Grain Free Double Chocolate Cookies

These Double Chocolate Chip Cookies are Grain Free, Nut Free, and Gluten Free. They are made with paleo-friendly tapioca flour and coconut flour. They have a wonderful crispy outside and a chewy middle.

Okay folks, these cookies are seriously “off da hook”! Their texture is the closest thing to wheat cookies that I have found. They have a crispy outside with a little chew in the middle. They are also very rich and chocolaty. Be careful they are so good it will be hard not to eat the whole batch!

I don’t do a lot of Paleo baking. First of all paleo-baking is really an oxymoron. Cookies are not paleo, and neither is bread, I don’t care what they’re made of.  That said, I know that I would never stick to a lifestyle that did not allow for occasional treats. Knowing that sometimes I’m going to have dessert, I figure that making them with paleo-friendly ingredients is a much better option that grabbing a bag or Oreos.

I’m allergic to nuts, which makes my grain-free flour choices really limiting. I’ve tried a number of coconut flour-based cookie recipes and have been disappointed to find their texture to be more like cake than like cookies. So I set out to make a crispy, grain free and nut free cookie. It was not an easy feat!

After several attempts, I finally got the right mix of ingredients. Because of all the chocolate in these cookies, they spread when you bake them like wheat cookie do. Be sure to leave some room between them on the baking sheet, or they’ll run together.

I used my handy-dandy cookie scoop, which makes little balls that contain one Tbs of dough. I did not bake more than 6 cookies to a sheet because I wanted to be sure that they had plenty of room to spread.

These cookies are REALLY chocolatey. I chopped a 3 oz, 85% chocolate bar for my chocolate chunks. (Theo is my favorite brand of chocolate bars!) If you don’t like your chocolate that dark, you could use a 70% or 60% bar, or even uses semi-sweet chips. Just keep in mind that as the cocoa content goes down, the sugar content usually goes up.

A note about coconut flour, its absorbency can really vary from brand to brand. I used Trader Joes Organic Coconut flour. If you are using a different brand, start with 2/3 of what is called for, let it rest a few minutes, and then check your consistency before adding the full amount.  You should have sticky dough, not batter, and it should be scoopable.

This recipe makes 21 three-inch-wide cookies.

If you like this recipe, you should try my Paleo Gingersnap Cookies.  They have a very similar texture and are also “off da hook”!

UPDATE July 13, 2015:  I was recently contacted by someone who used xylitol instead of the palm sugar and honey, called for in this recipe.  The result was very dark (almost black) and bitter cookies.  This is because xylitol is more alkaline than the palm sugar and the honey.  This recipe calls for a lot of baking soda which helps achieve the chewy/crispy texture.  However, baking soda mixed with alkaline substances reacts with cocoa and makes it very dark and bitter.  I avoid sugar substitutes myself, but if you want to use xylitol, you will need to reduce the baking soda, and/or replace some of it with baking powder.  This will likely affect the texture, and the cookies will not have the same crispy exteriors.

These cookies are wonderful frozen! Make ice cream sandwiches with my Homemade Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream!

As an alternate version, try my Grain Free Mint Chocolate Cookies!

I use this recipe to make an awesome Grain Free Crumb Pie Crust!

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Grain Free Double Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup grass fed pasture raised butter, (or palm shortening)
• 3/4 cup coconut/palm sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbs raw honey melt if it is in a solid, crystalized state
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup tapioca flour
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 3 Tbs coconut flour sifted
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks I chopped one 3 oz Theo Bar
• I recommend using organic ingredients when possible.

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
• Using an electric mixer with a paddle attachment. Cream together the butter and coconut/palm sugar, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
• Add the egg, honey, and vanilla extract, mix until incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the: tapioca flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on a low speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
• Next sift in coconut flour and mix on low, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.
• Turn up the speed to medium and mix for 30 seconds.
• Mix in the dark chocolate chunks.
• Let your dough rest for at least two minutes.
• Scoop 1 Tbs of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave room for the cookies to spread, they will be approximately 3” wide.
• Bake for 11 minutes in a 325 degree oven.