In August I did a cookbook review for Sugar Rush, a dessert book to teach you the foundation of pastry, from creams to cakes to frostings. It’s an alternative path to becoming a faux pastry chef without leaving home. Or spending three years in school in New York!
Every pastry chef now faces new challenges, like needing gluten-free desserts. Suzi’s cooking school, Cooking by the Book, works with the Columbia University Center for Celiac Disease. She teaches celiac patients, and their families, how to prepare meal, great meal, no-sacrifice meals, meals anyone would love.
No meal is complete without dessert. And for me dessert is synonymous with chocolate. Here’s a chocolate cookie that will make everyone happy.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Oatmeal Chunkers
Yield: 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
- ¾ cup flavorless coconut oil or ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ¾ cups sucanat (natural unrefined cane sugar)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup gluten-free oat flour
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Maldon sea salt
- 2 cups gluten-free rolled oats
- 1 ¼ cups bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.
Put the coconut oil into a small bowl and microwave it on low power until liquefied or melt it in a double boiler (if using butter, do not melt it). Transfer it to the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle and add the sucanat. Mix on medium-low speed until incorporated, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the eggs and mix on low speed; scrape down the bowl again. Increase the mixer speed to medium and mix together until creamy and homogenous, 4 to 5 minutes.
In a small bowl, sift together the oat flour, cocoa, and baking soda. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add the salt, mix briefly, and add the oats and chocolate pieces; mix just until combined and incorporated.
Using a small ice cream scoop, measure heaping tablespoon-sized balls of dough and transfer them to the lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Cover the sheets with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Unwrap the cookies and bake for 14 to 16 minute: rotating the pans halfway through, until puffed on top and the aroma fills your kitchen. Cool the cookies on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Source: Sugar Rush by Johnny Iuzzini [Clarkson Potter, 2014]