These paleo chocolate cookies are ultra rich, soft and chewy and taste just like traditional chocolate cookies! This recipe has a vegan option and they’re also grain-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free.
The only thing that’d give these cookies away as not being made with all-purpose flour is the little specks of almond flour. And I don’t think most people would even notice!
This recipe uses a mix of almond flour and coconut flour, but I also now have an all coconut flour version of these cookies. Check out these → Chocolate Coconut Flour Cookies if that sounds interesting!).
I adapted this recipe from my Perfect Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies. Mr. Texanerin thinks it’s kind of funny how many variations of this cookie I intend on posting.
I don’t think it’s funny at all. I think to not post all the versions I can think of would just be stupid. ;)
To come up with the original recipe, I made them at least 2-3 dozen times – usually half batches. And I baked them up one cookie at a time, adding more flour or oil or whatever until I was closer to what I was going for.
It was actually kind of fun because of the almost constant stream of fresh cookies coming out the oven. So after that labor of love, I feel like posting several variations is totally acceptable. :D
But none of the recipes are just calling for different add-ins! Different types of nut butters and flours have different fat contents and that requires adjustments to the recipe. If you use peanut butter in this recipe without making any other changes, it wouldn’t come out very well (I’ve tried).
These Paleo Oatmeal Cookies, which are a variation on the original, are a reader favorite. So are these Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies.
If you use hazelnut butter and meal here, the batter is weirdly wet and so that requires some adjustments, too. This double chocolate version differs from the original in that I decreased the almond flour by 1/4 cup, added 1/3 cup + 4 teaspoons cocoa powder, and a little more oil.
These cookies are huge. Some commenters in the original recipe, which yields 8, said that they got way more than that. If you want normal-sized cookies, you can get about 16.
But I wanted big bakery-style cookies! I just like how they bake up that way. If making smaller (more reasonably-sized) cookies, be sure to adjust the baking time as necessary.
I always use Dutch-process cocoa powder because I like the darker, chocolaty taste and I recommend you do the same, at least for these cookies! If you can’t find it, Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder should do the trick.
Looking for more delicious paleo treats? Try these Gluten-free Dairy-free Chocolate Candy Cookie Bars!
I hope you’ll enjoy these cookies if you try them out! I’d love to hear your thoughts below. :) Thanks!
Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 8 large cookies or 16 regular-sized cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (75 grams) blanched almond flour
- 1/4 cup (32 grams) coconut flour
- 1/3 cup + 4 teaspoons (48 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder1
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons (98 grams) refined coconut oil,2 not melty3 or for non-paleo/vegan, unsalted butter,4 room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) coconut sugar (or brown sugar for non-paleo)
- 6 tablespoons (98 grams) natural almond butter, room temperature5
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, room temperature or 1 chia egg for vegan6
- 1 cup (170 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided (use paleo/vegan chocolate, if needed)
Directions
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the almond flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer or using a stand mixer, beat together the fat and sugar at medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Beat in the almond butter and vanilla extract on medium speed and mix until combined. Beat in the egg on low and mix until well incorporated.
- Stir in the flour mixture until well combined.
- Then stir in 3/4 cup (128 grams) chocolate chips. If you used brown sugar, skip to the next step. If you used coconut sugar, place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 1 hour or until the dough is firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C) and line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- Roll the dough into 8 (93-gram) balls and place the remaining 1/4 cup (43 grams) of chocolate chips on the top and on the sides of the dough balls.
- Place 3" apart on the prepared baking sheet. Press the cookies down lightly with the palm of your hand.
- Bake for 11-14 minutes (if using coconut sugar) or 12-15 minutes (if using brown sugar) or until the surface of the center of the cookies no longer appears wet. They'll be very soft but will continue to cook as they sit on the cookie sheet.
- Let cool completely on the baking sheet. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. They can also be refrigerated for up to 2 weeks or frozen up to 3 months.
Notes
- Using regular natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch-process may result in cakey cookies.
- I used refined coconut oil. If you use unrefined, these cookies may have a little coconut taste to them.
- If your coconut oil is a little melty, put it in the fridge for about 10-20 minutes or until firmer, like softened butter. If you use slightly melted coconut oil, the dough will be greasy and the chocolate chips will be hard to incorporate.
- Butter works in these cookies but they're fudgier and in my opinion, better, with coconut oil.
- The almond butter shouldn't have any added fat or sugar.
