I had a lot of trouble trying to decide on the name of this post. Why? Because these cookies aren’t just the best gluten free cookies ever. They are so much more than that. They are not only gluten free, but totally grain free (made with just almond flour), sweetened with honey instead of refined sugar, full of high quality dark chocolate, and made with only a few ingredients.
They are incredibly delicious, so much so that I will probably never make them again because they cause me to go into a cookie-induced hysteria. Except that I already promised my roommate I would make them again next week…
The reason I made this recipe was based on a little challenge that was proposed to me. Last weekend, I was up in Maine, and my uncle was trying to convince me to “live a little” and eat one of these cookies:
They may look innocent enough, but I took a reluctant peek at the ingredients list and found this staring back at me:
MY EYES!!!! THIS INGREDIENTS LIST IS BLINDING ME!!!! I had to look away.
“I would never eat this,” I said. “This isn’t even food.” I genuinely had no desire to even remotely get one of those things anywhere near my face. Needless to say, these cookies are the complete opposite of what I consider “living a little.” (I try not to make a habit of commenting on other people’s food choices, but he was jokingly trying to press my buttons, so I had to get a little sassy).
After about 20 minutes of me putting my foot down, he challenged me to create a cookie that is “just as delicious” as these cookies, but with “jenny-approved” ingredients.
Done. EASY. I made it my mission immediately, and I far surpassed even my own expectations…
I don’t need to actually try a “cheesecake middle” Keebler cookie to absolutely guarantee these are way more delicious…and so, so SO much friendlier to the body.
Believe it or not…you can actually enjoy an incredibly indulgent warm gooey cookie…and not destroy yourself in the process! :) Here’s how.
I adapted this recipe from one I found in Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry (an AWESOME cookbook, btw). The main difference is that I didn’t use vegetable shortening. Instead, I substituted coconut oil in one batch, and grass-fed butter in the other batch, just to guarantee both would work. They both turned out fantastic, so which one you use is up to your preference.
I brought these cookies into Dr. Lipman’s office this week and everyone flipped out. Always a good sign.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 1/4 cup coconut oil OR grass-fed butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 bar of high quality dark chocolate (I used Hu Kitchen Salty Chocolate, which has only 3 ingredients – cacao + coconut sugar + sea salt) (or about 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350.
Add almond flour, baking soda + sea salt to food processor and mix well. Add honey, vanilla and coconut oil/butter to the mixture. Mix in food processor until it becomes a dough.
Transfer dough to a bowl.
Chop up chocolate bar and add to the dough.
Try really hard not to eat all the dough (difficult).
Grease cookie sheet with a little coconut oil or butter.
Roll dough into balls and put on cookie sheet. Pat down with fingers.
Bake for 6-9 mins (I know, that’s it!) until golden brown.
Let cool. Eat. Never buy packaged cookies again. Your life just got so much more amazing….
Let me know if you try these!
A note regarding substitutions: I have no idea if a different flour will work, a different sweetener, trying it without a food processor, etc, because I’ve only tried this one recipe. If you have a question about substituting something, just try it! And if you do, please let us know in the comments so we can all learn. :)
If this blog isn’t proof of how much I love you guys…
MK says
They look AMAZEBALLS! I can’t wait to try them out on my kids. I might have ONE…or five! Lol. I love that you didn’t use a ton of “GF” ingredients! Every GF recipe calls for xanthan gum & like 8 different flours to sub for 1 silly little wheat flour. I just don’t get it. I always sub my stuff w/rice, millet or almond flour for the most part and it turns out awesome. Thanks for the cookie recipe! :)
jenny sansouci says
Agreed! No other flours necessary for these ones! Enjoy :)
Carrie Gabriel says
Wow…I am definitely making these…I have all the ingredients already (minus the Hu Kitchen chocolate!)
jenny sansouci says
Let me know how it goes Carrie! xx
Heather Till says
SO excited to make these, thanks Jenny!
ps: omg, that ingredients list from the Keebler cookies made me throw up in my mouth a little ;)
jenny sansouci says
Hahaha, me too, me too….it’s a crime to put all those ingredients in a sweet little cookie.
Samipants says
OMG you are incredible!! These look amazing and I want them now! ha :)
jenny sansouci says
Samipants! Haha. Let’s have a movie night and make some.
Jenn says
So I tried them with coconut flour bc I didn’t have almond flour and it doesn’t work. So save your coconut flour everyone, I’ve done the experiment for you and follow the recipe. Off to buy almond flour today for round 2 :) Can’t wait!
Shirley says
If you used 2 cups of coconut flour in place of the 2 cups almond flour, it would definitely not work. Coconut flour absorbs much more liquid, so you would need to use much less. Maybe 1/4 cup?? Maybe even less than that.
