Chocolate Chip Biscuits (Gluten Free)

In my pre-ceoliac diagnosis days and when I lived in the UK, I used to love the large cookies sold by supermarkets either individually or in packs of about four. I loved the crispy edges and soft, chewy middle. My preference was the vanilla ones with chocolate chunks. This recipe is my attempt to recreate those delicious cookies. I make them much smaller than the UK ones, but if you prefer larger ones, just dollop bigger piles of mixture on to your baking tray and increase the baking time. This makes about 20 biscuits and the cup measurement is based on a 250 ml mug as equal to 1 cup. To measure, spoon the ingredient into the cup and then level it off with a knife, rather than scooping it up with the cup.

What you’ll need:

1/2 cup of soft butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 tablespoon of vanilla essence

1 egg

1/2 cup of tapioca starch

1/2 cup of potato starch

1/2 cup of white rice flour

½ cup of brown rice flour

Generous pinch of salt

1 tablespoon of baking powder

1 cup of chocolate chips

What to do:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

2. Beat the egg and vanilla essence well into the creamed butter and sugar.

3. Sift the starches, flours, salt and baking powder into your mixing bowl and mix thoroughly into the butter/sugar/egg mixture.

4. Add the chocolate chips to your mixing bowl and fold thoroughly through the biscuit mixture.

5. Put the mixing bowl in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes to allow the mixture to firm up – this makes it easier to spoon and shape the dough in the next step. I have left this mixture for a couple of hours but don’t see any reason why it couldn’t be left longer than that, for example until the next day.

6. When you are ready to bake the biscuits, pre-heat the oven to 150°C fan and line a large baking tray with baking paper.

7. Remove the bowl of biscuit dough from the fridge and, taking a generous teaspoon of mixture at a time, roll the dough into small balls. Place the biscuit dough balls on the lined baking tray, spaced at least an inch apart to allow for them to spread.

8. Bake the biscuits for about 18 minutes or until golden brown and fully cooked.

9. Once baked, remove the baking tray from the oven and put to one side for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the biscuits to firm up. Once they are firm enough to lift with a spatula without breaking, remove the biscuits from the baking tray and leave to cool fully on a cooling rack.