- To make a chia egg, mix together 1 tablespoon of ground chia seeds and 3 tablespoons water. Let sit for 1 minute or until goopy like an egg.
Adapted from my Perfect Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
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179 comments on “Paleo Chocolate Cookies” — Add one!
7 comments are awaiting moderation!
These are amazing. I made them with half the sugar and half the choco chips and still were a bit sweet in my opinion. I love the amount of vanilla you used (The German bio markets have the pure powder form.) It really enhanced the flavor 10 fold. I ran out of almond butter and made whole-grain-spelt cookies, could not compare. Best ever!
I’m so happy you liked them! What is the brand of vanilla you bought? I’d love to check it out. Or is it vanilla sugar you’re talking about? And I’m very happy that you thought these were even better than whole grain cookies. :D Thanks so much for your comment!
The brand is Biovegan and its called “bourbon vanilla” comes in a 15g small glass jar.
Awesome! Thanks so much. :)
Hi! My cookies are currently baking, and I can hardly wait as the mixture itself was delish! Except I had no idea how much they would expand in the oven!! So my cookies now resemble more of a slice on the tray! I really don’t mind haha I know it will still taste amazing! :)
Haha. Yeah. You’ve got to put them like 4″ apart because they spread SO much. I hope you enjoy the baked cookies as much as the dough. :D Thanks for your comment!
I subbed cashew butter for the almond butter and they turned out AMAZING! Thank you ❤️ One of the best cookies I’ve made (and I’ve made a lot of paleo cookies)
Aww, thanks! I’m so very happy that you think they’re one of the best. :) And I can’t wait to try these with cashew butter. Thanks so much for your feedback!
Seriously, amazing. The one disappointment i have had over the years with the paleo world is mediocre desserts. It was so hard to make treats for non paleo people that didn’t scream paleo. But you have done that, seriously they are so so good. I love all your paleo treats i have made so far. The chocolate chip cookies, brownies, double chocolate cookies, cupcakes, they have all far exceeded any expectations I have had. Please keep baking and i will keep sharing your recipes. I always come here when I need a good recipe :)
What an incredibly nice comment! Thanks so much. :) I’m thrilled that you’re enjoying my paleo recipes! I’ll definitely keep baking and I’ll try to post even more paleo recipes. :) Thanks again for your comment! It made my day.
The taste of these was awesome! My only problem was that I seemed to have a hard time keeping the cookie together. They ended up being quite crumbly and the dough didn’t seem as doughy as I thought it might look. Any recommendations?
Ps. I also didn’t have an electric mixer, and so everything was done by manual labour :) could this have been the issue?
Did you use firm coconut oil, or was it kind of melty? The dough doesn’t really look doughy like a wheat-based dough but it should hold together as long as you didn’t make any changes and you used firm coconut oil. I don’t think hand mixing was the issue! Thanks for your comment. :)
I realised as I was in the middle of mixing this that I didn’t have any nut butter? Instead I melted dark cooking chocolate and used that. Skipped the chocolate buttons and yes they are yum (with just a touch of graininess..maybe a little more coconut oil or butter may help next time). Thank you for sharing!
The graininess is due to the added melted dark chocolate. Try it next time with almond butter instead and I’m sure you won’t have that problem! But I’m happy you still liked them. :) Thanks for your comment!
Yuuuuuummmmm these are honestly soooo good. I think they’re even a tiny bit better than the Hummingbird double chocolate cookies. The paleo equivalent. But is there any substitute I can make for the peanut butter and the almond flour that’s nut free? I wanted to make them for my bestie but she’s allergic to nuts :(
Btw I tried them with mix of 90 and 99% cocoa chocolate and 60g almond butter and 30g peanut butter so half peanut half almond butter would work I think :)
I’m so happy you enjoyed them! And I’m sorry but there’s no sub for the almond flour. :( Nuts flours are only interchangeable with other nut flours. I’ve heard about people using sunflower seed flour as a sub, but I haven’t tried it myself. And sunflower seed butter works as a nut butter sub in the cookies! I’ve tried it. :) Thanks for your comment!
i used sunflower seed butter and pumpkin seed flour and the cookies turned out perfect.
Pumpkin seed flour?! I’ve never heard of that. Thanks so much for the tip! :)
Do you know the nutrition facts on these? I made them tonight and they are AMAZING, but am curious on the calories and macros.