Jess says
Wow, these look amazing!! I avoid cacao so I’d love to know if anyone can suggest different ingredients… Do you nuts and raisins could work? x
Meg says
Yes, I’d add a little cinnamon and nutmeg too!
Milenda says
For non cocoa, add snickerdoodle spice, or pumpkin pie spice, flavored cooking extracts, or flavored ouls (loran candy oils)
Maria Calderon says
I will definitely be baking very soon :). Thanks for the awesome blog Jenny
Megan says
Jenny these look AMAZING!! I think I have to make these tomorrow, girl! Thanks so much for the awesome recipe! :)
Sarah says
For those of you without a food processor: I followed the recipe above, with cocnut oil, not butter. I had a hard time getting everything to “stick” together. I added an egg, 1/4 c rice flour and 2 tsp tapioca starch/flour and they turned out amazing. Hope that helps!
Faith says
Is it okay to use almond meal? Or, do I need to make sure my almond flour is the blanched kind? Thanks!
Nicola says
Just made these delicious cookies. I didn’t use a food processor at all. Just a bowl and a wooden spoon. Perfection. Such a simple yet great recipe! Our new fav!!!!
Amanda says
I have been looking at these since you posted them and I broke down and made them today and I am in love! So easy to make! And I love the small ingredient list! They are amazing and I will make them again and again!
Stephanie K says
I made these cookies tonight and had a cookie dough issue…the issue being that I couldn’t stop eating it!! (The cookies were delicious too!)
Jill says
Jenny, these are amazing! Just made them tonight I am obsessed!!
Joyce says
Jenny, thank you so much for posting this recipe (and thanks to Elana, too… I keep hearing about her book and really do need to check it out.) These are awesome-delicious. My dough did turn out oily (perhaps because my coconut oil was border-line liquid?) and as a result the cookies weren’t as pretty as yours. So, I will have to make several batches to perfect my technique! : )
PS I used 1/2 C. of chocolate chips, managed to stay out of the dough–mostly!–and I baked just over 2 dozen cookies, for anyone wondering.
Julianna says
this just wants to make me go grind some almonds right now!!!!! there isn’t enough cookies on the planet that would satisfy my kids, so this one is a welcome addition :-)
A Novel Woman says
The woman who writes at Empowered Sustenance warns against using almond flour! She sites several reasons, among them:
almond flour is high in oxalates
it isn’t heat stable
it’s high in inflammatory PUFAS
I’m not sure what to make of this, when really, all I want to make is cookies! The link is here if you want to go directly, or you can google her website. So many conflicting views….
http://empoweredsustenance.com/avoid-almond-flour/
LM says
I have heard conflicting views, too but I know that if you soak the almonds in either just filtered water or filtered water plus some good salt (and rinse them off several times during the process) it will decrease the phytic acid and make them more digestible…
Danielle says
I absolutely love everything about this article. I couldnt have said all of this any better and I cant wait to try the recipe! (posting this on my fb biz page too btw!) xoxo, Danielle
Andrea says
These look Amazing!!! cant wait to try! I will have to adjust the flour ingredients thou. I have an Almond allergy and a rice sensitivity but I have found the prefect mix for me; Coconut flour, arrowroot powder, and tapioca flour/starch.
ALW says
Andrea- we have nut allergies here too. I would love to know the amounts used/proportions of your coconut flour/arrowroot powder/tapioca flour mix. Thank you!
marco says
How about avacado instead of half or all of the butter?
It might change color too much, I’ll try it. But I’ve been learning it can be a good replacement in quite a few other dishes.
jenny sansouci says
Try it and let me know!
Leslie says
My father-in-law, whom I adore :-), has Celiac’s disease and so – NO gluten. I am a baking fiend and am now learning how to bake for him. I couldn’t bear to not feed him scrumptious goodies! Thanks for the GF recipe. I’m going to make him several things and mail him a goody package. This one will surely be in it!
Monica says
Another delicious, easy to make recipe!
Keep up the great work xo
Becky says
Hi, I made these tonight, they are cooling now… Question though, mine were dripping with oil, did I do something wrong? Thanks!!
Becky says
They are amazing! I’m impressed. I haven’t made anything that tasted great grain free until these. Thank you!! I tried them in my kitchen aid and it didn’t mix well so I threw it in my vitamix to finish and it worked great. Oily but good.
