Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy & gooey center, sweet chocolate chips, *slightly* crispy edges, classic cookie texture, all without a touch of gluten! These almond flour chocolate chip cookies taste just like the real deal and can be yours in just 30 minutes!
Anyone else feel like they’ve eaten hundreds of cookies the past month or two? Especially gluten free chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t think there were so many ways to make one kind of cookie, yet here we are.
These almond flour chocolate chip cookies are one of my favorite and easiest recipes yet. They can easily be made paleo with just a few substitutions (you won’t even taste the difference). They have a chewy gooey center with perfectly (but very slightly) crispy edges with a rich butter flavor. Same with my gluten free funfetti sugar cookies!
Different flours will not work in place of almond flour, but if you’re viewing this recipe, I’m sure you wanted almond flour cookies anyway, so let’s bake!
If you love this recipe, try my almond flour double chocolate cookies, almond flour pumpkin cookies or peanut butter cookies next!
Before we get started…
- I love semi-sweet chips for this recipe. Grocery stores were running low on chocolate when I first made these, so I was stuck with bittersweet chocolate, which was just not as good. Semi-sweet chocolate chips work much better here!
- Be sure you’re using blanched almond flour and not almond meal here. Almond flour has a lighter color and finer texture than almond meal.
How to make almond flour chocolate chip cookies
Soften butter. First, add the butter to a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. If it was previously in the fridge, just stick it in the microwave to soften for about 20 seconds.
Add sugar. Add in the sugar and beat with the butter until well combined, about 30 seconds.
Mix all wet ingredients. Beat in the egg and the vanilla until the egg is completely broken up.
Add dry ingredients. Next, beat in all remaining ingredients aside from the chocolate chips, making sure to spoon and level the flour into the measuring cup, don’t scoop right from the bag. Beat just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon until evenly incorporated.
Chill dough. Add the dough to the fridge for 20 minutes. This ensures the cookies don’t spread flat while baking. The temperature of the butter is really important with cookies! After 20 minutes, use a cookie scoop and scoop the dough into roughly 1 1/2 tablespoon balls.
Bake. Bake for 13-18 minutes, 15 is perfect in my oven if you want soft centers but a very slight crisp on the edge. If you want the cookies to be chewy and stay chewy, remove them from the oven when they still look slightly raw in the center.
Cool and serve. They’ll be extremely soft to the touch when they first come out of the oven, but will firm up after about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool as is for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Key ingredients
Almond flour. Almond flour makes up the base of these cookies and yields a really chewy consistency with crisp edges. The high fat content of almond flour means these cookies will stay super moist and not dry out!
Cornstarch. A little cornstarch helps absorb excess moisture to ensure the cookies don’t spread too much while baking. It also helps give them a more traditional cookie texture.
Butter. I suggest using butter for the best flavor, but you can sub for coconut oil if you prefer. To make these cookies paleo, just use coconut oil and coconut sugar in place of butter and brown sugar. You really won’t be able to taste the difference, just be sure to measure the oil as accurately as possible and use refined coconut oil to avoid a coconut flavor.
Sugar. I used light brown sugar which keeps these cookies moist. You can sub for coconut sugar but the cookies will be darker in color.
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Egg. One egg helps bind all ingredients together so the cookies don’t crumble.
Baking soda. A bit of baking soda encourages the cookies to spread while baking.
Why are my cookies flat?
A few things could be going on that could result in flat cookies. I’ve specifically written this recipe to make cookies that are not flat, so just follow these tips for pillowy cookies!
Too much butter: Too much butter is usually the biggest culprit if you have cookies that are flat. I initially tested this recipe with 1/2 cup (1 stick or 8 tbsp) of butter, but the cookies were completely flat. So, I cut out just 1 tbsp of butter and it made a huge difference. To ensure proper measurements, I suggest using sticks of butter and just slice off 1 tbsp worth.
Not enough chilling: Not only can too much butter cause cookies to be flat, but butter that is too warm will do the same, which is why chilling the dough is important!
You need the butter to be soft and at room temperature to cream it well with the sugar, but you need butter cold before baking cookies if you want them chewy, so chilling the dough is an important step! It’s annoying, I know you just want to eat the damn cookies, but I promise it will be worth the wait!
Too little flour: If the butter to flour ratio is off, that can throw off how the cookies do or do not spread. This recipe requires 2 cups of almond flour. To make cookies that are nice and chewy and pillowy, I highly recommend following the recipe to a T. All of the tested substitutions have been listed, but aside from that, try not to deviate from the instructions!
Why do gluten free cookies fall apart?
Almond flour cookies can more easily fall apart than other types of cookies because you’re removing the gluten which binds them together.
Instead, we’ll be using an egg and a touch of cornstarch to bind the cookies together so they don’t fall apart. Another tip is to ensure you let the cookies cool completely before handling or eating so the texture has time to set.
How to store and freeze
Once prepared, these cookies will keep at room temperature for about 5 days. Let them cool completely and then store in an air tight container.
You can also freeze them after they bake! Just let cool completely, then transfer to a freezer safe bag and freeze for up to 2 months. Reheat at 300 until warm through the center.
