Perfectly soft and gooey and bursting with melty chocolate chips, these paleo chocolate chip cookies will seriously BLOW YOUR MIND. I have (not exaggerating) been making these delicious naturally gluten free, paleo-friendly cookies non-stop for the past couple of months. My husband and I just cannot get enough! I LOVE making these when having friends and family over. There is no need to even use your mixer…I simply make these cookies in ONE bowl and a simple spoon or fork will do! Less dishes for the win. These cookies are insane on their own warm from the oven…but (unsurprisingly) my favorite way to eat them is topped with vanilla ice cream; cookie sundae style!
Goodness, we desperately need another chocolate recipe around here! I’ve been seriously loving all the carrot cake and lemon flavors lately, but let’s not neglect the year-round-never-can-go-wrong CHOCOLATE recipes! Chocolate will always be my favorite. ❤️
We already have recipes for monster cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies…so it’s about time we had a classic chocolate chip cookie around here! Well, these might not exactly be considered “classic” since these have no white flour, white sugar, and can easily be made without butter too! I promise these still taste AMAZING though. If only you could have tasted and smelled these test batches (of which there were many) you’ll just have to make them for yourself to see.
So you may be wondering what these cookies actually do contain if they don’t use many staple ingredients in classic chocolate chip cookies. Let’s discuss!
Ingredients and Substitution Ideas
Almond flour.
I love using almond flour in recipes! These chocolate chip cookies use have a base of almond flour, which is made up of simply ground almonds. This means the muffins are naturally gluten and grain-free if you need that, and even if not (that’d be me!), I’d encourage you to be a little creative in the kitchen and try something new (always me haha). I love baking with a variety of flours: white whole wheat (or all-purpose), oat flour, almond flour, etc. Almond flour is a very unique flour, and not easily substituted so I’d recommend sticking with the recipe as written this time! I haven’t tested these cookies using any other type of flour.
Cashew butter.
I love how cashew butter provides a buttery taste to these cookies. The nut butter also replaces most of the butter in these cookies and help provide structure as well as bind the ingredients together. In my opinion, cashew butter has a more neutral flavor than other nut butters, which is perfect for these cookies! I’m all about the peanut butter flavor in these monster cookies, but when it comes to a more classic chocolate chip cookie taste the cashew butter is hands-down my favorite option here. However, I have also tested this recipe using almond butter and that works well too!
Brown sugar.
You will just need ¼ cup for the entire batch, which is MUCH less than many recipes! I love how brown sugar adds more flavor and moistness to recipes over white sugar.
Coconut oil or butter.
Just 2 tablespoons are needed for this entire recipe! I personally slightly prefer the butter version.
Egg.
You will just need 1 egg for these cookies! I tried testing this recipe using a flax egg (ground flax mixed with water), but the cookies did not hold up well and fell apart. So I’d recommend sticking with the regular egg for these.
Chocolate chips.
I love using mini chocolate chips for more chocolate flavor in each bite! However, you can definitely use regular chocolate chips instead if you prefer or if that’s all you have on hand.
Serving Suggestions
I have also made these cookies in a cast iron skillet for a cookie cake when hosting guests, which is delicious and fun! I love eating these cookies warm from the oven or skillet. These cookies will become rather soft at room temperature, so I personally prefer storing the leftovers in the fridge. I highly recommend eating these with vanilla ice cream. Forget cake and ice cream…warm chocolate chip cookies with ice cream are SO much better! 🙂
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup cashew butter (also tested with almond butter)
- ¼ cup brown sugar (use coconut sugar for paleo)
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil or butter
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips (dairy free for paleo)
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, stir together almond flour, baking soda, and salt.
- In a medium bowl, stir together cashew butter, brown sugar, coconut oil or butter, egg, and vanilla. I just use a fork!
- Add almond flour mixture to wet ingredients and stir gently until combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips and use a cookie scoop (or spoon) to divide dough into cookies.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 8-10 minutes.
- Note: This dough can be made ahead of time and baked later. I refrigerated this dough a couple days and they still baked beautifully.
- I like to store these in the refrigerator; they become very soft at room temp.
I just made the chocolate chips cookies and I like them. I am so pleased with myself for making my own almond butter! The real test comes tomorrow when Ed tries them.
I’m so impressed that you made the cookies so quickly after the recipe was posted! And even more so you made homemade almond butter! So happy to hear you liked them 😊