The BEST Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts are so addicting! Perfectly crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside, you’d never guess these paleo chocolate chip cookies are grain-free and sweetened with just a touch of pure maple syrup for a healthier cookie recipe.
You may have read in my post for The BEST Giant Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies that I take my cookies pretty seriously, and their size even more so.
The crispy edge? The molten inside? There’s nothing that compares to that buttery chocolate-studded melt-in-your-mouth perfect bite!
These almond flour chocolate chip cookies with walnuts are exactly that – texturally pleasing with that incredibly soft inside, perfectly sweet with just the right amount of chocolate, the delectable crispy edge, and livened up with crunchy walnuts.
I totally understand why some folks prefer their treats nut-free (my brother and a good friend of mine won’t touch walnuts with a 10-foot pole), but after making these cookies, I’d be hard pressed to choose cookies without walnuts.
That poppy little crunch with the rich nearly indescribable flavor adds a unique essence and makes the cookies that much more enticing!
I found this to also be the case with pecans in my Keto Cowboy Cookies.
One of the many reasons I love this recipe is you can whip it up at a moment’s notice without needing to refrigerate the dough. It’s already ready to pop in the oven!
And let me just tell you…these cookies are absolute heaven when they’re fresh out of the oven!
Let’s give into the details on these paleo almond flour chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredients for Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Butter or Coconut Oil: The fat portion of the recipe that makes all our dreams come true. I’ve made this recipe dozens of times using butter OR coconut oil, and both are amazing! I have a slight preference toward butter, but coconut oil makes an incredible dairy-free option.
Egg: The egg ensures the cookies fluff up and stay together.
Pure Maple Syrup: In keeping the cookies refined sugar-free and paleo friendly, I use pure maple syrup to sweeten them.
Vanilla Extract: Adding warmth and depth of flavor, vanilla extract is one of those iconic ingredients that enhances a cookie. If you don’t have any on hand, you can skip it and the cookies will still be amazing.
Almond Flour: The star of the show here! Can you make chocolate chip cookies with almond flour? Yes, absolutely! In fact, the texture turns out exquisite with the perfectly crispy outside and amazingly soft and gooey inside.
Baking Powder & Baking Soda: Our leavening agents! Baking soda and baking powder ensure the cookies don’t spread while baking. They help keep the cookies held together nicely so that they can rise and form delicious domes of bliss.
Sea Salt: A touch of sea salt goes a long way in making a cookie taste incredibly rich!
Ground Cinnamon: A touch of ground cinnamon brings a unique warmth that levels up the whole experience.
Chocolate Chips: The YUM factor of the cookies which brings that molten goodness! Select your favorite chocolate chips to make these radical cookies.
Walnuts: A supporting actor that you support to win the big award! Walnuts not only bring a nice little soft crunch to cookies, they also contribute a nutty richness that is difficult to describe. They’re like a solid version of nature’s tree butter. You can quote me on that.
How to Make Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts:
This recipe is a little different than your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe, because we melt the butter (or coconut oil) before mixing it with the other ingredients. Trust me, it’ll all work out and you’ll be left with the BEST almond flour cookies!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Melt the butter (or coconut oil) in a microwave-safe mixing bowl (avoid bringing it to a boil). Whisk in the egg, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract until creamy.
In a separate bowl (or measuring cup), stir together the almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon until combined.
Pour the flour mixture into the mixing bowl with the wet mixture and stir until a thick dough forms.
Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts until they’re well-incorporated into the cookie dough.
Scoop mounds of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Note that the cookies won’t spread or shift form while baking very much, so form the dough into the final shape you’re going for.
Bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 8 to 12 minutes (I do 10).
Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool for 15 minutes before diving in!
If you love these almond flour chocolate chip cookies, also try my Paleo Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Paleo Morning Glory Cookies, or my Paleo Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts
Ingredients
- 1½ cups almond flour/meal
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg lightly beaten
- ¼ cup unsalted butter or coconut oil melted
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup raw walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Stir together the almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon in a bowl (dry ingredients).
