Almond flour chocolate chip cookies are entirely gluten free, and easily made paleo, too! These small batch chocolate chip cookies made with almond flour and almond butter are so good. No one will know that they're not regular cookies!
I do this thing with chocolate chip cookies where I make them completely irresistible. Chocolate chip cookies with almond flour are the one thing that absolutely nobody can resist. I have some people in my family that say they’re not ‘dessert people,’ or that they find desserts ‘too sweet.’ While the genetic testing results come in (surely I can’t be related to these people), I created this recipe to woo them.
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
These almond flour chocolate chip cookies also happen to be gluten free. I’m not one to delve into gluten free baking too much, though I do have a gluten free baking recipe collection if that suits you, but I do openly love almond flour. Almond flour is:
- gluten free
- chewy
- high in protein
- delicious
A lot of gluten free flours are sad substitutes for the real thing, but in my opinion, almond flour deserves a special place in the kitchen, whether you eat gluten or not.
My almond flour peanut butter cookies might help convince you, too!
I first discovered almond flour in cooking school where I was making a pear frangipane tart. The subtle almond flavor and crumbly texture over creamy frangipane made me a believer. And if a French recipe uses almond flour and regular flour, you know that almond flour is really bringing something to the table.
Another favorite way to use it is in my almond flour banana muffins.
I make quite a few recipes with almond flour, because I rely on it to make super chewy cookies. If you like cookies with crisp edges and thick, chewy centers, don’t miss these cookies! These are what I call ‘bakery style’ cookies because they spread on the sheet, crackle as they cool, and are irresistibly chewy.
Other Gluten Free Almond Flour Recipes
Other almond flour recipes here on this site to use up the bag:
- almond horns
- Whole30 meatballs
- Whole30 salmon cakes
- vegan chocolate chip cookies
- jam bars
- small batch macarons
- matcha cookies
How to make Chocolate Chip Cookies with Almond Flour
Preheat the oven to 350, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside. Whisk together the dry ingredients first: almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk very well to combine.
In a separate bowl, add the softened butter and almond butter, and beat until creamy with an electric mixer on high. This will take about 3 minutes.
Next, add the egg and vanilla to the bowl with the almond butter mixture, and beat just to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl, and stir just to combine. Because almond flour does not contain gluten, there is not risk of ‘over-mixing’ these cookies.
Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
Using a cookie scoop, portion out 6 scoops of dough onto each cookie sheet. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven when the edges are starting to turn golden brown. The cookies are puffy in the oven ,but will deflate a bit as they cool. Let the cookies cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet, and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Almond Flour Cookies Recipe Tips & Substitutions
Almond Butter
- I really want to mention this early on, because you might not expect your typical chocolate chip cookie recipe with almond flour to contain a nut butter. But I can assure you that this is exactly what makes these cookies so rich and almost identical tasting to regular chocolate chip cookies.
- You can sub another nut butter if you’re out. I use regular almond butter from Trader Joe’s that lacks salt and requires a good stir before using.
Cooking by weight
- This recipe contains both the measurements by weight and standard U.S. cups, because I’ve been baking by weight lately. I love that I don’t have to wash measuring cups when I’m done baking; instead, I just tare out my scale as I go. This is the scale that I’ve used for years and love.
How to store Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies keep for 3 days on the counter in an air-tight container at room temperature. You can store the dough frozen in balls for up to 3 months, just be sure to individually quick freeze them on a sheet before stacking in a bag for long-term storage. Then, bake directly from frozen, adding a few minutes to the baking time. You can store already baked cookies flat in an air-tight bag for up to 3 months. Let defrost on the counter at room temperature and serve.
Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookie FAQs
I happily eat gluten daily, but I adore these cookies so much. I’m calling these paleo because quite a few of my paleo friends enjoy butter. You’ll also need to check your chocolate chips and sub coconut sugar for the brown sugar. I'm pretty sure white sugar isn’t paleo-approved.
Coconut sugar is amazing stuff, and you should make my coconut sugar cookies with the rest of the bag.
As you know by now, small batch cookie recipes are my game. All of my small batch cookie recipes typically make one dozen cookies or less. This is the perfect amount in a small household—plenty to enjoy today and tomorrow, or some to enjoy today and share with others.
Honestly, I don’t understand what people do with most other cookie recipes that make 4 dozen cookies.
So, almond flour is completely different than wheat flour. It contains protein, fat and oil that wheat flour does not. This means that it absorbs the liquids in a recipe (like eggs and milk) differently. In my expert baking opinion, I would only use recipes specifically developed for use with almond flour. If you swap in almond flour for regular flour in a recipe, you can expect cookies to spread more in the oven, and they may be softer and crumbly. It’s best to stick to recipes, like this, that take this into account to have perfect results.
See above.
Because almond flour does not contain gluten and contains more protein and fat, it makes cookies spread more in the oven. The result is a softer, chewier cookie! I love the chewiness that almond flour brings to a baked good. Plus, the extra protein is nice, too!
