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Chocolate Chip Cookies

We recently had the honor of teaching a grain-free cooking class at Fox Chapel High School in Pittsburgh. I was contacted a few weeks ago by one of the foods teachers, asking if Bill and I would be interested in coming in to speak to the kids about the Paleo lifestyle, and do a little cooking demo. She mentioned that the kids had been begging her to ask us in, and she was really looking forward to hearing about the diet as well. We of course agreed immediately. We are always willing to spread the word of Paleo, and how it has changed our lives, and the lives of many for the better. I was particularly excited to feed the kids with some knowledge of wellness and healthy eating, being that I know high school years were tough for me with regards to self image.

All of the kids were so wonderful with us. They were extremely attentive, asked great questions, and many seemed to leave the class inspired. You could see the wheels turning in their heads, and it was clear that they were all taking in this information. It was making sense to them.

The cooking demonstration went very well. We presented a new recipe to the kids, which we wanted to post as ‘cookies for Santa’, our final holiday recipe for 2010. We made classic chocolate chip cookies, and they are quite delicious if I say so myself. We made a batch (of approx. 2 dozen cookies) for each class that we presented to, and all the kids loved them! For this recipe I took the classic Nestle Toll House Cookie recipe, and primalized it. We really wanted to show the kids that you can still enjoy sweet treats, but in a healthier way. You would never know that this recipe does not include white flour or refined sugar. They are the real deal, classic, homemade chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups Blanched Almond Flour
  • 1/2 cup Virgin Coconut Oil, unrefined
  • 1/2 cup Pure Maple Syrup
  • 2 Omega 3 Eggs
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 1/2 cups Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Process:
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. In a medium sized mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
  3. In a small mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
  5. Melt coconut oil, pour into batter, and continue to blend until combined.
  6. Stir in chocolate chips.
  7. On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop balls of cookie dough, about a tablespoon in size.
  8. Bake for 15 minutes.
  9. Let cool and serve with a cold glass of almond milk!

Whether your intentions for these cookies are to give Santa a little taste of Paleo, for your holiday cookie trays, or just when you need a classic chocolate chip cookie treat, you wont be disappointed. Even Santa wouldn’t know that these are grain-free!

Our holiday gift to you is something many of you have been asking for: printer-friendly recipe cards! We know many of you are eager to try our recipes, so we will be including a recipe card with every new post. We also intend to go back and add recipe cards for our ‘classic recipes’ in the future. Thanks for making 2010 a memorable first year for us! Happy Holidays

As always, enjoy!
Primal Palate Spice Blends

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    COMMENTS

    1. December 24, 2010

      These cookies with almond flour look sooo good!!
      Merry Christmas and Happy hols!

    2. December 24, 2010

      great recipe, thanks for sharing!

    3. December 24, 2010

      Ok, odd question for the coconut oil measurement. Since it's semi-solid/paste when at room temp – do you measure the 1/2 cup in this state? Or do you melt and measure 1/2 cup liquid? I might be overthinking this, but I want to be sure I use enough. 🙂

    4. December 24, 2010

      We measure the coconut oil when it is solid. Happy Holidays everyone!

    5. December 28, 2010

      I made these tonight–HUGE success! Hubby ate 4 or 5 of them. Yum!!

    6. December 30, 2010

      I'm going to continue to look around your site (which so far is great!) but i'm curious where your information (basic) came from to give these high school students a paleo lesson. I've got a 17yo who needs ocnvincing but he won't read anything. I'm looking for one good source which I could go over with him. Thanks!

      Karen

    7. December 30, 2010

      Hi Karen,

      When Hayley first started paleo, she got startup advice from her cousin who had been paleo for +/- 10 years. From there, she went to http://www.MarksDailyApple.com for information. We own three great books on Paleo: The Paleo Diet, The Primal Blueprint, and Robb Wolf's The Paleo Solution. If you could get your son to read one of those, we'd recommend Robb Wolf's book. It has excellent information on all the health benefits of being Paleo, as well as being written in a very down-to-earth and humorous tone.

