Best Ever Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Cookies (Chewy, Bakery-Style Recipe)

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These soft, chewy gluten free triple chocolate cookies are packed with milk and white chocolate chunks. They're super quick and easy to make so perfect for beginner bakers - and absolutely no one will guess that this is a gluten free cookie recipe!

Why These Are My Favourite Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Cookies

I’ve been using this recipe, in one form or another, for over 15 years - long before I became a coeliac & adapted it into these gluten free triple chocolate cookies! My sister and I were obsessed with the sweet, crisp and chewy chocolate cookies freshly baked in our local shop, but sadly these were usually beyond the budget our teenage part-time jobs allowed. One day we decided enough was enough: it was time for action. We were going to make our own cookies.

It was a disaster.

OK, that might be an exaggeration. But the cookies we’d made were nothing like the shop-bought ones we coveted, with caramelised edges, a crisp base, and - our favourite bit - a deliciously chewy interior, with lots of chocolate chunks in each mouthful.

The cookies we’d made (if you could call them that) were too soft, almost… cakey, with a strangely eggy-tasting undertone. I’m not yucking anyone’s yum here - if you’re a fan of soft, cakey cookies, that’s awesome - but the cookies we’d produced were not at all what we’d had in mind.

We were determined to try again. Round two commenced soon after (and rounds three, four, and five - you get the picture). Similar results ensued. Some were better, some worse, but the cookies we made never quite hit the spot. I remember one batch being so soft that they started sliding right through the gaps in the metal cooling tray - a particularly low moment in our cookie-making journey.

We didn’t get it. The recipes we tried just weren’t coming out right (in all honesty, we were very inexperienced bakers & probably weren’t using recipes from particularly credible sources). We began to wonder if anyone could bake homemade cookies as good as the ones they sold in the shops. My mum echoed this opinion: perhaps cookies and biscuits were just something industrial bakeries could produce better than home bakers, in ordinary ovens.

Undeterred, my sister and I continued with the mission, going through hundreds of chocolate chips and bags and bags of flour in the process (my now–coeliac stomach is wincing just thinking about it!). It had become a kind of obsession for us. If you’ve seen the Friends episode ‘The One with Phoebe’s Cookies,’ you’ll get the picture - we channelled some serious Monica energy that summer, trialling countless recipes, ingredient combinations, oven temperatures, and baking times until one day - finally - we cracked it and found the sweet spot.

When we bit into the first chewy, crisp homemade cookies that we’d made, we were vindicated: these cookies finally lived up to the ones we loved to buy. With a few little tweaks, our go-to family cookie recipe was born: the great, all-rounder base recipe that we still love and use to this day. I handwrote our recipe up into my notebook with the title “best ever cookies” - and honestly, 15 years later, I stand by that.

Given all our efforts that summer, when I was diagnosed with coeliac disease five years ago, it threw a bit of a spanner in the works. Was I ever going to be able to eat my favourite cookies again? Making sure that I’d still get to enjoy my “best ever cookies” became one of the top priorities of my newly gluten-free life (I wish I was joking - I’m truly dedicated to the cookie life haha!), and so I set about adapting our “normie” cookie recipe to make it a gluten free chocolate cookie recipe.

Fortunately for me, it turns out that cookies are one of the easier bakes to adapt, & chewy gluten free cookies weren’t as far away as I’d imagined (though do watch out for any pesky ‘may contain’ warnings on your chocolate chips - it’s so easy to get caught out by these).

Anyway, very long story short, TLDR: this recipe is kind of my life’s work (OK, OK; one very long summer’s work, anyway) & I really hope you enjoy it. We all deserve great cookies in life - coeliac or not. You can use my recipe for delicious, bakery-style gluten free cookies exactly as scribed below, but please feel free to tweak it as you like to make your perfect cookie. In fact, I would strongly encourage you to do so - why not have your own summer of cookies! It worked for us. I hope you find your dream cookie recipe too.

Why I Know You'll Love This Recipe

• Crispy-crunchy edges & chewy centres

• Packed with milk & white chocolate chunks

• Easy gluten free cookie recipe for beginners

• No dry or crumbly gluten free texture

FAQs

Can you make gluten free cookies chewy?

Absolutely - you’d be surprised how easy this is. The key is A) to avoid adding too much egg to the recipe (here I’ve found you end up with a soft cookie with a cakey texture) & B) to avoid overbaking them (while still delicious, your cookies would then have a more uniform crunchy, biscuity texture). By following my recipe & baking time (removing the cookies from the oven when they’re still slightly soft in the middle), you’ll keep that gooey, chewy interior as the cookies cool.

Why do gluten free cookies go dry?

Gluten free cookies can become dry if they’re overbaked (just like regular, normie baked goods!), or if they contain too much flour (as gluten free flour blends can be ‘thirstier’ than regular normie flour). Measuring ingredients carefully & baking as per my directions will help avoid this.

Unlike regular, normie baking, over-mixing is less often the cause of dry gluten free cookies, as there’s no gluten to overdevelop.

Why are my gluten free cookies crumbly?

Gluten free cookies can turn a bit crumbly if they’re overbaked, contain too much flour, or are moved before they’ve had time to ‘set’ after baking. Let the cookies cool on the baking tray as mentioned in step 11 to prevent any potential breakage.

Can I freeze this gluten free cookie dough?

You can, & I would actually recommend freezing a little of each batch if you can - it’s always great to have some cookie dough ready to go if surprise visitors arrive or if you’re simply having a cookie emergency (trust me, these happen - at least in my house!).

