These Exquisite Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies – Gluten Free are crispy, decadent, and will become a favorite go-to!
Crisp, light, salty, crunchy, sweet, and chewy are all words to describe these Exquisite Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies – Gluten Free. These little discs of joy are a cookie connoisseur’s dream and will most definitely be the culprit of an impending mass blood sugar spike in my neighborhood. Thankfully we can pass the blame to my Aunt, the wonderful Chris of Cafe Sucre Farine for the original version of these.
Just after Christmas, my Aunt and Uncle ventured down the mountain for the weekend to my home in Atlanta. Knowing my Aunt Chris, I should’ve prepped myself by fasting for three days, because she brings the most delicious treats! Come to think of it, she may be thinking the same thing about me. Whether we’re visiting them or visa-versa, it’s bound to be a dieter’s nightmare. What can I say? Food runs in our blood; we eat to work and work to eat!
The “Crack” Cookie
Anyways, one of the delicious little treats my Aunt brought were these outrageously good Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies. Unfortunately for Barbara, my wife, they were the gluten-filled version, so she had to suffer through all of our praises of deliciousness. Honestly, I think Chris felt a bit for Barbara when she suggested I make a gluten free copycat recipe (gladly!) After one hundred and twenty cookies of testing and proofing, we have a winner! And finally, Barbara got her dream eating the best cookie of her life, a Gluten Free Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies or, as she calls them, “Crack Cookies.”
The Toffee
The toffee nibs are key! But let me tell you a little secret, toffee nibs are nearly impossible to find! I searched high, I searched low, and the only thing I could find were Heath Bar nibs. If you don’t want the extra work explained below and can’t find toffee nibs, use the Heath nibs! I used them, well, kind of… Let me explain!
Making Your Own Toffee
Being a purist, I made my own English Toffee instead. It’s just about the easiest thing ever. You need a baking sheet, preferably a quarter sized one, parchment to line the bottom and sides of the sheet, a medium sized pot, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, and a spatula. Melt the butter and sugar on medium high heat, add the vanilla and salt. So it doesn’t burn, continually mix, mix, and mix… You want the toffee to reach 285°F. This can all be gauged without a candy thermometer by watching the color. Once you reach that nice deep gold color, pour the toffee into the parchment-lined baking pan and let it cool.
So now that I had my own toffee, I smashed it into pieces and used half Heath and half homemade toffee in the cookies, plus additional toffee sprinkled on top. Then, since I hadn’t already consumed years worth of sugar in a day, I made another batch of toffee just for fun. This one I topped with semi-sweet chocolate, sea salt, and pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds) pan fried in butter… but that’s for a future post.
Crispy Rice Cereal in Exquisite Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies – Gluten Free?
It sounds strange right? Who puts Crispy Rice Cereal into cookies? I promise you, it’s not just a filler. If you think about it, it’s the opposite! This cereal is filled with air cavities, so realistically it makes the cookie a bit lighter and adds that amazing crispy crunch.
Gluten vs Non-Gluten
Realistically, this was a pretty easy recipe to mimic. The trick with gluten free flour is that it’s very absorbent of liquids. Yes, I know all these gluten free flour mixes say they’re one for one, but it’s not always the case! Quite often, if you substitute one for one, you’ll end up with something much drier than it should be. And if you’re trying to convert a gf recipe to a wheat flour recipe, then the opposite will happen.
In this recipe, to counteract the liquid absorption I added an extra egg! Considering the limited “liquid” ingredients in the original recipe, this was my best choice. But a full extra egg was a bit too much liquid, so I boosted up the gluten free flour from 2-3/4 Cups to an even 3 Cups. I also like a bit more pronounced almond flavor, so I used 1/2 tsp of Almond Extract instead of 1/4 tsp. Other than an extra egg, a bit more flour, and my preference for the Almond Extract, this copycat is on par with Cafe Sucre Farine’s.
Tips and Tricks
- If you don’t like someone, bring them just one cookie. Nobody can eat just one of these Exquisite Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies – Gluten Free and be satisfied, it’ll drive them nuts!
