These paleo chocolate chip cookies are my grain-free, refined sugar-free, and dairy free variation of an American classic treat.
I made these per my 3-year-old daughter’s request. Before this day, she had never had a chocolate chip cookie or had even heard about them, but when I took her to our local public library’s story time for toddlers, their theme of the day was chocolate chip cookies and they even gave the kids one at the end of the story. She is gluten intolerant and already understands the importance of staying away from food that will trigger unpleasant reactions, so she immediately turned around and asked me to make her a gluten-free and sugar-free one. So here is the recipe for the cookie recipe that won me her heart.
On a separate note, I would like to vent about the library giving highly processed chocolate chip cookies to children in the first place. There are a lot of children with food intolerances, other whose parents would like healthier snacks for them and excluding them from this “treat” is not really fair. These kids were also between the ages of 1 and 4, isn’t that a little early to introduce sweets to kids? And why do people praise children with food anyway? Doesn’t that turn them into adults who seek food-based rewards?
For other snack ideas try my recipe for apricot chia bars, apple pie energy bar, or baked apples
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups of almond flour
½ cup of chocolate chips (see recipe below)
¼ cup of coconut flour
½ cup of coconut oil
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
½ cup of pitted dates gently packed (about 14 deglet)
1/3 cup of honey
Preparation:
- Preheat oven to 350
- Using a blender or food processor, blend the dates, vanilla, oil and honey, until there aren’t any large pieces of dates.
- Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and mix in the almond flour and coconut flour.
- Add the chocolate chips.
- Divide the dough into small balls (about 1 tbsp) and press them onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, making circles about a ¼ inch thick.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.
- Carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes. Cookies will be very soft coming out of the oven but they will harden as they cool.
For the chocolate chips:
Ingredients:
¼ cup of cacao butter
1 tbsp of coconut oil
6 tbsp of cocoa powder
Sweetener to taste ( I used about 1 tbsp of raw honey)
Preparation:
- In a small saucepan combine all the ingredients and heat over low heat, until the cacao butter is melted.
- Set the pot over cold water being careful get any water inside of it and whisk constantly until the mixture starts to thicken. The raw honey and the oil tend to separate so you want to keep mixing them until the mixture has cooled off a little bit.
- Pour the chocolate mixture into parchment paper lined plate or cookie sheet forming a thin layer.
- Place the chocolate in the freezer until it is set
- Cut into small pieces
Makes about 24 cookies
- 2 ½ cups of almond flour
- ½ cup of chocolate chips (see recipe below)
- ¼ cup of coconut flour
- ½ cup of coconut oil
- 1 tbsp of vanilla extract
- ½ cup dates
- 1/3 cup of honey
- Preheat oven to 350
- Using a blender or food processor, blend the dates, vanilla, oil and honey, until there aren’t any large pieces of dates.
- Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and mix in the almond flour and coconut flour.
- Add the chocolate chips.
- Divide the dough into small balls (about 1 tbsp) and press them onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, making circles about a ¼ inch thick.
- Bake for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.
- Carefully transfer cookies to a cooling rack for at least 10 minutes. Cookies will be very soft coming out of the oven but they will harden as they cool.
edibleharmony.wordpress.com 
I totally agree with the cookie-giving “rant” since I kept my children away from sweets until they went to school – unfortunately, that long ago (my kids are 31 and 33) homeschooling hadn’t really become a reality, so they got sucked into the whole school/peer thing. But as adults, they are both healthy and sized appropriately (neither to thin or too heavy) and healthy eaters. So what we teach our children at young ages DOES matter! (end of MY rant! 🙂 )
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Made these yesterday. Very easy with minimal ingredients is always nice. A little dense though but a better alternative than regular cookies.
Another alternative for the library is not to pass out anything. Maybe a little book for the kids vs food?
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I made these cookies this morning. I used the same amount of grapeseed oil instead of coconut oil. I compared the two as far as nutrition, etc., and they were exactly the same. The cookies came out great. I love them. I have been looking for a chocolate chip recipe that actually tasted good and this is it. Thanks for the recipe.
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What purpose do the dates have? (I ask because aside from the dates, this sounds lovely but I can’t stand dates)
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dates are just to sweeten the cookies, but feel free to add more honey instead
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HOLY PALEO GOODNESS!!!! These things are amazeballs! I was so excited when I saw there were no eggs so I could eat the dough as I was making the cookies. Oh man, and baked…you seriously have made the most delicious chocolate chip cookie ever… 🙂
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That’s great to hear. I have been really having a hard time coming up with egg-free baked goods
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Thank you so much for the chocolate chip recipe! I find plenty of paleo cookie recipes but they all use purchased chocolate chips and they all have sugar in them. I will try these soon. Thanks again!
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What can I use instead of almond flour? More coconut flour? Is that going to be hard to find? My daughter has a nut allergy (and dairy)
…Thanks for any help!
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you could use coconut flour but you will need a lot less flour and you would have to add eggs. Also, you can make sunflower seed flour by running the seeds through a coffee grinder and replacing the almond flour by equal measurements.
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Where do you get almond flour? Could you use Bob Mills All Purpose Flour?
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I get mine at Honeyville for a little over $6 per lb. go to http://www.EdibleHarmony.com/market and follow the link
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I’ve made these four times in the last month, really great. Tried once with goji berries instead of choco chips that left something to be desired, but the dough wsd great. It stays soft and yummy even when refrigerated. Thanks for the recipe.
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They are my favorite cookies!
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What is coconut flour? Can I use finely ground coconut???
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coconut flour helps everything bind together and absorbs a lot of the moisture, you can just omit the coconut flour and use less oil
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I’m a nanny, and the library I take my little charge to (a three year old boy) gives a coloring sheet with the names of the stories and action poems they did that day on the other side. They also get a stamp. So much better than food of any kind…because kids are messy eaters and crumbs attract ants!
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These were wonderful! I added some coconut (unsweetened flakes) and used butter in place of the coco oil (we do dairy occasionally) They totally filled the sweet tooth urge 🙂 Thank you! I’m excited to try your recipes, they all look delish!
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First, I had to stop myself from eating all of the dough before I baked it. Delish. Do you pack the flour when you measure it? I packed mine and it seemed to need a bit more liquid to hold it together. Nonetheless, I love this recipe! Thank you Denise!
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I am glad you enjoyed them! I don’t really pack the flours when measuring. The one thing that makes or breaks this recipe is the amount of dates, if you put too few, they turn out too dry and crumbly, if you put too many they turn out too dense and sticky. I usually buy pitted deglet dates and count them instead of measuring them because 1 cup could be so variable depending on how tightly you press them down into the cup. So for me one cup = 24-25 dates, 1/2 cup = 12-3 dates, 1/4 cup = 6-7 dates. If you using medjool dates, you would need less because they are usually much larger
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Couldn’t agree more and the food give away in a public place. People without intolerant kids say “why should my child not get treats etc because your child is intolerant”… Well the flipside to this is no children get the treat so none are any the wiser, versus social isolation of a few children in the group while the rest get “treats”. Which is the fair scenario here? Either offer an equivalent allergy free option put none at all in my view.
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I just made these for the second time. They are delicious. I substituted agave for honey and added 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. I also used grapeseed oil instead of coconut oil. Yummy.
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