These healthy Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies are full of good-for-you-ingredients and are low in sugar. With only 5 main ingredients, these take minutes to whip up. Keep these almond flour chocolate chip cookies in the freezer for quick snacks.
Do you love healthier cookies like we do? If so, try these Paleo Double Chocolate Chip Cookies and these No Bake Almond Joy Cookies.
Contents
Healthier Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Chocolate chip cookies are a must, especially in the winter when spending so much time cozied up with a cup of coffee or tea in hand.
I was on the search for the perfect healthy chocolate chip cookie, and wanted it to look (and taste!) like the real deal, but be easy to make — with only a handful of easy-to-acquire, healthy ingredients.
The first time I made these, I knew I had a winner. They bake up crispy around the edges, and chewy on the inside. A perfect cookie, loaded with lots of antioxidant rich dark chocolate.
These cookies are gluten free and paleo, made with almond flour and cashew butter as a protein-rich, low carb base, and then are naturally sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar. The combination fo the two gives these the brown sugar flavor that makes them taste like the real thing.
I shared my last batch with a friend who exclaimed, “These are paleo? They taste better than a real chocolate chip cookie!”
What You’ll Need
- Almond Flour (almond meal also works, but blanched almond flour makes the softest cookies).
- Cashew Butter (this can be subbed with almond butter, but cashew butter makes them sweeter.)
- Maple Syrup (this serves as the main sweetener and also helps bind the cookies together since this recipe doesn’t contain eggs!)
- Coconut Oil (if you don’t enjoy the flavor of coconut oil, you can use melted butter instead).
- Vanilla Extract or Scraped Vanilla Bean (vanilla extract is not technically paleo since it has alcohol. It’s such a small amount that I use it anyway. Use a scraped vanilla bean, or omit the vanilla, if you’d prefer!).
- Sea Salt and Baking Soda
- Dark Chocolate Chips (see notes below for picking out the right paleo chocolate for you!).
Are Chocolate Chips Paleo?
If you’re thinking of a standard bag of semi sweet chocolate chips, no they are not. Regular chocolate chips have too high of a sugar content to be considered paleo.
However, dark chocolate is recommended on the paleo diet, and there are even companies making paleo chocolate chips these days!
I recommend:
- 85-90% Dark Chocolate Bar, chopped into chunks
- Hu Dark Chocolate Chips (these are sweetened only with dates)
- ChocZero Dark Chocolate Chips (these are sugar free and sweetened with monk fruit)
How to Make Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie
Step 1: In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the cashew butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar, sea salt and baking soda. Whisk to combine.
Step 2: Add the almond flour and dark chocolate chips, and stir to form a sticky cookie dough.
Step 3: Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place on a cookie sheet. These cookies will not spread very much, so if you prefer flat cookies (rather than mounded, pillowy cookies), press them down into a cookie shape. They will spread and flatten a little more as they bake.
Step 4: Bake the cookies for 10 minutes. They will not be very browned when you pull them out and will be very soft. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes prior to removing them from the baking sheet.
How to Store Almond Flour Cookies
These cookies are some of the best gluten free cookies to eat warm! Allow them to cool for about 10 minutes before taking them off the baking pan.
After the cookies have fully cooled, pack them in an air tight storage container, and refrigerate for up to 10 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
They are delicious reheated, or eating frozen!
FAQ and Variations for Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Substitutes for Cashew Butter: If you do not have (or want to make homemade cashew butter), sub almond butter or sunflower seed butter. Cashew butter gives the cookies the most “normal cookie” flavor.
Can I freeze the cookie dough? Absolutely! Make the cookie dough, then scoop it into balls and flatten them into cookie shapes. Freeze them on a cookie sheet, then transfer them into an air tight freezer container once they have hardened. When you’re ready to bake, sit them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment for 20 minutes to thaw prior to baking them. Fresh baked paleo cookies, whenever you want them!
Vegan Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies: These cookies are vegan as written! Stick to the coconut oil and maple syrup rather than subbing butter or honey.
Can I make Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut Flour? Almond flour and coconut flour bake very differently. This recipe does not work with coconut flour. If you’re looking for a paleo coconut flour chocolate chip cookie, I recommend trying this recipe.
Optional Additions
Want to mix up the flavors in your cookies? Try:
- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts, like almonds, pecans, or walnuts
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dried fruit, like raisins, dried cherries, or cranberries (make sure they are unsweetened)
- Orange zest (the zest of 1 orange)
Simply add whatever addition you love and mix in along with the chocolate chips and almond flour!
