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Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are buttery, chewy, gooey, and have amazing texture for the ultimate treat!

Three cookie bars stacked on top of each other on a white plate.

These delicious Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars are the bar form of The BEST Giant Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

They’re chewy, gooey, rich and buttery, studded with a generous amount of chocolate chips, and are so easy to make!

Plus, there’s no need to chill the dough before baking the bars, so the recipe comes together rather quickly.

Not too shabby for an impromptu delicious dessert!

Fair warning: it’s near impossible to stop at one. These gooey bars are truly addicting.

No sweat if you follow a keto diet or if you’re dairy-free.

For a dairy-free version, make my Chocolate Chip Paleo Blondies, which use almond butter and coconut oil. For a low carb version, make my Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

If you prefer using coconut flour, make my Coconut Flour Cookies and you can still bake them into bars if you’d like.

These gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars have great texture and are such a treat whenever you’re craving a batch of cookies.

Baking pan with cookie bars inside, fresh out of the oven. A bowl of chocolate chips and a napkin to the side.

Let’s discuss the simple ingredients for almond flour cookie bars!

Almond Flour: Taking the place of all-purpose flour, we use almond flour or almond meal for these delightful cookie bars! Almond flour results in a chewy texture and a naturally sweet flavor, making the treat taste absolutely divine! You’d never guess it is grain-free. 

Almond flour can often be used as a 1:1 replacement for regular flour for gluten free baking. I use Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour but any brand will work. Blanched almond flour, hazelnut flour, cassava flour, and oat flour all work too.

Softened Butter: Unsalted butter brings that iconic chocolate chip cookie flavor to these blondies. It also makes for chewy cookie bars. You can make them with a dairy-free alternative like coconut oil or vegan butter spread, I have to say, the classic butter tastes the best to me. 

Pure Maple Syrup: I love using pure maple syrup to sweeten these cookie bars because it provides a unique rich maple flavor and adds to the chewy texture.

If you prefer using a granulated sweetener such as regular cane sugar, coconut sugar, brown sugar, or sugar-free sweetener, feel free to make a 1:1 swap. You won’t need to change anything else in the recipe.

Egg: We just need one large whole egg to help fluff up the cookie bars to that delicious consistency we all love. Bring the egg to room temperature by taking it out of the refrigerator about 10 minutes before baking.

For a vegan option, swap the egg for one flax egg.

A flax egg is 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed plus 3 tablespoons of water. Let the mixture sit for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until it resembles the consistency of a beaten egg.

Vanilla Extract: A little pure vanilla extract livens up the cookie bars by providing a lovely warmth. 

Baking Soda: Baking soda is the leavening agent here, ensuring everything holds together nicely when sliced.

Sea Salt: A pinch of kosher salt bring out all the individual flavors in the cookie bars so that the whole experience is enhanced. Don’t skip it! If you have coarse flaky sea salt on hand, you can sprinkle the final result with some sea salt.

Chocolate Chips: Use your favorite chocolate chips for the absolute best results! I use dark chocolate chips or semi sweet chocolate chips. Milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, sugar-free chocolate chips and vegan chocolate chips all work.

Three cookie bars sitting on a plate, ready to eat.

Optional Additions:

  • If you love nutty cookies, add ⅔ cup of chopped walnuts or pecans.
  • Swap the chocolate chips for raisins or dried cranberries if you’d like.

Let’s bake a batch this Almond Flour Cookie Bar recipe!

How to Make Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 8″ x 8″ square baking dish with parchment paper.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract until well-combined. Note: you can also use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer instead. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat in the egg until combined.

Butter, pure maple syrup and egg in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer with the wet ingredients (almond flour, baking soda and sea salt). And mix until a thick dough forms.

Dry ingredients on top of wet ingredients in a stand mixer.

Add in the chocolate chips and beat on medium speed until they are well-distributed throughout the dough.

Chocolate chips on top of almond flour cookie dough in a mixer, ready to be mixed in.
Almond flour cookie bar dough in a stand mixer, ready to be made into bars.

Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared pan and spread it into an even later.

8-inch square pan lined with parchment paper with almond flour cookie dough spread into an even layer to make bars, ready to go into the oven.

Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the cookie bars reach your desired level of doneness and are slightly golden brown around the edges. I do 20 minutes. 18 will result in chewier cookie bars, where 22 minutes will result in crispier edges.

