Dark Chocolate Cookies (Grain Free)
Deep chocolate flavor, chewy centers and melt-in-your-mouth decadence for the best Dark Chocolate Cookies! Like dark chocolate chip cookies + brownies combined.
The Best Dark Chocolate Cookies!
Brownies, cookies, chocolate cake: which do you prefer? No matter what you pick, I think it’s probably safe to say that any lover of these treats is a chocolate lover. If that sounds like you, then you’ll absolutely love today’s dark chocolate cookies!
These cookies have crisp edges, chewy, brownie-like centers, and are bursting with melty chocolate goodness. Ready to bake? Let’s do this, grain-free-style! 🙂
Dark Chocolate Cookies: the Ingredients
Already feeling guilty about making these decadent dark chocolate cookies? Dash that away, stat! These dark chocolate cookies are guilt-free! You’ll love the amazing ingredients in this recipe!
- Almond Butter + Tahini – something really wonderful happens when almond butter gets baked up in a good—it becomes chewy, with a bit of fluff. That structure is perfect for excellent dark chocolate cookie texture. Bonus? We get to rely on the healthy fats in almond butter and tahini to skip the butter!
- Flax Egg – or egg of choice
- Chocolate Chips – I love using dark chocolate chips to make these dark chocolate cookies, but you can go for whatever you’d like. 😉 Maybe a half split between white and dark chocolate? YUM!
- Coconut Sugar
- Vanilla
- Coconut Flour – these grain free double chocolate chip cookies are basically flourless. The one tiny exception? 1 tablespoon of coconut flour. The tremendous absorption powers of coconut flour make it so that all we need is 1 tablespoon. How cool is that?
- Raw Cacao Powder – you can use that box of Nestle unsweetened cocoa powder if you don’t have raw cacao powder on hand. Raw cacao powder is just more nutrient-packed and adds a deeper chocolate flavor to these dark chocolate cookies that I absolutely love.
- Baking Soda + Salt
How to Make Dark Chocolate Cookies
Always start your recipe by preheating the oven, lining a baking sheet or pan (whatever is called for), and making any flax eggs that are called for. To make dark chocolate cookies, we’ll need to make one flax egg. You can also use any egg of your choice.
Next, we’ll add all of the dark chocolate cookies ingredients except for the chocolate chips into a medium-sized mixing bowl: almond butter, tahini, flax egg, coconut sugar, vanilla, coconut flour, cacao powder, baking soda, and salt.
Grab a rubber spatula to stir and fold all the ingredients together until you get a cohesive dough. After, you’ll fold in the chocolate chips! Voila, you’ve just made your dark chocolate cookie dough!
Now, grab a medium cookie scoop to scoop and drop balls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Use the palm of your hand to quickly flatten the cookie. Then, press chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie.
Bake for about 14 minutes, then cool and enjoy the best ever dark chocolate cookies!
Then, make some cinnamon streusel muffins and pumpkin donuts so your cookies don’t get lonely. 😉
Tips For Making Dark Chocolate Cookies Delicious
- Fluff Up Your Cocoa Powder & Don’t Pack It. Cocoa powder (and cacao powder) can tend to turn into crumbles over time. Make sure to fluff it up gently with a fork, making sure not to press down. Also, when measuring, fluff the cocoa powder, then spoon it into your measuring cup, finishing off by leveling it off with a butterknife. Avoid packing the cocoa powder into your measuring cup—it will lead to overly dry, crumbly dark chocolate cookies.
- Just the right Bake Time: I tested different bake times for two batches of dark chocolate cookies. One baked for 12 minutes, resulting in slightly fragile, brownie-like cookies. Another baked for 14 minutes, resulting in crispier edges for a more traditional, chewy cookie. Choose the bake time that suits your desired texture!
- Choose Your Favorite Chocolate Chips! Many folks recommend using the highest-quality, most expensive chocolate chips. I recommend using your favorite chocolate chips. Not everyone’s tastebuds veer toward the expensive—some folks just like what they like, and there’s nothing wrong with that! 😉
- Or, leave the dark chocolate chips out and use toasted slivered almonds instead.
More Sweet Recipes
Love these dark chocolate cookies? Then you’ll absolutely enjoy the sumptuous, decadent dessert recipes below:
- Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Gingerbread Martini
- Candied Walnuts
- Whipped Shortbread Cookies
- Peppermint Martini
- Date Balls
Tools You Need for the Best Dark Chocolate Cookies
- raw cacao powder
- tahini
- medium cookie scoop
- nesting mixing bowls
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
- unbleached parchment paper
- nonstick cookie sheet
Life Is What You Bake Of It
So thank you for baking with me. <3 I have so much fun on all of our baking adventures together. When you try this dark chocolate cookies recipe, make sure to take a pic and share it on Instagram using @beamingbaker and #beamingbaker so I can see! Let’s bake the heck out of this life! 😉 ‘Til our next sweet adventure…
Sending you all my love and maybe even a dove, xo Demeter ❤️
Print
Dark Chocolate Cookies (Grain Free)
- Total Time: 29 minutes
- Yield: 12–18 cookies 1x
Description
Deep chocolate flavor, chewy centers and melt-in-your-mouth decadence for the best Dark Chocolate Cookies! Like dark chocolate chip cookies + brownies combined.