Kamilah says
I don’t have a food processor, so I was not able to get a cookie “dough” consistency even after stirring the cookies for nearly 10 minutes. Simply adding 1 tablespoon of water and 2 tablespoons of rice milk made the mixture the PERFECT cookie dough consistency after just eight to ten stirs. So, those of you who don’t have some sort of mixer may need to add your favorite “milk” product to the ingredient list just as you would with “standard” oatmeal cookies. P.S. I love quotes!!!!
Holly says
this recipe rocks!!
i’m so excited about it. so simple, so delicious!
oh and the taste of the raw batter??
divine:)
Lynn says
Made these for Christmas. My mother in law, an award- winning baker, loved them so much she asked for the recipe. Thanks!! These are sooo yummy!!
Lia Meiselman says
I’ve made this recipe several times and it always turns out great. I’ve also tweaked it a bunch of times and my favorite tweak is I added 1/4 of unsweetened coconut flakes/chips during the chocolate chip add-in stage and substituted a 1/2 cup of the almond flour/meal with a 1/2 cup of cashew flour/meal. (basically 1 1/2 cups of almond flour and a 1/2 cup of cashew flour.) They turned out to be my favorite personal version.
Janice Brinkerhoff says
I followed the recipe and for some reason my dough is more like an oily, wet clump of hardened mass. Very sad and disappointing. I really don’t know what went wrong…any thoughts or suggestions?
Jill says
Just made these for the church breakfast tomorrow. They turned out great and so easy to make.
Sharon H says
I just finished eating three of these and will have to put the rest under lock and key so I don’t down them all at once! I didn’t have enough honey, so topped off the 1/4 c with a few tablespoons of blackstrap molasses. They also seemed extremely oily while in dough form, so I tossed the dough with a bit of coconut flour to keep the oil from dripping off my hands as I formed the balls. Thank you for this awesome recipe!
Rebecca says
Would this work with peanut butter also? If so, how much do you think I could add?
Thanks!
Rebecca
Adriane says
I just made these cookies and they did not work. I use blanched almond flour thinking that it is the same as just almond flour. First, I don’t even know what is blanched almond flour. I thought the were all the same. The coconut oil separated from the dough. Then I add a bit more flour and it got worst. I would love to make it again please let me know if the flour was my problem. I like The recipe because it calls for honey instead of other sugar.
Thank you.
Adriane says
I just want to let you know that I baked the cookies anyway and they were the best chocolate chip cookies I ever had. I can eat the whole batch. Thank you so much for this incredible recipe.
Let me know if I should buy a different flour for the dough to be just like yours
Blessings
Amanda says
I made these with one cup of non gluten all purpose flour , one cup of almond flour, used almond extract instead of vanilla, added an egg and a little bit of shredded coconut. They are to die for! Awesome recipe to work off of
Ashleigh B says
I just made these cookies and they turned out wonderfully! I didn’t have any coconut oil and I didn’t want to use butter so I used vegetable oil. The dough was more crumbly however I scooped out of the bowl with a spoon and smushed them down and the cookies turned out great!
Jenny C says
These look so delicious, I can’t wait to try them! Are you using raw honey? I bought local honey, but it doesn’t look like yours in the picture.
Linda says
I’m planning on making these for school, but can’t use almond flour because of nut allergies. Can I use regular gluten-free flour in place of?
jenny sansouci says
I’ve never tried that, but I’m sure you can!
Penny Richardson says
Can I spread these in a pan and bake to make bar cookies?
jenny sansouci says
I’ve never tried that, but I imagine yes!
Amy says
I never, ever comment on cooking blogs, but my boys wanted cookies on this rainy day, and so we Googled “gluten free made with honey chocolate chip cookies.” I was very skeptical of a cookie with no eggs in the batter, but these were so good! Very similar to a traditional made-from-scratch , chewy on the inside, crispy on the edges, chocolate chip cookie, and no flavor lacking at all. Thank you for sharing this spectacular recipe!
Angela says
I used almond meal and it works fine. I also used 2 tbs palm shortening and 2 tsp of coconut oil. I melted them a bit in the toaster oven and poured the honey in to liquify it more. I also didn’t use a food processor, But a whisk for dry items, then and small whisk to combined melted fats, honey and vanilla. A rubber spatula works just fine to combine all the ingredients. I also added about a tbs/splash of half & half for more moistures and enjoy life dark chips (larger than the minis). They came out nice and chewy:)
Ekf says
This is among the recipes that call for almond flour which I have now successfully swapped “sunflour” (raw sunflower seeds ground to flour consistency) .. both with coconut oil, organic grass fed butter, and a mix of both when doubled, once…perfect
Sandra says
A (gluten free) friend made these and I had a chance to fall in love with them at her house. I was thrilled to find out they were dairy free so I asked for the recipe. Just made them. Insanely great. I used vegan chocolate chips. Thank you!