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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.
Amazing! I’ve made this recipe twice now. I doubled it the second time because my friends could not get enough of these delicious cookies. I’m new to gluten-free refined sugar-free baking, but this recipe was easy and came out so good. I did use regular eggs (the 1 egg and 1 egg yolk per the notes) and almond butter instead of tahini/ sunflower seed. I also used brown coconut sugar just because that’s what I had on hand and I added a 1/8 teaspoon of xanthan gum (my friends like extra chewy cookies) and baked them for 9 minutes and did let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes per instructions. My friends and I LOVE these gooey chewy cookies! Thank you so much for an easy, straightforward recipe that tastes phenomenal, thank you!
So thrilled you loved it, Elly!! :D Thanks for the feedback!
I want to make these for my boyfriend however his diet is extremely strict. Please advise, I tried reading the comments but there are so many!
What can I use to replace:
-sunflower seed butter or tahini for (would coconut butter work?)
and
-flax eggs (would apple sauce or banana work?)
Thank you!
Hi Ren, I’ve never tried coconut butter as a sub for nut butter in a cookie recipe, it’s worth a shot but I can’t make any guarantees! Pumpkin seed butter is another option, but it sounds like he may be allergic to all seeds? Chia seeds also work instead of flax, but again, if all the seeds are off the table, that’s a no-go! Applesauce or banana would probably work, but my guess is the cookies will be a lot softer since they add a lot of moisture! If you’re okay with that, it should be fine! I’d say banana will probably make them a little less soft than applesauce, but will add more flavor. Hope this helps!! Let me know if you have any other questions.
Made coconut flour chocolate chips cookies, turned out very good, crispy and chewy. Loved it
So glad you enjoyed them Ketki!
Thank goodness I was sitting when I tried these. I might have passed out. In a good way. These might be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made. Okay, I subbed almond butter for the tahini and used monkfruit sweetener because that’s what I had on hand, but whoa! I ate one… and then three. I might have kept going had my glass of almond milk not run out. You need a liability waiver for these. I can’t wait to try your other chocolate chip cookie recipes!
OMG, I’m so glad you’re loving them Crystal!!! Thanks so much for the feedback :D put such a smile on my face!
I really loved trying this recipe! It tastes SO good and planning on making a second batch tomorrow – everyone loved these too (vegan and non-vegan friends). Thank you for sharing this perfect recipe!!
Woohoo! So glad you love them, Rachel.
These are delicious and highly recommend! So happy to find a simple cookie recipe that meets my current dietary restrictions.
Changes I made to the current recipe: I subbed the tahini with almond butter and chocolate chips with chopped walnuts and pecans.
I doubled the recipe, and was afraid I calculated something wrong, because the cookies were super soft and would fall apart trying to pick one up. However, after leaving them on the parchment paper and a rack to cool, they hardened up, but still had a softness to them. Not sure if that’s normal, but this was my first attempt at baking vegan/gf cookies.
Hi Marcia, these cookies are on the softer side and are definitely soft when they’re warm, but firm up significantly once cooled, as you saw. If they’re still soft, they may have been a little underbaked too. So glad you loved them, though!
I just made this and it’s not like any cookie dough I ever made really runny, just 1/3 cup.of Almond Flour? or is this a typo. Put it in the Fridge and still after an Hour soft. Baked it off after 30 min baking and spreading I used my Pizza Cutter and made squares for my Friend. Taste is delicious but consistency is not.
Hi Elke, this recipe is made with coconut flour, which is MUCH more absorbent than almond flour, which is why your dough would’ve been soft. This dough was very specifically designed with coconut flour in mind – if you want to use almond flour, I recommend trying this cookie recipe.
I made these and they only yielded 7.5 cookies using the cookie scoop. I used one egg instead of 2 as I saw someone make a comment that one large egg worked. My dough was extremely thick and really hard to work with. I’m not sure if that is why. Everything else was measured our exact. I had let my coconut oil sit for a bit but idk if I’m suppose to microwave it for a few seconds it seemed soft but maybe it wasn’t soft enough? Do you know what could have attributed to the batter being so thick and maybe that’s why it only made 7.5
Hi Emina, egg is essentially liquid so removing an egg takes out some liquid, which is definitely a possibility as to why it came out drier. You’re also removing some volume, which leads to less dough, but my guess is you used a larger cookie scoop than I did which changes the yield.
Absolutely incredible!!!!! The ingredients work so well and I’ve never tried tahini in this way. Delicious will
Be making these from now on thank you!
So glad you’re loving them, Kate! Thanks for the feedback.
Hello,
Thank you so much for this recipe. I just purchased a kitchen aid and couldn’t wait to bake off my first batch of cookies. I followed a different recipe using Almond flour and those were a disaster (from another website). But because I never give up, I found your recipe, and I must say: OMG these cookies were AMAZING!! This will definitely be my go to recipe for Chocolate chip cookies. Thank you so much!!!
Thank you so much for the thoughtful words and kind review, Cece! So glad they were a hit. If you have a chance to leave a star review next time, it’s super helpful for letting others know you loved the recipe :)