These amazing Coconut Flour Cookies are exactly what you expect from a great cookie: they have crisp edges, chewy centers, and are loaded with chocolate. However, they are gluten-free, clean eating, and paleo, with an option to make them vegan as well.
I've been on the search for perfect cookies made with coconut flour for a VERY long time. I posted a coconut flour sprinkle cookie recipe in my early blogging days, which is great but makes rather soft, almost cakey cookies.
Those are always a hit with my family, but personally, I prefer my cookies with crispy edges and chewy, slightly underbaked centers. And finally - after literally YEARS of experimenting - I've come up with the perfect recipe.
Baking with Coconut Flour
Using coconut flour is quite tricky because it behaves quite different from wheat flour and even any other gluten-free flour. It is hygroscopic - meaning that it absorbs a LOT of moisture.
But simply adding a lot of liquid like water or milk doesn't work, because the baked good will end up with no structure. In my coconut flour quick bread recipes like muffins and bread, I used eggs and oil to satisfy the coconut flour's need for moisture while also giving the baked treat structure.
How to Make Coconut Flour Cookies Moist and Crispy
However, eggs also make for a fluffy, light texture which I didn't want for these cookies. I was looking for a moist, chewy, and crispy texture instead. Finally, I realized that the oil component from nut or seed butter would add extra moisture to the cookies while their fiber would allow for a denser structure.
I started experimenting with homemade all-natural peanut butter which made for delicious low carb coconut flour peanut butter cookies. But then I experimented with other nut and seed butters to make this coconut flour chocolate chip cookie recipe suitable for those with different dietary restrictions.
How to Make Coconut Flour Cookies
To start making these grain-free chocolate chip cookies, you should line your baking pan and preheat the oven. I like to line the sheet with a silicone baking mat, but parchment works well too. Next, you mix the coconut oil with your choice of nut or seed butter, and coconut sugar, before adding the egg and vanilla extract. For the butter, feel free to use either almond butter, sunflower seed butter, or even tahini sesame seed paste. All work perfectly well in this recipe while adding different complexities to the final flavour. Afterward, you stir the dry ingredients in followed by the chocolate chips. I like to use dark chocolate chips or chunks here, but you can use sugar-free chocolate chips if they are preferable to you.
To shape the cookies, I like to use a 1 to 2 tablespoon scoop to ensure equal-sized cookies. Once you place them on the baking sheet, you can press them gently before studding them with more chocolate chips and sprinkling them with sea salt to add a salty finish. These should bake for a total of 10 to 12 minutes depending on the size you decided to make them. The baked cookies should be golden brown around the edges. You can also tell they are done by whether the tops of them are dry rather than glossy. Once they are out of the oven, cool them on a wire rack to allow air circulation so they cool down faster than if you were to leave them on the baking sheet.
Modification Options for Dietary Restrictions & Allergies
Paleo
You can use any nut or seed butter rather than peanut butter. Peanuts are legumes rather than nuts, which make them unsuitable for paleo. Almond butter or cashew butter would work well.
Nut-Free
Coconut flour is great if you are looking to avoid gluten but are allergic to tree nuts (almond flour recipes aren't an option for those requiring nut-free diets). Coconut flour is great for both gluten-free and nut-free diets as it is basically finely ground dried coconut whereas almond flour comprises ground almonds which are unsuitable to those with nut allergies. It has a wonderful coconut taste that lends itself well to desserts, too.
To make these gluten-free coconut flour cookies nut-free, you should also use seed butter rather than nut butter in these cookies. Sunbutter may turn the cookies a shade of green (it reacts with the baking soda) but the resulting cookies will still taste super delicious.
You can also use sesame butter or tahini, but be sure you give them a taste first to make sure you like the flavour. Sometimes tahini can be quite bitter which will make the cookies a little bitter too. However, if you are someone who likes a sweet and savoury combination, tahini may be an excellent option for you. Additionally, if you buy it and decide you don't like it, it is wonderful in a wider array of savoury recipes like hummus or salad dressings.
Dairy-Free
This recipe works well with either melted butter or coconut oil. I love to make coconut flour cookies with butter but to make the recipe dairy-free (and vegan & paleo) be sure to use coconut oil or a dairy-free butter substitute in place of the butter. The results will be equally delicious and you will be able to ensure you can serve the cookies to more people.
