How to Make Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
Make the dough: Mix the flour of your choice and baking soda together. Add the coconut oil, honey, vanilla extract, and vinegar and mix until combined. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
Bake: Spoon one tablespoon of batter onto the baking sheet for each cookie. Bake them for 12 to 15 minutes and put them on a wire rack until cooled before attempting to store them in an airtight container.
Make-Ahead and Restoring Instructions:
To Make-Ahead: Cookies are easy to make ahead. Just bake them, cool them, and store them in an airtight container at room temperature. Alternatively, add some paper towels on the bottom to prevent sogginess and refrigerate them.
To Restore: If you have stale cookies, simply pop them in the oven for five to ten minutes. Cover them with foil to prevent burning. Let them cool as usual, and enjoy fresh, crisp cookies every time.
4 Commonly Used Paleo Flour Substitutes
Look up recipes like cookies, muffins, pizza crust, pasta and other staples in the standard American diet and you are likely going to run into a lot of recipes that require the use of all-purpose flour, wheat flour, or something similar. In an effort to make the recipe paleo-friendly, substitutions must be made. However, not all ingredients are compatible with one another, and simply replacing one for another doesn’t always work. So, we’ve put together this short list of commonly used paleo flour substitutes for you to be guided by:
1. Almond Flour – Almond flour is one of the most popular paleo flour substitutes because it can be measured 1:1 when used as a substitute for wheat flour. However, finding very finely milled almond flour can be challenging, as brands tend to mislabel almond meal as almond flour. The JK Gourmet brand and the Honeyville Farms brand are close to ideal, so try to find these or something similar when using recipes that call for wheat flour.
Almond flour works great when baking denser baked goods such as cookies, muffins, or coarse cakes.
2. Almond Meal – Almond meal is a less finely-milled version of almond flour. Almond meal is great as breading for meats, however in some cases it can also be used for baking such as in crusts, cookies or fruit cakes. If you can’t get your hands on almond flour, you can still use almond meal. Just reduce the measurement slightly.
3. Coconut Flour – Coconut flour is another commonly used paleo substitute as it tend to be cheaper than almond meal and almond flour. It has a high fiber content, so it is best suited for recipes with a lot of wet ingredients. Coconut flour can be tricky to work with because of its coconut flavor, and small changes in measurement can drastically alter the finished product. As a general rule, a ratio of 4:1 of wheat flour to coconut flour is recommended for most recipes.
4. Cassava Flour – Cassava is made from the starchy tuber root vegetable and is both sweet and/or bitter depending on the variety you pick up. It’s not the most nutritious substitute on this list, but it is also a viable alternative to wheat flour in terms of texture and ratio of measurement. Cassava flour works great with breads, cakes and cookies with its neutral flavor. Whereas almond flour and almond meal have a higher fat and protein content relative to carbohydrates, cassava is very starchy and is composed predominantly of carbohydrates.
Everyone loves a good cookie now and then and who can say no to chocolate? Combined, you simply can’t go wrong. These could be the ultimate paleo snack, especially if you don’t have much time to prepare a full-blown dessert. Thanks to dark chocolate and other great all natural ingredients, it’s possible to still enjoy tasty chocolate chip cookies that are actually good for you.
P.S. – Chocolate chunk cookies aren’t the only great paleo snack that you can make with dark chocolate. Just wait until you try this rich delicious dark chocolate pudding made with chia seeds as well.
P.P.S. – Looking for another great paleo cookie recipe? How about some delicious gingerbread cookies with chocolate icing.
P.P.P.S. – Here’s yet another great chocolate cookie recipe – chocolate crinkle cookies. They’re another perfect way to enjoy a chocolate treat while still remaining paleo.
This story originally appeared on Paleogrubs
