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My almond flour cookies are thick, soft, chewy, naturally grain-free, and refined sugar-free. They require no chill time and are ready in 15 minutes.
Love almond flour recipes? Try my almond flour pancakes, almond flour banana bread, almond flour cake, and almond flour muffins next.
Using grain-free flour in cookies can be very tricky. While traditional white flour or wholewheat flour are safe choices, others can be pretty hit-and-miss. My simple almond flour cookie recipe is a winner, and it tastes like any good cookie!
Table of Contents
Why I love this recipe
- 5 Ingredients. And you don’t need any eggs or milk to make them.
- Perfect texture. They are thick and chewy, have a slightly soft center, and have gorgeous crisp edges.
- Quick and easy. There is no chilling required, and they take less than 15 minutes to make.
- Diet-friendly. These cookies are vegan, gluten-free, AND paleo!
Ingredients needed
- Almond flour. You must use blanched almond flour, not almond meal. Almond meal tends to yield heavy and dense cookies and will be darker in color.
- Baking powder. Gives the cookies some rise.
- Butter. Either butter or vegan butter can be used. You must measure your butter in a melted/softened state. If you use vegan butter, be sure to use one from a stick, as other kinds contain added water that can affect the texture of the cookies.
- Maple syrup. Gives the cookies the necessary sweetness without being overpowering. You can also use agave nectar or honey (although I find honey to be a little too overpowering, so be wary!).
- Vanilla extract. A must for any good cookie recipe!
- Chocolate chips. Optional but highly recommended! I like to use a mix of semi-sweet chocolate chips and dark chocolate chips. If you opt for vegan butter, use vegan chocolate chips.
How to make cookies with almond flour
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Step 1- Prep. Mix together the almond flour and baking powder. Next, add the softened butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and mix until combined. Gently fold through your chocolate chips, reserving a few to top the cookies with.
Step 2- Shape. Form 6 large or 12 small balls of dough and place on a lined baking sheet. Press each ball of cookie dough into a thick cookie shape.
Step 3- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges start to brown. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on the pan.
Arman’s recipe tips
- While your butter must be melted/softened, it should also be at room temperature. Using warm butter will start the melting process of the chocolate chips, resulting in marbled cookies and burnt edges.
- These cookies do not spread, so shape them the size and thickness that you want.
- Do not overbake the cookies, as they continue to cook as they cool down.
- Be sure to check on the cookies at the 12-minute mark and continue to monitor them until done. They can go from golden to dark brown in a short amount of time.
- Use another syrup. Some readers have tried replacing the maple syrup with sugar-free syrup. I haven’t tried this myself, so I cannot vouch for its outcome.
- Shape appropriately. I made 6 large cookies (as pictured). For smaller cookies, make 12 balls of dough.
Flavor variations
- Almond flour chocolate chip cookies. As pictured! Fold through 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chip of choice into the dough.
- Raisin cookies. Add 1/2 cup raisins to the dough, and reserve a few to top the cookies with. Soak the raisins for 30 minutes prior, for them to plump up and be extra juicy.
- Trail mix cookies. Add up to 1/2 cup of your favorite mix-ins, including seeds, nuts, candy bits, and more!
- Double chocolate cookies. Add 1/4 cup cocoa powder to the batter and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Storage instructions
To store: Place the cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week. Store them in the refrigerator if you’d like them to keep longer.
To freeze: Put your cookies in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Frequently asked questions
While you technically can use almond meal, your cookies won’t be creamy in color but flecked with brown and black spots. They also will be slightly more crumbly.
Unfortunately, no. Freezing this particular cookie dough will yield crumbly and gritty remnants once thawed, and the cookies will be brittle and grassy once baked. My recipe is super simple, though, so you don’t need to fret about prepping this in advance.
More almond flour desserts
- Almond flour brownies
- Almond flour oatmeal cookies
- Almond flour banana muffins
- Almond flour banana bread
- Almond flour waffles
- Almond flour chocolate cake
- Almond flour cupcakes
Almond Flour Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 2 cups almond flour blanched almond flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup butter or vegan butter, softened
- 3 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add your almond flour and baking powder and mix well. Add your melted butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, and mix until combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold through your chocolate chips.
- Form 6 large or 12 small balls of dough. Place on the lined sheet, and press down into a cookie shape. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just beginning to go golden around the edges.
- Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Originally published October 2020, updated and republished November 2024
I made these for my friend’s husband so he wasn’t left out of dessert and he really enjoyed them. I halved the batch and he ate them all.
I love these cookies. So easy to do. I have a question though…….how do you get your edges of the cookies smooth, mine tend to be rough and broken up a bit.
Did you use superfine almond flour? I also shape them once out of the oven using an egg ring?
Thanks for the tip!!
(yes, I did use super fine almond flour).
These were nothing short of amazing! My entire family LOVE them. They are not only satisfying to my sweet tooth but delicious and easy to make as well. Will be making these often in my house.
Excellent and so very simple — I add dark coco powder to make it double chocolate! Being a lover of nuts, next batch I will add chopped walnuts. Thank you!
Super, super good and so easy! I add some sunflower seeds and these cookies just don’t last more than a few hours.
These cookies are mine and my hubby’s go-to sweet treat. They’re just as good without the chocolate chips; and even better with some sugar free Nutella spread over them <3
Thanks for the recipe bro 🙂
Excellent, fast and so easy. Will definitely be my go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Thank you!
Simple, good ingredients cookie! I was insecure about baking with almond flour until this recipe! Thank you, healthier treat.
I tried this recipe last night. We all loved them! At first, when I saw the recipe, I said, “Wait, no milk and no eggs?!” How is this going to work? Well, to my amazement, it worked out! I’ve never liked making cookies because of too many ingredients and work. These cookies, which I’m calling “miracle cookies” uses 6 ingredients which it’s so easy to remember and literally in almost no time or effort. This morning I woke up, doubled the batch and got creative! I made plain, chocolate chip, chocolate chip w/butterscotch chips, and cinnamon w/brown sugar. I’m so thankful and grateful for this AMAZING and super easy recipe for such GREAT tasting cookies!!! Never in my wildest dreams would I think that I would make cookies two days in a row! 😘🥰💯❤️❤️❤️
My Keto son-in-law gave these two thumbs-up! They are simple to mix and bake. Delicious, even without granulated sugar and egg.
These cookies were very easy & quick to prepare. They are mouth-watering Delicious!
I made them with Ghirardelli Dark 60% Chocolate Chips & added a some chopped pecans. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi! Can I replace maple syrup with regular honey?
I don’t see why not!
These are soooo good. We have a Type one diabetic and they are great on blood sugar…Not to mention taste!
Loved the recipe and used as a base. I had to modify and blitz almonds and used dates as sweetener as didn’t have maple syrup. Love it. Thanks 🙏🏼😋👌🏼
This was my first attempt at making grain-free, vegan cookies. I had serious doubts about whether or not the recipe would work, so I checked and rechecked the directions and followed them to the letter. The taste of the dough dough was fine, but something magical happened when I baked it! These cookies really were a delight! I am sure that I will be coming back to this recipe again and again. Thank you for sharing.