Vegan
Usually, my grain-free coconut flour recipes rely quite heavily on a good amount of eggs and substitutes just don't work as well. But since these coconut flour chocolate chip cookies only call for one egg, I tested them with a flax egg instead and the recipe worked out just as well texturally. Flaxseed does add a slightly different flavour to the cookies, but is quite a healthy ingredient to add to dessert recipes due to its fiber content.
Keto/Low Carb
Substitute the coconut sugar or brown sugar with something like monk fruit sweetener instead. Additionally, be sure to use sugar-free chocolate chips, for a lower carb option.
My friend Lorena also has some delicious Keto Diet Recipes.
How to Store These Cookies
I am a sucker for cookies fresh from the oven. I don't want to eat them when they are so hot that I burn my tongue, but somewhere within the first couple hours after baking.
These are truly the best low carb cookies when the chocolate chips/chunks are still melty and the chewy centers are slightly gooey! As a result, I prefer to shape the cookie dough into balls and freeze them so that I can bake fresh cookies more often. However, I know that not everyone has time to bake fresh cookies all the time. So I recommend storing these low carb cookies in an airtight container on the counter for 3-4 days. The coconut flour sugar cookies will lose some of their crispness and turn softer after a day in a container. However, if you store them without covering, they will quickly dry out and become hard and crumbly.
If you would like to keep them for longer, they should stay fresh in the freezer for a few months, though. They also thaw very quickly so you will be able to pull out just a few whenever you need them. Consider making a double batch of these cookies so you can have them on hand for lunches, snacks, and desserts all of the time!
More Delicious Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes:
- Coconut Flour Shortbread Cookies
- Coconut Flour Peanut Butter Cookies
- Tigernut Flour Cookies
- Healthy Gingerbread Cookies
- Hazelnut Macaroons
Coconut Flour eBook
I wrote an eBook dedicated to my love of all things coconut flour, which includes several coconut flour recipes.
This one focuses on muffins, pancake & mug cake recipes.
Check out Coconut Flour Muffins, Pancakes + Mug Cakes HERE!
Coconut Flour Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted
- â…“ cup unsalted nut or seed butter peanut, almond, sunflower seed*, or sesame butter (tahini)
- ½ cup coconut sugar or unrefined brown sugar or monk fruit sugar substitute***
- 1 egg or flax egg**
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup coconut flour spooned into the measuring cup (don't dip & sweep)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt more for sprinkling (optional)
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks, or sugar-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
- In a large bowl mix melted coconut oil, nut butter, and coconut sugar with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again.
- Add coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Mix in with a spatula or wooden spoon. Finally stir in the chocolate chips.
- Form 16 small cookies (1 tablespoon dough) or 8-10 large cookies (~2 tablespoons dough) with a cookie scoop and place them on the cookie sheet.
- Flatten each dough ball and add a couple extra chocolate chips and optionally a touch of coarse sea salt
- Bake the cookies until the centers are just set - about 10 minutes for the small size or 12 minutes for the bigger sized cookies.
- Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes, than move to a wire rack to let them cool completely.
- Once fully cooled, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days.
Notes
carbs: 7Â fiber: 3Â sugar:1.7
daisy rogers
I'm about to make these for a party this week and was wondering how coconutty the cookies are in terms of flavour - worried that some of the guests won't like the coconut flavour!
Regina | Leelalicious
I am not very sensitive to coconut flavor. For me the nut butter and chocolate chip flavor is most prominent
Lacey
Have you attempted to use this recipe for a giant cookie? Any tips to do this?
Regina | Leelalicious
Sorry, I have not tried it as 1 giant cookie. I would guess that the cook time will be longer. A slightly lower temperature will probably help not to burn the edges while the center finishes cooking
Bavya
Wow. My daughter who is 9 year old absolutely loved the cookie. She left only about 5 or 6 cookies in all.:-) This recipe is a keeper and what's amazing is that it is absolutely healthy.
Thank you Regina.
Cheers
Bavya
Regina | Leelalicious
Thank you for sharing this amazing feedback! Kids can be the harshest critics, so this means a lot to me.
Sarah Maderazo
I am so excited to try this recipe! Would Swerve brown sugar substitute work with this recipe?
Regina | Leelalicious
Yes that should work just fine
Sapir
I keep coming back to this recipe!
It's pure gold, my husband loves it!
Appreciated how its so delicious without wheat and sugar!!!
Regina | Leelalicious
That is wonderful to hear that both you and your husband really enjoy the recipe. Isn't it so amazing that a keto cookie that is gluten and sugar free can be so good! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment
Jen W
These taste great! Turned out really well with tahini paste, sucanat sugar instead of coconut and sea salt only sprinkled on top. Thanks for the recipe!