      We've put together a powerpoint presentation which we've given a few times, and it has information compiled from multiple sources. If there is anything specific (or more in depth) you'd like to know about, you're always welcome to email us at [email protected]

      We're going to try to figure out a way to make that presentation available on our website in the near future. It will be on "The Paleo Diet" page at the top of the site.

      Great question – we'll have more for you all very soon.
      Thanks

      -Hayley and Bill

    8. January 2, 2011

      My kids just made these cookies this morning and they loved them! Take a look: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/2564026826/whole30-sabotage-primal-palate-chocolate-chip-cookies#
      I can't wait to try them once I'm finished with the Whole30 program.

    9. January 2, 2011

      This is wonderful! Good for you staying strong with the Whole30 (we are cutting out all "primal treats" for at least 30 days as well)…those cookies are to die for! you would never know they are made with almond flour.

      Thank you for the great review, your children are precious! So glad they enjoyed them!

    10. January 9, 2011

      Didn't do it quite right the 1st time. Oopsed on the dry ingredients – too much, so the final product was dry. Also only had baking chocolate in the house. Oh, yeah, I used it, and it wasn't horrible, but even 85% would be better. lol. Totally did it for us in a pinch, though. Went and ordered some blanched almond flour in bulk so I know I'll always have some to make these goodies with! MMMMM!!

    11. January 15, 2011

      I have now made at least 5 batches of these (after the 1st 'fail'). I finally got them right now, and I did a chocolate chip batch. I did a batch with chocolate chips and orange-flavored cranberries. I did another just chocolate chip. Today I've got 2 working – one in the oven as apple cinnamon, and one waiting to bake as chocolate chunk and chopped prunes. Already came up with my next idea – pecan pie cookies, using the pecan pie bite combo – so chopped pecans and dates (maybe one with and one without chocolate chips, too?). I can't wait for those! Thank you so much for this recipe. My family has never been so happy as to have cookies back in our lives. Oh, I need to make some plain and then dip them in minty chocolate. My daughter is a girl scout, but nothing can beat homemade! 🙂

    12. February 6, 2011

      YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I made these today and they're fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
      Thanks!

    13. February 7, 2011

      I made a couple more batches (ch chip & ch chip/prune) today. Funny thing happened while I was enjoying one of the chocolate chip cookies. One of my cats got up in my lap and stole a couple of bites! I made sure she didn't get any of the chocolate chips, but I loved that she loved the cookies, too. Tops the weird scale for the cat who loved lettuce. lol

    14. February 9, 2011

      mimi-
      my cat loves (and totally BEGS for) fresh spinach!!

    15. February 16, 2011

      I did it! I made pecan-pie-bite chocolate chip cookies today. They were better than I ever dreamed!!

    16. February 20, 2011

      These are absolutely incredible! I'm bringing these for an office potluck tomorrow and my husband might just eat them all before I get them out of the house. These are the best grain-free cookies I've ever had. Thanks so much for posting the recipe. 🙂

    17. March 14, 2011

      Hi there! I just found your blog and am loving it! I have a hard time finding almond meal/flour here (I think I might have to break down and order it in bulk) and so only have about 1 cup of it but a whole bag of coconut flour. Just wondering if mixing the two different flours would work for this recipe or if I should just wait til I have all almond flour. Thanks! 🙂

    18. March 15, 2011

      ohmygoodness these are good. I used chopped up dark chocolate in place of the chips. Fantastic recipe and so light too.Linking up.
      J

    19. March 15, 2011

      One more thing-I weighed the almond meal instead of using a measuring cup. 1 cup= 110 grams (for almond meal) So much easier than measuring!

    20. March 17, 2011

      I finally got to making these tonight after buying some more almond meal and I am so happy–they are soo yummy, even my non-paleo hubby likes them!

    21. March 21, 2011

      I made these last night – and after sharing the recipe with a friend, I realized that I totally forgot to add the coconut oil, and they STILL turned out. The batter was obviously thicker, but the cookies were still moist and delicious!

