Gluten Free White Chocolate Vanilla Cookies

Imagine the sweet, vanilla-y base of a snickerdoodle packed with white chocolate chips!

Sometimes the best desserts are born out of not knowing what exactly you want. That was definitely the case with these. I knew I wanted a cookie and I knew I wanted to use up a bag of white chocolate chips I had in the pantry. I started measuring ingredients and creaming butter and sugar without any idea that the resulting cookies would be so good and so unlike any other I’d made before.

Since I was winging this recipe, I wanted it to be simple. No crazy flavors or techniques, just a basic cookie with one minor tweak: a lot of vanilla extract. Two teaspoons, to be exact. And while that may not seem like a lot to you, trust me, it gives the cookies a strong and delightful vanilla flavor. The cookie itself tastes a lot like the inside of a snickerdoodle and is incredibly soft. The white chocolate chips give it an awesome texture and depth of flavor.

There are two tricks to keeping these cookies so soft and puffy even days after you bake them. First, there’s only brown sugar in the batter. This lets the cookies keep absorbing moisture days after they’re baked, so they seem to get softer rather than dry out. Second, you have to underbake them slightly. The tops will still look a little glossy when you take them out of the oven. After you let them cool, the insides will still seem a tiny bit doughy (albeit entirely delicious), but an hour later when you’re biting into the vanilla pillow that is your second fourth cookie, you’ll know you did the right thing.

Sometimes the simple things in life are the most delicious.

Gluten Free White Chocolate Vanilla Cookies
Prep: 10 min + chill   Bake: 10 min   Makes: ~2 dozen medium cookies

Ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 ¾ cup all purpose gluten free flour (I used Cup4Cup.)
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium high until it is light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
2. Add the brown sugar to the butter and cream until very well combined, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. 3. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat on medium high for 3-4 minutes, it should be very light and fluffy.
4. Slowly add in the GF flour and baking soda and mix on a medium speed for about 1 minute until all combined.
5. Pour in the white chocolate chips and stir to combine.
6. Form ~2 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls (I used my medium cookie scoop) and place on a parchment paper lined plate or pan. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours and up to several days. This will keep the cookies from spreading when they bake.
7. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place cookie dough balls on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges have set and the tops are beginning to set but are still slightly glossy and pale. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before allowing to finish cooling on a wire rack.