If you’re looking for a wholesome way to satisfy your sweet tooth you will LOVE these Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies! They are free of refined sugar, refined flour, and gluten, but they are surprisingly sweet, buttery, and delicious!
I’m a firm believer that dessert should be indulgent and decadent and something that we enjoy in moderation. I don’t usually reach for healthy desserts (I’ll take the real deal or nothing at all), BUT I quickly fell in love with these cookies! We’ve blown through three batches in the last week and once you taste them you’ll see why.
Jump to:
Why you’ll love this recipe
Texture: Crisp edges, soft centers, and chewy all throughout.
Flavor: Buttery and sweet with a hint of chocolate, maple, and vanilla.
Nutrient dense: Packed with fiber, protein, healthy fats, and Omega 3s.
Made with real “whole food” ingredients: Nuts, nut butter, maple syrup, oats, and more!
Quick and easy: The dough comes together in minutes and only requires a quick 15-minute chill time.
Key ingredients
Almond butter: This recipe uses a combination of almond butter and a small amount of regular butter. This helps with the texture and flavor of the cookies.
Coconut sugar and maple syrup: These two unrefined sugars are used in place of traditional white or brown sugar. Not only do they make the cookies sweet but they also add great flavor.
Almond flour, oats, and cornstarch: This combination of dry ingredients is used in place of all-purpose flour. They make the cookies soft and chewy and help to hold everything together.
Dark chocolate and walnuts: You can use any mix-in you’d like, but I think walnuts and dark chocolate are perfect in this cookie dough.
Recipe overview
*Full recipe below in recipe card*
- Beat butter, almond butter, and coconut sugar.
- Add egg, vanilla, and maple syrup.
- Add almond flour, oats, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt.
- Stir in chocolate and walnuts.
Freeze the dough for 15 minutes.
Scoop into 2-tablespoon portions and bake for 10-12 minutes.
Recipe tips
These cookies are on the thinner side, so I like to finely chop the walnuts and chop the chocolate chips so they disperse well throughout the dough.
The cookie dough needs to chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Don’t skip this step, or they will bake up very thin.
Regular dark chocolate does have refined sugar in it. If you’d like to avoid it completely you can use Paleo chocolate chips. I use Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips or a chopped dark chocolate bar.
These cookies will be very soft when you remove them from the oven. Use my tips (below) for shaping the cookies then let them cool completely on the baking sheets. They will firm up as they cool.
These cookies are best the day they are made OR (my favorite) frozen and eaten straight from the freezer! I love the texture of these cookies when they’re frozen.
If you’re a fan of “whole food” recipes, try our Banana Oatmeal Muffins, too!
How to get perfectly round cookies
Option 1: Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven place a round glass, bowl, or cookie cutter (larger than the cookie) upside down over the top of the cookie. Gently but quickly swirl the glass/bowl/cookie cutter in a circular motion. The edges of the cookie will bump against the inside of the glass creating a perfectly round shape. Note: This only works when the cookies are hot, straight from the oven, and still on the warm baking sheet.
Option 2: Immediately after the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a perfect round shape.
SUBSCRIBE to our free NEWSLETTER – Follow on INSTAGRAM
Recipe
Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup softened unsalted butter, I use grass-fed
- ¼ cup creamy almond butter
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup blanched almond flour
- ⅓ cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt, omit if using salted butter
- ¼ cup roughly chopped dark chocolate chips, plus more for topping
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F with racks near the center. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
- Using a hand mixer, beat butter, almond butter, and coconut sugar until combined. Add egg, vanilla, and maple syrup, beating until combined and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add almond flour, oats, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt, beating until combined. Stir in chocolate and walnuts.
- Place the bowl of dough in the freezer for 15 minutes*. After 15 minutes, use a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop to portion out the dough. Place mounds of dough a couple inches apart on prepared baking sheets (don't flatten the mounds).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies should be golden brown and the centers of the cookies will still look a tiny bit underbaked. The cookies will be very soft. Immediately proceed with shaping the cookies (see note). Sprinkle the tops of the warm cookies with chopped chocolate, if desired. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet set on a cooling rack.
- These cookies are best the day they are made or frozen and eaten straight from the freezer.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Nellie Tracy
These are delicious cookies! Love that I can eat them guilt free!
Dana
These are such good cookies! I had an easy time following the recipes and was pleasantly surprised at how nicely everything came together. Thanks for the delicious and healthier recipe.