This cookie has sent people searching for me at parties; This cookie has made people angry at how delicious they are (the anger being directed at the impossibility of having your cookie and eating it too); This cookie has been an obsession of mine for years now (I originally based it on Claire Saffitz’s recipe). And I was missing it. So I tinkered with it until the gluten-free version gave me the same intensity of sensation as before, but it’s still different–still unique–because the flours used are delicious and particular to themselves. Plus, I discovered some other little tricks on my way to perfecting this recipe.
On paper, it may look to be a too-demanding cookie, but I promise once you’ve made this once or twice, you can go from beginning to dough-in-your-fridge in 45 minutes, dishwashing included. Toast your pecans while you make the syrup, blitz your dries while the brittle cools, wash up while the dough rests in the fridge, and it ain’t no thang.
Overview
First, we’ll make a very simple maple-pecan brittle and allow that to cool while we brown half of our butter and pour this over the other half of cold butter to cool. Then we’ll blitz our dries with our chopped brittle, then mix our butter, sugar and eggs, then add the dries, and finally add our bigger brittle pieces and oats. Then we’ll scoop the dough and fridge it to solidify and hydrate. Then you can freeze your dough, or bake them all off to spread the joy.
Recipe
Makes 24 cookies
Ingredients:
Brittle
150g pecans
2 tbsp water
150g granulated or caster sugar
60g unsalted butter
½ tsp. baking soda
Pinch of fine sea salt
Cookie Dough
180g unsalted butter, divided
190 g GF plain flour (I use Freee Plain White Flour)
10g milk powder (optional, Tip 1)
1/2 tsp (2.5g) fine sea salt
1 tsp (6g) baking soda
1/2 tsp (1.5g) xanthan gum [I highly recommend weighing with a sensitive scale, xanthan gum is very ‘packable’]
200g gluten-free old-fashioned oats, divided
100g caster sugar
90g light brown sugar
60g maple syrup (Tip 2)
2 eggs (100g)
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract (Tip 3)
1/2 tsp vinegar
Method:
Toast the pecans in a 175°C (350°F) fan oven for 10 minutes or until fragrant and deepened in colour.
Now to make our brittle: Line a small rimmed baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper. Pre-measure the baking soda and salt and set aside. Put the water into a small pot (preferably one with a lid), followed by the sugar and butter. Heat over medium while stirring with a rubber spatula and when the mixture begins to boil, cover with a lid for 1-2 minutes (this causes water to fall down the sides of the pot and will prevent the caramel from crystallising later). Uncover the lid and continue cooking, without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, until the caramel is deep amber. Remove the pot from heat, pour in the toasted pecans, and stir quickly to coat them all in the caramel. Then add in the baking soda and salt and quickly stir – the mixture will foam and expand. Pour the molten brittle onto the silpat/paper and spread into a thin, even layer. Allow to cool for 15 minutes, then chop into pea-size pieces.
Place half of the butter (90g) in the bowl of a stand mixer. Brown the other half of the butter in a stainless steel pot (or any pot, but it’s easiest to evaluate browning with steel). If you haven’t browned butter before: stir constantly and it will boil until the water evaporates, then continue cooking until there is a substantial amount of brown milk solids floating around and a deeply nutty smell emanates from the butter. When it has reached this stage, immediately pour the hot butter over the cold butter in the stand mixer bowl to stop the cooking. Allow the butter to cool to room temp, until all the butter has resolidified. Pop your bowl in the fridge to speed this up if you’d like, but do not allow the butter to get cold.
Combine gluten-free flour blend, salt, xanthan gum, milk powder (optional) and baking soda in a food processor, then add half of the chopped pecan brittle and half (100g) of the gluten-free oats. Blitz until very fine.
Add both sugars and maple syrup to the resolidified butter and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and satiny, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add your dry mix. Beat on low speed until combined, then add the other half of the chopped pecan brittle and the other half (100g) of the gluten-free oats. Beat on medium-low to evenly distribute. Fold with a large spatula a few times to ensure everything is mixed.
Use a scoop to create whatever size cookies you want. I use a 1.2oz/35ml scoop and get 24 cookies by doing so. If batter is quite loose and difficult to scoop, transfer to fridge for about 20 minutes until scoopable. Scoop these into a plastic-lined tin or Tupperware and, when all have been scooped, cover completely with plastic and fridge or freeze.
Allow to chill for at least 12 hours to harden and hydrate. Gluten-free flour takes longer than wheat flour to hydrate, so this is especially important to do to ensure our cookies do not aggressively spread in the oven. Flavours also meld here and lead to a more delicious cookie. It’s worth the wait.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 160C. With my cookie size, I can fit 6 cookies on each 13x18” sheet tray lined with silpats (you can use parchment instead). Bake for 8 minutes, flip and rotate the trays, then bake for another 7 minutes and check them: they should look crispy on the edges and the centre should be turning matte, but should still look slightly shiny. You’re at a greater risk of underbaking these than you are overbaking, so give them another 1-2 minutes if you’re feeling uncertain. Allow to cool for 10 minutes on the trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool, and bake any remaining.
These cookies get even more delicious the next day and the following, so don’t hesitate to seal and keep them around for a few days.
Serving Suggestion: Crumble up the baked cookies on top of vanilla ice cream. Trust me.
Storage: Keep sealed at room temp. These cookies get even more delicious the next day and the following, so don’t hesitate to seal and keep them around for a few days.
Tip 1: Milk powder is 25-35% protein so adds some heft/structure and retains moisture, and also helps with browning and flavour. Feel free to remove and replace with the equivalent weight in additional flour.
Tip 2: Maple syrup is expensive. If you don’t want to buy the real stuff, don’t substitute with a dupe, just eliminate it and do 125g caster/125g LBS sugar. The flavour will still be lovely.
Tip 3: I know this seems like an excessive amount of vanilla, but this contributes a wonderful butterscotchy flavour. Don’t use your best vanilla paste here, a cheaper extract works very well in this.
Notes for Nerds:
I use Freee Plain White Flour here. If making your own blend, it should be 50% starch (like arrowroot, cornflour, potato starch or tapioca flour), 25% lighter-protein flour (such as brown rice flour or millet), and 25% heavier-protein flour (like buckwheat, sorghum or white teff). If your blend already has xanthan gum, omit the additional xanthan gum called for.
‘Fine sea salt’ in the UK is ‘kosher salt’ in the US (roughly speaking). Do not use table salt in these quantities.
I’ve taken these cookies on a plane with me as a gift for my hosts and they travel very well (and lasted for about a week in a plastic bag).
If you freeze the dough balls and bake from frozen, be aware that the centre will take longer to bake through, so squish them down as they bake and/or frequently tap the trays. Add 2-4 minutes of bake time to ensure they are nearly matte in the centre.
Feel free to make different sorts of brittle instead of pecan. I’m sure peanut would be delicious.
The vinegar here is helping the egg proteins denature, improving the structure of the cookie and preventing too much spread.
I hope you give these cookies a try and get a spotlight at the potluck.
Follow me on Instagram for videos of my recipes and subscribe below to receive weekly, premium-only recipes. Feel free to comment, DM me, or email me at zachary@hausofgf.com
Next week I will share my recipe for the ideal layer cake sponge: the inimitable genoise.