The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Today is October 31st and my 5 year old is finally laying in bed asleep - his body desperately trying to process all the sugar he ate today. What a happy boy! I'm so glad that mucho candy is gluten free. By the way, there is a 2008 gluten free candy list available. What a lifesaver. Oh dear, I seem to have written another pun. I can't help myself sometimes.

Nathan's Kindergarten class had a party today. He put on his $12.95 Walmart Spiderman costume and thoroughly enjoyed himself. I furnished some Cool Ranch Doritos and M&M individual-sized bags for the class. I knew they were having Capri Sun and that was fine. I also made him a pumpkin-shaped sugar cookie. About 80% of the candy he received in a little bag was gluten free as well. Wow - that class party was not so scary after all. However, I definitely needed to be there to help him chart his way through the mine field.

I have to share with you that the day before I put a mini M&M candy bag in with his lunch. I didn't tell him it was there, because I didn't want him eating it on the bus on the way to school! I normally tell him what is in his lunch because I want him to know it is all there for him and gluten free. He came home that day and told me, "Hey, Mommy - there's something in my lunch bag." So, he pulls out the candy and I see that it is unopened. He explained that he was trying to get a teacher's attention to ask if it was gluten free so he could eat it, but then the bus came and he had to put it back in his lunch bag. While I intended it to be a surprise for him at lunch, I was thrilled to know that he had the self-control to not eat something he wasn't sure about. Needless to say, I was very proud of my boy.

Okay, I just had to share with you about my day. This post really is about chocolate chip cookies. They are my favorite, and I love them fresh out of the oven with milk. I've been on a quest for the best recipe possible and I'm thinking I've found it. As I sat eating my third cookie in a row (shamelessly I might add), I declared to my husband, "This is the best chocolate chip cookie I've made!" And it is!

I'm not sure how this recipe will hold up to substitutions. For instance, I haven't tried making it with tapioca starch, only corn starch. I think some cookies are just fickle things, so I'm not recommending any substitutions beyond omitting the chocolate chips. But then, why would you want to do that! While I think just about all cookie dough performs best after being chilled, this also is very good baked up right away.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Mix the following dry ingredients together in a separate bowl besides your mixing bowl:

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup sorghum

1 cup corn starch

1/4 cup ground flax seed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoon gelatin (found in the Jello section)

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

Cream together:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

Add:

1 teaspoon vanilla.

2 eggs

Add dry ingredients to the wet.

Mix well.

Add 1 cup coarsely chopped nuts and 1 and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Shape into 1 1/2 inch to 2 inch balls on parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.