    22. March 27, 2011

      Hey there,

      I'm just wondering if it's possible to substitute a different nut flour for the almond? I'm deathly allergic, and every Paleo goodie recipe I see calls for almond flour. 🙁
      Dallas

    23. March 27, 2011

      Hi Azhita-

      Are you allergic to all nuts and seeds or just almonds? You can substitute another type of ground nut in this recipe. Finely ground pecans would make a good cookie as well (just grind raw pecans in a food processor until you get the same consistency as an almond flour/meal).

      We also have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies using coconut flour. It's not as much like real chocolate chip cookies as this recipe, but if you want a little treat they should do the trick.

      http://www.primal-palate.com/2010/07/cookie-monster-goes-primalcoconut.html

      and a dark chocolate version:
      http://www.primal-palate.com/2010/09/double-dark-chocolate-chip-cookies-with.html

      hope this helps!

    24. March 28, 2011

      Quick comment about the flours: I used almond meal (almond flour that includes the almond skins as well). It's about half the price of blanched almond flour and the texture is somewhat akin to something made of whole-wheat flour. Interesting variation and and either flour works very well with this recipe.

      You can find the almond meal at Vitamin Cottage in the refrigerated bulk section.

      Thanks so much for this recipe! You're right – this IS the real deal, and I've tried plenty of recipes.

    25. March 28, 2011

      By the way? I brought in this batch for my (non-primal/paleo) co-workers this morning and they are all in seventh heaven right now. 🙂

    26. March 28, 2011

      Hayley and Bill – thank you! No not all nuts, just almonds. Would love the coconut trick, but I'm thinking I might be mildly allergic to that as well. Geez…lol

    27. March 28, 2011

      Oh dear! Well give pecans a try. We use pecan meal in place of almonds for pie crust now and it is delicious. You may have success with that. Good luck!

    28. March 31, 2011

      These sound good! I am not necessarily following the paleo diet but look for any opportunity to eat real food instead of processed crap. Fo rinstance, I love cheesecake, but everyone uses crushed graham crackers for the crust. I use 1/3 coconut flakes, 1/3 crushed macadamia nuts, and 1/3 chopped dates. Makes an amazing crust. I am going to forward my wife this recipe and see if her and the kids can have warm cookies ready when I get home from work!

    29. April 2, 2011

      Can you freeze the cookie batter?

    30. April 2, 2011

      New to the whole paleo thing..so not real sure if I did good or not. The first batch I was lucky to catch early as 15min would have burnt them. I caught them @ 13 and they were still overdone. So I found 12min was the number for me. I really like the cookies..my daughter on the other hand called them blan 🙁 Like I said we are just starting on the paleo life style and this was her first taste of a paleo treat. I think she is still hook on the over sweetend junk from old. I think once we ween her off the sugar she will understand how good these cookies really are..not only tasting but for you.Thanx for the recipe and I will be trying alot more of yours here soon. Thanx Leslie,Kaitlyn,Kevin and Trevor.

    31. April 3, 2011

      Hi Leslie-

      Yes you can absolutely freeze the cookie batter! Actually, if you make the batter without the egg and freeze it, it is the most delicious chocolate chip cookie dough ever 🙂

      We are glad you found success with the cookies. Everyone's oven is different, so we try to encourage people to keep an eye on the first batch until they know how their oven will cook them. We are always excited when our recipes pass the "kid test" but most kids are use to very sweet treats, so it can be a big change for them. Keep working on it, she will get there! Congrats to you all!

    32. April 9, 2011

      These cookies are amazing! Thank you for the recipe. The last time I made these cookies I baked them on a Silbread mat (http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/silbread-silicone-half-sheet-pan-liner/). The result was fluffy and soft cookies. Yum!!

    33. April 10, 2011

      This recipe is amazing! It's a great feeling to look down the list of ingredients and feel good about each one. Also, I'm happy to find out about the enjoy life chocolate chips. I just ordered a 6 pack from amazon 🙂

      We have 3 of us allergic to eggs in my family, so I substituted 1/2 of a ripe banana mashed into the wet ingredients for the egg. I made a second batch with the egg, and we actually all preferred the banana version over the egg version. I plan to make some of the banana cookies without the chocolate, some substituting applesauce for the egg, and maybe some with some snickerdoodle spices. I'm so inspired by this recipe!