To prepare the dough for the freezer, simply roll into balls (as per step 7 in my recipe) before freezing the cookie dough on a baking tray or similar flat surface. When frozen, I then transfer them to a freezer-safe sandwich bag where they can be kept for up to 6 months (honestly, mine rarely last that long - I have to replen. my freezer stash regularly!).

The cookie dough freezes well & the cookies bake beautifully from frozen - I usually bake them for approx. 11min at 200’ fan, but do keep an eye on them in the oven just in case they need a little more/less.

What is the best flour for gluten free cookies?

I use gluten free self-raising flour in all of my cookie recipes, like Asda’s or Dove’s.

Self-raising sounds counter-intuitive, right? (Aren’t cookies flat, after all?) But actually this is the key to creating those lovely puffed up cookie tops in the oven which then sink to delicious, caramelised, chewy craters as they cool.

You’ll also notice if you look at the ingredients that many gluten free self-raising flours on sale in the UK contain a little xanthan gum (not all, so do check yours), which means we don’t need to add any extra to this bake. Xanthan gum is a really helpful ingredient in gluten free baking for creating a better texture that mimics what the ‘gluten’ achieves in regular normie flour. I’d suggest using a gluten free self-raising flour that includes xanthan gum in this recipe to maintain the cookies’ structure.

Can I make these gluten free triple chocolate cookies dairy free?

You absolutely can - I actually often make these cookies dairy-free to accommodate a dairy-free family member (like I said earlier, everyone should be able to enjoy cookies, allergies or not!). Firstly you’ll need to replace the butter with a dairy-free block butter alternative (my favourite is Flora Salted Block Butter Alternative). It’s important to use a dairy-free block butter rather than a dairy-free spread as otherwise it can affect the finished cookies’ texture. You’ll also need to use your favourite dairy-free chocolate chips - I often go for a few mini bags of dairy-free chocolate buttons from the Free From section of Tesco or Sainsbury’s for ease. The finished cookies still bake beautifully, with the lovely crisp exterior & chewy centre. As always with gluten free baking & other allergies, please do check all ingredients carefully for suitability for your own dietary needs.

Can I make these gluten free triple chocolate cookies without nuts?

You can & the cookies will still be delicious! The nuts in the recipe are completely optional & I don’t tend to include them if I’m baking for an office workplace or public event (where people may have allergies you’re not aware of), or for children as I’ve found they generally prefer their cookies without. It’s also best to double check your other ingredients are all free from nuts & may contain warnings to be completely sure.

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Gluten Free Triple Chocolate Cookie recipe

🥄 Prep time: 15min | 🍪 Bake time: 9-10min | 🍽 Servings: 12-18 | ⭐ Difficulty: 2/5

Ingredients

• Salted butter 125g (softened)

• Golden caster sugar 110g

• Light brown sugar 115g

• Gluten free self-raising flour blend 180g

• Cocoa powder 40g

• Vanilla extract 1tsp

• Golden syrup 20g

• 1 medium egg

• White chocolate chips 100g

• Milk chocolate chips 100g

• Optional: chopped nuts 75g (macadamias work well here, but you do you)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200’ (180’ fan) & line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper.

2. Mix together the butter & sugars until well-combined with no lumps.

3. Add the egg & vanilla extract & mix well. Then stir in the golden syrup.

4. Weigh the flour & cocoa powder into a bowl, then sift into the wet mixture & mix until combined.

5. Set aside 20g each of the white chocolate chips & milk chocolate chips (we’ll use these to top the cookies once just-baked for a perfect finish).

6. Add the remaining chocolate chips (& nuts, if using) to your cookie dough & stir to combine, forming a thick cookie dough. If the dough seems a little soft (perhaps your butter was a little too soft or it’s a warm day), refrigerate the dough for 30min until stiffer before baking to prevent excess spreading.

7. When I’m ready to bake the cookies, I use a tablespoon to get a heaped tbsp of cookie dough for each cookie, & roll the dough in my hands to get a nice round shape. (Top tip: use slightly damp, cool hands for this.)

8. Place 6 cookie dough balls onto each baking tray, making sure to space the cookies out from one other & also from the edge of the baking tray (as they will spread).

9. Bake for 9-10mins, until the cookies have spread & stopped bubbling in the middle. Note that the cookies will still look & feel quite soft on top at this point - this is good: it helps the cookies retain that lovely gooey, chewy interior once they’ve cooled down & the exterior has firmed up.

10. Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven (while they’re still sitting on the baking tray), use the chocolate chips you set aside earlier to top each cookie with. Topping your cookies at this point gives them that perfectly-finished look you always get on shop-bought cookies. Beware though - if you’re using shaped chocolates to top your cookies that you want to completely retain their shape (e.g. large chocolate buttons or a KitKat bunny), wait 2mins before topping the cookies as otherwise they will melt a tad & the shape of them can get messy.

11. Once topped, allow the cookies to cool on the baking tray for a further 5mins, by which point they should have almost solidified, with a crisp exterior & more solid base. (Note: if you made larger cookies, leave them for nearer 10mins to prevent breakages!) Use a spatula to help you move the cookies to a cool plate to continue cooling.

Chef's perks

Please know that the cookies are very, very good to eat at this point, just-baked & cooled slightly, with crisp, chewy edges & a warm, melty chocolate interior. Yum! No one will miss one cookie. 😉

Storage

Once baked, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container & should be eaten within 3 days.

Alternatively, the unbaked cookie dough balls can be frozen in an airtight container, ready to bake from frozen per the instructions in the FAQs section.