- WARNING: Rice Krispies, in the US, are not gluten free! They contain malt flavoring, which is derived from Barley and contains gluten. Being 20 parts per million its miniscule, but it can be reactive to celiacs. A gluten free option is Nature’s Path Crispy Rice Cereal, which can be found in most stores.
- Give it an extra pinch of love… A couple extra chips of white chocolate and nibs of toffee will make your day!
- Parchment, parchment, parchment… Make your life easy and line your baking sheets with parchment. Most of the time it’s a mess free clean up and virtually nothing sticks to parchment paper.
- Mind your cookies in the oven! It’s strange, I let my oven preheat for a solid 30 minutes before baking these cookies. The first sheets were always done in approximately 18-19 minutes. The second sheets took approximately 17-18 minutes, and the third sheets were done in 13 minutes. I’m guessing my oven gives a big heat injection to keep the temperature up, so keep an eye out when you open the oven and bake multiple sheets.
- Use a Danish Dough Hook for mixing for folding in your ingredients. They’re amazing!
- I know it says it’s optional, but topping your cookies after about 10 minutes with extra toffee and some flaky sea salt really isn’t optional. It really makes the cookie that much better.
- In regards to flaky sea salt, Maldon is absolutely amazing! It used to be nearly impossible to find it in the US, but now I see it at most grocery stores. You can use it as a finishing salt for just about anything. These salt crystals are light, pretty, and dissolve quickly. (My Aunt Chris hooked me on it years ago.)
- Yes, you can half the recipe… Four dozen cookies does seem like a cardiologist’s nightmare. Fair warning, once you start sharing they will go fast!
- If you don’t have cookie scoops, you should. They’re great for making uniformed sized cookies and anything dough-related. Here are some great ones on Amazon.
If You Like These Exquisite Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies – Gluten Free, Try These Recipes!
Exquisite Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies – Gluten Free
Course: Dessert, SnacksCuisine: Cookies, American4
Dozen15
minutes20
minutesThese Almond Toffee White Chip Cookies are crisp, chewy, gluten free delights!
Keep the screen of your device on
Ingredients
1 Cup 1 Salted Butter-Softened
3/4 Cup 3/4 Granulated Sugar
3/4 Cup 3/4 Light Brown Sugar-Packed
2 Eggs 2 Large Eggs
1 Cup 1 Canola Oil
1/2 tsp 1/2 Almond Extract
2 tsp 2 Vanilla Extract
1 tsp 1 Baking Soda
1-1/2 tsp 1-1/2 Himalayan Pink Salt
1-1/4 Cups 1-1/4 Almond Flour
3 Cups 3 Gluten Free Flour (I used King Arthur Measure for Measure)
1 Cup 1 Crispy Rice Cereal (GF)
1 Cup 1 Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (GF)
1 Cup 1 Toffee Bits (or Heath Bits)
8 Oz 8 White Chocolate Chips (Roughly 1 ½ Cups)
- Optional
Extra Toffee Bits-For Garnishing
Flaky Sea Salt -For Garnishing (Maldon Salt is great)
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine your softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated white sugar. Mix until the concoction is smooth and creamy.
- Mix in the eggs, then gradually pour in the canola oil while mixing. (If poured at once, the oil is much more difficult to blend into the mixture.)
- Once the oil is entirely mixed in, add your vanilla and almond extracts – mix again.
- Next, mix in your baking soda, almond flour, and gf flour and mix until you reach a smooth consistency.
- Once combined, fold in your crisp rice cereal, oatmeal, toffee bits, and white chocolate chips until your dough is uniform.
- Scoop the dough in approximately 2 Tbsp and place on your parchment lined baking sheets. You should be able to get approximately 12 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for the first 10 minutes, then sprinkle on the optional toffee bits and flaky sea salt and continue baking for another 7-10 minutes (depending upon your oven, **see tips and tricks).
- Once the edges of the cookies start to golden, remove from the oven and let them setup and cool for 5 minutes. The cookies will come out soft, and will crisp as they setup.
- Transfer the cookies to cooling racks and start scooping the next batch onto your parchment line baking sheets. Continue the steps until you’re surrounded by cookies!
- Enjoy!
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