These soft chewy paleo chocolate chip cookies are made with cassava flour, making them nut free PLUS grain free and gluten free. The cassava flour makes the flavor very similar to traditional chocolate chip cookies, so you know everyone will love them!
Get ready for more Paleo + nut free baking today! It’s chocolate chip cookies for you right now – soft, chewy, chocolate chip cookies, with a flavor nearly identical to traditional white flour cookies, thanks to our star – cassava.
I worked on this recipe over last summer until it drove me so batty that I decided to shelve it for awhile. The problem? Texture. It turns out that cassava flour behaves very differently in a cookie recipe than in a bread recipe.
My cookie dough would look perfect over and over, but the results after baking were all over the place.
I was met with cookies that spread ALL OVER the baking sheet, cookies that didn’t spread at all, cookies that looked perfect but had the texture of crumbly cake, and cookies that seemed to melt into something that tasted like sand after taking a bite.
After about 5 tries, I noticed a few common themes.
First, ALL of the cookies came out of the oven fall-apart-soft. Even the ones that would up pretty good after a few hours could disintegrate if you tried to touch one a few minutes out of the oven.
Lesson 1 – cassava flour cookies need lots of time to “set” and should be cooled COMPLETELY on the baking sheet – not transferred.
Lesson 2 – using all granulated sugar to sweeten the cookies (like coconut sugar) won’t work – it needs to be combined with a nice STICKY sweetener (honey) for a good chewy texture after cooling.
Lesson 3 – Cassava flour chocolate chip cookies seem to have superior texture after cooling completely and THEN chilling in the fridge for awhile. Trust me on this one – and try it!
Lesson 4 – More than one egg (even an extra yolk) turns the cookies way too cakey and almost rubbery. I had a batch that looked absolutely perfect, but had a strange rubbery texture that I couldn’t get past! After that, I stuck to one egg and didn’t look back.
So, after compiling all these lessons learned from the failed batches, I came up with a recipe that seems to be as close to perfect as you can get, both flavor and texture wise!
I used a mixture of honey and coconut sugar to take care of the texture and flavor. One egg, one cup of cassava flour and a mix of baking soda and powder to help the cookies spread just enough.
I still recommend allowing the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet – these aren’t “grab-one-out-of-the-oven” cookies. They need to be left alone for at least an hour to really set properly (weird, yes, but it works.)
And again, I totally prefer these after spending a little time in the fridge. That doesn’t mean they can’t be left out at room temp, but for superior texture I recommend a little chilling. As a side note, they are SO perfect with some coconut vanilla ice cream!
I hope you’re ready for insanely delicious paleo chocolate chip cookies – let’s bake!
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cassava Flour {Nut Free}
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cassava Flour {Nut Free}
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ghee OR grass-fed butter
- 1/3 cup raw honey
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg room temp
- 1 cup cassava flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder*
- 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a large cookie sheet (or 2) with parchment paper.
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Using an electric hand mixer, cream together the ghee (or butter), honey, coconut sugar and vanilla until smooth on medium speed
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Add in the egg and beat on low speed until combined
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In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients, then add dry mixture to wet, beating on low speed until smooth. Stir in chocolate chips, then chill the dough for 10-15 minutes in the fridge.
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Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop dough onto prepared cookie sheet about 2” apart since they will spread a bit while baking.
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You’ll need to repeat the process on a separate baking sheet for the leftover cookie dough.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet - do not transfer them while they’re cooling since they’re VERY delicate due to the cassava flour. These cookies are not at their best right out of the oven - they need time to finish setting while they cool.
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Once completely cool to the touch, remove from sheet and serve. Cookies will be soft and chewy at room temp, and become more firm, yet still chewy after refrigeration. I personally prefer them after chilling! Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*For Paleo (corn free) baking powder, mix 1 tsp baking soda with 2 tsp cream of tartar. For this recipe you’ll need just 1/2 tsp of this mixture.
