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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 there, I’ve been baking vegan for a long time since I became allergic to dairy and eggs. Your recipe is my first attempt at paleo baking! Unfortunately my cookies spread and became very thin. The only thing I did different from your recipe was to use unsweetened almond butter – although the notes say you can use any nut butter. My coconut oil was solid and I used everything in the exact amounts. Any idea where I went wrong?
Hi Kristen! How odd…sometimes how oily a nut butter is can affect that, but it shouldn’t cause them to become super thin. Since I wasn’t in the kitchen it’s hard for me to know exactly what went wrong, but next time, you can try chilling the dough for about an hour before baking and that should help them thicken up!
These cookies are AMAZING!! I cannot stop making them! Thank you for sharing your delicious recipes!
So thrilled you’re loving them! Thanks so much for your feedback Naomi.
I just made a batch and they are delicious. Soft, gooey, thick…my goodness!!! Thank you so much! I have tried so many vegan gluten free recipes and it was each time a disaster. Those taste wonderful!
So thrilled you’re loving them, Clelia! Thanks so much for your feedback :)
Have to say these came out amazing!
Changed the coconut oil to butter and used thina(thini), used a real egg and an extra yolk, replaced the coconut sugar with half the amount of honey and added an extra 2 tablespoons of the coconut flower to thicken the extra moist. Came out great, thanks :)
So glad you enjoyed them and that they worked with all of the changes! Thanks for the feedback, Tal.
These cookies are SO good! I followed the recipe exactly. I will make these again and again. Mine came out a little flat (not like the picture) , but it didnt matter, they look fine and the taste is amazing. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
So glad you’re loving them Becky!! Thanks so much for your feedback :)
I just made these to take to a Christmas party. They are so delicious! They turned out thinner than your pictures and after reading through all of the comments, it’s likely due to the sunbutter being on the oily side. Still, they held together well enough to cool on a rack and now they’re stored in the fridge which has helped them firm up to just the right amount of soft chewiness. It’s hard to find good recipes that meet all of our allergy needs: dairy, gluten, egg, peanut, tree nut, and sesame free. So many vegan desserts are nut-based. Thank you for sharing this. It’s sure to become a quick favorite in our family!
So thrilled to hear you’re loving them, Jen!!! Enjoy :)
These are so good and so easy to sub in and out ingredients based on what you have. I used PB in place of sunflower butter. I also subbed refined sugar for coconut, one egg and one egg yolk for the flax egg, and chocolate chunks for the chips. I baked mine for 13 minutes and they were PERFECT. This will definitely be my go-to CCC recipe! :)
So glad you’re loving them, Mallory!! Thanks so much for sharing your experience and feedback :)
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’ve been in the process of trying to get my high levels of Candida under control. It has caused me to have several temporary food allergies like dairy and eggs and have to avoid sugar.
I’ve been scouring the internet for a good dairy and egg free chocolate chip cookie recipe for a while and I’m so glad I stumbled upon this one. I subbed the coconut sugar with the Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener because I can’t have sugar with Candida and these turned out simply divine. Egg-free recipes usually require aquafaba or chia (both of which I cannot have), so it was so refreshing to see that this only required flax, coconut flour, and sunbutter! Saving this one in my favs forever!
It’s so nice to still enjoy a little treat now and then. Cannot thank you enough!!
I’m thrilled you’re loving this recipe Maria, and that it allows you to have chocolate chip cookies in your life, even with your dietary restrictions!! Thanks so much for the feedback :D
Hii, i really want to try this, it looks awesome!! but i can’t find coconut flour where i am, do you think i could get away with grinding shredded coconut into a flour? Or do you use defatted coconut flour? Thank you!
Hi Lucy, shredded coconut is a totally different product than coconut flour – I would use this chocolate chip cookie recipe instead if you can’t find coconut flour.
Great taste! Awesome recipe, worked like magic!
So thrilled they were a hit, Ashley! Thanks for the feedback.