If you’re using a recipe that is not designed for almond flour and you’re just swapping it in for regular flour, cookies will fall apart. The extra fat, protein and moisture in almond flour makes baked goods very moist and crumbly. If you use my recipe, you will have a perfect crisp yet chewy cookies, because it is specifically designed to be used with almond flour.
The trick is to only use recipes designed for use with almond flour. I don’t recommend swapping it in for regular flour and expecting the same results.
Yes, almond flour makes baked goods much softer and even chewier. This is a great thing in a chocolate chip cookie, in my opinion. This recipe has a slightly longer baking time and an entire egg to compensate for the extra absorbent qualities of almond flour.
I also have some gluten free chocolate chocolate chip cookies that are TOTALLY worth checking out, just in case you might be a chocoholic. I sense you might be—you and I are very similar.
Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Almond Flour Cookies
One dozen almond flour chocolate chip cookies are gluten free and have easy paleo options.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (156 grams) almond flour*
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup almond butter (no salt preferred)
- ¾ cup + 2 TB (6 ounces) dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350, and line two large cookie sheet pans with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the softened butter and almond butter, and beat until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and beat for another 2 minutes to combine.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter mixture, and beat just to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with the wet and stir to combine everything; finally, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a cookie scoop, portion out 12 dough scoops onto the baking sheets.
- Bake, rotating the pans half way through for 10-11 minutes. The cookies are done when the edges start to turn golden brown. As they cool, they will deflate.
- Let cookies cool for 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them to cooling rack. Enjoy immediately, or keep covered at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
*I'm referring to almond flour, not almond meal or simply ground almonds. Almond flour is finely ground blanched almonds and has a pale yellow color. Look for it in the gluten-free baking section of your store.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
12Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 228Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 202mgCarbohydrates: 15gFiber: 3gSugar: 11gProtein: 5g
Natalie says
Wow! These were so good! I'm beyond impressed.
Hannah says
These cookies are PERFECT. Had peanut butter so used that instead of almond butter and they are soso delicious. Made them twice this weekend. Boyfriend approved!
Marian says
Made these just to try a different choc chip cookie recipe. We make a lot of choc chip cookies in our house with variants e.g., p butter choc chip cookies, oatmeal choc chip, etc. I have standard recipe for "regular" choc chip cookies that I do love, so I'm comparing this with that.
1/ Nice taste and texture. Her note in the recipe that they "spread on the sheet, crackle as they cool, and are irresistably chewy" is accurate. I found they were a bit too "spready" but I didn't use a scoop for making the cookies, just plopped them onto the sheet with two spoons, so maybe that made a difference. I wondered if chilling the dough for maybe half an hour would make the cookies spread less.
2/ As someone else noted, these make way more than a dozen. I got 18 cookies, and they were not small cookies. About 3.5 inches across. But who's complaining??? Just be warned that if you divide the dough into 12, you will have humungous cookies.
3/ I didn't have almond butter so I used some last-of-the-batch cashew butter with a bit of peanut butter to fill out the 1/3 cup. Seemed to work and taste fine.
4/ Finally, I would just note that almond flour is extremely expensive. I paid $10 for 340 g. Those of you who are gluten-free probably already know that but I'm not and was just looking for a variant that would add more protein.
Thanks for the interesting twist on an old favourite!
amy says
Costco is a great place to buy almond flour!
Sandra says
So delicious! Your recipe is the best! And exactly what I was looking for. I substituted coconut oil for the butter, a flax egg for the egg, and used coconut sugar instead. They came out so good like a regular flour chocolate chip cookie 🍪. I’d probably add less sugar for next time maybe 1/2 cup but that’s just my personal preference. Thank you!
Krithika says
These cookies are AMAZING! So soft and chewy. I baked it for a couple of minutes more and they got slightly crisp edges. They do soften at room temperature and fall apart a little. Didn't matter, I devoured them all.
Mariam says
I’ve made these cookies many many times according to recipe and they’re always blow my mind delicious! I only had salted peanut butter today instead of almond butter and still want to eat the entire pan! Thanks for sharing
Joy says
I don’t even want to try any other recipe because this recipe is the best I’ve ever had.
I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup. That’s only change I made.
Thank you for this incredible recipe! 🤗🤗
Joanne says
I was looking for a recipe similar to the Trader Joe’s almond chocolate chip cookie mix and your recipe does the trick. I’m in Canada so I can’t easily buy the Trader Joe’s cookie mix. I made one change by substituting Swerve brown sugar and they are fantastic. Finally a chocolate chip cookie that my husband will eat and that isn’t made with flour. Many thanks. This is a keeper. Wish I could have posted a photo as they look so good.
Glenda Sansosti says
Best chocolate chip cookies ever! I've made them four times already and husband loves them too. I didn't have almond butter so I substituted peanut butter. In an effort to lower my A1C, I have been using monk fruit in the raw golden sugar substitute and it works great in these cookies. Thank you for sharing this wonderful (and healthy) recipe. I look forward to trying more of your recipes.
Kris Marie says
I'm SO happy to read a comment that someone else used monkfruit instead of regular sugar. I too only use both classic and brown monkfruit and will do so when I make these!! Thank you.
Ann says
How would you make these Paleo?