Paleo chocolate chip cookies that are gluten, grain and dairy free but taste just like the real thing! Just a small amount of easy ingredients and you can be eating these in minutes!
It’s been a week.
Like one of those that despite your best intentions, all you can eat think of is chocolate, dessert, pasta, cheese… Basically, all the bad stuff.
I blame the stupid weather which, according to weather.com, was supposed to be sunny and 60s every day when I checked on Sunday and then somehow ended up a cloudy, drizzly mess for 3 of those days.
My cousin just graduated with a degree in meteorology and took his first job which is accompanied by a disgustingly low salary. I now understand why. I’m convinced they all just sit around throwing darts at a selection of weather patterns and pick whichever one they hit for the forecast. (Chris- I’m kidding)
This is why I hate winter. It makes me crave bad things.
And before someone gets all sassy in the comments, no, I’m not calling cheese and pasta inherently bad, but when you crave copious amounts of each every day because it looks like armageddon outside, it’s not the healthiest choice.
I can usually hold myself off for the first half of the day but that 2-3pm blah time gets me.
Every. Single. Time.
It’s about the time I want a nap, lose all motivation to work and want to eat every single piece of chocolate and/or carby goodness in my house. This doesn’t happen in the summer.
Reason #345987456 why we should’ve never moved back to NY from Florida.
So since we have approximately 6 more months of this craptastic weather coming our way, I decided I needed a go to 2-3pm fix.
Requirements:
- Chocolate
- Tastes legit
- I can eat like 5 of them without feeling bad.
Let’s expand upon #2 for a second – when I say “tastes legit” I mean I don’t want some “health-ified” or “high protein-ified” version of a classic that uses prunes or dates or protein powder. Although, I’m kinda making fun of myself when I say that because these raw brownie bites fit that description but are SO delicious at the same time.
Guys- there’s some crazy ass shit out there in the form of “recipes” for stuff like that.
I just so happened to have picked about 5 of them for recent breakfasts. Wednesday’s ended up in a batter explosion and a black waffle with great flavor but the texture of an air puff. Um, wtf? Do people not taste their creations before posting for the world?
I digress.
I’m giving myself an A on this assignment.
These paleo chocolate chip cookies have chocolate chunks, legit chocolate chip cookie flavor and most importantly for me when it comes to a chocolate chip cookie, they have the soft gooey chocolate center. Soft batch cookies are where it’s at. Life’s too short for crispy, hard cookies, at least when it comes to chocolate chip.
Somehow they’re also miraculously dairy-free, grain-free and paleo.
Holla.
Also, I somehow only ate 3 straight out of the oven. So make that an A+ on this cookie assignment.
If you want to take these paleo chocolate chip cookies to the next level, check out these paleo bacon chocolate chip cookies!
Same recipe just with the addition of some crispy crumbled bacon to the batter for that delicious salty sweet combination.
Love these paleo chocolate chip cookies?
Try these other paleo cookie recipes like this Paleo Salted Chocolate Chip Cookie Skillet <– so gooey and insanely delicious!, these Paleo Blueberry Thumbprints or these Paleo Blueberry Chocolate Macaroons.
And for something chocolaty but not in cookie form, paleo chocolate mousse never disappoints.
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond meal
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil, *update: make sure to measure oil after melting so that you’re not inadvertently using too much. This can cause cookies to flatten
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon almond milk
- 1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate pieces Enjoy Life chocolate chips are a great option.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Whisk together wet ingredients in a small bowl.
- Add wet to dry and mix together.
- Fill a tablespoon measure with batter and press down to form a half-circle. Tap batter out onto baking sheet and lightly press down in the center. *Optional – freeze cookies on baking sheet for about 10 minutes before baking. This helps keep them from spreading.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes until bottoms just start to turn brown.
- Remove from oven and let cool 3-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will be soft when removed from oven but firm up in a couple of minutes.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
These were insanely DELICIOUS! I will make them again and again and again :)
Oh, dear I used rice flour instead. LOL No wonder! ugh
Back to the drawing board.
Oh, my gosh are you kidding me? I can’t stop. DELICIOUS!
You must double up the recipe because it’s too good not too. Lol I love being gluten free b/c the rest of the family thinks my cookie might be “gross”. More for me! Now, they have requested that I make them and possibly pretend like they are not gluten free and share. But why should i? lol My second batch on week 2 did come together as the first. Almost as it didn’t bind. I’m blaming it on the cold almond meal coming from the fridge this time. It’s in the oven so we will see what happens.
Thanks love!
HOLY COW! These cookies are incredible. How did you figure them out?! Love them and now they will be a staple in my house. Ate 6 and my 5 year old had 3. oops. :)
I will add that I substituted maple syrup for the honey b/c it was sitting on my counter already and I was feeling lazy. They came out just as you said they would.
I have been staring at this recipe for about two months. I decided to make them today so I’d stop eating the chocolate and not have enough for the cookies…. again. They turned out flat, even after measuring the coconut oil after it was melted, but they taste amazing. I don’t know if I should be happy or sad that I can’t share these gimp cookies…;-) Oh, well. Maybe next batch!
Wow! Just made this and they are amazing! I substituted the Tbsp of Almond Milk with Coconut Cream (since I didn’t have any Almond Milk), and they are perfect. I had better eat a few more now because once my kids get home from school they will be all gone..
Thanks!
Made them last night, melted the honey to make it measure better, and then the cookies spread (but not awfully bad, we ate them with a spoon). This morning, I baked up the last 3-4 cookies and they came out exactly as described. I can only assume having the coconut oil and honey at room temp helped, next time I’ll make the dough and let it rest for a bit before I bake’em up. Very tasty tho! :)
Making these…again!! This time I added shredded coconut. I waited until the cookies were on the sheet and pressed in about 3 cranberries and 3 chocolate chips each per cookie just to make sure they were a little lighter on the chocolate as I keep making these repeatedly for my 2 year old. Sneaky! Also my batter looked a tiny bit on the wet side so I just sprinkled in a few spoonfuls of coconut flour to get them to be the right consistency. Sometimes you just have to tweak any recipe on any given time to make it right.
I just finished taking these out of the oven they taste awesome but I was afraid they weren’t cooked all the way I think they just come out a bit chewy/ doughy I had even left them a few mins more than it called for. I added some walnuts to the recipe and they taste great I would recommend them :)
These cookies are good. It’s the first “healthy” type of treat I’ve attempted to make. The only problem I ran into is they seem to be a little doughy in the middle after baking. Is this typical? I tried turning down the oven temp and baking the next batch longer but they seemed to turn out the same. I did not have a problem with the dough, they look like cookies, they are not flat — I would def try again!!
Did you let them rest for a few minutes after coming out of the oven? They are a bit “doughy/soft” in the middle but should harden up enough after resting to be handled and be considered “cooked”.
I did notice if you let them sit they did appear to have that same “look” however I also realized they are a softer cookie. I had a handful of people try them and all but one could not tell they were not your “typical” chocolate chip cookie. If I wouldn’t have told the one they were grain free/dairy free they would have been on board with the rest. I am very pleased with this recipe and although I commented on the issues I had, I would make these again and again! I was looking for a perfect Paleo snack and I think I may have found it. Thank you!