These chocolate chip cookies are soft, paleo, only require 6 ingredients, and there is no mixer required! Dairy free, gluten free, and ready in less than 45 minutes. Add this to your cookie recipe favorites because you’ll be making these again and again.
While I don’t follow a strict paleo diet, I do make my best effort to avoid gluten, dairy and sugar as much as possible. And truth be told, it’s not as hard for me as I would have imagined it to be.
When I really sit down and look at the foods we typically buy, it really comes down to skipping the toast at breakfast, using an alternative type of pasta, and saying goodbye to my typical pints of Ben & Jerry’s.
That said… I still have my sweet tooth. Mama needs her chocolate, my friends.
Tips for making paleo chocolate chip cookies
Cashew butter provides the best flavor, but a well-stirred, creamy almond butter (aff link) can also be used. I prefer cashew butter because I find the flavor to be more neutral, but it’s a matter of personal preference.
Use a paleo-friendly chocolate. A coworker of mine sent me a package full of hazelnut butter dark chocolate bars, and I am officially a convert from your standard chocolate bars.
The flavor it lends to these cookies in particular is phenomenal. I don’t know how to describe the flavor in a way that does it justice, so you’ll need to order some and try it yourself to understand why I have a new true(chocolate) love.
No mixer needed. A sturdy wooden spoon will do just fine!
Vegan? No problem. Just substitute the egg for flaxseed meal or chia seeds (1 Tablespoon chia seeds + 3 Tablespoons water for either one).
Save some chocolate pieces to top each cookie. It’s all about presentation, so this isn’t required – but highly encouraged.
Top each cookie with a little sprinkle of sea salt. Again, not required – but a little salt kicks the flavor up a notch.
Bake them a little longer than you might think they need. These will be soft baked, and will actually get a little softer each day, so baking them a couple minutes longer will lend to soft (but not too soft) cookies day by day.
They’ll be puffy when they first come out of the oven, but let them hang out for a bit on the baking sheet and they’ll flatten as they cool.
You don’t have to be paleo to appreciate these.
Even comparing these to typical chocolate chip cookies, I might call these the best cookies I’ve ever made. They’re not a 1:1 substitute in terms of flavor, but they stand on their own and rank at the top of my all time favorite cookie list!
I like to use a mix of chocolates when I can, simply because I like incorporating different flavors into each bite.
The same goes for the sizes of pieces of chocolate – some are bigger than others, and I think it just makes the cookies more interesting when they’re not uniform.
… sure, maybe it’s just a coping mechanism to prevent myself from obsessing over making each cookie look perfect, but my point still stands.
Something worth mentioning: Just because these are paleo does not mean they are “healthy” or low in calories. We’re using a nut butter that is notoriously heavier on the caloric side.
So don’t go nuts and eat six of these in one sitting.
… get it? Don’t go nuts?
I’ll tell ya – if people found me as hilarious as I found myself sometimes, I’d be so rich and famous.
After you’ve made this recipe, please consider coming back to share your experience with others by leaving a comment below with a star rating!
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashew butter, can substitute well-stirred, creamy almond butter
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1 egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 6 ounces paleo-friendly dark chocolate, chopped (I love to use hazelnut butter dark chocolate)
- pinch of sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line two baking sheets with nonstick silicone mats or parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine cashew butter, coconut sugar, egg and baking soda. Use a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula to mix until evenly combined and no large streaks of cashew butter remain. Fold in ¾ of the chocolate (about 4 ounces).
- Use a large cookie scoop (about 1 ½ Tablespoons) to portion out balls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. You want to give the cookies room to spread, so I recommend no more than 6 per baking sheet (though you can probably fit up to 8 if need be).
- Press remaining chocolate pieces into the tops of each cookie and sprinkle with sea salt.
- Bake each batch for 11 minutes, or for a few minutes longer if you prefer a more crisp cookie. They will be soft when removed from the oven, and will crinkle and flatten as they cool – let cool completely on the baking sheet* (about 20 minutes). Serve and enjoy!
Notes
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge.
- *I’m serious. Really let them cool completely, as they will set as they cool and could fall apart on you if you try to remove them sooner.
Sarah Thompson
Amazing! I have recently gone off processed sugar and had almost given up on being able to eat ncie things . I love almond butter and found some really good paleo chocolate. I was amazed at how much these looked like real choc chip cookies and how much they tasted like them. In fact even better! Especially since I hadn’t eaten any treats for about 2 months. Thankyou!
Leslie Kiszka
This makes me so happy to hear!