These gluten free coconut flour cookies are a coconut lovers dream with coconut flour, coconut oil, and no refined sugar – all this while being decadently sweet and tasty!
I don’t think its any secret that coconut is one of the best tasting health foods out there. It seems to be one of those love it or hate it flavors, a favorite for tons of us and despised by others. I happen to be a major member of the fan club myself and if you’re on board with me on this, I’ve got quite the cookie for ya.
It all starts with coconut flour.
I’m not gluten free by any means, but I love the idea of making flour out of coconut. Totally brilliant, right? This makes it high in fiber, low-carb and altogether a health superstar, but in addition to all that good stuff, it can also taste absolutely great, which is critical for cookies. Flavor is a cookie 101 requirement, gotta taste good. If you don’t have that, you don’t have a cookie.
If you’re also a member of the coco-obsessed clan and haven’t tried coconut flour yet, paleeease do. I want you to be just as into it as I am so we can share our cocolove over the interwebs and whatnot. The rumors are true that it can be tricky to bake with, but once you get the hang of it, coconut flour will become a pantry staple in your kitchen like it is in mine forever more. Agreed? Good.
So, back to this particular coconut flour cookie. We’ve spent a lot of time talking about the flour, but this little cookie doesn’t stop there, its got three different kinds of coconutty ingredients! Coconut oil and shredded coconut also make an appearance, along with a bit of maple syrup and a touch of vanilla for good measure.
The end result is a delicious, crumbly morsel made from wholesome ingredients. The ‘wholesome’ part makes eating cookies pretty much a diet necessity. I mean, you’ve gotta get your daily quota of wholesome, right? Right.
One thing you learn quickly in baking with coconut flour is the need for eggs. I know there might be some sneaky vegan way of getting around this, but I haven’t found one myself. Coconut flour absorbs a lot of liquid and eggs act as a binder to help hold the cookies together so they aren’t a complete crumbly mess. Don’t get me wrong, these cookies certainly are a tad bit crumbly, but without eggs, they’re hopeless.
Even if you don’t care about gluten in particular, but happen to be riding the Paleo train, these coconut flour cookies will work for you too. Its hard to find desserts that pass the Paleo test but these coconut flour cookies are cave man friendly. Yup, for those cave men that had hand mixers and baking sheets and leopard aprons of course.
The first time I made these cookies, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about them… but then I couldn’t stop eating them so I figured I was onto something. Then Ted couldn’t stop eating them either so at that point I knew I had to share ’em. After a couple more attempts, I think this is the best version of this recipe. The trick is to let the dough sit for a good 10 minutes before rolling into balls and not to over cook them. For some odd reason, they’re almost better the next day too.
If you don’t like the texture that the shredded coconut adds, you could probably get away with replacing it with coconut flour, but if you do this, make sure to add an extra egg in to help bind it all together. Again, lessons learned cooking with coconut flour: eggs are your friends.
On another note – if you have any other good coconut flour recipes, please share them with me! Pretty please.
Coconut Flour Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup almond flour/ meal
- 1/4 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened but sweetened would be fine too)
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup pure Grade A maple syrup
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (176°C).
- Stir coconut flour, almond meal, shredded coconut and salt together. Add melted coconut oil, vanilla and maple syrup and mix. Add eggs in and mix well. Let dough sit for 10 minutes to allow coconut flour to absorb the liquid.
- Roll approximately 2 Tbsp. of dough into a ball and place on cookie sheet. Repeat with remaining dough to form 12 balls total. Flatten balls to about 1/2 inch thickness using a spatula.
- Bake cookies for 12 - 14 mins until firm but not brown. If in doubt, it's better to under bake these cookies slightly than to over bake.
Nutrition
did you make this recipe?
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Comments & Reviews
These are really tasty and I can eat them without guilt! I didn’t have any almond flour so I used ground flax and they came out great. I think this recipe is forgiving that way. Thanks!
Im going to try this as my first experiment with coconut flour. However, I want to use stevia sweetener instead of other sweeteners. I recently used a cup of stevia instead of sugar, in a blackberry cobbler, and it turned out delicious! I also want to add pecans! Will let you know how it turns out. I look forward to learning and sharing healthier recipes on this blog! Thanks!
Hi Dianne – I’m always a bit nervous about substitutions like that… did it turn out okay? Sounds a little risky but I’d love to know if it worked! And if you ever have any questions about any of my recipes, please feel free to reach out. 🙂
Great!!!
I used Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacement, and 50-50 split of Maple and Date Syrup. A delicious cookie and a small batch so no guilt trip with splitting it with someone ejse.,
I’ve been wanting to try coconut flour for a little while and after my first bread disaster, I was a bit hesitant to try again! These cookies though, came out absolutely fantastic – even my skeptical husband loved them. Awesome recipe!
