These big soft paleo chocolate chip cookies have the perfect chewy texture with a great nutty flavor thanks to tahini. They’re dairy-free, gluten-free, grain free and nut free as well. Perfect for snacks and desserts, these cookies are thick and decadent yet healthy!
You just can’t keep me away from my chocolate chip cookies – they’re one of life’s greatest dessert pleasures (duh) and you simply can’t EVER have enough chocolate chip cookie recipes!
These, my dear paleo friends, are deliciously special cookies. First, the flavor is absolutely out of this world – thanks to the fact that I used tahini.
Don’t be scared of tahini if you haven’t baked with it yet – as long as you use a quality tahini (not bitter!) you are in for an amazing treat.
My general rule for choosing a tahini is that I have to be able to at least eat some of it alone.
I’ve tried a few tahinis that were way high on the bitter scale, and blah, I guess you COULD add a bunch of other ingredients to cover up the aftertaste, but, well, it’s a whole lot tastier when the delicious nutty flavor shines through.
And even though it’s “nutty” since tahini is a seed, these paleo chocolate chip cookies are actually nut free, thanks to the coconut and arrowroot flours I used.
Look at that cookie! Seriously – who would ever guess these are paleo?! But anyway, back to the tahini – if you truly don’t want to use it in this recipe, you DO have other options. I like options in recipes, and 4 years of blogging has taught me that you guys do too 🙂
So, you can really use any nut butter you prefer that’s creamy and “drippy” like the consistency of tahini – sunflower butter (for another nut free option), almond butter, or whatever your fave is.
The texture of these cookies is soft and chewy – since I used an egg + a yolk, you get a denser cookie than if you were to use 2 whole eggs.
I’ve learned that for coconut flour though, you almost ALWAYS need more than one egg to get a deliciously chewy texture.
The dough itself is quite sticky when you first mix it, another thing I’ve learned is that when using coconut flour, you never want the dough to look like “normal” cookie dough – that almost guarantees you’ll wind up with dry, crumbly cookies.
The solution to the sticky dough is to chill it in the fridge for about 15-20 minutes before baking. You can see in the photo of the dough that after chilling, it’s firm enough to scoop onto the baking sheet without any crazy spreading happening.
After baking, the cookies spread and puff out beautifully and don’t sink or change shape after cooling. Guys, these cookies are perfect – I couldn’t get enough of them!
Once caveat regarding the storage. Since they’re pretty soft, they can sometimes stick to each other if thrown in a container, so I recommend allowing them to fully cool before storing them, and you may want to keep them in the fridge if they become too sticky at room temp.
That said, I tried storing them both at room temp and chilled and both ways turned out fine, taste-wise. You can also freeze them with good results if you want to keep them fresh a longer period of time, so you really can’t go wrong here!
Okay, I think we’re ready to begin! Another crazy delicious batch of paleo chocolate chip cookies is about to go down – let’s bake!
Big Soft Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Tahini {Nut Free}
Big Soft Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Tahini {Nut Free}
These big soft paleo chocolate chip cookies have the perfect chewy texture with a great nutty flavor thanks to tahini. They're dairy-free, gluten-free, grain free and nut free as well. Perfect for snacks and desserts, these cookies are thick and decadent yet healthy!
Ingredients
- 1 egg + 1 egg yolk room temp
- 2/3 cup tahini *
- 1/3 cup pure maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot flour or tapioca
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips or you can make your own**
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
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In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda and salt, set aside.
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In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, cream together the tahini, maple sugar and syrup on medium speed until smooth. Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and continue to mix on low speed until smooth.
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Using a spoon or spatula, stir the dry ingredients into the wet until fully combined, then stir in the chocolate chips/
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Chill dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Scoop dough with a medium cookie scoop 2” apart on the parchment lined baking sheet, using 2 baking sheets if necessary. If you use 2, bake only one batch at a time.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 12 mins or until cookies are set and turning light brown. Cool for 5 mins on the baking sheet, then carefully transfer to cooling racks using a wide spatula to fully cool. Once cookies are completely cooled, store in an airtight container either in the refrigerator or at room temp. They can also be frozen. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You can also use any creamy, drippy nut or seed butter for this recipe such as almond or sunflower butter.
**You can make your own chocolate chunks using the chocolate recipe that goes with my truffles
Nutrition
Shop Products and Ingredients:
Want More Paleo Cookie Recipes? Try One of These!
Fudgy Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie with Coconut Flour
Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies {Nut Free}
Cassava Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies {Nut Free}
Orange Coconut Butter Cookies {Nut Free}
Lemon Almond Thumbprint Cookies {Vegan}
Paleo “Oatmeal” Raisin Cookies {Vegan}
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Great idea, Michele! I love tahini and it’s also cheaper (for me) to buy than most nut butters, so I can’t wait to try this recipe! I love how creative you are with your recipes…there are a million paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes out there, but this is the first I’ve seen with tahini!
Yay for the tahini! I know you’ll love them 🙂
It’s funny: my first thought when I saw the pictures were how these look EXACTLY like a non-paleo cookie would look like! So excited to try tahini in a sweet recipe.
