Description
Golden, chewy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies made with almond flour — easy, one-bowl, no mixer needed.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Cookie Dough:
- 2 cups (200g) blanched superfine almond flour, spooned and leveled (not almond meal — the texture difference is significant)
- 3 tablespoons (24g) tapioca starch (this is the secret to chewiness — arrowroot starch works too)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (see dairy-free swap in tips)
- 1/3 cup (75g) light brown sugar, packed (or coconut sugar for a deeper molasses note)
- 2 tablespoons (30ml) pure maple syrup
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (130g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided — reserve 2 tablespoons for topping (use dairy-free chocolate chips if needed)
- 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, for finishing (Maldon or Fleur de Sel — not optional in my house)
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Instructions
- Preheat & Prep Your Pan
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Set them aside while you make the dough — parchment is non-negotiable here, as almond flour cookies can stick. - Whisk the Dry Ingredients
In a medium bowl, whisk together the almond flour, tapioca starch, baking soda, and fine sea salt until evenly combined and no lumps remain. Set aside. (The tapioca starch is doing important work here — it binds the dough and gives you that chewy pull in the center that almond flour alone can’t achieve.) - Cream the Butter and Sugars
In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and brown sugar together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until the mixture looks pale, fluffy, and smells like caramel — about 2 minutes of good, vigorous stirring. Add the maple syrup and stir until fully incorporated. - Add Egg and Vanilla
Add the egg and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and stir until completely combined. The mixture should look smooth, glossy, and slightly thickened. If your egg was cold from the fridge, it might cause the butter to seize up slightly — don’t panic, just keep stirring. - Combine Wet and Dry
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in one go and fold with a spatula until a thick, uniform dough forms. There should be no streaks of dry flour. The dough will be noticeably thicker and denser than regular cookie dough — that’s completely normal. - Fold in the Chocolate Chips
Reserve about 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips for pressing into the tops. Fold the remaining chocolate chips into the dough with a spatula until evenly distributed throughout. - Shape the Cookies
Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1½ tablespoons), drop rounds of dough onto your prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Press each cookie gently down into a disk shape — these cookies don’t spread much on their own, so a little help from your palm goes a long way. Press the reserved chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie, then sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt. - Bake to Golden Perfection
Bake for 11–13 minutes, until the edges are a deep, nutty golden brown and the tops look set but still slightly soft in the very center. They will firm up as they cool, so resist the urge to overbake. At the 9-minute mark, you can optionally lift the pan and gently tap it on the counter 3–4 times — this helps the cookies settle into beautifully crinkled, flat discs. - Cool Before Touching
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before attempting to move them. Almond flour cookies are fragile when hot — they need that rest time to firm up. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for another 10 minutes before eating. (Or don’t. I’ve definitely eaten one straight off the pan. No regrets.)
Nutrition
- Calories: 238
- Sugar: 3.8g
- Sodium: 99.3mg
- Fat: 22g
- Carbohydrates: 8.4g
- Fiber: 2.7g
- Protein: 3.9g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
