In search of the ultimate paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe

Posted By Marianne Richmond on Sep 3, 2014 | 0 comments

There is no shortage of available Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes. And some of them are, in fact good enough that you won’t miss the flour and butter. However, if you are like me and nothing less than words like ultimate, best ever, or perfect must proceed your chocolate chip cookie baking results to make the effort seem worth it, then going Paleo requires a search for the ultimate Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe.

We take our chocolate chip cookies seriously in our family and perfection means slightly crispy edges and thin enough to have chewy, buttery middles. We sometimes use semi-sweet chocolate chips, sometimes milk chocolate chips and sometimes we mix the two; and when we add nuts, it means roasted pecans.

My search for the ultimate Paleo chocolate chip cookie actually began with what is probably a fairly common question when one makes a decision to go on a grain free Paleo diet: Is there such a thing as a grain free chocolate chip cookie? In other words, will a commitment to Paleo require a vow to never again enjoy one of life’s true pleasures. NO! But the search would not be over until I was consistently making a Paleo chocolate chip cookie from a recipe I believed to be the ultimate Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe….in other words, the one that my kids asked me to make as in, “Mom, would you make some of your chocolate chip cookies.”

So I began with a friend’s Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe and made it exactly as called for. It was good; actually really good!

Jeff’s Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Dry Ingredients:

2.5 cups Almond Flour

1/4 TSP Celtic Sea Salt

1/4 TSP Baking Soda

1/2-1 Cup Chocolate Chips

1/4-1/2 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Wet Ingredients:

10 TBSP Coconut Oil

1 TBSP Walnut Oil

1/2 TBS Almond Extract

1 TBS Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Sweetener (half Agave/half honey

1 Egg

Combine and mix the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) in a large bowl. Melt the coconut oil and combine it with the wet ingredients. Mix until you have a heterogeneous liquid. Then combine with dry ingredients and mix into a dough. Wait until the dough is cool enough and add in the chocolate chips. If you add too early they will melt and make a big mess. You may need to add a little more almond flour depending upon the consistency of the dough. It should not be too tacky and be easy to form into balls. Arrange in small flat patties on a baking sheet and bake at 350° for 7-10 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Jeff’s recipe called for almond extract which I adore but not in chocolate chip cookies. In my second attempt, I left it out. In general I find coconut oil a little tricky to work with…it’s solid and when recipes call for it (and it is a staple along with almond flour in Paleo cooking) it’s not always clear whether the measurement is for solid or melted coconut oil. So the exact measurement can be trial and error. Jeff’s recipe also called for honey and agave as a sweetener. I used 1 cup of cocunut sugar instead the second time but my kids though the cookies were not sweet enough. The next time I used 1/2 cup of honey and 1 cup of coconut sugar. Jeff used walnuts. We prefer roasted pecans. (Bake pecans for about 10 minutes at 350°.)

I have tried a number of Paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes found online and in cookbooks but we keep going back to Jeff’s recipe with the above mentioned tweaks.

A recent article about the science behind baking the most delicious cookie ever had a suggestion about 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder for crispy cookie with chewy center so I tried adding 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder and did find that it helped with the desired crispy edge and chewy center. So, here is what we roll with…..