Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies (The BEST!)

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.

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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