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cassava Flour:
Want More Paleo and Nut Free Baking Recipes? Try one of These!
Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Double Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Banana Blueberry Breakfast Bread
Classic Blueberry Muffins with Cassava Flour
Chocolate Donuts with Chocolate Frosting
Hearty Cassava Flour Banana Bread
Chocolate Chip Donuts with Chocolate Ganache
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These were decent. I used butter since I don’t have ghee and I used honey but there are so many different consistencies, I didn’t know which one you used. I had liquid honey I needed to use up, so I put that in. I also used demerara sugar because I didn’t have coconut sugar. I chilled them for over 20 minutes, accidentally baked them on super convection in my oven >.< They did flatten out like pancakes (which I don't mind at all) but I had to take them out early because they were getting super browned and I was worried they would burn.
I froze the rest of the batter for later. It seems to freeze well.
This is the second time I’ve made these and they turn out to be a crumbly mess but kind of pancakey too what am I doing wrong the flavor is so good I want to keep trying but feel like I’m missing something.
Ya, I’m with the crew that these did not work at all for. I doubled the recipe, and used half molasses half honey, those are the only changes. They didn’t spread and they’re extremely crumbly, like they go poof if you touch them wrong and explode into a pile of powder. Perhaps it’s cassava flour brand? I’ve heard there can be variations in effect brand to brand. Anyway, bummer, these are supposed to be a birthday present for tomorrow.
Flour has a distinct flavor that is off from chocolate chip cookies. They’re not terrible but not my favorite recipe, the cassava gives them an off flavor and texture is a little off if they’re cooked at full time. I recommend cooking 2 minutes under time stated.
I baked these cookies this morning with my kiddos and they are a hit! I’m not sure they’ll last the day. If anyone was wondering, I wanted to share that I used agave nectar instead of the raw honey, because we are out of honey and they are still perfect! Next time I will use honey because I believe the best results come from following a recipe exactly. The cookies are delicate and delicious! Thank you so much for taking the time to create such a great recipe!
Has anyone tried these with palm shortening? I am going to try but wanted to see if anyone had insight as these are all expensive ingredients.
Curious if you ended up trying with palm shortening? I want to try these, but I’m off dairy and haven’t been eating ghee. I’d love to try with my palm shortening though if it would work! 🙂 I need a nut free cookie for my son for school!
My cookies came out a golden brown but flat and fall apart soft. I re-baked them for 10 minutes. This time much darker but not so soft. I used honey but not raw and a different sugar. I used what i had on hand. It was Truvia brown sugar. Could this be why the texture was so fall apart soft and flat?
Looking forward to trying these! Wondering if I can nix the baking powder? Don’t have any of that or cream of tartar in the pantry currently.
The recipe looks delish! Have you tried any other healthy fats? Dairy free option? Maybe coconut oil or lard?
First, thank you for generously sharing your recipes. It’s a lot of work and sometimes thankless, so I want to start with that.
Second, I do want to let others know this recipe was an incredible fail for me. I don’t think it has anything to do with the author’s recipe writing/testing ability. I think it has everything to do with cassava flour coming in all kinds of consistency and qualities.
I used a vitacost brand of tapioca/cassava flour which worked beautifully in two other recipes: a KAF recipe for cheese bread and another blogger’s brownie recipe. I am assuming the brand of flour used by the author above is more absorbent and some other reviewers used is less. I used a third of the dough following the recipe to a T. My cookies spread across the pan and cooked very unevenly. Tonight I cooked another third and added more cassava flour which seemed to help a little bit. I may add even more tomorrow when I bake the rest of the batter. Thanks again for sharing this. I do think it’s a good place to start and experiment from based on the brand of flour you are using.
I added more cassava flour once again and they looked much more like cookies than before. Perhaps too much flour because they were a bit dry and crunchy. I’m afraid each brand of cassava flour requires its own testing. I can see how this recipe would work with tweaking.