      One other tip, I use a cookie scoop to make cookies (and meatballs) now, and it has made the process so much quicker and less sticky! Here's one: http://www.amazon.com/Norpro-Stainless-Steel-Scoop-Tablespoon/dp/B00004UE85/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid;=1302449938&sr;=8-7

      Many thanks again! And my kids and husband thank you too! (They haven't had cookies in quite a while til now 🙂 )

    34. April 11, 2011

      Thanks for the great baking equipment tips! So glad you all are seeing success!

      @MollyCM- The banana version sounds great! We will have to try it out.

    35. April 14, 2011

      I made these the other night and they are wonderful!!! I accidentally left the first batch in the oven too long (got a bit distracted making the peppermint patties) but even burnt they were good. The second batch was perfect and I have dough in fridge waiting to make some more. I might ball them up and freeze for later baking!

      I have a question…..I can only find Enjoy Life semi sweet chocolate chips and they are the mini ones. Is that what you use? Have you found any other chocolate items that are dairy free? I have found that even dark chocolate at 85% has some milk powder!

    36. June 21, 2011

      Just made these with the kids! I used carob chips.. I didn't have enough almond flour so it was a mix of almond flour, coconut flour, and flax meal.. I needed to add some butter and more coconut oil because of the other flours soaking up all the moisture. Lowered the oven temp to 360 and did 11 minutes- perfect!

    37. June 22, 2011

      I just recently started the Paleo way of life and am SO excited to see that there are cookies that I can make that are acceptable to eat (among many of the other recipes I'm seeing on your site)! This has definitely made me feel better about my choice, knowing that I can still eat delicious foods that are BETTER for me! Thank You!

    38. July 12, 2011

      These are some of the best chocolate chip cookies we have ever eaten, Paleo or not. We will be using this recipe again for sure, YUMM!!

    39. July 24, 2011

      these were ah.mazing!!! ohmigosh!!! i was totally skeptical, but, boy, was i wrong!!!

      have you calculated the nutritional value, by chance?? 🙂

    40. August 4, 2011

      um woah! yum! i'm eating one right now (ok, i lied… i'm eating two). how many carbs you think are in one cookie?

    41. August 12, 2011

      Oh yeah, those are easy to gobble up! Not sure on the carb count. We haven't entered it into fitday. Just enjoy the treat and get back on the wagon the next day! 🙂

    42. September 7, 2011

      Finally blogged about this recipe. These cookies are amazing!!

    43. September 11, 2011

      I just tried it, and it was an epic fail. First the mixture looked too moist so I added 1/4c of coconut flour (ran out of the almond meal), and then the batch at 15mins totally burnt. The batch at 10 looked better but it remained a ball shaped, how did you get yours to flatten?

    44. September 12, 2011

      Can you use coconut flour instead of almond flour?

    45. September 12, 2011

      @LT – not really. Now, we do have a coconut flour cookie recipe (http://www.primal-palate.com/2010/09/double-dark-chocolate-chip-cookies-with.html)…. but frankly, they just aren't as good as these chocolate chip cookies (truth be told). 🙂

    46. September 14, 2011

      @Linda- The batter is going be more moist than a conventional batter. Adding coconut flour will not yeild the correct results. You have to form the shape yourself. Almond flour cookies don't really rise and expand as much as conventional cookies do.

    47. September 19, 2011

      Oh My…. These were amazing!! My husband and I love them! And I didn't know about the dairy free chocolate chips and finally no more stomach pain after eating choc chips! Thank you.

    48. September 19, 2011

      Hi Angie!

      That is so great to hear! Congrats!

    49. October 28, 2011

      What brand of almond flour do you use? I used trader joe's almond meal & they turned out good, but more like chocolate oatmeal cookies. The second time I used Bob's & they seem a little dry.

    50. October 30, 2011

      I bought your book and made these cookies – they are awesome! One of the only GF recipes I didn't need to tweak to turn out perfect! My hubby is not a big coconut fan and there is a definite hint of coconut to these cookies….any suggestions regarding subsituting? palm shortening (would you have to melt it as well?) avacado oil?

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