4-ingredient chocolate almond flour cookies that are rich, decadent, and good for you! They are vegan, oil-free, grain-free, Paleo, & only 61 calories per cookie
Oh. My. Chocolate.
I can hardly contain my excitement for these cookies, they are so luscious, fudgy, and decadent!
And easy. EASY. As in mix-the-dough-in-under-1-minute easy.
They require no more than 4 ingredients (plus water & salt), too
Did I mention that they are also healthy? Looks like I just did. I’ll get to the specifics in a moment.
Oh, and then there’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious fact that with one recipe you can make umpteen variations. Here’s a brief tableau of blissful possibilities:
It’s easy to understand my excitement, yes? I hope that it is rubbing off.
These wonderful cookies are great year-round (chocolate is always in season), but are guaranteed to deliver heaps of joy, both to makers and eaters, during the holidays ahead.
Here’s a quick summary of their healthful attributes:
- Grain-free
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Oil-free
- Paleo friendly
- Rich in healthy fats (from the almond flour)
- Rich in antioxidants (from the cocoa powder)
The cookies have a deep, dark chocolate flavor and have a tender yet fudgy texture. Yum!
Here are the four humble ingredients:
(1) Blanched almond flour
(2) Unsweetened cocoa powder
(3) Coconut sugar (or the granulated sweetener of your choice)
(4) A bit of baking powder
Add some water and salt (the salt boosts the flavor significantly). Confessions, I actually add 1/8 teaspoon and an extra pinch of salt, because I like salt + sweet. However, feel free to reduce the salt if needed for dietary/health reasons).
Stir. The mixture will seem dry for the first 5 seconds of stirring, but keep stirring (do not add more water). The dough will come together in another few seconds of stirring.
Scoop the dough by tablespoons onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. I use a small size cookie scoop to do the job. You can also roll the dough into balls if you do not have a scoop and want perfectly sized cookies.
Licking the bowl is strongly encouraged.
Bake in a 350F oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the surface of the cookies appears dry and small cracks begin to appear. The centers should feel just set when lightly touched with your fingertip.
Hello, gorgeous.
Customize Your Cookies {with Ease}
I have included the six variations pictured above in the recipe, but go ahead and experiment to the moon and back. Here are some other ideas to consider:
Mocha Almond Fudge Cookies: Replace the water with 4 tablespoons of cold espresso or strong cold coffee.
Tipsy Chocolate Cookies: Replace half of the water with the spirt of your choosing (e.g., bourbon, liqueur, rum, oh my!)
Zests, Spices, and Extracts: Add a teaspoon of finely grated citrus zest (e.g., lime, orange, lemon), or a 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract, or anywhere from 1/4 to 3/4 of a teaspoon of ground spice (chocolate + cardamom is the bomb!).
Can I get a Joy to the World?!
More Grain-Free & Vegan Almond Flour Cookies to Try:
3-Ingredient Almond Flour Cookies
3-Ingredient Banana Almond Flour Cookies
Almond Flour Gingerbread Cookies
Sweet Potato Almond Flour Cookies
3-Ingredient Fresh Apple Almond Flour Cookies
4-Ingredient Almond Flour Blondies
Print
4-Ingredient Chocolate Almond Flour Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 mins
- Cook Time: 14 mins
- Total Time: 16 mins
- Yield: 12 cookies 1x
Description
4-ingredient chocolate almond flour cookies that are rich, decadent, and good for you! They are vegan, oil-free, grain-free, Paleo, & only 61 calories per cookie
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (84 g) blanched almond flour
- 1/3 cup (37 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 and 1/2 tablespoons (32 g) coconut palm sugar (see notes for options)
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup (60 mL) water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the almond flour, cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt (breaking up all lumps in the flour and cocoa powder). Add the water and stir until blended.
- Drop by tablespoons (I used a small cookie scoop) on the prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 14 minutes until the tops appear dry (& are beginning to crack a bit) and are set at the centers.
- Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely.
Notes
Storage: Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at cool room temperature for 3 days, the refrigerator for 2 weeks or the freezer for up to 6 months.
