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These Coconut Flour Cookies are quick & easy to make, calling for just 7 ingredients that you probably already have on hand. I love that they are naturally gluten-free and dairy-free!
Why Use Coconut Flour?
Since I’ve already covered buckwheat cookies and almond flour cookies, I figured a coconut flour recipe was in order for those of you who need to remain grain-free and nut-free.
What I love about coconut flour is that it’s more affordable than other grain-free flours. It’s so absorbent, a small amount goes a long way. However, it’s also a very tricky ingredient! Flax eggs won’t work as an egg substitute with this recipe (believe me, I’ve tried!), and if you don’t measure the coconut flour correctly, it can affect the results dramatically.
For the record, I like to scoop the measuring cup into the coconut flour, then swipe the top with a knife to level it off. I’ve included weights in the recipe below, too, if you’d rather use a food scale for precise measuring.
Can you Use Almond Flour Instead of Coconut Flour?
I do not recommend making any substitutions when a recipe calls for coconut flour. Coconut flour is very absorbent, and requires more eggs and moisture than other types of flour.
It’s better to look for a recipe that calls for what you have on hand, so you won’t have as much guess work. Check out the following cookie recipes if you want to use another type of flour.
- Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
- Almond Butter Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (made with almond butter)
- Oat Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
For even more ideas, browse my dessert recipes.
What Do Coconut Flour Cookies Taste Like?
Instead of being dense and chewy like a traditional chocolate chip cookie, this particular recipe yields a much lighter, fluffy, almost cake-like cookie, similar to a chocolate chip muffin top.
It’s simply impossible to create a chewy cookie using only coconut flour, without resorting to adding a bunch of other fillers, like starches or nut/seed flours, and that sounds way too complicated to me.
If I’m going to include nuts in the recipe, I’d rather make a batch of Almond Butter Cookies or these Healthy Cookies (that are date-sweetened!), instead.
Since I prefer to keep my recipes as simple as possible, I’ve decided to embrace the texture that coconut flour provides, and go with the soft, cake-like consistency.
My husband has proclaimed these cookies to be one of his favorites, anyway, so I hope those of you who enjoy softer cookies will love them, too!
Best Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut flour , leveled off (48 grams)
- 1/4 cup coconut oil , melted (54 grams)
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (79 grams)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (4 grams)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (1 gram)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (2 grams)
- 2 whole eggs
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the coconut flour, oil, maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and eggs until a uniform batter is created. The batter will start off a bit runny, but will thicken as the coconut flour starts to absorb the moisture. Add in the chocolate chips, and stir to distribute them evenly. (Note: Enjoy Life brand chocolate chips are dairy-free & nut-free.)
- Use a heaping tablespoon to drop the cookie dough onto the lined baking sheet, and use your hands to flatten the cookies. Keep in mind these cookies will NOT spread on their own, so you'll want to shape them how you'd like them to turn out.
- Bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool on the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is for 1 of 15 cookies. This information is automatically calculated using generic ingredients, so it’s just an estimate and not a guarantee.
Recipe Notes:
- As I mentioned above, there is no substitute for coconut flour. If you want to use a different type of flour, I’d recommend trying my chocolate chip cookie recipes using almond flour or buckwheat flour, instead.
- I don’t recommend trying to use flax eggs as a substitute for the whole eggs in this recipe. I tried it myself, and the resulting cookies were mushy and wouldn’t come off the pan.
- Feel free to use honey, instead of maple syrup, if you like, keeping in mind that honey is sweeter, so you’ll need to use less of it.
If you try this recipe, please leave a comment below letting me know how you like it. And if you make any modifications, I’d love to hear about those, too! We can all benefit from your experience.
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite recipe using coconut flour? I find that it seems to work better in softer baked goods, like muffins and cakes, so I think these Strawberry Cupcakes are my favorite so far.
Megan
what a major disappointment::( they are in the oven all melded together. I son’t know what i did wrong. I even let the batter sit (since it was so liquify) for 20 mins band then added some almond flour. UGH! what a waste of ingredients 🙁
Andrea
I just made a double batch of these this afternoon and they are so good I don’t know if they will last until tomorrow. My husband came home and ate four before I stopped him, wanting him to wait until he ate some dinner. He still would have eaten more. Five stars for sure.
