Update: I’ve created a video to show you how to make these gluten free and vegan chocolate chip cookies.
The other day I received a call from Kelly about a potluck at my children’s school. This superwoman who doubles as first grade room parent and I spoke about taking the “luck” out of potluck.
During our chat, we touched on the significance of children breaking bread together and sharing in the most important part of the meal – dessert! To accommodate the different dietary needs of the first graders in my son’s class, I developed a dairy-free, gluten free chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Kelly and I enlisted five moms to bake these tasty cookies for the potluck and I’ve posted the recipe here for them.
Chocolate Chip Cookies (Dairy Free/Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 2½ cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup grapeseed oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup agave nectar
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Stir together wet ingredients in a small bowl
- Mix wet ingredients into dry
- Form 1 inch balls and press onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Bake at 350°F for 7-10 minutes
- Cool and serve
* Please note: Bob’s Red Mill almond flour does not yield successful results when used in this recipe. For more information regarding this matter please see my FAQs.
Grace says
LOVE these, they are so amazing and perfectly soft. No one could believe that they were gluten and dairy free! I may or may not have eaten aLOT of dough :)
Nicholas says
I’ve made these cookies so much I have actually been able to roll them out from memory. I’ve had to tweak it a bit in the actual process but always stuck to the proper ingredients. I do have a question about the grapeseed oil and the agave nectar:
1. Could any of these, successfully, be used in place of the Grapeseed oil: Walnut Oil, Coconut Oil and/or Avocado oil???
2. Could I use liquid dextrose instead of the Agave and if so, would it be the same measure or would it be more or less?
Once again, I love these things but my wife literally feinds for these and I have gotten pretty darned good at gluten free/paleo type baking. Id appreciate any and all help on this. Thanks a lot.
– Nick
Natalie says
I just picked up some Coconut Palm nectar to use instead of the Agave. It is low on the glycemic index, like the coconut palm sugar. It is a syrup, so I think it will work well as a substitute in this recipe for the Agave.
Krissy says
I made these last week (I used coconut oil) and they were very crumbly but we ate them up. They are my favorite almond flour recipe yet. I was going to press them into a pie plate and put some df chocolate pudding on top but we ate them all.
I don’t like making cookies and with four kids, time is in short supply so I dumped it into a greased 9×13 and baked it for around twenty minutes at 330. Yum!!! I took it out while hot so it scooped out. I don’t think they will be super firm but it will work for us. :) I just wanted to let others know about this shortcut. Thank you for all these great recipes!
Nicholas says
Question: Did you use the same amount of coconut oil as grapeseed? Also, how long did you mix it for. I tend to leave this bad boy on the mixer at low for about 20 minutes, using a spatula to clean the blades from time to time. The reason I ask is because Id like to try this with a different oil. Coconut, Avocado or Walnut. Dunno.
Lara says
Hello,
How much does a cup of almond flour weigh in grams?
Cup measurements are different here in the UK.
Not sure if tablespoons are the same over here?
Thanks!
Nicholas says
http://allrecipes.com/howto/cup-to-gram-conversions/
annie says
Hello All,
I love this blog. I found it a few weeks ago when googling recipes from almond flour. I am so grateful for these recipes, thank you Elana!
One issue I am struggling with, I do prefer Xylitol over agave syrup and I am experimenting to try to find the right substitution. I made these cookies twice following the recipe exactly and they were great. Then for the third batch I wanted to substitute out the 1/2 cup agave syrup for xylitol and I figured the xylitol would need to approximate a syrup for it to work. So i reduced 1 cup of xylitol into 1/2 cup of water and used that instead of the agave. The cookies just were not as good. they are sweet enough, but they took longer to bake and they are more rubbery and just not as nice as with the agave syrup.
I am wondering if my method is flawed. should I simply use granulated xylitol and add a bit more liquid to make up for the fact that it is not a syrup, such as adding more grape seed oil? Or should I make my “xylitol” syrup a different way? perhaps including a thickener of some sort?
I would really appreciate any suggestions.
thank you.
annie says
Hello. I am still trying to make this recipe with xylitol instead of agave syrup because I am trying to create a cookie that will have a lower glycemic index and less sugar (forget the chocolate chips for now, I will work on that part later!). I have tried two more methods with partial success. I tried adding dry xylitol and one egg to add moisture. this was the most successful batch so far. but still not as good as the original recipe. I also tried reducing the almond flour by a half cup to reduce the dry ingredients and used dry xylitol, this was not so great as the cookies came out too crumbly, but it did work. I probably could have added a bit more grape seed oil but still the cookies did not hold together as well.
I think I need to convert the xylitol to a real syrup to make this work, to try to thicken it to have more of a similar consistency as the agave.
I’ve never tried to thicken a simple syrup before and I have read that I might try cornstarch, xanthan, guar gum, agar agar or arrowroot poweder. If anyone has a suggestion as to which to try first, please let me know because this is a lot to do/try. also the overall goal is to have a low glycemic index version so which of these has the lowest GI response that will work? I have to look it up but if anyone knows I would appreciate the pointers.
thanks!
Marilyn says
Yummy… I made these and everyone from my niece to my co-workers loved them.
I didn’t roll them though – just scooped the batter off one spoon with another one, just like I used to do with ‘regular’ chocolate chip cookies.
Betty Rocker says
Thank you, once again Elana – your recipes always turn out beautifully the first time I make them, taste so delicious and inspire me to be try my own versions of things. It’s so great to be able to enjoy my favorite foods in a format that my body accepts and processes so well. Thank you!!
Joy says
I made the chocolate chip cookies out of your cookbook and they came out fabulous! Everyone in my family loved them and couldn’t even tell they were grain-free and vegan.
Catherine says
Hi Elana,
We went GF/CF/EF five years ago for my son. These are far and away the best cookies I have made yet! And the only ones that I would share with my son’s friends. Thank-you!!!!!
Can you please tell me how long they keep and if they freeze well? The almond flour is so expensive that I don’t want to ruin them if they don’t. (They are so good, I won’t even mind if you say I need to eat them all today :)
Catherine
Kathi says
I was going to ask a substitute question, but now see that you don’t answer them – maybe someone else can. I am not to eat grains (not just gluten), sugar or dairy – so pretty much Paleo. I see you use a lot of agave nectar, and I was wondering what I could substitute. Thanks.
hopefloats says
I often substitute dried dates for agave (soaked in warm water first for at least an hour or two, or longer) and then ground in the vitamix to a paste. You need to use a little of the soak water to make the paste; I don’t measure so just experiment. Or, I use varying combinations of dates, food-grade glycerin, liquid stevia and/or a small amount of raw honey. Vanilla liquid stevia is the best. English toffee is great too for recipes. I find the taste is less obviously not sugar when using combinations of sweetners.