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These gluten-free chocolate chip cookies are made with coconut flour and ready in just 20 minutes. The cookies emerge from the oven SO gooey, thick, and delicious. A favorite vegan cookie, they’re also Paleo-friendly and nut-free, too.
I had planned on posting this recipe next week, but I just posted a teaser picture of these cookies on Instagram. You guys pretty much demanded that I share them ASAP. You and I both love vegan cookie recipes, so I knew I had to share soon.
I hear you, loud and clear! So, I moved the recipe on up in the docket. Chocolate chip cookies should be prioritized over pretty much all else, right? Especialllllyyy when they’re looking as good as these coconut flour cookies are 😍
So I guess that means another batch is in store. Luckily, these vegan coconut flour cookies are SO darn easy to make and even easier to eat. Let’s talk about these cookies because I’m honestly like a proud momma thinking about them.
I just reshared my favorite paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe last week (which is why I had these scheduled farther out). So many of you came out of the woodwork to tell me how much you adore them. I feel you on that – that recipe is a seriously delicious one. It’s sweetened with coconut sugar, just like this one is, because you know I love my refined sugar free cookie recipes!
P.S. these vegan miso chocolate chip cookies are another favorite if you’re looking for a twist on the classic!
But…it also uses 2¼ cups of almond flour, and that can get expensive. I buy mine in bulk so I don’t notice it as much, but my sister was simultaneously raving about the cookies and complaining about having to buy a $12 bag of almond flour to make them.
Is coconut flour or almond flour better for cookies? It depends on the recipe and what you have on hand – each works well when the recipe has been developed to use the specific one, but they have different properties, so they’re generally not interchangeable. Coconut flour is cheaper and can go further because it is so absorbent, which is a big pro for a lot of folks!
A recipe for coconut-flour chocolate chip cookies had been in my recipe queue for a while, and her complaints were just the inspiration I needed to get to work. I planned to make them with coconut flour and wanted to keep them nut-free, and I really love coconut-flour cookie recipes. I decided to try making them vegan as well… because why not make them totally allergy-friendly?!
Honestly, I expected this coconut flour cookie recipe to take a while to get right. Surprisingly, I got pretty close to nailing it on the first try. I tested one more time with some baby adjustments just to perfect them. The result? A batch of really good chocolate chip cookies.
Not just good for being nut-free, paleo, and vegan, but good by just about anyone’s standards. I brought them over to my very not-paleo or vegan aunt and uncle and they were loving them!
Is coconut flour a substitute for all-purpose flour? No, it’s not, primarily because it is SO absorbent. It’s about 3x more absorbent than all-purpose flour! A lot of coconut flour cookie recipes can get pretty crumbly because the coconut flour sucks up so much moisture. But, because these use just 1/3 cup in this recipe, we avoid that crumbly texture and instead get a rich, chewy, and wonderfully textured dough.
Which seed butter should I use?
This recipe also includes sunflower seed butter OR tahini. I tested the recipe with both! Here are the differences: sunflower seed butter had a more neutral, less noticeable taste, but if you’ve baked with sunflower seed butter before, you know it tends to turn baked goods green. It doesn’t affect anything about the flavor or texture, but some people might be turned off by the color.
The tahini version, which I show in the photos, has a slightly noticeable tahini flavor. It’s definitely not too prominent. I liked the little hint of nuttiness it added. While I noticed the difference in flavor, none of my taste testers commented on it.
You can also use your favorite nut butter if you’re not sensitive to nuts, or if you’re baking for someone with an allergy!
How many cookies does this recipe make?
This recipe does make a pretty small batch. It yields about 10 to 12 cookies (maybe more, depending on the size you make them). However, you could always easily double or triple it if you need more! Living alone, I can’t have too many cookies around for the sake of my waistline 🙊
These Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies come together sooo easily, too. You can make them in a stand mixer if you have one, which makes them EXTRA easy. I use a bowl and whisk, though, and the dough came together in less than 5 minutes. Always a win!
Can you freeze these cookies?
They also freeze well both in dough and cookie form, so you can always have a stash on hand. To freeze the dough, I like scooping the dough into cookie balls, placing them on a baking sheet, and freezing until firm, and then moving the frozen cookie dough balls to a freezer-safe zip bag for long-term storage.
I hope you love these cookies, and that everyone you share them with does as well – regardless of their dietary restrictions. Enjoy :)
Want more delicious cookie recipes?
- Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Vegan Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Gluten-Free Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan + Nut-Free)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup virgin coconut oil, solid and slightly softened, similar to softened butter
- ⅓ cup sunflower seed butter, or tahini, see Notes
- ⅔ cup coconut sugar
- 2 flax eggs, 2 tablespoons flax meal + 5 tablespoons water – whisk them together and let sit for 5 minutes to gel – see Notes for info about using real eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda, use ¼ teaspoon if using sunflower seed butter – helps prevent the cookies from turning green when they cool!
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup (43g) coconut flour
- ⅔ cup (4 oz) dark chocolate, chopped or chips
- Flaky sea salt, to sprinkle on top, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a bowl or stand mixer, beat together the coconut oil, sunflower seed butter or tahini, and coconut sugar until smooth. Add the flax eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth.¼ cup virgin coconut oil, ⅓ cup sunflower seed butter, ⅔ cup coconut sugar, 2 flax eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the baking soda, salt, and coconut flour to the wet ingredients. Mix until well incorporated. Fold in the chopped dark chocolate.½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, ⅓ cup (43g) coconut flour, ⅔ cup (4 oz) dark chocolate
- Use a cookie scoop to form cookies and place 2” apart on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt if desired. Bake for 10 minutes or just beginning to turn golden brown around the edges.Flaky sea salt
- Let cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- If you’re not nut-free, you can use any nut butter you like here (like peanut butter or almond butter). For the nut-free folks, I found that the sunflower seed butter had a milder, less noticeable flavor than the tahini, but sunflower seed butter also has the tendency to turn baked goods green! It doesn’t affect taste, just appearances, but something to keep in mind. The cookies pictured are made with tahini – I didn’t find the flavor to be too noticeable, but it does add a bit of nuttiness! That being said, taste your tahini before using to make sure you enjoy the flavor. Certain brands of tahini can be more bitter, and that flavor will translate, so make sure you like the tahini plain before adding it to your cookies!