One question, I had tiny bits of coconut flour that clumped that I could not mix into batter (so I cooked the cookies with them in.) you can see the little bits in the cookies but doesn’t affect the taste. Would this have something to do with cold maple syrup and/or the warm melted coconut oil? I will definitely make these again, thank you.
Christine
I just made these tonight, they’re delicious!!
isabella
The blog my health living coach lists the same recipe and photos without giving credits to you. Thought you would like to know.
Megan
Thanks, it’s a shame when that happens.
Amanda L
These were perfect. Hands down the best coconut flour cookies I have made to date, and so so simple! Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe!
Sophie
Thanks for this recipe! I made them last night and they are delicious, like a little macaroon that looks like a regular chocolate chip cookie. For my taste I will add a little more maple syrup next time, but I love the coconut flour cookie. Awesome!
Jackie Morrill
I added organic fine shredded coconut. What a great cookie!!! I take them out of the freezer, pop them in my mouth and oh so good.
T
I used Yacon syrup instead of maple and they were darker in color but delicious! Yacon is a very healthy sweetener and is more like a mix of maple and molasses – VERY good for you!
Mama B @ My Edible Journey
These are interesting. The texture is very cake-like (and a bit dry, as has been mentioned). The coconut flavour isn’t as pronounced as I thought it would be (I used refined coconut oil, though). Nor is the egg flavour. The kids seem to like them, and now I have a safe recipe for my gluten free friends. Thanks.
Amanda P
fantastic recipe! doubled the recipe but instead of having 2/3 cup choco chips, i used 1/3 choco chips, 1/3 shredded coconut, and 1/3 raisins.
Silvia
Pure genius! Who doesn’t love cake??! This could be called a Cake Cookie or a mini Cookie Cake! Unfortunately these didn’t last long…and with good reason 🙂 I didn’t have any problems with dryness or anything. Thanks for the recipe!
Brenda
I made these today for my hubby (who is celiac). My batter was runny so I put them into mini-muffin pans instead. Still waiting for them to come out of the oven. Hopefully they are going to work out.
Monica
Thanks, I made these the other day and they are delicious. I didn’t have any of the problems some have commented about here so I guess results can vary based on altitude and perhaps even the brand of coconut flour and oil? Mine are perfect, so yay!
Mandy
Love these!!! I used honey instead of maple syrup and they were delish!!! Coconut flour is difficult to bake with but these turned out perfect and not too dry! 5 stars! (I couldn’t get the stars to work)
julie
is it better to combine with nuts (for coconut) or flesh group (for eggs)? THANKS!
Jerene cook
Wonderful ! I didn’t have maple syrup so I subbed agave . I’m going to take another’s advice and add shredded coconut next time. So yummy that I’m glad it made so few:)
Bron
Just a note, Agave is worse for your health than High Fructose Corn Syrup as it has more fructose in it than the corn syrup and fructose is not good as it raises our insulin levels sharply, resulting in the liver working harem to get rid of it and most of sugar going to fat stores. Keep the sugar levels as low as possible, rice syrup is the best option as it is very low in fructose. I used half stevia powder and half rice syrup and the recipe turned out great. Best wishes, and keep researching about sugars, they are what’s making everyone fat.
Amanda
I stumbled upon your website today and i’m so glad that I did. These cookies are amazing! I can’t wait to try your other recipes.
helena
Hi making these cookies now — they are in the oven — first time working with coconut flour — but….is it really only 1/3 C of coconut flour…..I added more flour — let’s see what happens….guess i’m doubting how 1/2 C flour can be enough…
helena
just took these out of the oven — can’t tell yet….
do you really only use 1/2 C coconut flour???
helena
whoops – it’s late meant 1/3 C coconut flour
Megan
Coconut flour is so incredibly absorbent that you do only need a small amount when compared to traditional recipes. You also need more eggs than usual!
helena
thanks so much Megan — you recipes are just wonderful — appreciate them and you!
Cassie
These were a disaster for me… the batter (yes batter, not dough) was so runny I put them in the fridge for a bit and that firmed up enough to scoop them but then in the oven they melted all over the place. 🙁
Rachelle
Would are mine so runny?