Great recipe! I follow a low carbs diet and these cookies are delish. I made it for me but my kid loves it. I used honey instead of maple sugar with not problems.
Oh good! Thanks for the feedback on using honey. I’ll have to try that soon and will update the recipe if it works better with honey. 🙂
Hello! I thought I’d substitute the maple syrup with stevia sweetener–how much would I need to add to match the sweetness of the maple syrup, also should I add a bit of water as well? Thank you! M.
I wish I could tell you but I don’t bake with Stevia so I’m not sure what the ratio would be. If you end up trying it let me know how it worked out! I’d love to try it out.
Great recipe! My family enjoyed it. I used butter instead of coconut oil. I didn’t have shredded coconut so I replaced it with almond flower. And, I sprinkled coconut sugar on top. This is our new family favorite. Thank you!
Happy that they worked for you! I love the idea of sprinkling coconut sugar on top!
I had the same problem with runny batter but it dawned on me that I was using fresh eggs that were not refrigerated. I wondered if cold eggs make the coconut oil resolidify. So, I put my batter in the refrigerator for an additional ten minutes after the first “set”. It worked, the dough became thick and I was able to roll it into balls.
The cookies were tasty especially after being drizzled with some dark chocolate .
Thank you so much for the feedback! I have been meaning to re-test and update this recipe for a while now and appreciate the input! 🙂
HI Christy,
Thanks a lot for sharing this wonderful recipe. Just made them tonight and the they turned out delicious; all family members loved them. I’m sure they will be a staple low-carb dessert in our household from now.
There is just one thing I observed during the preparation, which didn’t seem quite right. I didn’t get the firm consistency of the dough as I can see in the your pictures. I assured all ingredients were precisely to the measurements in the recipe and I also noted to follow the instruction about sitting the dough for over 10 mins before rolling it up in balls. However, the dough was very loose more like a thick paste consistency and would stick all over the hands making it difficult to ball it up cleanly. Any ideas on what could be causing this or what can be done to remedy it? Increasing the almond or coconut flour or reducing one egg? I did notice that before adding the eggs, the consistency and color of the mixture although in crumbly pieces resembled more closely to the final dough in your pictures. After adding the eggs the color of the mixture turned more pale and loose. So I was thinking of trying to add just one egg first the next time I make these…
Any tips from your side would be appreciate. Thanks!
Well I’m happy they turned out okay in the end but that doesn’t sound quite right. I honestly haven’t made the recipe in a while and will have to again and get back to you with some advice soon!
Ohmygosh delicious!! So glad I can still have treats. Bookmarked your page and am excited to start cooking away!
Side note – how best to store?
Hi Melanie – glad you liked them! Store these in an airtight container like tupperware or something with a tight seal. They should last for several days or maybe even a bit longer. 🙂
Wonderful recipe! Used 1/4c butter and 1/4c coconut oil instead of 1/2c coconut oil just to try it out for fun and it turned out great! I tried a recipe from another blogger who used all coconut flour for a short bread cookie and it was way too dry… your recipe is just the right consistency and with such simple ingredients too! Thanks so much for sharing!
Adding butter to anything makes it better in my opinion! 😉
Um… Did you mean 1/2c coconut oil before or after it’s melted? That’s a TON of solid coconut oil I’m trying to melt if you’re measuring the liquid result…
Hi Julie – Im’ a little bit confused by your comment. Liquid takes up more volume than solid so I’m not sure exactly what you mean here. If I am misunderstanding what you mean, let me know! The difference is not huge, but noticeable. I believe I measured the 1/2 cup of solid coconut oil first and then melted it but will verify this the next time I make these and add clarification to the recipe if needed.
Can i substitute coconut oil for extra virgin olive oil?
Thanks!
In this recipe, I really don’t think that will work well. Olive oil has a different consistency and the coconut oil helps bring out the full coconutty flavor. I could be wrong though, so if you try it, report back to the rest of us on how it works. 🙂
Worked really well! Great recepie!
*recipe
We have a tree nut allergy in our family, so cannot use the almond flour. Would I substitute more coconut flour and an extra egg? I just bought coconut flour, but have not made anything with it yet! These sound really good!
Unfortunately, coconut flour is so dry that its hard to make substitutions and know they’ll turn out well. Adding a bit more coconut flour and an extra egg sounds like a good starting place though. If you try it, let me know how well it works! 🙂
Please could you convert the measurements into grams. I tried these out and it did not work as measurments in Europe use grams. Thank you.
I’m so sorry that it didn’t work for you! Next time I make them I will record gram measurements and update this post with them.