I’m so happy you liked them! I don’t have that info but you can copy and paste the recipe here for the nutritional profile, if you’d like. :) Thanks for your feedback!
Thanks so much! My husband actually loved them! He’s hard to please unless he’s getting something he knows is bad for him. He and I were both so impressed. I may have had a few too many! 😳
My husband is pretty much the same! And I know how it goes with overeating when it comes to cookies. ;) They’re hard to resist!
These were DELICIOUS!! My crew enjoys muffin cookies, so I made according to the recipe, but used muffin pans instead. I got 18 muffin cookies, approximately 2 Tbl of batter each. I’m making these again, tonight. :) Thanks for a great recipe!
I love your muffin cookie idea! I’m so going to try that. Thanks for the tip. :) How long did you bake them for? Thanks a bunch for your feedback!
Erin, I baked them for 11-12 minutes, used parchment cupcake liners, and did not refrigerate the dough. They turned out perfect! <3
Awesome! Will try that next time. Thanks so much for your response. :)
There is no such thing as “too many variations” of an amazing cookie! Love these!! I also love how honest you are about the next-day status of the cookies! I’m sure I’ll have zero trouble eating them all right away! ;)
Haha. That’s good because I’m not going to stop until I run out of ideas. ;) And about how they taste the next day, it seems like other people had no problem with that! I guess it was just me and my stinky tupperware. :D
Hey i can’t eat coconut sugar :( could i replace with maple syrup ? <3
I’ve tried that and it made the cookies cakey. Can you have regular brown sugar or any granulated sweetener? Sorry for my slow reply!
Hi i actually am aloud coconut sugar and tried them today ! they taste amazing but mine have turned out soft and kinda cakey do you have any idea of why ?
Were they still soft and cakey even after cooling? When you take them out of the oven, they’re soft but should firm up and get chewy as they cool. If they were still cakey after they cooled, did you make any subs? That could explain it. I’m happy you liked them!
hi erin ! no i didn’t make any subs ? should i cook them for longer ? i did cook them for 13 mins!
Hmm. Then I’m not sure what it could be! Nobody has mentioned these coming out cakey and they should definitely be chewy and fudgy. You used natural almond butter with just almonds and nuts, right? And my apologies for the slow reply! I just got back from vacation and wasn’t able to access the page from my laptop where I approve and reply to comments. Sorry about that!
and yes they were still soft after cooling !
Mine also came out soft and cakey…
Did you make any subs or changes at all? I’ve gotten quite a bit of feedback on this recipe from people on social media and you two are the first who have said that theirs have come out cakey. I’m not sure what could cause that unless you’re making a change to the recipe or overbaking them. I hope they were still enjoyable. :)
I think I may know what it is! Did you use Dutch-process cocoa powder or regular cocoa powder?
Can you please make me a sugar free cookie recipe?
I can’t have it natural or not!
I’ve never tried making these sugar-free. Sorry about that! I’m guessing you could replace the coconut sugar with whatever granulated sugar-free sweetener you can use.
Hi there!
I follow along with the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle, and I just adapted this recipe to be sugar free for me! So thank you for your super amazing, tasty, and easy-to-adapt recipe!
I made the same recipe sugar free by subbing the brown sugar out for: 1/4 cup swerve sweetener, 1/4 xylitol, 5 packets of truiva, and 3 TBSP sugar-free pancake syrup (which imitates brown sugar when baked).
Hope that helps!! Thanks again! So glad I discovered your blog today!
Hi Kimberly! Thanks so much for sharing your sugar-free version. I definitely don’t have any idea when it comes to sugar-free baking so I really appreciate you taking the time to share your version. :) I’m happy you enjoyed them and that they worked out well with your subs! I hope you’ll be able to adapt my other recipes just as easily. :D Thanks again!
I made these last night and really, these things are awesome. I’d put them up against ‘regular’ cookies without any hesitation. These will go into the regular ‘paleo dessert’ rotation.
Thanks!
Wow, thanks! So happy that you liked them. :) Thanks a bunch for your feedback!
I made these cookies tonight – and they are completely delicious! The texture is awesome. I did use butter instead of coconut oil. Oh, so good.
I’m so happy to hear that they came out well! How do they taste today? Funky like I mention in my post or do they taste like they did yesterday? Thanks a bunch for your feedback!
Nothing funky at all. They are a soft cookie on day 2, and very yummy. I doubled the batch, and put some (already baked) in the freezer as well, just to see how they would do.
