Last July, bakers everywhere were taken by storm when David Leite’s now-infamous chocolate chip cookie recipe hit publication. His quest for the perfect morsel was met with advice from the world’s best, including Jacque Torres and Dorie Greenspan. The greatest find? That cookie dough bakes best after it has been chilled for long periods of time. The article stated that even the original Tollhouse recipe was to chill for at least 12 hours prior to baking.

(Above: Cookie on the left was chilled for 30 minutes, whereas cookie on the right was baked immediately after mixing, with no chilling time.)

You can find the complete 411 in the original article. Gluten-Free Girl recently posted a gluten-free adaptation of the recipe, using an intriguing mix of flours, including amaranth and sorghum. She chilled the dough for a full 36 hours and was infinitely pleased with the results. Because I am a proponent of the European slow-rise bread method, I was curious about what changes could be observed with cookie dough. While my experiment was far from controlled, I made every effort to be as consistent as possible with the dough size, oven temperature, and baking time.

The outcome? Gluten-free flour undoubtedly behaves differently than the bread/cake flour used by Leite. On a chemical level, the gluten-free grains lack gliadin, which plays an essential role in the shape and form taken on by flour-containing baked goods. Nonetheless, the original article emphasized the importance of allowing the dough to absorb the liquid from the eggs, to obtain firmer texture. While hydrophillic differences surely exist between gluten and non-gluten flours, the dough did become firmer and drier (almost crumbly) as the chilling process progressed.

(Above: Figuring out how chilling-time affects baking.)

The outcome: I think the 12 hour cookies had the best texture and shape, whereas the 36 hour ones were closer to the texture and crumb of a quick bread. Smitten Kitchen made the original recipe, and they turned out very flat and deliciously chewy looking, which is quite curious as my cookies had the opposite effect—rising higher and higher in each, subsequent batch.

While I love amaranth grain, the flour is a bit strong, with a very grassy taste and smell. I find that sorghum, while a satisfactory replacement for rice flour, tends to have a slight metallic taste. I found these two flours to clash and compete a bit, overpowering the sweet caramels of the cookie. I also generally prefer a cookie with a much greater brown sugar to white sugar ratio, which results in a stronger molasses flavor and chewier texture.

(Above: Cookies spread less and rose more as the chilling time increased.)

This was an interesting trial and it did result in decent cookies. I think altering the flour combination and upping the brown sugar content may produce the changes I’d like. Truthfully though? I have yet to experience a “bad” chocolate chip cookie, and I am thrilled that Gluten-Free Girl shares her baking. I look forward to more. Again, her recipe is here.

Update: I should have mentioned this earlier, but this was only one batch of cookies, and it is very possible that if I made this recipe multiple times it would have turned out more to my liking. I would do that, except that Jill from Hey, that tastes good! made a different variation of the Leite cookies, and that will probably be the next Leite derived recipe I try. Her cookies look perfect, check out her site for proof!