Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Biscuits
These crunchy gluten free chocolate chip biscuits are easy to make, and you can use the base recipe to add your own mix-ins and change the flavour combinations. Why stop at a gf choc chip biscuit when you can have any flavour you want?!
I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to post a gluten free chocolate chip biscuit recipe, because it’s a staple family favourite recipe that is well worth having up your sleeve (or in your recipe book).
It feels like a bit of an understatement to just call these chocolate chip biscuits, because they’re actually “whatever you want to add to them” biscuits.
You can add any flavour of chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, chopped nuts, dried fruit, freeze-dried fruit, sprinkles, really, if it’s dry and you can chop it up, you can add it to these biscuits.
These are more of a crunchy gluten free chocolate chip biscuit, but if you want me to test out a chewy version, let me know and I’ll get onto that.
And if these don’t quite look chocolatey enough for you, check out my gluten free chocolate biscuits, which have alllll the chocolate in them.
Scroll down to the recipe card for the full ingredients list and printable recipe, or keep reading for ingredient tips, substitutions and process photos.
Ingredients
- Gluten Free Flour – The texture of these gf chocolate chip biscuits is closest to wheat-flour-based biscuits when made with my homemade gluten free flour blend, because the blend contains brown rice flour, which gives it a bit more “substance” than most of the supermarket blends, which are mostly starch. However, I have also tested the recipe with Edmonds gluten-free plain flour, and it works very well. The texture is a little bit more like a shortbread biscuit (my Mum prefers the texture of the Edmonds flour ones because she likes a short, crunchy biscuit). The biscuits also don’t spread quite as much, so if you prefer a thinner biscuit and use Edmonds flour, you can reduce the flour to 300g.
- Xanthan gum – Helps stop the biscuits from crumbling. If you use a premade gluten free flour blend that contains a gum ingredient, you don’t need to add xanthan gum.
- Baking powder – Make sure your baking powder is gluten free. Edmonds and Hansells are both gluten free, but Pams contains gluten.
- Baking soda – Along with leavening, baking soda helps add some extra colour to the cookies as they bake.
- Butter – I use salted butter; if you only have unsalted, you can add a pinch of salt to the dry ingredients.
- Sugar – Just regular white sugar. If you like a softer, cakier biscuit, you can swap some of the white sugar for brown sugar.
- Vanilla – Either vanilla extract or paste, whatever you have. You could also swap it for other extracts, such as almond, for a different flavour.
- Egg – Use a large egg. It’s best if it’s at room temperature, but I store eggs in the fridge and often forget to take them out before I bake, so I just pop the egg into a bowl filled with very hot tap water while I prepare the rest of the ingredients. By the time I’m ready to add it to the creamed butter and sugar, the egg is basically room temperature.
- Chocolate chips – I often use a mixture of milk and dark chocolate chips, but use whatever you like. You can also use chopped-up chocolate from a block. Block chocolate tends to be more melty than chips, so your biscuits may spread a bit more.
Other Mix-In Ideas
Because we all love a versatile biscuit recipe, here are some other mix-in ideas. You can mix and match to make your own combinations. Use a total amount roughly equivalent to the chocolate chips in the recipe, or measure with your heart.
- Chopped nuts
- Seeds
- Dried fruit
- Freeze-dried fruit pieces
- Sprinkles – make sure they’re gluten free. You can mix them into the dough, or roll the dough balls in sprinkles. Rolling them works best with softer sprinkles, otherwise, they can get a bit hard to eat.
- M&Ms – always check the packet, most plain M&Ms sold in NZ now are gluten free by ingredient, however, some of the flavoured ones contain gluten.
Here are some combination ideas:
- White chocolate chips and chopped macadamias
- White chocolate chips and freeze-dried raspberry pieces
- Dark chocolate and dried apricots
- Raisins/sultanas and currants
- Chopped dates + a little bit of orange zest
- A controversial one – at Christmas I made these into “fruit cake” biscuits, with some sultanas, chopped up glaće cherries and some mixed spice. Very popular with people who like fruit cake, unpopular with those who don’t.
How to Make Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Biscuits
I know no one likes sifting dry ingredients, but it is a good idea to sift and whisk them together to evenly distribute the baking powder and soda through the flour.
Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy, then add in the egg. It may curdle when you add the egg, but don’t stress about it.
Once the flour is added, you’ll have a lovely, fluffy dough.
Then you add in the chocolate chips, and try to avoid just eating it all with a spoon.
The dough should be firm enough to roll into balls straight away, but if it’s too soft, you can pop it into the fridge for a few minutes to firm up. I usually use that time to load the dishwasher and tidy up.
The biscuits get baked until they’re just lightly golden around the edges.
They’ll smell so good you’ll want to eat them all right away, but if you manage not to do that, they keep well in an airtight container for a week or so.
They will soften over time, if you want to crisp them back up, pop them back onto trays and into a 100°C oven for a few minutes, then let them cool again.
More GF Biscuit Recipes
If you enjoy this recipe, I have some more gluten free biscuits you might want to try! If you like crunchy biscuits, these Gluten Free Peanut Brownies are rich and chocolatey, and studded with crunchy peanuts. Gluten Free Melting Moments are lovely, light shortbread biscuits sandwiched with buttercream. My Gluten Free Anzac Biscuit Recipe made with gf cornflakes is the most popular recipe on my website, and my
Gluten Free Weet-Bix Biscuits are a cross between the Anzac biscuits and these gluten-free chocolate chip biscuits.
Let me know what biscuit recipe you want to see next!
Are you new to gluten-free baking?
Or just need some tips on how to make the most of the recipes on GFKF? Check out my start guide to learn how to bake safely and successfully gluten free.
Allergen safety ✔️ Gluten free flour info ✔️
Accurate measuring ✔️ Tools + Equipment ✔️
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Biscuits
Ingredients
- 325 g gluten free flour, see notes
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum, see notes
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 200 g butter, softened
- 175 g white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 150 g chocolate chips, (1 cup)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 180℃ and line 2-3 baking trays with baking paper.
- Sift the gluten free flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and baking soda into a medium sized bowl and whisk together to combine well.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well. (Don't worry if the mixture splits).
- Add the flour mixture in 2-3 additions. You may need to stir the last bit in by hand, as it can be quite stiff.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Roll tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls and arrange them onto the prepared trays, leaving room for spreading. Flatten the balls slightly with the palm of your hand or a fork.Note: If the dough is too soft to roll right away, pop it in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until just slightly browned at the edges.
- Allow the biscuits to cool slightly on the trays until firm enough to move to a cooling rack.
- Store the biscuits in an airtight container.
These look great and will try them this weekend, but yes please to a chewy version!
Love your baking , thank you
Thanks Jo! I’d love to know what you think of them when you give the recipe a try 💜 And I will definitely get onto a chewy version, because I’ve been thinking about it the whole time I was editing the photos for this post 😂