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These Chickpea Flour Cookies are a delicious gluten-free dessert. They have the perfect chewy texture, and since they’re made with chickpea flour, they also pack extra protein in each bite!
What is Chickpea Flour?
Chickpea flour is simply ground dry chickpeas. That’s it! You can make it at home in a blender by grinding dry chickpeas, or you can buy a bag of it at the store, just like you would regular flour.
This type of flour is naturally gluten-free and nut-free, so it’s great for baking when you need to be careful of allergies or special dietary needs. It’s perfect for making socca bread, chickpea pancakes, and more!
The main thing you should know about chickpea flour is that it tastes very bitter before it’s cooked. I don’t recommend taste-testing the raw batter, or you might be turned off before you even bake these. I promise that they taste 100% better after you cook them!
Chickpea flour acts remarkably like all-purpose flour, even though it doesn’t have the same density. (This is something I always test on my kitchen scale when working with new flours.) Maybe this is due to chickpea flour’s higher protein content?
Either way, I’ve found that this recipe is relatively flexible, just like a cookie recipe made with all-purpose flour is. I like to use 1 1/3 cups of chickpea flour, but you can use only 1 1/4 cups flour for a flatter, more gooey cookie, or 1 1/2 cups flour for a thicker, more doughy cookie. I’ve tried it all, and my kids like them all, but I like the cookies best in the middle-range, so I use 1 1/3 cups of chickpea flour.
Ingredients You’ll Need
Whenever I develop a new cookie recipe, I always like to use a classic recipe, like the famous Nestle Tollhouse recipe, as my benchmark. As a result, these chickpea flour chocolate chip cookies use similar ingredients, with a few upgrades.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Chickpea flour
- Butter (or vegan butter)
- Coconut sugar
- Egg (or flax egg)
- Baking soda
- Vanilla
- Salt
And don’t forget the chocolate chips! This recipe is easily made vegan if you use dairy-free chocolate chips, and I like to use dark chocolate ones, so they aren’t quite as sweet.
How to Make Chickpea Cookies
To make these Chickpea Flour Cookies, start by mixing together the butter and sugar. I’m using coconut sugar because it is slightly less sweet than other sugars, but you can use any other granulated sugar you have on hand. (Vegan butter also works here, or you can use 1/3 cup softened coconut oil.)
Next, add in the egg (or flax egg) and vanilla, and mix again.
Now it’s time to add in the dry ingredients! Mix in the chickpea flour, baking soda, and salt, and stir until the batter looks uniform.
Stir in the chocolate chips, then scoop the dough with a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop.
Drop the cookie dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then bake at 350ºF for 8 to 10 minutes.
I like to pull the cookies out of the oven when the edges look lightly golden, but the centers still look soft to the touch.
They will firm up when they cool, for a cookie with lightly crispy edges, and gooey centers. Yum!
These cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, but they will last longer in an airtight container in the fridge. You can store them in the fridge for up to 2 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Substitutions
I don’t recommend substituting the flour here, since this recipe is specifically developed for chickpea flour. If you have another flour on hand, check out my other cookie recipes:
- Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Almond Flour Cookies
- Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Oat Flour Cookies
- Chickpea Cookies (made with pureed chickpeas!)
I can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies! It’s shocking to me how much my kids love these. (They told me they like them better than cake… which is saying something.)
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter , softened
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ⅓ cups chickpea flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix together the softened butter and sugar.
- Add the egg and vanilla and mix well, then add the chickpea flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until the batter looks uniform; it will be relatively thick and sticky. Warning: Do NOT taste the raw cookie dough because chickpea flour tastes terrible before it's cooked.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, then scoop the batter using a tablespoon or 1-ounce cookie scoop. Drop the dough onto the lined pan, spacing the cookies about 1 to 2 inches apart to allow for spreading. You can sprinkle the cookie dough with some flaky sea salt, if you like a sweet and salty flavor.
- Bake at 350ºF for 8 to 10 minutes, or until the cookies look lightly golden around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the pan completely, to let them firm up. They should be lightly crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside. (Let the bake longer, until they are more golden, if you prefer a crispier cookie.)
- Chickpea flour cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
If you try these Chickpea Flour Cookies, please leave a comment below letting me know what you think! And if you try any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too. We can all benefit from your experience!
3 gm salt is far too much. All I could taste is salt. I’ll cut it by 2/3 next time.
pleasantly surprised with this recipe! I used ghee and 1 1/4 cup of the flour and it was amazing! I can’t even taste the chickpea. Delicious, will make again for sure!
Girl! These were so good! Just recently saw some videos about making chickpea flour, so ground some up from the raw chickpeas. Found your recipe to use my new flour. I was only missing the butter, so I subbed with 1/2 cup applesauce. What’s weird is they still taste so buttery and delicious. My husband says also a subtype aftertaste of peanut butter though none was used. I used carob chips instead of chocolate chips. This was a big hit in my house! Thank you! God bless you and your readers! Jesus loves you!
Omg these cookies are incredible! Made these on a whim because I had some leftover chickpea flour from a while ago that I never knew what to use it for. I tricked my husband and didn’t tell them they were made with “healthy” ingredients, and he had no idea. Even said “these are the best cookies I’ve had in forever!” I am so impressed, this will forever be my go to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
Thank you for sharing this recipe! These are the only cookies I have been baking since 2020 with variations of additives for nuts, white/milk/dark chocolate, crystallized ginger, etc. I have tried them all. This is truly a simple and superb recipe that has ignited a love for baking in me whilst maintaining a fitness lifestyle. Store bought treats are a thing of the past for me.
I had some chickpea flour to use up, so I tried this recipe because it seemed easy. I did not have any coconut sugar so I use white sugar instead. The cookies turned out great!!
These are one of the best things I’ve made on the diet I’m on ,easy to make and they actually taste nice
Thank you, these are great! I subbed EVOO & 1/8 tsp salt for the butter since it’s better for my lipid profile. A flax meal egg in place of regular worked well too,. It’s also healthier than an egg and less expensive too if you’re like me and don’t use eggs except for baking.
Such an easy and DELICIOUS recipe! Thank you for sharing!
How much vanilla extract should I add to recipe if I want to make vanilla flavoured cookies instead?