Gluten & Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan & Paleo)
These dairy free chocolate chip cookies are fluffy and cakey and sure to be a crowd pleaser. With no gluten, dairy or refined sugar, you can eat these all holiday season without any guilt.
Being gluten free, dairy free (most of the time) and refined sugar free can make finding great cookie recipes hard. Occasionally I need to limit eggs if I’m in an autoimmune flare, so I came up with these gluten-free cookies.
Made to also be the best vegan chocolate chip cookies AND they’re paleo cookies since the ingredients are whole foods, plant based and refined sugar free.
This easy recipe uses almond flour and a few simple ingredients you can find at most grocery stores. They resemble the taste of classic chocolate chip cookies, but have a fluffy cake-like texture and are really the best dairy free chocolate chip cookies!
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What are the ingredients in these dairy-free chocolate chip cookies?
Dry ingredients
- Ground flax seeds (to make flax egg)
- Blanched almond flour
- Arrowroot flour – also called arrowroot starch
- Coconut flour
- Baking powder
- Sea salt
- Coconut sugar
- Mini chocolate chips
Wet ingredients
- Refined Coconut oil or palm oil
- Maple syrup
- Vanilla extract
How to make these dairy free chocolate chip cookies
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Next you want to make your flax eggs by mixing 2 tablespoons of ground flax seeds with 1/4 cup filtered water . Then set aside for a few minutes to let it gel up a bit.
Mix together the palm oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar and vanilla by using a stand mixer (with a paddle attachment) or electric beaters on medium high until smooth, about 2-5 minutes.
Mix the remaining dry ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) in a separate, large bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the palm oil mixture and mix until smooth.
Mix in the flax eggs until smooth.
Stir in the chocolate chips by hand. I prefer Enjoy Life Mini Chips in this recipe. They’re dairy free (free of 14 allergens) and have the perfect amount of sweetness.
Scoop dough out of bowl, form into balls and press down on your lined baking sheet. The cookies will keep the shape of the dough once they are cooked, but will rise a bit. So you want to press them down.
Bake for 10-13 minutes, until just slightly golden brown.
Let cookies cool on the cookie sheet for at least 10 minutes. You can transfer to a cooling rack if you need to cool faster after the 10 minutes. They will be a little crumbly if you take them early.
Store leftovers in an airtight container.
FAQs
I haven’t tried using a gluten-free flour blend on these cookies yet. I’m sure it would work to replace the almond, coconut and arrowroot with something like a one-to-one blend, but it would alter the texture and you would likely have to adjust the liquid content.
If almonds are a problem, cashew flour or hazelnut flour would likely work in place of the almond flour.
Yes! These cookies freeze great! Just cool completely to room temperature, then place in a glass container or freezer bag with parchment paper in between the cookies. The parchment paper helps them not stick together.
You can also freeze the dough. Then eat the raw cookie dough anytime or have cookies ready to bake. You’ll just want to freeze the dough into the shape of the cookie (as opposed to balls of dough) since the cookies will hold the shape of the dough when they bake.
I prefer the Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips for this recipe. The taste is great and pairs perfectly with this dough. Plus Enjoy Life if free of the top 14 allergens, so they are dairy free.
You can use any chocolate chips you prefer. Just make sure to check the ingredients to be sure they are dairy free and gluten free, if needed. Most regular chocolate chips include dairy, unless otherwise stated.
I have used the Hu chocolate chips, which I love to eat by the handful, but they aren’t sweet enough and I haven’t found them to be the best in this dairy free chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Gluten & Dairy Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Vegan & Paleo)
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup refined coconut oil softened or melted and cooled
- ½ cup maple syrup room temperature if possible
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 flax eggs instructions below
- 2 cups blanched almond flour
- ⅓ cup arrowroot flour
- ⅓ cup coconut flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup mini chocolate chips Enjoy Life brand or your favorite dairy-free chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Make the flax eggs by adding two tablespoons of ground flax seeds into a small cup or bowl and stir in ¼ cup of filtered water.Let sit for about 10 minutes.
- Mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut sugar and vanilla by using a stand mixer or electric beaters on medium high until smooth, about 5 minutes.
- Mix the remaining dry ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) in a separate, large bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the palm oil mixture and mix until smooth.
- Mix in the flax eggs until smooth.
- Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
- Scoop dough out of bowl, form into balls and press down on lined baking sheet. The cookies will keep the shape of the dough once they are cooked.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes, until just slightly golden brown.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes, and store leftovers in an airtight container.
Notes
- I prefer refined coconut oil because it doesn’t have a coconut taste. You can use regular coconut oil if you prefer.
- The longer you cream together the oil, coconut sugar, maple syrup and vanilla, the better.
