These paleo hazelnut cookies are soft, chewy and full of hazelnut flavor! They’re also vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free.
I’m super excited to be working with Bob’s Red Mill today to bring you these delightful little paleo hazelnut cookies. They recently sent me a big box of flour and as soon as I got it, I ripped into the hazelnut flour and went to work on these cookies. I’ve tried making hazelnut flour in my food processor but it goes from being too coarse to immediately releasing its oils and heading the way of nut butter. I can never get it fine enough! So I was beyond thrilled to get my hands on something that’s more finely ground than what I could make.
Wondering what else you can make with hazelnut flour other than these cookies? These hazelnut muffins are a must-make! They’re almost like angel food-like in texture and so, so good!
These chocolate hazelnut cupcakes are also amazing with hazelnut flour. Actually, anything I’ve tried with hazelnut flour has been awesome. It’s great stuff!
The first few times I made these paleo hazelnut flour cookies, I didn’t use any nut butter and while delicious, they were kind of hard to handle. As soon as you picked them up and bit into them, they started falling apart. I wanted to keep these vegan so instead of adding an egg, I added 1/4 cup hazelnut butter to the dough. Now they’re sturdy enough to be stacked, which is really helpful if you want to give these out during the holidays, which is what I’ve been doing. I don’t have any friends who follow any special diets and they’ve all been very pleased with these nutty and chocolaty paleo cookies!
Hazelnut butter is expensive so I recommend making your own by using this chocolate hazelnut butter recipe. Just do steps 1-3 and don’t add any of the ingredients listed after hazelnuts.
And if you make your own hazelnut butter, then you can make my chocolate hazelnut fudge. It has the texture of traditional fudge and unlike so many other paleo fudges, doesn’t melt at room temperature!
If you don’t have hazelnut butter or hazelnuts on hand, try my perfect paleo chocolate chip cookies for some paleo cookies that taste just like regular gluten-containing cookies!
I haven’t tried subbing almond butter in these cookies but I’m assuming it’d overpower the hazelnut taste in the hazelnut flour. Then you might as well use almond flour instead of hazelnut flour and turn them into chocolate almond cookies. If you do use freshly made nut butter, which is usually much runnier than refrigerated nut butter, you’ll probably have to refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes before rolling.
Something else that helped keep the cookies together was rolling them in sugar. I used granulated sugar but raw sugar works well, too, and so does coconut sugar if you don’t mind its darker taste. Make sure to use one of the latter two if you want to make these paleo. Or you can skip the sugar rolling step all together but then they’ll be a little more delicate.
Have you ever baked with hazelnut flour before? After making these chocolate hazelnut cookies, I can’t wait to try some more recipes with it! This stuff is SO good. Links are welcome in the comments!
Be sure to check out Bob’s Red Mill’s homepage for a $1 coupon and their monthly specials! For my whole grain baking friends out there: their amazing whole wheat pastry flour is 25% off :)
For another great Christmas cookie, try these gluten-free shortbread cookies!
Paleo Hazelnut Cookies (vegan, grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 18 cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup (56 grams) coconut oil, melted1
- 1/3 cup (79 milliliters) maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (64 grams) hazelnut butter2
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup + 3 tablespoons (133 grams) Bob's Red Mill hazelnut flour / meal
- 2 tablespoons (14 grams) coconut flour, sifted if lumpy
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup (85 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips (make sure to use vegan / paleo / dairy-free chocolate chips, if necessary)
- 1/3 cup coarsely chopped roasted hazelnuts3
- 3 tablespoons sugar for rolling4
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, hazelnut butter and vanilla. Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the hazelnut flour, coconut flour, salt and baking soda.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
- Place the sugar in a small bowl.
- Roll the dough into 1" balls and roll in the sugar.
- Place on the prepared cookie sheet about 2" apart. There's no need to flatten the dough balls.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until firm on the top. They may crackle a little and will be very delicate but firm up as they cool.
- Cool completely on the baking sheet and then place in an airtight container.
- Store for up to 4 days at room temperature.
Notes
- I used refined coconut oil, which has no coconut taste or smell. If you use unrefined coconut oil, these will likely have some coconut flavor to them.
- If you use freshly made nut butter, you'll likely have to refrigerate the dough first.
- To roast hazelnuts, place them on a rimmed tray and bake for 4-8 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C) or until they smell toasty. Keep a close eye on them as they can burn quickly. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes before chopping.
- I used raw sugar but coconut sugar works if you don't mind the darker taste. Use coconut sugar for the paleo version.
I was compensated by Bob’s Red Mill for this post but, as always, all opinions expressed in this post are my own.
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98 comments on “Paleo Hazelnut Cookies (vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free)” — Add one!
These are amazing! I’ve made them twice and we cannot get enough of them! I did not roll them in sugar and they held up just fine both times. I also found that the dough can be stretched further with some extra hazelnut flour and a table spoon or so hazelnut butter. Thank you for the great recipe!
You’re welcome for the recipe! I’m very happy that you enjoyed them. :) Thanks for the tip on stretching the dough further! And good to know that they did well without the sugar coating. Thanks a bunch for your comment!
