Perfect almond flour chocolate chip cookies made grain free, are thick, soft and chewy, but not too sweet. Such a satisfying treat!
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Why I love these cookies
- Amazing taste: They taste like “regular” chocolate chip cookies, just with a slight almond flavor like you added a touch of almond extract.
- Great texture: They have slightly crisp edges and they're chewy all the way to the center.
- Versatile recipe: You can add coconut flour or tapioca starch to almond flour; you can also use coconut sugar or light brown sugar.
- Easy to make: Make the whole recipe in one mixing bowl, without any equipment. No creaming the butter first or anything.
Ingredients you'll need & substitution notes
If you have other food intolerances and allergies or are just hungry for more information about the ingredients in this recipe, here is everything I can tell you about the recipe components:
- Almond flour: Be sure to use finely ground blanched almond flour, not almond meal. If you can't have almond flour, you can try replacing it with cashew flour. For a nut-free version, try replacing sunflower seed flour. They may take on a greenish tint, though, as the baking soda will activate the chlorophyll in the sunflower seeds, but it's harmless.
- Tapioca starch/flour: Helps create a more “regular” chocolate chip cookie texture than almond flour alone or than coconut flour. If you can't have it, use coconut flour instead in the amount specified in the recipe card.
- Coconut flour: Creates a thicker texture than almond flour alone; adds structure. To avoid it, make the tapioca starch variety.
- Eggs: Add moisture, thickness, and help bind the cookies. If you can't have eggs, try using a “chia egg” (1 tablespoon ground chia seeds + 1 tablespoon lukewarm water, mixed and allowed to gel) for each of the eggs you're replacing.
- Butter: Adds richness, flavor, moisture and texture. You can replace it with an equal amount virgin coconut oil.
- Coconut sugar/light brown sugar: Adds sweetness and tenderness. Coconut sugar is an unrefined sugar that has a unique flavor. If you don't like it or just don't want to buy it, use the same amount, by weight, of light brown sugar.
- Vanilla extract: Adds flavor and authentic chocolate chip cookie taste. You can replace it with almond extract or leave it out altogether.
- Baking soda: Helps the cookies brown in the oven.
- Salt: Brings out the flavor of the cookies and balances the sweetness.
- Chocolate chips: Use whatever chips you like, or whatever other mix-ins in their place, like chopped nuts. Don't eliminate them, as they add some structure during baking.
How to make almond flour chocolate chip cookies
These step by step photos are meant to give you an idea of what it's like to make the almond flour and tapioca starch variety of these cookies in your own home. For full instructions including precise ingredient amounts and a printable recipe, please scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
Make the cookie dough in one bowl
Place all of the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, and whisk to combine. Add beaten eggs, melted butter and vanilla, and mix to combine. Mix in the chocolate chips, and your cookie dough is done!
Chill the cookie dough, then shape and bake
Cover the bowl and chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour. You can chill it for almost as long as you want, and the cookies will only be easier to handle and have better texture.
Scoop the dough into mounds with two spoons or an ice cream scoop; you can roll the dough into round but it's not really necessary. Place the dough on a baking sheet, and bake at 325°F. Let set briefly, and enjoy!
Tips for making these cookies
Chill the raw cookie dough
This makes an enormous difference in both handling the cookie dough (if it's not chilled, it's too sticky) and in the shape of your cookies. If you don't chill the dough, the cookies will spread way too much in the oven. Chill for at least 1 hour, but longer is better.
For a crisp outside, chewy inside cookie add tapioca starch
You must use finely ground blanched almond flour to make these thick and chewy cookies. But you can add tapioca starch/flour or coconut flour to it. Coconut flour is a healthier alternative, but tapioca starch makes a cookie with the better crisp-outside, chewy-inside texture.
Don't use almond meal
Almond meal is not the same as almond flour as it's much more coarsely ground, and the almonds still have their skins on (so you'll see flecks of dark brown).
Choose a good grand of finely ground blanched almond flour
Make sure your almond flour is “blanched,” which just means that the skins have been removed from the almonds. Here are some of the brands I like:
- Almond flour from nuts.com (the superfine is best, but it's also more expensive and their “regular” blanched almond flour is really pretty good)
- Wellbee's brand super fine almond flour (affiliate link; shop around!)
- Amazon Fresh brand super fine almond flour (affiliate link)
Keep the oven temperature at 325°F or below
Almond flour has a tendency to burn during baking, so I usually bake it in a 325°F oven, no higher. If you bake these cookies at a higher temperature, the bottoms will likely turn a bit black but it shouldn't affect the taste too much.