- If you don’t want/need to use flax eggs, replace the two flax eggs with 1 egg + 1 egg yolk.
Hi, first time trying one of your recipes, it tasted amazing, but I didn’t have coconut sugar so I use brown sugar instead and use almond butter and they completely expanded it almost look like a cookie bar, they were really thin. I still ate them, they tasted great! But Do you think because I didn’t use coconut sugar that happen?
Hi Elly! So glad you liked the flavor – I’ve heard from a few people that these expanded, and I think it might be a difference in coconut flour! Different brands are different levels of absorbency – I’d try it next time with just one flax egg and see if that helps. The sugar shouldn’t make a difference in that way.
Any way to make these substituting dates for the coconut sugar? I love coconut sugar but would love to try and make date-sweetened cookies. Thoughts on the # of dates, and whether this will change the texture too much? Will they need to be processed into a paste? I plan on making these in an hour, so hopefully some responses will come back quickly!
Hi Tenly, unfortunately dates have an entirely different consistency than coconut sugar and I wouldn’t be able to recommend substituting them without testing an entirely new recipe using dates. If you did decide to try it, I would definitely recommend processing it into a paste. Let me know how it goes if you give it a try!
For those substituting real eggs for the flax egg: I read through the comments and had the same problem with runny batter. I knew the cookies would be a mess if I baked them with that consistency. I added about 1/4 cup ground flax seed and it solved the problem! Just a bit of a flax-y taste, but still *SUPER* delicious! My two toddlers ate them up and I felt great about giving them a healthy “treat” for a snack today. May try adding just one egg next time, since I never have flax egg on hand.
Hi Rachel, thank you so very much for your feedback and helpful tips! I tried these with one egg + one yolk recently and it worked out great, so you may want to try that next time. You can also try adding an extra tablespoon or so of coconut flour to help firm up the dough. So glad you enjoyed the recipe, despite your problem-solving! :)
I made these and they were great! I made the following changes: vegan butter instead of coconut oil, caster sugar instead of coconut sugar, homemade sun butter, and probably used 1/2 cup coconut flour after other people’s comments about the mix being too runny. My cookies needed more time in the oven also. They are chewy and tasty, although I wish I’d used better quality chocolate.
I forgot to add that I let the batter chill in the fridge for an hour and it really made it a lot firmer. I’m making a batch with currants instead of chocolate right now :)
Glad you enjoyed the cookies, and thanks for sharing your feedback, Rebecca!
What do you mean with coconut oil at room temperature? Solid or melted?
Hi Andy, I’ve updated the recipe to be more specific. It should be solid, similar to the texture of softened butter.
These are by far one of the best cookies I’ve ever had! Wow!! Will definitely be making these again. I’m curious – is it possible to reduce the oil by subbing partial apple sauce or something like that? Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so thrilled to hear that Dana! I haven’t tried using applesauce in cookies so I’m not sure how it would work – I think it might make the cookies cakier, but it’s worth a shot. I’d try replacing just half the oil to start. If you give it a try, let me know how it turns out!
I did half oil and half applesauce, but the flavor of the apple was brought out too much. I think I’ll mash half of a banana next time- coconut and chocolate go great with banana separetely, so I figure it might be better?? But my batch of all oil cookies were incredible.
Banana sounds like it would work great – thanks for your helpful feedback about the applesauce, Amanda.
Made these and they turned out perfectly!! A little soft and hard to handle, but taste amazing. I used M&Ms instead of dark chocolate bc my kids were begging me for M&M cookies. I did weigh the ingredients to be sure I used the right amount – perfect! Thanks!
So glad that you and your kids enjoyed them, Ashley! M&Ms sound delicious in here :) Thanks for your feedback!
I just made these but half way through realized I used the last of the chocolate chips in a zucchini bread this morning :( So instead I added cacao powder, walnuts, and coconut flakes. AmAzing !!! I always have coconut flour on hand and have experimented with cookies- but these weren’t dense or sandy. I’ve been vegan baking for years and never went for tahini over a nut butter in sweet recipes; thank you for showing how to love it ;)
I’m so thrilled you enjoyed the cookies, Amanda! Thanks so much for your feedback, I’m glad I could help you find a coconut flour cookie you love :)
On my to do list! Yum!! Anyway I can substitute the sugar? Aloha!
I haven’t tried it without sugar so I can’t confidently make any recommendations…sorry Marilyn! If you do some experimenting, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Oh so wonderful!!! It smell so good and taste so yummy. I like this vegan cookies recipe because it is easy to follow and only ingredients have to be prepared and the steps are clearly written that have made my whole making process become quick and easy. I love your recipe of using nut and seed butter so it is nutritious and can give the vegan cookies very good texture. However, my cookie colour is not as light as yours, it is darker and I use small oven, it took me 15-20mins to bake but end up success! Thank you so much for your recipe creation and sharing! Oh last but not least, I would say that if someone who don’t like too sweet, I think sugar and chocolate chips can be reduced.
So thrilled to hear you’re loving them, Amy! Thanks so much for your feedback.