One of my favorite high school memories is rushing to our little snack and supply shop (called Action Corner) during break time. It wasn’t just any food I was after. I wanted the perfect treat, the epitome of teenage snack time, frozen cookie dough balls. Yes, literally just frozen blobs of chocolate chip cookie dough. Someone in our school’s marketing class realized they could take some of the frozen Otis Spunkmeyer cookie dough used for baking cookies and sell it to students without doing a single thing to it. Whatever staff member or student came up with that plan was a genius. Every day it was an all out race to make it to the front of the line before those delights ran out! These Gluten-Free Cookie Dough Truffles take that high school memory one step further by dipping them in chocolate.
Tips & Tricks
Looking for ways to make life a little simpler. These tips and tricks are going to make your cookie dough truffles safer and easier.
Make It Safe
Growing up we were told not to eat cookie dough because of the raw eggs; raw flour can also be a source of food-bourne illnesses. These allergy-friendly cookie dough truffles are already egg-free. However t’s also important to heat your flour before making your cookie dough to stay safe from food-borne illness.
Make It Ahead
You’ll need to plan ahead a bit for this recipe. Your dough will need 8-12 hours to chill in the fridge before scooping and another few hours to freeze the dough balls before coating in chocolate. Make these ahead of time and keep them stashed in the freezer for when you want them.
Make It Easy
Before you dip your truffles in chocolate, freeze them. Stash them in the freezer till they’re good and solid. It’s so much easier to coat them in chocolate because the cookie dough won’t melt and make your hands sticky! For fun, use silicone molds to create special shapes like hearts or flowers.
What You’ll Need
My goal is to keep recipes as simple as possible for you. There are only a few special ingredients you’ll need to make these cookie dough truffles.
Plant Butter
Being dairy-free doesn’t mean you have to miss out on buttery goodness. There are several fantastic plant-based butter sticks out there these days. My favorite to use in this recipe is the soy-free version of Earth Balance sticks.
Palm Shortening
Dairy-free butter typically has a higher water content than standard butter. If you make the cookie dough with all plant-based butter for the fat it typically ends up overly soft. Using palm shortening (or vegetable shortening) for half the fat gives the dough the best texture.
Mini Chocolate Chips
Mini chocolate chips work best because the ratio of chocolate to dough balances well with smaller pieces of chocolate. Full-sized chips will be overly large in the small cookie dough bites.
Smart Substitutions
Making substitutions is a common part of life with food allergies and intolerances. The trick isn’t randomly replacing whatever ingredient you can’t have, it’s finding options that keep your food just as delicious as the original. Figure out the reason the ingredient is used in the first place, then pick an alternative that fulfills that specific job.
Butter
If you’re able to eat dairy, regular butter will work the same as the dairy-free butter in this recipe. With standard butter you can also use all butter instead of a 50/50 blend of butter and shortening.
Mini Chocolate Chips
I typically use the mini chocolate chips from Enjoy Life for this recipe. There are several other options you could easily swap for those. If you can’t find the mini chips you can use full-sized chips or mega chunks and chop up the ones that will go in the cookie dough.
Flavor
You can change up the flavor of these cookie dough truffles using the Enjoy Life mini white baking chips. If you can’t have chocolate, chopped up Chatfield’s Carob Chips work well as a substitute in this recipe.
Enjoy Your Cookie Dough Truffles
These days I don’t have to race my classmates to satisfy my cookie dough craving (though I sometimes have to hide my stash from my kids). Do yourself a favor and keep these delicious truffles tucked away in your freezer. They’re perfect for a mid-day pick-me-up, an easy dessert, or a special treat to serve to friends.
Ingredients
Method
- Stir the flax seed into the hot coconut milk and let it gel and cool for about 5 minutes.
- Whisk together your flour and salt and set it aside.
- Cream the shortening, melted plant butter, and sugars in a mixer.
- Add the flax gel and vanilla extract to the sugar mix and combine.
- Slowly add in flour mix with the mixer on low. Once it’s fully incorporated, mix in the ⅔ cup (100g) of chocolate chips.
- Cover your cookie dough and refrigerate for 8-12 hours.
- Once dough has fully chilled, scoop it into roughly teaspoon-sized portions, roll them into balls, and freeze for at least 2-3 hours.
- After the cookie dough balls are fully frozen, put the coconut oil and 16 oz of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl and melt it in 30 second bursts, stirring between each.
- Dip the frozen cookie dough balls in chocolate and return to the freezer until they are set. You can eat them frozen or allow to thaw for a short while before enjoying.
