Primal Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with high protein almond flour and naturally sweetened with honey. This incredible grain-free cookie is made with just 7 ingredients and will knock your socks off! No one will know this is a healthy cookie recipe!
There are so many forms of the grain-free diet. Primal. Paleo. Specific Carbohydrate Diet. GAPS. Call it what you want. I began the grain-free diet in 2001. I have adhered to it religiously ever since. When I began, I followed the Specific Carbohydrate Diet. And ever since then, I’ve been strictly grain-free. This is not a fad for me. It’s a way of life. When I started the grain-free diet, people thought the gluten-free diet was freakish.
Now there are so many of us on paleo diets. We’re gluten-free. We’re grain-free. We’re definitely not freaks. Now we’re merely a bit ahead of the curve. It wasn’t always like that.
The almond flour cookie recipe that I share with you today for a paleo chocolate chip cookie reminds me of the way I used to bake a decade ago. When I used honey quite often in my recipes. Call them what you want. Argue with what they’re called. It’s all semantics anyway. And I promise you. I won’t argue back. I just want you to enjoy the cookies.
Primal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups blanched almond flour (not almond meal)
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup palm shortening
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Combine almond flour, salt, and baking soda in a food processor
- Pulse in shortening, honey, and vanilla until dough forms
- Remove blade from processor and stir in chocolate chunks by hand
- Scoop dough one level tablespoon at a time onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet
- Press balls of dough down gently
- Bake at 350°F for 6-8 minutes
- Cool for 15 minutes (do not handle prior or cookies will break)
- Serve
If you want to make changes to this paleo cookie recipe, please do. Just leave a comment below to let us know how your substitutions and alterations turn out. I can’t do the testing for you. I’ve got two boys, and they keep me real busy. And they like to eat cookies that I bake from scratch. These cookies. Gluten-free cookies. Easy chocolate chip cookies. It just seems that all is right in the world when young men sit at the table eating cookies. So go ahead, enjoy the cookies!
What changes and substitutions will you make to these cookies to custom tailor them to your special diet needs? How do you think they’ll turn out?
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Here are some of my other easy paleo cookie recipes:
Helen Kerslake says
Palm oil is used in the cookies. The production of palm oil results in the clearing of millions of acres of rainforest land and displacement of orangutans and other wildlife – who are left with no home and are endangered. And not to mention the destruction of rainforests which are the earths lungs, adding to deforestation and degredation of land. Promoting healthy eating should also mean promoting ingredients which do not contribute to the environmental disaster caused by production of palm oil. Maybe this comment will not be published but I think it should be brought to others attention that this ingredient is not environmentally friendly and is processed. We need to excercise our conscience when choosing foods to eat that we are not part of the aforementioned destruction of habitat and environment
Elana says
Helen, thanks so much for sharing you opinion here. I link to sustainably harvested palm oil. Still you may not want to use it so here is a recipe that uses butter for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/paleo-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Have a wonderful day!
Elana
Shannon says
Hi Elana.
These look delicious, and a great treat for my husband who loves chocolate chip cookies. I skimmed through the comments, so forgive me if this was already mentioned….
Have you tried this recipe for Keto diets? What would you recommend I sub the honey out with? I’ll be subbing butter for the palm shortening, and using Lilly’s chocolate chips (sugar free).
Thank you in advance!
Elana says
Shannon, I haven’t tried that so not sure. Here’s a link to my Keto Diet Recipes page for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/diets/keto/
I hope you’ll let me know if your experiment works!
Elana
Jacqueline says
Thank you for this recipe. My husband has type 2 diabetes and we have been trying for ages to find a sweet snack that he can have without having to worry too much about the sugars/carbs. I substituted butter for the shortening and used sugar free chocolate chips. He LOVED them!
Elana says
Jacqueline, I’m so happy to help! Thanks for letting me know these cookies worked for your husband with type 2 diabetes, and that he LOVED them :-)
Catherine Lazarou says
Hi, there, just came across your recipe and thought I’d try it, but made a few changes that made some tasty cookies.
First, I replaced the palm shortening with butter, then I added an egg, and used one cup of almond flour and one cup of buckwheat flour, and finally, I added chopped dates! Cookies came out great! Thanks for the inspiration!
Elana says
Catherine, you’re welcome!
Wendy says
Elana,
I have had a sweet tooth my whole life – I just learned that I have sugar (type 2) so I’m back on the low-carb way of life. I like it and there are many recipes so it’s never boring, but I’ve never been able to find something that satisfied my “sweet tooth” – not even the bars.
That has changed!! I made these cookies tonight and I am satiated, satisfied and happy, happy, happy.
I have bookmarked your page, but if I never try another of your recipes – this one will do me for the rest of my days :-)…. Thank you very, very much! I wish you much success and do look forward to reviewing and trying many of your other recipes. Wendy
Elana says
Wendy, I’m so sorry to hear about your Type 2 diagnosis, but glad that I have gotten to meet you here. Thanks for letting me know that these cookies satisfy your sweet tooth. I hope you’ll keep me posted on how you’re doing :-)
Karen says
I substituted peanut butter for the palm oil; delicious!
Elana says
Thanks Karen!
Bronwyn says
I used butter that I melted first. I mixed mine by hand. Soon after mixing I discovered that DH had eaten all the chocolate. No proble, I added a tsp of cinnamon and chopped dates. Absolutely great!
Thanks for another awesome recipe.
Elana says
Bronwyn, thanks for letting me know this recipe is awesome :-)
Sarah Clews says
Thanks for an awesome, foolproof recipe. I subbed light olive oil for the palm shortening and these turned out amazing. Love that I can trust your recipes.
Elana says
Sarah, thanks for letting me know these cookies are awesome!
Anka says
Could you use coconut oil in place of the palm shortening? If not is there another replacement?
Elana says
Anka, I haven’t tried that so not sure :-)
Missy says
I’ve used coconut oil before with zero problems. I’ve even used half coconut oil & half butter, or all butter. Still delicious!
Chaitra Mohan says
I used 2tbsp of butter instead of shortening and it turned out to be bit too much soft and not crisp. Not sure if I did anything wrong or this the way it turns out. Either way, I will be making these very often as my son really liked it and next time I shall try using palm shortening to see if that makes any difference. I have bookmarked your website, really great recipes!
Elana says
Chaitra, thanks for your comment! I’m so glad your son liked these cookies. Here’s a link to my crispy chocolate chip cookie recipe for you:
https://elanaspantry.com/crispy-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Enjoy!
Elana
Debbie says
I used the same amount of light olive oil, in place of the palm shortening, because my husband has digestive issues and can’t handle that type of fat for some reason. These cookies are so good ! Just slightly sweet, but that’s what I like about them. Also, love the texture, very soft , dense and moist. Thanks, this recipe will be used a lot !
Elana says
Debbie, thanks so much for letting me know you all enjoyed these cookies!