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
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl combine dry ingredients.
- In a small mixing bowl beat eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
- Pour wet ingredients into dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
- Melt coconut oil, pour into batter, and continue to blend until combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips.
- On a parchment lined baking sheet, drop balls of cookie dough, about a tablespoon in size.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- 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
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@Keira- we use Honeyville brand blanched almond flour. We have also had great success with the bobs red mill brand as well as nutsonline.com brand. The trader joes brand is almond meal, which means it was ground with the skin on, so that is why it ends up being more "nutty". The blanched almonds are much finer which creates more of a traditional flour texture. If the cookies seemed dry you may have used a bit too much almond flour. Good luck!
Hi Megan!
So glad to hear you are enjoying the recipes. You can definitely use palm shortening or even butter if you include that in your diet in place of the coconut oil. You will have to melt both before adding to the batter. 🙂
Just made these with dried cranberries and orange zest. Love them! Thanks for the inspiration.
http://rikishore.com/2011/12/gluten-free-cranberry-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Trying these tonight! So excited…we don't usually bake anymore. But Santa cookies are in order ;! Thanks for the recipe!
Great recipe! I had no maple syrup, so I used 3/4 C dates instead. I blended them up in the food processor with the almond meal before adding the other items. Worked great and has a good flavor!
My kids love these and inhale them! So do my friends. These are awesome!!
I have agave nectar and honey, but not maple syrup. Which would be best as a substitute and should I use the same amount? 🙂
I was too impatient to wait for a response, so I made them with the same amount of light agave nectar. I panicked when I peeked in at around 11 minutes and they were dark! I pulled them out, but they werent burnt at all- just looked dark. I think they cook faster because of the agave. Yummy!!
Any nutritional facts such as carbohydrates, sugar, sodium, calories, etc?
Smells good
My kids found these to be too “Strong” in flavor… I think because of the coconut oil. Next time I will try with butter or refined coconut oil. Hubby loved them as is! 🙂 So easy to make and I will definitely try again.
I am very new to the paleo lifestyle and worried that giving up my love for cookies would prove to be too hard for me. Until I found this recipe! These cookies are amazing and quick and easy to make. Even my kids who are struggling a bit more then myself with our change in diet love these. I made these again last night and for an extra boost of yumminess I added a 1/2c of pumpkin puree. FANTASTIC!!!
I’m having some troubles with this recipe. The first time I made these cookies, they were AMAZING–totally like “normal” chocolate cookies, if not better. The last two times, however, they have turned out really flat, crumbly, and grainy. I don’t think I did anything differently, but they taste like two completely different cookies. Help, please!