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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.
These are just delicious! I am so happy to be using both coconut flour and tahini in these. One thing I noticed was that mine ended up being really flat, not like yours in the picture. I followed the recipe exactly so I’m not sure what happened. The dough did seem a little loose, but I thought the coconut flour would thicken it up more. What could I have done wrong?
Hi Nancy, sorry yours turned out flat, glad you enjoyed them though! I’ve found certain brands of coconut flour can be more absorbent than others, so I’d recommend adding another two tablespoons of coconut flour (or enough to make a thick cookie dough) to make them bake up a little thicker. Hope this helps!
Thanks! I will try that. I have made them twice now (can’t stop eating them…) and did notice they were a little soft the next day. So I put them back in the oven and baked them some more, which made them quite brown and crunchy. Very good this way as well.
Oh and one more thing I changed the second time I made them: I reduced the coconut sugar to 1/2 a cup and the chocolate chips to 1/2 a cup. They still turned out delicious.
So glad you enjoyed them again!! Thanks for the feedback and update.
These are shockingly good!! They look and basically taste like a real butter and flour chocolate chip cookie! Full disclosure I was too lazy to do the flax egg…but still, so happy to have this to feed my household instead of my usual VERY unhealthy cookies!!!
So glad you’re loving them, Kelley!!! Thanks so much for the feedback :D
Hi ,
Can I use chia egg instead of flax egg ?
Haven’t tested but that should be alright!
Loved this recipe!! My family was so impressed especially since these are vegan and gluten free. They were soft and super chocolate-y, just how I like them!
So thrilled you and your family are loving them, Kristen!!
Can I use egg replacer powder. We have a seed allergic child.
Hi Nazanin, I’ve never tried it here so I cannot say one way or another.
Obsessed is an understatement!!
I may or may not have eaten 3 whole batches to myself in one week.
The only substitute was that I replaced the coconut sugar with approx. a bit less than 1/2 c. Of swerve… And I chose sunflower butter over tahini.
While most cookies I love warm and fresh out of the oven, these (in my opinion) taste way better once they’ve completely cooled. And once they do, all self control goes out the window! Try em! You won’t regret it.
Woohoo!! Thanks so much for the feedback, Tracy. So helpful to know they worked well with Swerve.
Best vegan chocolate-chip cookie I’ve had yet! I’ve tried many recipes. I used almond butter and did the recipe as written above. Chewy, yummy. Saving this one!
So glad you’re loving them! Thanks for the feedback, Michaela!
These are so SO rich and gooey with the most perfect crispy edges…everything you could ever want in a chocolate chip cookie and amazing for anyone with dietary restrictions! So happy I found this recipe :)
So thrilled you love them, Michelle!! Thanks for the feedback :)
Your cookies look great do you have any carb counts? Thanks
Just added nutritional info for you!
These worked for all our food allergies. I’d say go ahead and atleast double your batch when making these!
So happy to hear they work for everyone! So glad you’re enjoying them Sarah.