Just made these and they came out amazing! Had to substitute a few things because I was out (honey for maple, almond butter for hazelnut butter) but it still came out perfect :-)
I’m so happy that they still came out well! That’s awesome. :) Thanks so much for your feedback!
So pretty and healthy, Erin! I love baking with nut flours (paleo, vegan, egg-free) and I like that you added hazelnut butter to keep this shortbread cookie together as well as using pure maple syrup to sweeten. Very paleo-friendly and chocolate and hazelnut is one of my all-time favorite flavor combinations! Thank you for sharing, my friend!
Thanks, Stacy! I love nut flours, too. :)
Erin, I love these — thank you! I can’t have eggs at the moment and these were fantastic.
That’s great – I’m so happy that you liked them! They’re great little egg-free cookies, aren’t they? :) Thanks so much for the feedback!
Hi Erin…are you aware of a good substitute for the coconut flour and coconut oil? Coconut flavor doesn’t go well in this house…was hoping that maybe quinoa flour could work…but not sure if the consistency is too different. Thought I would ask in the event you know. Happy holidays.
Hi, Jackie! There’s unfortunately not a good sub for coconut flour. It absorbs way more liquid than other flours. But you honestly can’t taste it at all in these cookies! All you taste is hazelnut. For the coconut oil, you can use refined coconut oil, which has absolutely no coconut taste or smell. That’s what I used. :) I’m pretty sure normal butter would work but I haven’t tried it. Happy holidays! :)
I love Bob’s red mill flours! I need to try these new ones! And these cookies look amazing! I think they would taste good with almond butter too!
I hope you get a chance to try their hazelnut flour! It’s really pretty awesome. :D
I have Bob’s Red Mill’s hazelnut flour in my pantry right now. I was going to bake some bread with it, but I may need to start with these cookies first ;) Intrigued by the hazelnut butter. I mean, of course I love Nutella but never had plain hazelnut butter before. Guess I better get baking!
Bread?! Nooo! You should totally do cookies with it. :) I really hope you’ll give them a try!
Haselnut flour makes wonderful bread! The GF recipe I used never baked the inside of the loaf, but if I sliced the bread and toasted the slices in the oven, I could enjoy the entire loaf. It was definitely worth the extra effort. I am looking forward to trying these cookies, too.
Hazelnut bread sounds delicious. And these will definitely bake up nicely! I hope you’ll enjoy them. :)
Wow, I am determined that I will make these cookies and I will also refer to your Hazelnut Butter recipe for this as I don’t want to spend money buying one for myself. How gorgeous these cookies look!
I am new to your blog and loving my stay here. Merry Christmas to you! Stay in touch!!
Welcome to the blog! :) I’m so happy you found it. I hope that you’ll enjoy the cookies and the hazelnut butter! Homemade hazelnut butter is definitely a huge money saver. :) Thanks so much for your kind comment and happy holidays!
You can never go wrong with the classic combination of chocolate and hazelnut. These little cookies look so delicious and I can imagine they tasted even better!
Agreed! Chocolate and hazelnut is just heavenly. :)
I love Bob’s hazelnut flour! I made cookies with it earlier this fall and they were so perfect.
Ooh! Going to go check out your blog to see if I can find them. :)
Oh, boy, do these look irresistible! Baking with hazelnut flour is new to me, but I’d be willing to start!
Yay! That’s the spirit. :)
Not only have I never baked with hazelnut flour, I didn’t even know it was a thing! I should have assumed though that some brilliant minds would have come up with it. I adore hazelnuts so I’ll bet I’d love these.
Oooh, you need to get some! It’s SO good. :)
Just made these! Instead of hazelnut butter I used homemade chocolate hazelnut spread instead & left out the chocolate chips. SO scrumptious & chewy! Can’t wait to try more of your recipes
I’m so happy that you liked them! Homemade chocolate hazelnut spread sounds even better than plain hazelnut butter. I’ll have to give that a try in these cookies! Thanks so much for the feedback and I hope you’ll enjoy the other recipes just as much. :)
I’ve never used hazelnut flour before. But from the looks of these cookies, I’d say I need to get on that. They look amazing!
Thanks so much, Kim! And I agree. Get on that! ;)
I love round cookies! Good to hear about the hazelnut meal as I have some leftover from making hazelnut milk. Looks like another winner. ; p
Haha. I like their plumpness, too. :) I hope you’ll like them if you try them!
I don’t have any allergies, but I’d still make this in a heartbeat. It looks so good!
Thanks, Melanie! :)
Over the top fantastic recipe! I am so making these cookies and am looking forward to using Bob’s Red Mill hazelnut flour/meal.
Woohoo! I’m happy to hear that. Hope you’ll like them. :)
Oh my how delicious – I think we will visit and help you eat those beauties. Yummy!!!
Hehe. Come on over! But make it snappy because I don’t have that many left. ;)
Yay for grain-free cookies – hazelnut meal makes such yummy baked goods! I love that this recipe includes chocolate and hazelnuts, what a delicious combo!
Thanks so much, Faith! And I’m with you. Hazelnut + chocolate all the way. :)
These cookies are little nuggets of happiness. Love the chocolate hazelnut flavor and love the use of hazelnut flour…yum!
Haha. I wanted to call them nuggets of something in the post but couldn’t find the right word to end that thought. Happiness would be it! ;)