These vegan and gluten-free almond flour chocolate chip cookies are made with almond flour, oat flour, maple syrup, and olive oil. It's a lightly sweet one-bowl cookie perfect for snacking. Sunflower seed flour is an excellent substitute for almond flour if you prefer to use a seed.
If you're looking for more gluten-free cookies, try my banana bread cookies and nut butter blueberry cookies.
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Ingredients
Ingredient Notes and Substitutions
- Almond flour: use an equivalent amount of sunflower seed or hazelnut flour if preferred. You can make your own in a high powered food processor.
- Oat flour: this can be homemade or store-bought, but note that the type from the shop is usually more finely ground and can make for denser cookies.
- Olive oil: any oil that's liquid at room temperature can be used.
- Almond extract: this is to boost the almond flavour in the cookies, and can be omitted or replaced with more vanilla.
- Chocolate chips: any chips or chunks of dark chocolate will work. A roughly chopped bar of dark chocolate is a good substitute.
How to Make Almond Flour Cookies
Step 1: mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Step 2: add the oil, maple syrup, and extracts. Mix again to combine.
Step 3: fold in the chocolate chips or chunks.
Step 4: portion the dough into ten balls, flatten, and bake for about 10 minutes.
Top Tips
- Make them in advance: I think these cookies only get better as they rest – for me, 3 days after baking is top almond flour cookie time.
- Don't worry about over-mixing: since this is a gluten-free cookie, you don't need to worry about overworking the gluten and making tough cookies.
- Keep the flours: oat flour acts completely differently from coconut flour, for example, so for the best results, keep the same ingredients as listed. The exception is switching out almond flour for one of the suggested alternatives.
How to Store
Storage: keep baked cookies in a sealed container at room temperature for up to 5 days. The mixed, unbaked dough can be kept in a tightly covered bowl in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.
Freezing: transfer cooled cookies to an airtight container and freeze for up to a month. The unbaked dough can be frozen for up to a month, thawed in the fridge overnight, and baked as usual.
Almond Flour and Sustainability
Last week I shared this story about almond production and its toll on bees, which was upsetting—although not entirely new. Like many mono-crops, almonds have a huge impact on land and water consumption. While there are more sustainable almonds out there (when I worked in the food industry we would get ours from Italy) many of the ones used in milk and flour production are not. I could go on, but my friend Laura said this so eloquently.
While I still occasionally use almond flour and almond butter, I've been slowly replacing the almond products I have with more sustainable options. Almond butter for pumpkin seed, sunflower, and good quality peanut butter. Almond milk for oat, hemp, and coconut. And now almond flour with sunflower seed and hazelnut. I think when it comes to sustainability, diversity and variation is key.
Thinking of that diversity, I do still buy organic almond flour and other almond products, but they're no longer a staple in my diet. For me in terms of a sustainable diet the key is to include a wide variety of plants - not eating only soy, for example, which is easily as bad as almonds, if not worse - and try to buy local and organic when it's available and I can afford it.
FAQ
What is the trick to baking with almond flour?
The most important thing is to use recipes made with almond flour in mind. Trying to switch almond flour in for all-purpose flour will only cause headaches and waste expensive ingredients!
Why doesn't almond flour rise?
Almond flour doesn't contain gluten, so it won't rise in recipes the same way that wheat flour will.
How should I store almond flour?
Since it's a nut, almond flour will spoil quickly. Keep it in a cool, dry place to prevent it from going rancid. I keep mine in the fridge or freezer until I'm ready to use it.
If you make these Vegan Almond Flour Cookies or any other vegan cookies on Wholehearted Eats, please take a moment to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. It’s such a help to others who want to try the recipe. For more WHE, follow along on Instagram or subscribe for new posts via email.
Recipe
Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Parchment paper
- Baking tray
- Mixing bowl
- Wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour
- ⅓ cup gluten-free oat flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅓ cup olive or avocado oil
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ cup chocolate chips or chunks
Instructions
- Start by heating the oven to 350° F (175°C) and lining a baking tray with parchment.
- Next, combine the flours, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together in a bowl. Mix well.2 cups almond flour, ½ teaspoon sea salt, ⅓ cup gluten-free oat flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Add the oil, maple syrup, and extracts. Again mix well to combine. Because there is no gluten, you don't have to worry about overmixing.⅓ cup olive or avocado oil, ⅓ cup maple syrup, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract
- Lastly, stir in the chocolate. Divide the dough into 10 balls (about 1 ½ tablespoons each). Flatten them slightly and bake for about 10-13 minutes.½ cup chocolate chips or chunks
- Once cooked, let the cookies cool on the baking tray for a few minutes then move them to a cooling rack.
Hi Sophie-will be making these! Can you tell me what brand of chips you use?
Yay! I really love Enjoy foods chocolate chips, but you can get lots of dairy-free options 🙂
These came out great! I love the simple ingredients, and the added almond extract makes these a bit more special than your standard chocolate chip cookie. My kids loved them!
Aw, so happy to hear you and the kids love them! Thank you, Kim 🙂