Rosa
I just made these and they turned out exactly like the picture, so confused as to why people said it was dry or batter was really runny?? It must be the quality of ingredients because mine were neither, like someone else noted good thing only makes a small batch…I put them in the fridge to harden a bit which did help since they were incredibly soft and cake like which isn’t bad or anything but i like a firmer cookie and now they’re all gone =( so much for having a cookie with coffee tmrw. Oh well such an easy recipe I can whip some up in the morning
Jak
Oh man, these were SOOOOO stupidly easy!!! What I love about this recipe is that they were soft enough for my dad’s dentures and not too sweet at all. The chocolate chip amount was just perfect to where it seemed like the chocolate chips is what sweetens it. They tasted delicious and I had them done in about 20 minutes. Love this recipe. I’m actually making it again today but I’m doing a triple batch so I can pork out. 🙂
Shawn
I just tasted the batter and already can’t wait for them to get out of the oven 😀
Sunnygirl
I made these and had the same results as one of the other posters. Even before I was through I couldn’t imagine how these would not be runny. I waited fifteen minuets and it just slightly thickened up. I couldn’t even put them on the cookie sheet. I wonder if most people used store bought coconut flour. I made my own. That’s the only thing I can think of. Plus, it would have probably yielded six cookies if I had made them.
Lisa Baker
I substituted maple flavored agave syrup and left the rest as written and these were very tasty!
Courtney Smith
I was so excited for these and was sourly disappointed… Way too runny! I waited about 20 minutes for the coconut flour to absorb the moisture of everything else and it thickened a little so I went ahead and put them in the oven (probably should have put them in cupcake holders). They ran all over the pan. Very disappointed…
Booplasterer
These cookies are so yummy I can’t stop eating them. Thinking of hiding them from my wife… she’ll never know! Thanks for the simple recipe. Often less is more.
Sarah
Oh my gosh. These are the BEST cookies I have ever tasted! I added some organic shredded coconut to them and they are like heaven.
Sheila
Yum yum yum! So what’s the calorie count? Amazing!!
Sandy
These cookies were amazing. I thought they were funny at first but I waited and the flour did absorb everything. My in laws don’t usually eat my food but they didn’t even leave one cookie for me..
Sandy
I meant runny***
karen
Can the maple syrup be substituted with something thar has a much lower glycemic index such as xylitol?
Jennifer
Did you try them with the xylitol??? Was wondering as that is how i would like to make them also!!
Sarah
These were great!! I made them without the chocolate chips as I was looking for a basic cookie recipe using coconut flour. I think the solution for those finding the batter to be runny is to slowly add the coconut flour last, while whisking. I find that to be helpful with recipes requiring coconut flour in general – add it last!
Cookie
The chocolate chip cookies were OK, but when I substituted shredded coconut–YUMMY!!!
Jodi Grotegut
I made these today as my first shot at a coconut flour cookie. I am impressed! Mine came out perfectly. I live at about 8,000ft altitude in Colorado. I used Bob’s Redmill store bought coconut flour with LouAna brand coconut oil, I substituted honey for the maple syrup. I also doubled the recipe for about 24 cookies. VERY GOOD!
Pam
I tried these today using 2 TBS. of local, natural Sourwood Honey instead of Maple Syrup. I also did not melt my coconut oil, but instead mixed (creamed) it together with the coconut flour as you would in traditional cookie recipes. I also did not have any chocolate chips, so I cut up 2 squares of a Lindt 85% Cocoa Extra Dark Chocolate candy bar and mixed that in instead. I have to say, they turned out excellent! If you are having trouble with runny batter, I would recommend not melting the coconut oil.
Zoya
Has anyone tried using bananas instead of eggs? Wanting to sub eggs but not sure if it’ll turn out. I tried using bananas instead of eggs in muffins and they came out extremely crumbly. Thanks!
Erica
Best cookies ever ! I make these weekly for my husband to take to work. And for me to snack on, a healthier cookie for sure. Will never make any other kind. 🙂
Alison
I just made these and they turned out wonderfully! Not sure why some people are having issues? I think it’s important to use an electric mixer until the batter thickens. Also, I used canola oil (not paleo, I know) instead of coconut oil because I was low on coconut.
s
I made this recipe using honey and they turned out AWESOME. my family and friends always ask me to make them, nobody can get enough!
Mary
This is the first time I’ve baked with coconut flour. My husband lost his dad a couple of weeks ago and I’ve not let him run out of home baked chocolate chip cookies since. This will be fun to try this new recipe. Ooh!! The timer just went off!…. Back in a minute….FABULOUS!!! Thank you! I added lots of walnuts but otherwise followed the recipe. I didn’t melt coconut oil and mixed the flour as if I were using softened butter. That may help those who had too runny of batter.