Other Paleo Dessert Recipes:
- Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Gluten Free Tres Leches Cake, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Paleo Double Chocolate Cookies, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Paleo Fudge, by Sunkissed Kitchen
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Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup cashew butter or almond butter
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 5 tablespoons coconut oil melted (but not hot), or melted butter
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips paleo, see notes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the melted (but not too warm) coconut oil, maple syrup, cashew butter, coconut sugar, sea salt and baking soda. Whisk together.
- Into the mixture, add the almond flour and chocolate chips, and stir until a sticky batter is formed.
- Scoop cookies into balls and place on cookie sheet. These will not spread a lot, so if you'd like the cookies to be flatter and thin, press them down with wet fingers into a cookie shape.
- Bake for 10 minutes, until just starting to brown on top.
- Allow to fully cool, and the cookies will firm up. Store cookies at room temperature for a week. Alternately, store in an air tight container in the refrigerator for 2 weeks, or frozen for 3 months.
Video
Notes
- 85-90% Dark Chocolate Bar, chopped into chunks
- Hu Dark Chocolate Chips (these are sweetened only with dates)
- ChocZero Dark Chocolate Chips (these are sugar free and sweetened with monk fruit)
Optional Additions
Want to mix up the flavors in your cookies? Try:- 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts, like almonds, pecans, or walnuts
- 1/2 cup unsweetened dried fruit, like raisins, dried cherries, or cranberries (make sure they are unsweetened)
- Orange zest (the zest of 1 orange)
These cookies sound really good. Love the fact that they’re low in sugar. Haven’t really used a lot of almond flour but now you have me wanting to try it. 🙂
Almond flour is my favorite flour to use– I hope you do give it a try!
Lovely! I have an unused bag of almond flour in the pantry. It’s time to grab that bag and make some cookies…thank you!
Yes! I go through almond flour so fast– my favorite flour to use.
A new way to make my favorite cookies! I’m ripe for change and looking forward to the switched up ingredients effect the finished product.
These would be perfect for my gluten free cousin! I’ll pass it on to her!
I love the idea of these healthier chocolate chip cookies and they look FANTASTIC! Making them this weekend!
I’d love to hear how you like them Tiffany!
These choc chip cookies are as cute as a button, and look so delicious. I love how you have added almond butter in to the mix, it would just give them that little bit more decadence.
As a gluten-free (mostly grain-free) person, these healthy cookies are right up my alley! And those chocolate chips couldn’t look more perfect!
I’m a cookie addict, but I am very picky about what I will put in them!
Can I tell you happy it makes me that these cookies- although paleo- have no weird ingredeints I have to go out and buy but actually are simple and I have them all on hand! 🙂 Loooooooooooove that!
I agree! Simple, short ingredient lists are the best 🙂 I hate recipes when there’s so much involved, you can never remember to pick everything up!
These look delicious. I love that they are a healthier version. I will need to try these.
Such gorgeous pictures, I just want to tuck into one of these cookies right now!
Thanks Kate 🙂
I just love the simple ingredient list in this cookies! I also love baking healthy, it’s not only fun to do, but it also make me more conscious of the ingredients I use 🙂
Exactly Bethany– that’s why I cook instead of eating out in general– I like the control what goes in and in what quantities. It’s so surprising how much less sugar can be added if you’re using healthy fats like in these cookies 🙂
Can I substitute the honey for Swerve?
Hi Theresa. I don’t use artificial sweeteners, so I really don’t know! I prefer to use small amounts of the real stuff. Is it liquid? My guess is that it won’t work if it’s a powder, but if it’s thick like honey, it probably would.
These sound and look amazing, is it 159 Calories for 18 cookies, or per each cookie?
That’s for 1 cookie!
Hi, I just made these this morning. They didn’t turn out like a dough. I added cassava flour to try to fix it. It helped some, but I have a question, are you supposed to use eggs & you accidentally left them out in the instructions? They were cooling & I went to scoop one up & it fell apart as it were sand. They tasted really good though. Just wasn’t holding together at all.
Michelle
No, these cookies didn’t have eggs. I haven’t made them in a very long time — so let me get back to you! I used to love this recipe!
Just made these… they didn’t exactly go like cookie dough… kind of crumbly. They taste a bit too powdery and dry. Not too bad though – nice flavour. Love the look of your website btw I’ll have to have a look around at your other recipes
hi Rirri! Thanks for your feedback — I will have to look into that recipe and see if it needs updated! Lots of healthy recipes and desserts to browse! Enjoy.