Ingredients
Tools Needed
- raw cacao powder
- tahini
- medium cookie scoop
- nesting mixing bowls
- measuring spoons
- measuring cups
- unbleached parchment paper
- nonstick cookie sheet
Dark Chocolate Cookies
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons natural, unsalted creamy almond butter
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted tahini
- 1 egg of choice
- ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- ¼ cup raw cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Add-ins
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Topping
- 2–3 tablespoons dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or greased foil. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add all ingredients except chocolate chips. Using a rubber spatula, stir and fold until thoroughly mixed—making sure no flour or tahini/nut butter patches remain. Make sure to stir until a cohesive dough ball forms.
- Fold in chocolate chips.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop and drop cookie dough onto baking sheet, evenly spaced apart. Do not roll cookie dough in the palm of your hands—this will cause the dough to warm up and release too much oil, resulting in spread out cookies with unseemly crisp edges.
- Using the palm of your hand, quickly press down to flatten cookies about halfway—they’ll spread just a bit while baking. Press chocolate chips into cookie tops. Press together any cracks or crumbles that form to create a mostly smooth-edged, round cookie.
- Bake for 12-16 minutes. Mine took 14 minutes. Place cookie sheet on a cooling rack, and allow cookies to cool directly on the sheet for 15-20 minutes—do not remove from sheet for at least 15 minutes, as cookies are fragile. You can underbake a little (12 minute end) for soft, but brownie-like cookies.
- Use a heatproof cookie spatula to gently transfer cookies directly onto the cooling rack to cool for about 30 minutes, or until completely cooled and not fragile. Enjoy! Storing notes below.
Notes
Storing Instructions: Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
Freezing Instructions: Store cookies in a freezer-friendly container for 1-3 months in the freezer.
How to make Vegan: Use a flax egg (1 tablespoon golden ground flaxseed + 3 tablespoons water, whisked together, set for 15 minutes) and vegan chocolate chips.
How to make Gluten Free: Keep recipe as is.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Category: Dessert, Snacks
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
🍫 📸 🍪
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Hi, what would be a good substitute for the coconut flour?
Hi Kimberly! You’re so sweet to make cookies for your friend. I know some readers have used granulated date sugar in place of coconut sugar in some of my other recipes with good results, so that might be an option. Otherwise, I know that in traditional baked goods, people often swap brown sugar for maple syrup at 3/4 cup maple syrup for 1 cup of sugar. So here, that would be about 5.25 tablespoons (a scant less than 1/3 cup). Now, I haven’t tried swapping the coconut sugar for maple syrup in this recipe, so I can’t guarantee the results. Which means you will likely need to do a bit of experimenting to get the best texture. Hope this helps! 🙂
Hi Kimberly! You’re so sweet to make cookies for your friend. I know some readers have used granulated date sugar in place of coconut sugar in some of my other recipes with good results, so that might be an option. Otherwise, I know that in traditional baked goods, people often swap brown sugar for maple syrup at 3/4 cup maple syrup for 1 cup of sugar. So here, that would be about 5.25 tablespoons (a scant less than 1/3 cup). Now, I haven’t tried swapping the coconut sugar for maple syrup in this recipe, so I can’t guarantee the results. Which means you will likely need to do a bit of experimenting to get the best texture. Hope this helps! 🙂
I don’t like rating something I haven’t yet made. I can tell from the ingredients that this will be delicious. A question though: is there ANY WAY I could use maple syrup in the recipe? I have a friend who can have only natural sweeteners, and none of them are dry (so, fruits, honey and maple syrup are ok). I can play with the recipe by increasing the coconut flour but wondered if you have a better suggestion. Thank you.
Hi Kimberly! You’re so sweet to make cookies for your friend. I know some readers have used granulated date sugar in place of coconut sugar in some of my other recipes with good results, so that might be an option. Otherwise, I know that in traditional baked goods, people often swap brown sugar for maple syrup at 3/4 cup maple syrup for 1 cup of sugar. So here, that would be about 5.25 tablespoons (a scant less than 1/3 cup). Now, I haven’t tried swapping the coconut sugar for maple syrup in this recipe, so I can’t guarantee the results. Which means you will likely need to do a bit of experimenting to get the best texture. Hope this helps! 🙂