Oh, yay! That’s great news. Thanks so much for letting me know! I hope they freeze well. :)
I’m making these for certain! I’ll be sure to come back and let you know! They look delish!
Oh, thank you! I’m dying for some feedback. ;) I hope you’ll love them as much as I did!
I found this recipe on Pinterest and let me tell you it is absolutely fantastic! I made the almond butter with my vitamix and whipped these baby’s up last week. My family absolutely loved them.
I have had the coconut flour and the almond flour hiding in our pantry for an amazing recipe… And I have absolutely found it. Actually they had been hiding in there because I was unsure how to use them, and how what to make with them after picking it up at Costco.
But wow, doing my p90x and having these didn’t hold me back from my weight loss goals. I will absolutely make them again, I fact I think I’ll make some tonight. nom Nom noms!
Thank you!
I’m thrilled that these didn’t hold you back from your weight loss goals! I wish I could say the same thing. ;) And how awesome that you finally found a good use for that almond and coconut flour! These cookies are definitely one of my favorite things to use those flours on. Thanks a bunch for your feedback. :)
Perfectly wicked paleo cookies, Erin! I’ve smashed a couple paleo cookie recipes together, one with almond butter and one without, with excellent results. But, I am totally loving your double chocolate variety! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much, Stacy! :)
I used coconut sugar and coconut oil, and both 72% cocoa chocolate and 75% with a hint of orange. Cookies are still hot and seem very soft and fragile, but the taste (yeah, I know I should let them cool down before tasting…). It’s mindblowing!!! Besides, I have never ever succeeded with a “normal” batter with white flour and butter. They always melted and burned, no matter what I tried. At least these babies hold together. Thank you sooooo much for sharing! <3
There’s really no reason to wait until they’re cool before digging in. ;) I only say that so that people aren’t surprised by how soft and fragile they are when still warm. Are you in Finland? If you use Finnish ingredients for American cookie recipes, the problem could be the ingredients. I live in Germany and the butter, flour, sugar and lots of other ingredients here are different than the US. For the first year I lived in Germany, all my cookies came out terribly. Thanks for your feedback! I’m so happy you liked them. :)
Yep, I’m a Finn. :) I an imagine German grocery stores being quite similar to ours (Lidl, for exampe :D ) and indeed I’m finding it hard to fine all the ingredients most paleobased recipes include. I was blown away when I bumped into ARROWROOT FLOUR in a common hypermarket! Unfortunately they didn’t have tapioca starch so there are still numerous recipes sitting on the shelf…
I’m pretty sure that previous unfortunate cookies had to do with the ingredients, because after 2 minutes baking, the fat separated and all the cookies melted together. I wish I could say that cookie-pancake was very tasty, but if sure as hell wasn’t. It was burnt butter with some chocochips. Nasty.
But these are soooooo goooood, and though I made them smaller, they are still huge and soft from the inside. Messy, sticky and chocolate-y – could a girl ask for more. <3 So definitely coming back for more hints and recipes! :)
I don’t know how I missed your comment! I’m sorry for just now replying. That’s crazy that you found arrowroot flour in a regular store! We definitely haven’t come that far here but I’ve found it in organic shops. Do you have Asian food shops where you live? There are quite a few in Berlin and they all have tapioca starch for about 1 euro / 400 or 500 gram bag! They also sometimes have coconut sugar but some of it looks a little questionable. European butter has 82% fat and American butter only 80% and crazily enough, it seems to make a difference in some cookie recipes, especially if you’re using a recipe that calls for American all-purpose flour and you use German or Finnish flour. But since you seem to eat paleo, maybe that’s not the issue! I’ve also noticed our almond flour isn’t as finely ground as the American stuff. Or maybe I’m just buying the wrong brands. ;) Sorry again for the slow reply!
Looks delish!! I’m vegan, so I’ll probably try these with flax eggs. I wonder if aquafaba would work, or if it would be too wet… Thoughts?
Thanks! I’ve never used aquafaba so I’m afraid I have no idea how that’d work in these. But a commenter in the original chocolate chip cookie recipe used a flax egg and she said it worked perfectly so at least we know that should work. I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies! I’d love to hear how they come out. :)
If using peanut butter instead of almond butter, how much would you use?
Peanut butter doesn’t work in this recipe. I sure wish it did! You can read why in the first paragraph after the second picture. :)