Does your favorite gluten-free cookie recipe call for xanthan gum? My guess is that it does. Xanthan gum appears as an ingredient in many recipes for gluten-free baked goods. In its function as a thickener, stabilizer, and emulsifier, xanthan gum partly replaces the elasticity and plasticity of the gluten that occurs naturally in wheat, barley, and rye. However, xanthan gum isn't as necessary as your cookbooks would have you think, as I have found during my ten-and-a-half years of gluten free baking.

When I first began baking gluten free, xanthan gum was not as widely available as it is now, and it was quite expensive. Therefore, I experimented with omitting it whenever I thought I could do so without disastrous repercussions. I discovered that I liked gluten-free cookies made without xanthan gum better than ones made with the gum. Cookies made without xanthan gum were no crumblier than their xanthan-containing counterparts, and they didn't leave a slick feeling on the roof of my mouth the way that cookies made with xanthan gum did.

Muffins turned out just as well without xanthan gum as with it, especially when the muffins contained pureed fruit (such as bananas or applesauce) or vegetables (such as squash or pumpkin). In fact, it became my rule of thumb that “small” baked goods – cookies, muffins, biscuits, pancakes, waffles, and doughnuts – were just as satisfactory without the use of xanthan gum as with the gum thickener.

The one exception to my rule was cornbread. To date, I have not been able to make oven-baked cornbread that is not crumbly without using xanthan gum.

My successes with small baked goods bolstered my confidence, and I began experimenting with omitting xanthan gum in “larger” baked goods – bar cookies, cakes, and loaf breads made without yeast. Brownies and other bar cookies turned out well without the use of xanthan gum.

The same was true of cakes and breads that contained fruit or vegetable purees, such as applesauce spice cake and banana bread. For cakes not containing fruit or vegetable purees, I discovered that I could substitute unflavored gelatin as an alternative to xanthan gum. In fact, the only baked product for which I now use xanthan gum unquestioningly is yeast bread; I still have not found the courage to try making yeast bread without xanthan gum.

Xanthan gum is far easier to obtain than it used to be. Why would any gluten-free baker today want to omit it? It is still an expensive ingredient. It is one more thing to have to measure and add in a recipe that may already have a long list of ingredients. Those who have an allergy or sensitivity to corn may wish to avoid xanthan gum because it is produced by the fermentation of corn sugar. Finally, other gluten-free bakers may find, as I did, that they like their cookies better without xanthan gum!

Mini-tip: If you want to experiment with your own recipes, try reducing the xanthan gum by half the first time. If you like the results, try leaving it out altogether the next time.