Gluten Free Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies – Gluten Free Cookies

The perfect Almond Flour Cookies are here. These gluten free chocolate chip cookies are easy to make, and provide the rich flavor of almond flour, along with hints of semi-sweet chocolate chips in each bite, you will not stop at just one. These are going to be your favorite homemade cookies!

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My love for baking with Almond Flour has been quite apparent from my latest posts. Those who follow me know that the big Almond Flour packet from Costco has been the motivator for me to try out new recipes with the amazing flour.

I can say that it has not been easy to get that perfect texture in cookies made with just the almond flour. I have had disastrous bakes, which by the way, we didn’t discard, but consumed along with our morning and evening teas, LOL! But, it has been an experiment worth trying. Since there is no gluten to bind the final baked goods, and also, almond flour itself imparts extra moisture, so, the ratio of butter, almond flour and rising agent has to balance the final cookie texture.

Also, while baking cookies with almond flour, the biggest thing I have realized is that you have to give the dough some good amount of refrigeration or chilling time. This is very very important, otherwise the cookies tend to spread a lot. In one of the earlier experiments, we had the opportunity to eat the thinnest cookies I have ever baked, due to the fact that I didn’t refrigerate the dough at all that time. The cookies still tasted good, were crispy and chewy, but they were just overlapping each other on the baking tray and did not look blog worthy at all. The final baked cookies looked like a chaos on the baking tray.

Anyhow, these experiments were helpful in learning more about baking with almond flour, and I guess that’s how you learn to be friends with any kind of baking experiment that you do. So, I ‘ll quickly mention the takeaways from this experiment. While baking cookies with almond flour:

• Make sure that you give plenty of refrigeration or chilling time. Minimum 2 hours recommended, overnight is great.
• Almond flour has extra moisture, so the amount of liquid in the recipe (for example butter, if you are baking butter cookies) needs to be reduced while substituting almond flour in a bake.
• You might need extra binding agent (like an extra egg) since there is no gluten to bind the cookies, unlike in white or wheat flour cookies. But, the extra egg can contribute to extra moisture, so that again requires some testing as per the recipe.
• Since almond flour cookies tend to be more dense and heavier than regular cookies, they need some extra rising agent, like baking powder or baking soda.
• Also, the cookies baked with almond flour tend to spread more, so it is advisable to bake these at a lower temperature than normal cookies, so that they don’t burn.

The Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are:

• Crunchy
• Chewy
• Easy Gluten Free Cookies
• A healthy dessert recipe
• Easy homemade cookie recipe for kids
• A one bowl dessert idea

Baking with almond flour is an experiment in itself. Don’t be scared to try new ratios. But if you think you don’t want to take a chance, it is better to stick to some tried and tested recipes. I had a lot of fun doing this experiment. I hope you have fun baking this recipe too.

How do you make Almond Flour cookies from scratch?

Baking the almond flour cookies is very easy, because it is a straight forward one bowl method. Apart from the blanched almond flour, it requires a simple list of ingredients which are easily available in our pantry while creating a white or wheat flour based cookie recipe.

Ingredients

The following ingredients are needed to make the best gluten free almond flour chocolate chip cookies:

• Blanched Almond Flour
• Butter
• Organic coconut sugar (I used the one from Trader Joe’s)
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Salt
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• Egg
• Vanilla Extract

Method (Step-by-step with pictures)

• Mix the butter and coconut sugar till everything is completely blended.

• Add in the egg and vanilla extract to the above and again mix everything together.

• Add in almond flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt to the wet mixture and swirl everything together to form an even cookie dough.

• Finally, add in the chocolate chips to the cookie dough and mix again. It is advisable to put the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours (the more, the better).

• Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Take around 1 – 1 1/2 tablespoon of cookie dough in your hands and form a ball. Place it on the lined baking tray. I was able to make 16 cookie balls with the prepared dough.
• Bake the cookies for around 15-20 minutes in the preheated oven. At around 12 minutes or so, if you think cookies have not flattened much, just pat the cookies lightly with the back of a wooden spoon inside the oven. Bake the cookies till you see creases on top of the cookies. Finally, the cookies will be soft to touch, but once cooled, they will be fine.
• Remove the cookies from the oven, and allow them to cool for at least 5-10 minutes. The crunchy and chewy healthy Gluten Free Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies are now ready to be served warm. These can also be stored in an air-tight container for 3-4 days.

Substitutions & Tips

• Sweetener – You can even use jaggery powder or unrefined cane sugar in place of coconut sugar. These alternatives provide healthier form of sweetener to the cookies. But, if none of these is available, you can even go ahead and use regular white sugar.
• Egg – I haven’t tried substituting egg in this recipe so far. And since it is a gluten free cookie recipe, it is difficult to replace the egg. Egg is providing the main binding here, so it is a must have in this recipe. But, if any of you ever try the eggless version, do let me know how it went, would love to hear your feedback.
• Chocolate Chips – I like making cookies with semi-sweet chocolate chips. But if you prefer to bake with dark or extra dark morsels, you can definitely substitute that.
• Refrigeration time is a must before baking these cookies. I would suggest to keep the cookies refrigerated for minimum 2 hours before baking.
• Almond Flour – I have not tried baking these cookies with Almond Meal (I have used Blanched Almond Flour here). So, not sure about how they will turn out with Almond Meal.

Why are my Almond Flour Cookies flat?

If your Almond Flour cookies are flat, then it can be because of either one or a combination of the following reasons.

• Higher oven temperature – Since Almond Flour cookies tend to spread a lot, it is advisable to bake them at a lower temperature than normal cookies. If you are unsure about your oven’s temperature, I would suggest to check that using an oven thermometer.
• Refrigeration/Chilling time – If you can’t give good amount of refrigeration or chilling time to these cookies, I can definitely say that the cookies will be flat. I have tried this method and seen the most flat cookies ever. They were extremely crunchy (still edible), but the baking tray looked like a mess, with each cookie toppling over the other. So, minimum two hours of refrigeration time it is.
• Butter – Use softened butter as mentioned in the recipe. Do not use melted butter here, as using melted butter tends to make the cookies flat. Butter should be just soft to touch.

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Also, continuing the tradition, here comes the 57th recipe under My Julie & Julia Project. For those who don’t know, I had started this project last year, under which I had planned to post 100 recipes from my kitchen by the end of the year 2019. But since I got busy with other priorities in life, I have planned to continue the tradition in 2020. So, this is the Recipe #57 for you all.

If you like this recipe, do check out these gluten free Almond Flour Pumpkin Muffins as well.