- Whisk together the egg, coconut oil, pure maple syrup, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl (wet ingredients).
- Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients and stir until combined. The dough will be very sticky. This is normal!
- Stir in the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts until they are well-incorporated throughout the dough.
- Scoop heaping mounds of cookie dough onto a non-stick baking sheet. Note: The dough will not spread much during the baking process and will maintain the same shape throughout. For this reason, form the dough into the shape you would like to end up with.
- Bake 8 to 12 minutes (I do 10 on the dot), or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
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Nutrition
What?? I need like 7 of these for breakfast. Love how you added walnuts! I agree that GF cookies can be just as good as the glutinous variety–in this case, I bet they’re better 🙂
Healthy cookies = breakfast-worthy = cookies for breakfast, indeed! I would definitely munch on these, gluten-free or not!
These look awesome! I love my chocolate chip cookies packed with walnuts 🙂 Pinning!
These look divine. as soon as our renovations are over and I can reclaim my kitchen – im baking these!
Oh yay!! Everyone needs a perfect grain free CCC recipe under their belt!!
Gluten free baking can be so hard sometimes, but you really can make some delicious things with the gluten! You just have to be a little more creative! These do look like lovely little lumps, haha! I need a good cookie in my life and these look like they just might fill that void! Happy first day of summer 🙂
I never need an occasion to make chocolate chip cookies! I’m glad you decided it was time to share this scrumptious recipe!
Yo, I would be in the kitchen making these right now if I didn’t just pig out on banana ice cream yesterday. Totes making these sooooon. Mmm.
In regards to the brownies – you’ll have to try my Double Chocolate Grain Free Brownies. I’m not sure if maybe it’s just been so long since we’ve had a glutenified brownie (??), but we think the texture is spot on. The edges get crispy and everyyyything! Lemme know if you try! I’m legume free now, so I use sun butter instead of peanut butter, btw. Comes out the same. 😉
@Rachael Abel @ Love Yourself Green,
I would love the recipe.
I think just how people spent the 2000s accepting that vegan baking wasn’t bad, it’s going to be the same for GF baking in the 2010s. And THANK GOODNESS because these cookies look awesome.
ooooh I love these cookies! The textures look fantastic and they are just addictive, I can tell!
Hi. I cannot use almonds in any form. What flour would I be able to substitute and still have success with these cookies? Thanks for your help.
Leah
Hi Leah, can you eat hazelnut flour? If so, hazelnut flour would be the best substitute for almond flour. Cashew flour may work too but I’ve never tested the recipe with it. Let me know if you try the cookies out!
Thanks for your help. Pardon my ignorance, would hazelnut flour be finely ground hazelnuts or is it more processed?
Hi Leah,
No problem at all! Hazelnut flour is simply ground up hazelnuts, and it has basically the same exact consistency as almond flour, so you can use it as a replacement in all recipes calling for almond flour 🙂 hope this helps!
How mmany cookies does this recipe make?
Hi Shalini, The recipe makes 12 medium-sized cookies – I went ahead and made that note in the recipe 🙂 Hope you enjoy! xo
Hello! These look divine. I made the morning glory Paleo muffins with wondrous success. I want to give these a shot since I have left-over almond flour. I am allergic to coconut, is there something else I can use instead that is Paleo? Or if not, can i use butter? >_> I know, defeats the purpose…
Hi Rebekah, you can definitely use softened butter in place of the coconut oil. I haven’t tested the recipe with butter, but I’m confident it would turn out great! Also, grass-fed butter is considered paleo, so you’d be in the clear 😉 Hope you enjoy!
Hey Julia! Thank you for the paleo thumbs up! I melted and cooled the butter as per the recipe, had to add my dark chocolate Ghirardelli morsels, pecans, and used honey instead of syrup. it came out SOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS (breakfast indeed ^_^). It was hard to just stick to one cookie! Your recipes are amazing! Thank you so much for your hard work! I can’t to try another recipe!