Regina | Leelalicious
Great to hear the recipe worked well for you with tahini. I just looked up sucanat. I bet the molasses in it gave the cookies a delicious, rich caramel note
Danni
Thank you for sharing, made these today and they are so good 🙂
Regina | Leelalicious
So great to hear you are enjoying this cookie recipe
Eeza
I was thinking of using a monk fruit - erythritol blend sugar substitute. Do I need to change the measurement for the sugar? If so then by how much?
And I was thinking of using cacao nibs instead of chocolate chips. Will this affect the overall quality?
Regina | Leelalicious
If using a monkfruit blend like the one from Lakanto you can substitute 1 for 1. Their blend is adjusted to be about equally sweet as sugar. With another blend check the label to see their suggested ratio.
Cacao nibs aren't sweet, so the cookies will be less sweet but should still be delicious.
Malin
Used 50/50 of almond butter and tahini and they were lovely. Thanks for a great recipe
Regina | Leelalicious
Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment. I love to hear that they turned out great with a combination of almond butter and tahini. That sounds delicious. I'll have to try that next time.
Dave
I made this twice, is there a liquid missing? Both times came out very dry.
Regina | Leelalicious
Are you measuring the coconut flour correctly? Not compacting it by dipping the measuring cup into the flour, instead spoon the flour lightly into the measuring cup. If you are measuring correctly and still have that problem, maybe your brand/batch of coconut flour is super absorbent (I have noticed some variance here). Try reducing the amount of flour you use.
And if you like soft, fluffy cookie texture more, maybe you will like this soft coconut flour cookie recipe better? https://leelalicious.com/coconut-flour-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Lucyann Reach
Can I use almond flour
Regina | Leelalicious
I have not tried almond flour in this recipe. If you do, you probably have to at least double the flour amount
Melissa
Hi! We have some dietary restrictions so curious if chia seed/water would work instead of flax? What about cashew butter? Thank you!
Regina | Leelalicious
Cashew butter will be great. You can make a chia egg instead of flax egg
Veronica Mendoza
I Made these and turned out great. By far the best tasting gluten free cookie recipe . Question so its 141 cals for just 1 cookie and 11 carbs for 1 cookie or am I reading that wrong. Thanks again for this amazing recipe.
Regina | Leelalicious
So glad to hear you enjoyed the cookies. Yes these nutrition facts are per cookie, if using coconut sugar and dark chocolate chips.
If you use a sugar-free alternative and sugar-free chocolate chips 1 cookie has only 4 net carbs (7g carbs and 3g fiber).
Angie
Have made these twice already. Great recipe - thank you.
Regina | Leelalicious
Thank you for sharing your experience. Isn't this the best coconut cookie recipe ever? I think everyone needs to try this recipe 😉
Hope
Can I substitute baking soda with anything else? Or not use baking soda at all? Will it still turn out good without baking soda?
Regina | Leelalicious
About 1 teaspoon of baking powder should have a similar effect
Issa
Can I use olive oil instead of coconut oil/butter?
Regina | Leelalicious
I think it should work. If the cookie dough seems too oily/wet, just add a little extra coconut flour until it holds up to be shaped
Penelope Halfpenny
These were absolutely delicious, and so healthy. I used half tahini and half almond paste.
thank you
Regina | Leelalicious
Awesome! That sounds like a delicious nut/seed combo
Georgia
These were delicious straight after cooling for the 10 mins! Unfortunately not crispy around the edges but they were so light and soft (not too dense or cakey), that I didn’t mind.
I’m not paleo, just gluten free, and I used peanut butter, subbed butter for the coconut oil, used only 1/4 cup of sugar, and added some white choc chips and chopped macadamia’s instead of dark chocolate (my favourite combo). They’re amazing and my whole gluten eating family loved them too!
Regina
So happy to hear everyone enjoyed the cookies even though you didn't end up with crisp edges. Reducing the sugar may have been the reason for that, as part of what makes that crispness is the sugar caramelizing during baking. I am glad you still liked them though
Gabby
Hi, should I put less monk fruit sugar as I understand is more sweet than regular sugar?
Regina
Try it out. Start with adding 1/2 or 3/4 of the sugar amount and give the dough a little taste. Depending on your taste adjust from there
Rina
Hi! Just wanted to say that I tried the cookies and I think they're delicious! They come out almost like regular cookies but without milk or flour or eggs (I made the recipe with the flax seed egg). Thank you for sharing this really nice recipe!