Sweetener: An equal amount of the granulated sweetener of your choice can be used in place of the coconut sugar.
Variation Ideas:[br]
Chocolate Raspberry Thumbprints: Using your finger or the back of a 1/2 teaspoon measure, make a small indentation in each scooped dough mound before baking; filling with 1/2 teaspoon raspberry jam.
Chocolate Almond: Add 1/8 teaspoon almond extract to the dough. Gently press a whole almond into the center of each scooped dough mound before baking.
Double Chocolate Chip: Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of miniature semisweet chocolate chips to the dough before baking.
Double Chocolate Mint: Add 1/8 teaspoon peppermint extract to the dough before baking. Melt 1 to 2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate chips and drizzle over cooled cookies
Toasted Coconut: Finely chop 2 tablespoons of unsweetened flake coconut. Shape tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in coconut before baking.
Turbinado Sugar Coating: Shape tablespoons of dough into balls and roll in turbinado (raw) sugar before baking.
- Category: Cookies, Dessert
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cookie
- Calories: 61
- Sugar: 3.9 g
- Sodium: 54.7 mg
- Fat: 4.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 6.1 g
- Fiber: 1.6 g
- Protein: 1.9 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Wow – these are really good! So simple and ultra quick to make too! For my first batch, I added some almond extract and chocolate chips (for hubby’s half of the recipe). This will be a go to recipe for home and also for taking to others. I’m considering adding some crushed corn flakes to make it similar to a famous New Zealand cookie I love (called Afghan cookie), but isn’t plant based. Fantastic recipe!
Oh that’s wonderful, Cathie! And now I need to go and look up Afghan cookies, I’ve never heard of those before. Yes, add in different bits and bobs to the cookies, they are very flexible 🙂
These cookies are so delicious. They are not dry either. I added a dash of cinnamon and a little cayenne (and followed the suggestion of using cold coffee instead of water). I wanted to mimic Mexican hot chocolate. I’m definitely making these cookies again! I’ll add some chopped walnuts next time.
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Yum! Your Mexican hot chocolate cookie variation sounds heavenly (and is making me very hungry…) 🙂
Well….I was certainly sceptical of this recipe, never before having made baked goods that didn’t require eggs and some sort of added fat. Let’s just say, I was blown away! These are truly delicious. They will become one of my staples, as will the different variations. Thank you so much for posting this very delicious recipe!
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Your comment made my day, Pascale. So glad you like them! 🙂
these are my family’s favorite cookies! my partner and daughters ask me to make them all the time! I’m AIP so I haven’t tried these personally, but my family is picky so I KNOW they have to be delicious. thanks for all your easy recipes- love finding things to make which don’t required a bunch of ingredients to taste good. xoxo
I am simply thrilled to hear it, Ryane! Especially hearing that it is a family favorite (no small feat to get everyone to like the same thing, even cookies :)) Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know !
Forgot to ask a question in my previously submitted comments: Can these be made as brownies in an 8×8 pan or will they fail to get done in the center?
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I have not tried it, but I think that would work fine. You might need to 1 and 1/2 or double the recipe, not sure if there is enough dough for the pan.
Just took them out of the oven and had a little taste—excellent!
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Whoohoo! Glad to hear it, Brenda!
Hello,
My daughter loved these cookies . Can I substitue the sweetener with maple syrup or honey ?
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Hi Kavitha, I am so glad you and your daughter liked these! Yes, maple syrup should work fine. I would add an equal amount (as the sugar) and decrease the water by at least half (you can always add a bit more water, as needed).
So glad I found this recipe! I was incredibly surprised. I am not sure if my location had anything to do with it, but I had to add a little more almond flour at the end and subbed regular brown sugar for the coconut sugar. Luckily, you had a picture of the mixed batter, which was very helpful. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Oh! I used almond milk instead of water too! I think it made it a little richer.
Oh wow!!! These reminded med of brownie bites that our local grocery store made, except not as sweet and so much better nutrition for our bodies. Thank you for sharing. 😢
Sorry about the typo I meant to say they reminded me of the brownie bites our local grocery store made. And I fat fingered the teary face it was suppose to be a 🙂!🤷♀️
I am an expert at typos 🙂 I completely understand!
