. Continuing mixing until the dough is smooth.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Use a small ice cream scoop or cookie scoop, or drop dough by the tablespoon onto a baking sheet. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 12 to 15 minutes. They should be golden around the edges, but still soft in the center. For soft cookies, remove from oven before they are too golden – around 12 minutes. For darker, crisper cookies, bake for 15 minutes.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for less than 1 minute. Then carefully transfer them to a flat surface to cool completely.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week, or freeze them for longer storage.
Nutrition
Notes
Tried this recipe?
Let us know how it was!Also try their Allergy-Friendly Brownie Bites!
2 Comments
really enjoyed your sit…i am 64 w/celiac..have gone totally dairy free..
i have a flour mix that calls for whey flour. what other flour can i use to
replace it….this gluten free mix is what i use to make waffles.
would appreciate any help…..recipe mix has rice,tapioca,defatted soy,and whey.
mix ix in “gluten-free baking with the culinary institute of America”
Hi Sandi, does it call for whey powder? You can use rice milk powder or soymilk powder in its place. Alternately, use your favorite milk alternative in place of the liquid and the powder in the recipe. If it call for a significant amount of whey powder, then you may want to add a touch of flour if subbing milk alternative.