Woop woop!! I’m so happy to hear it worked out! And thanks so much for your kind compliments – I’m psyched you want to try other recipes! Let me know if you have any questions along the way 😀
Hi Julia. If I want to use monk fruit instead of the maple syrup, is it the same amount? Although I may try my monk fruit syrup.
Hi Stella,
If you have monk fruit syrup on hand, that would be the easiest replacement so that the texture doesn’t change. If you wanted to try a granulated sweetener, I would stick with 1/3 cup but add another tablespoon or two of butter (or coconut oil) to be sure the liquid to dry ratio works out.
@Julia, thank you. These are so good! The first time I used just the monkfruit maple syrup and I felt they needed a little more sweetness. Today I added a 1/2 tablespoon of granulated monkfruit sweetener and they were perfection.
I’m so happy to hear it, Stella! Thanks for letting me know! xo
Very tasty! Not too sweet and almost guilt free.
So happy you like them, Nancy! xoxox
Look delicious! Do these store well? If I were to make a day before for an event? Thank you!
Hi Jay! I’ve found the cookies store well 🙂 I keep them in an airtight container or a zip lock bag. Since it’s only a day, I think storing them at room temperature is just fine. Beyond a few days I would move them to the refrigerator or freezer. Enjoy!
Just made these cookies and they are delicious! I chose butter over coconut oil and used black walnuts. Yummy! Thank you for posting!
I’m so happy to hear it, Sheila! Thanks so much for reporting back! xo
These are delicious and easy to make. I reduced maple syrup to 2.5 T, used pecans instead of walnuts, and Lakanto keto chocolate chips. They’re wonderfully not sweet, which, unfortunately, makes me eat more. Yum. Easy to eat these instead of dinner, but they’re mostly nuts, so they’re a good snack. Thank you so much for sharing a great recipe!
Thanks so much for sharing, Elaine! This is super helpful to others who want to try the same changes. I appreciate the sweet words and feedback! xo
Hi, I haven’t made these yet, as I have a question as far as the recipe goes, Is it possible to use ripe/very ripe bananas INSTEAD of the maple syrup ?? the maple syrup tends to spike my blood sugar….
Thx
Hi Joyce! I haven’t tested this recipe using ripe bananas, but I do have an almond flour banana cookie recipe that is primarily sweetened with ripe bananas: https://www.theroastedroot.net/5-ingredient-paleo-banana-bread-cookies/ Omit the pure maple syrup and see what the consistency of the dough is like. If it seems like it needs some liquid, add 1 to 3 tablespoons of some form of milk like almond milk, oat milk, etc. If the dough seems like a normal consistency without the pure maple syrup, I wouldn’t make any further adjustments. Let me know how it goes! xo
Pleasantly surprised! This is actually a very tasty Paleo cookie and I’ll be adding it to my “Safe to eat” cookies file. I’ve been Paleo/Keto for 5 yrs now plus have a cottage kitchen bakery, so it’s tremendously difficult to stay low carb while baking traditional cookies. One question I have is “best way” to store these cookies? Thank you for this great recipe
Aww I’m thrilled to hear the recipe is suitable for your dietary needs! I always love hearing when a feel-good treat also fits seamlessly into someone’s lifestyle. Thanks, Veronika! xo
These are wonderful and very easy, thank you for a great gluten free chocolate chip cookie!
My pleasure, Sheila! Thanks for the sweet note! xo
I was out of walnuts so I used sunflower seeds and they’re so good.
I love hearing that! Thank you for sharing!
Just made these cookies and they are absolutely delicious! I love how quick and easy this recipe is to make. The only problem I see is that it only makes 12 cookies…😂 Thanks for the recipe!
LOL, I actually feel the same way – I like making smaller batches to avoid eating too much, but I also miss them when they’re gone. 🙂