Oh you’ll love it!
I used a combination of sunflower seed butter & peanut butter as I didn’t have any tahini. They sat tall & were delicious, however, they were green inside?! A co-worker of mine researched and found out that sunflower seeds contain chlorophyll and that reacted with the baking soda!
I love how soft these cookies look! Seems like such a perfect chocolate chip cookie I simply have to try!
Do you think it’s possible to make egg free? My little boy is allergic to all 8 major allergens, and I’m always looking for healthy and safe alternatives! I have never baked with coconut flour, but understand it is quite different than most.
Use 1/4 cup of unsweetened applesauce in place of one egg in most baking recipes. Some sources say to mix it with 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder. If all you have is sweetened applesauce, then simply reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. Applesauce is also a popular healthy replacement for oil in many baked goods.
http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/955371/baking-without-eggs
I make these with flax egg for a friend, because of egg allergy.
Hi Michelle,
I just made these cookies & we LOVED them. They were approved by my picky eaters ?
I wanted to ask you if I can double the recipe with the same measurements. I used almond butter & got 16 big cookies.
I’m planning on making them for my LO’s birthday since he suggested it ??
Thanks
So happy you all enjoyed! My current favorite chocolate chip cookies 🙂
These were absolutely delicious. Have to admit, I was not expecting them to taste this good!!
I’m thrilled you loved them!
I love this recipe! On days I am not feeling the tahini flavor I switch it out for cashew butter, it doesn’t have the same “picture perfect” structure that the tahini gives it, but tastes amazing! Thank you for sharing your passion with us. I was beginning to think I would never eat yummy food again. I had E. Coli very badly earlier this year and now I am unable to tolerate gluten or dairy. I’m thankful for you!
Good to know cashew butter works well too! And so sorry about the e coli, that must have been absolutely terrible! But glad you’re feeling better and enjoying the recipes 🙂
Tahini is indeed an interesting choice. We make tahini pie in my country so I am not surprised that you have used it for biscuits but I am curious to try them and see what comes out.
These are so awesome!!!
What would be a good replacement for the coconut flour? I can’t eat coconut or any nuts.
Hey Michele!
I love this recipe — I’ve used it as a base for several different cookies, but I seem to burn the bottoms every time (even after taking them out early! argh!). Do you have any tips!?
Hi! Make sure you’re using parchment paper and baking on a lighter, shiny baking sheet. Aside from that, you can try baking at 325 instead for a big longer.
Hey, want to ask if the recipe calls for liquid sweetner( maple or honey) can i substitute it with regular sugar? Liquid sweetners irritates my ibs. Can’t wait to start baking from ur recipes 🙂
So what can I use the sunflower butter for instead of .? In this recipe .
Omg! I can’t! These are amazing and my 2 yo said they were delicious! 😉 thank you
I’m more a combination of Paleo and gluten free diets mixed together. That said, I made a few adjustments to the recipe. I used almond butter instead of tahini. I used one whole egg; refined sugar instead of maple sugar (I know). I’m kind of a butter freak when it comes to baked goods, especially when it comes to chocolate chip cookies. There’s something about those sweet, salty, buttery, crispy edges that compliments the dark chocolate chips. I increased the coconut flour by a tablespoon and added a tablespoon and a half of unsalted butter. In lieu of the maple syrup and vanilla extract, I used 1/4 c honey, which I added before the egg. The result? Par excellence. Everything I want in a grain-free chocolate chip cookie. The texture and crumb were on par with the standard “floured” chocolate chip cookie. When they came out they had to cool for a bit to stiffen up. Next time, I’ll try coconut sugar and butter flavored coconut oil. Thank you Jesus, I have a staple chocolate chip cookie recipe.
The recipe is great but has WAY too many chocolate chips I used 1/3 cup less and these cookies still feel like they’re over 70% chocolate chips. We love chocolate but the ratio is disappointing.
Every recipe of yours that I have made, I have LOVED. You are fantastic. This one I found disappointing, though, and am wondering if one of my ingredients was bad. I accidentally used organic sunflower butter instead of Tahini (and that was an ok substitute per you.) The flavor of the cookies is ok, but the sunflower butter taste is overpowering and the cookies are a mossy GREEN color on the inside. Do you have any thoughts on what could have turned them this color? All my ingredients seemed fresh and I followed the recipe exactly????
Hi Melissa! I was just looking through the comments for egg-free info and happened upon yours! I know you made these awhile ago, but figured I’d respond anyway bc my guess is others have experienced this as well. The unique combo of sun butter and baking soda actually have a chemical reaction and turn it green! They’re great for science experiments for st Patty’s day. 😆 Also, sun butter seems to have a pretty distinct flavor and I found I didn’t enjoy it in this cookie like I did when I made with tahini. I hope this helps!
So yummy!
I can’t have egg yolks. Can I use 2 whites instead?
So yummy! Perfect texture. They really taste like traditional chocolate chip cookies full of butter and gluten. Excellent recipe – will be making these again for sure.