Almond Flour cookie bars fresh out of the oven.

Allow the cookie bars to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 24 hours.

Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Freeze any remaining cookie bars in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months. 

Cookie bars cut into squares.

And that’s it! A grain-free dessert recipe that will instantly become a family favorite!

If you love cookie bars, also try my Paleo Lemon Poppy Seed Blondies and my Paleo Carrot Cake Blondies.

It’s a cookie bar kind of life!

Three cookie bars stacked on top of each other on a white plate.

Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Chewy, gooey Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars taste just like traditional chocolate chip cookies, but are made grain-free and refined sugar-free. A delicious chewy cookie bar recipe!
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
12 Bars

Equipment

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, 1 stick, softened
  • cup (80ml) pure maple syrup*
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 ⅔ cups (160g) finely ground almond flour
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 cup (180g) chocolate chips**

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a 8" x 8" square baking dish with parchment paper.
  • In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract until well-combined. Note: you can also use a large mixing bowl and a hand mixer instead. Scrape the sides of the bowl, and beat in the egg until combined.
  • Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer with the wet ingredients (almond flour, baking soda and sea salt). And mix until a thick dough forms.
  • Add in the chocolate chips and beat on medium speed until they are well-distributed throughout the dough.
  • Transfer the cookie dough to the prepared pan and spread it into an even later.
  • Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 18 to 22 minutes, or until the cookie bars reach your desired level of doneness and are slightly golden brown around the edges. I bake mine for 20 minutes. 18 will result in chewier cookie bars, where 22 minutes will result in crispier edges.
  • Allow the cookie bars to cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing and serving.

Video

Notes

*You can replace the pure maple syrup with regular cane sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple sugar, or sugar-free sweetener.
**Use any type of chocolate chips you like. Semi-sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, sugar-free chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips are all great!
Cover the baking pan with plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Freeze any remaining cookie bars in a zip lock bag for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Serving: 1Cookie Bar (of 12)Calories: 298kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 9gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 126mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7g
Course: Desserts & Treats
Cuisine: American
Keyword: almond flour blondies, almond flour chocolate chip cookie bars, almond flour cookie bars, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie bars, grain-free chocolate chip cookie bars, paleo blondies
Servings: 12 Bars
Calories: 298kcal
Author: Julia

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission off items you purchase at no additional cost to you.

Recipe Rating




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Denise

Sunday 28th of January 2024

What a treat! I reduced the butter to 3/4 of a stick and the maple syrup to 1/4 cup because I thought the original was a little too sweet and oily for my taste. Added some chopped walnuts. Delicious recipe, easy to make and lots of options to modify. Thanks!

Julia

Tuesday 30th of January 2024

My pleasure, Denise! Thanks so much for sharing your changes :)

Tiffany

Sunday 31st of December 2023

I tried this recipe and when I pulled it out of the oven, the edges are brown and the center is really giggly. Is that normal? I've never baked with almond flour before so maybe it'll set as it cools?

Julia

Sunday 31st of December 2023

Hi Tiffany! The center shouldn't be very jiggly - If it's only a little jiggly it's probably fine to let it cool but if it's noticeably jiggly I would put the bars back in the oven. I'd cover the pan with aluminum foil so that the edges don't continue browning and I'd bake at 350 for another 5-10 minutes or until the center looks like it has firmed up. Let me know if you have any other questions! xo

Liz

Wednesday 6th of December 2023

Hi there, Do you have this recipe in measurements of g's or oz's please!

Julia

Friday 8th of December 2023

Hi Liz! I just added the weights in grams. Hope you enjoy the cookie bars! xo

Ylrie

Friday 13th of October 2023

I tried this recipe and everyone in the house love it! It seems this will be my new favourite recipe from now on for my Keto dieter husband and well everyone, non-keto kids. 😂 I used coconut sugar replacement for maple syrup and adjusted the sweet. It’s great!! Thank you Tina for sharing this recipe.

Julia

Monday 16th of October 2023

Aww I love hearing that! Thanks so much for sharing your experience! xo

Deborah

Thursday 8th of June 2023

I can’t have butter, and I’m learning to cook differently. Can I use ghee instead of the stick of butter in this recipe? Ty

Julia

Monday 12th of June 2023

Hi Deborah! Yes, you can replace the butter with ghee :) Hope you enjoy!

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