Still hungry? Try these!
- Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 13+ Almond Flour Recipes
- Paleo Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodles
- Gluten Free Crumbl Cookies
- Gluten Free Gingerbread Cookies
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Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
by: claire cary
Ingredients
- 7 tablespoons softened butter
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar or coconut sugar I prefer light brown
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups blanched almond flour not almond meal
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅔ cup semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add the butter to a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. If it was previously in the fridge, just stick it in the microwave to soften for about 15 seconds.
- Add in the sugar and beat with the butter until well combined, about 30 seconds with an electric mixer.
- Beat in the egg and the vanilla until the egg is completely broken up.
- Beat in all remaining ingredients aside from the chocolate chips, making sure to spoon and level the flour into the measuring cup, don’t scoop right from the bag.
- Beat until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon until evenly incorporated.
- Add the dough to the fridge for 20 minutes. This ensures the cookies don’t spread flat while baking. The temperature of the butter is really important with cookies!
- While you wait, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- After 20 minutes, use a medium cookie scoop and scoop the dough into roughly 1 1/2 tbsp balls, but do not flatten.
- Bake for 13-18 minutes, 15 is perfect in my oven if you want soft centers but a very slight crisp on the edge.
- Remove from the oven and let cool as is for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Comments
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Easy to follow recipe. Delicious cookies that were so soft on the inside, yum! I didn’t realize that my oven was on convection while I baked these and I was worried they’d be dry. Not at all!! Will definitely make again!
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Thank you, Marsha!
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The taste was amazing… but my cookies didn’t flat like yours it’s like thick biscuit..
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How did you measure the flour/cornstarch? super important to spoon and level!
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oh my gosh….these are the best cookies going
will never make a regular gluten free again -
I am not a great baker and my gluten free desserts never come out good but WOW these were so good!!! Even kid-approved. Definitely my new go-to GF cookie recipe!!!
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This cookie recipe pressed into an 8×8 pan and cut into bars is absolutely amazing!!!! Try it!!! Yum!!!
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Love that idea!!
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I just made these cookies and they are so good. I have a wheat intolerance and have been craving a homemade chocolate chip cookie. I’ve tried many different gluten free recipes and a couple almond flour based recipes and none turned out as good as these. The cookies are light and have a great flavour
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SO happy to hear that, thanks Jennifer!
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I have made these twice. I’m hooked! Mine turned out flat both times but they were so delicious! This will be my go to chocolate chip recipe from now on. My daughter made them & they were not flat but just as delicious. Love, love, love these.
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Amazing! You can try chilling the dough to prevent spreading.
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WOW! I take my hat off for this recipie.
My husband just said these are the best cookies I’ve ever made, and he doesn’t throw compliments around like that. Fantastic.-
Amazing! Thank you for the kind review Monica!
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Best cookie recipe I found!! I used Oat flour instead.. cooled dough 30min in fridge.. once cooked! It was soooo DELICIOUS!! I also added some chopped pecans.
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I’ve been looking forever for a great chocolate chip cookie recipe that was healthier than the others, and this recipe knocks it out of the park. Absolutely amazing!
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Thanks Jennifer! These are a favorite of mine too!
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Tried a double batch of these cookies on a whim. I used unsalted butter and I cut back on the brown sugar just a bit, and wow…they’re addictively-good. Definitely keeping this recipe.
My only suggestion would be to fix the measurements of the butter and sugar for if you do a double or triple batch as a double batch calls for 1.33 cup of brown sugar when you could just say 1 1/3 cup (instead of making people look it up). This would make the recipe easier to understand I think. Just my opinion though.
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So glad you liked these! I am unable to change the way the recipe card scales recipes unfortunately!
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I made these cookies and they were delicious but they were very crumbly and just fell apart. I used coconut oil and instead of brown sugar I used granulated monk fruit. Is there something I can do to prevent them from being crumbly?
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i wouldn’t recommend subbing for monk fruit, the brown sugar has more moisture in it so without it they will be dry/crumbly!
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Could I use 1/4 cup Pea Flour (for a little extra protein), then reduce Almond flour to 1 3/4 cups. Thank You
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I have never worked with pea flour, so I’m not sure how that would work. I do have a protein cookie recipe you can try instead!
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The flavor is delicious. I must have done something wrong as my cookies did not spread at all. The almond flour I used was labeled a nut flour. The nut flour has blanched almond flour, coconut flour, arrowroot powder and tapioca flour plus xanthan gum. It’s the Ultimate Nut Flour brand. I’m new to using almond flour and obviously didn’t pay close enough attention to the package. I read almond flour and thought it was almond flour. 🙂 Is this the reason why the cookies didn’t spread? Appearance aside the flavor is still yummy.
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Yes, that would definitely be it! The addition of the coconut, arrowroot and tapioca would absorb way too much of the moisture in the dough and prevent the cookies from spreading. You want to make sure you’re using just plain blanched almond flour.
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UPDATE: I tried the recipe again using only almond flour and the results were perfect. My family loves them too. So delicious.
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Love these! Not sure why mine aren’t as thick but they are delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
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You can try chilling the dough if you prefer them thicker!
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