Storage instructions
These cookies freeze really well, and also do well in the refrigerator. They don't freeze entirely solid, though, because of the almond flour base which is high in healthy fats, so I prefer to freeze them. You can even eat them right out of the freezer, or let them sit on the counter for an hour to come to room temperature.
They will stay fresh at room temperature, even uncovered, for about 3 days. Freeze for up to 3 months, or even longer if they're wrapped tightly.
Adding coconut flour to almond flour
The photos just above show what these cookies look like when you make them with a combination of almond flour and coconut flour. The other ingredients in these cookies remain the same for both varieties.
When you add even a small amount of coconut flour to these cookies, it creates quite a lot of structure and helps to give them that familiar “chew.” When making these cookies with coconut flour, you'll also find that they don't spread as much as the tapioca flour variety. It helps to press the balls of dough into flat disks before baking, so the cookies don't end up too thick.
Frequently asked questions
Almond flour has a lot of fat and tends to make baked goods very soft. We add tapioca starch or coconut flour to it to provide more structure and absorb some of that moisture. Be sure to chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour so that the fats become firmer and the dough is easier to handle.
Yes! If you use less almond flour, add some arrowroot or cornstarch, and some coconut flour to the tapioca starch variety in the recipe below, you'll have crispy cookies! Bake at 300°F for about 16 minutes, or up to 18 minutes for really crispy cookies. Only the flours change, and the rest of the recipe is as written. Here are the amount of flours to use:
1 cup (112 g) blanched almond flour
1/2 cup (60 g) tapioca starch/flour
1/4 cup (32 g) arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)
2 tablespoons (16 g) coconut flour
If you didn't chill the cookie dough, or your butter was too soft, your cookies will spread too much.
As written, the recipe uses butter, which is not Paleo. I like the flavor of butter here better, but if you replace it with virgin coconut oil and use Paleo-friendly chocolate chips, these cookies will be Paleo.
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
For the tapioca starch variety
- 1 ½ cups (180 g) finely ground blanched almond flour
- ½ cup (60 g) tapioca starch/flour
For the coconut flour variety
- 1 ⅔ cups (200 g) finely ground blanched almond flour
- ¼ cup (24 g) coconut flour
For both varieties
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ cup (120 g) granulated coconut palm sugar or an equal amount, by weight, light brown sugar
- 4 tablespoons (56 g) unsalted butter melted and cooled (or an equal amount of virgin coconut oil)
- 2 (100 g (weighed out of shell)) eggs at room temperature, beaten
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 5 ounces dark chocolate chips
Instructions
Make and chill the cookie dough.
- In a large bowl, place the 1 1/2 cups of almond flour and 1/2 cup tapioca flour, or 1 2/3 cup almond flour and 1/4 cup coconut flour), salt, baking soda, and sugar, and whisk to combine well.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Add the chocolate chips to the cookie dough, and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Both varieties of the dough will be soft but the almond flour/coconut flour combination will be softer than the almond flour/tapioca starch combination.
Chill the cookie dough.
- Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, but up to a week or more if you don't want to bake all of the cookies at once.
- When you are nearly ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 325°F. Line rimmed baking sheets with unbleached parchment paper.
Shape the chilled cookie dough.
- Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, remove the plastic wrap and using an ice cream scoop or two spoons, divide the dough into about 20 portions, each about 30 grams. Place about 2 inches apart from one another on the prepared baking sheets.
- You can roll each piece of dough into a round between your palms, or leave it as is. The longer you chilled the dough, the easier it will be to shape into a round.
- For the coconut flour variety, flatten each ball of dough into a 1/2-inch thick disk on the baking sheet after rolling into a ball. The coconut flour cookies will not spread as readily.
Bake the cookies.
- Place the baking sheets, one at a time, in the center of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown all over and mostly set toward the center (about 12 minutes).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on the baking sheet (about 10 minutes). They will become more firm as they cool.
- Store any leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Notes
- 1 cup (112 g) blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup (60 g) tapioca starch/flour
- 1/4 cup (32 g) arrowroot starch (or cornstarch)
- 2 tablespoons (16 g) coconut flour
Nutrition
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Hi, I’m Nicole. I create gluten free recipes that really work and taste as good as you remember. No more making separate meals when someone is GF, or buying packaged foods that aren’t good enough to justify the price. At Gluten Free on a Shoestring, “good, for gluten free” just isn’t good enough! Come visit my bio!
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