You are so welcome, Dolly!
Being an older male (who lives alone), I do not bake much; plus, I’m Pescatarian not Vegan. I had a 2 pound bag of (Nature’s Eats) Blanched Almond Flour, and close to expiring, it was use it or toss it. So, I started searching for it plus the (Better Body Foods) Organic Cacao Powder that I’ve been using for years now; I wanted to know what I could bake with these two key ingredients. That’s when I came upon this site. I print-saved the recipe a month ago, and finally got around to baking, due to confinement boredom :-). Based on what I already had, I varied from your recipe a bit. First, I made a larger batch (I doubled everything), but I used only half of your recommended sugar; I use (Better Body Foods) Organic Coconut Palm Sugar, but supplemented it with a pinch of (Enzo’s) Organic Stevia Powder, and, I used one small egg and 1% chocolate milk instead of water. In half the recipe batch I added chopped walnuts. They turned out more like brownies than cookies; that was a pleasant and tasty surprise. So now I want to make them as brownies! If putting them into one pan, not portioned but as one, say a 1/2 inch thick, how (if at all) would that change baking time and/or temp?
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Hi Camilla,
I just made these. They are YUMMO! I dropped the sugar down to 3T since I was going to roll them in sanding sugar. I added chopped pecans. They are not sickening sweet which is good. I used a 1 inch cookie scoop also and mine were baked in just 9 minutes. Next time I will leave out the pecans and roll them in a crushed peppermint candy/sugar mix.
Deb
YUM! I have some leftover candy canes in the pantry from Xmas; you just gave me an idea of how to use them, Deb!
My cookies are flat despite following the recipe. They look nothing like the photo
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Hi Abigail,
So sorry to hear that these did not come out as expected. It is definitely unusual that they came out flat; if anything, the dough does not not spread much at all. It sounds like the proportions (especially the amount of liquid; too much relative to the other ingredients) were off.
It’s delicious! But I only yielded 6 cookie scoops 🙁 and a half to eat 🙂 perhaps measuring 3 of the 1/4 cup does not equal 3/4 Cup. I even put it on my scale for 84g to make sure. Still delicious though! HIGHLY RECOMMEND for snacking! Next time I will try the boozy ones and double the recipe.
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Hi Karen,
So glad you like the recipe! I think my cookies were simply smaller than yours. I used a small cookie scoop, which is about 1 tablespoon per cookie. But big cookies are always great, too!
Super good and super easy! I’ll definitely make these again.
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Wonderful, Sue! Super easy and super good is my favorite kind of recipe 🙂
Wonderful recipe! I added milk and coffee concentrate instead of water and it turned out great! After trying the first batch, I made some tweaks for the second batch and it turned out even better. I found the original recipe to be a bit salty for my taste so I reduced salt a bit. I reduced cocoa a little bit since I was running low on it and ground all the dry ingredients in a food processor to get a even tasting dough and then added the milk and coffee concentrate. They taste like brownies. Really yummy!
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I love all of your adaptations, Meena–so glad to haar that you made them your own! Sounds delicious!
I can’t use baking powder because I’m allergic to the corn starch in it, so what would you suggest as a substitute?
Hi Morgan! I use a grain-free baking powder in all of my baking (Hain Pure Foods brand) or I make my own. But you can also make your own using baking soda and tapioca or arrowroot starch (just google paleo baking powder and you will get a slew of results :))
I was pleasantly surprised, these cookies so easy and so delicious 😋. I added 1/4c oftiny chocolate chips and topped with a walnut. Will be my signature chocolate cookie, and I don’t like to bake !
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That is so great, Donna–even more so given that you are a self-professed non-baker! 🙂
I found your recipe in my search for something i could use my left over almond flour and cocoa, that i wanted to clear my ref and pantry of. They came out amazing. Now i am planning to replenish supplies to try the Mocha variation with cold brew coffee, and the “Tipsy’ chocolate one with left over Kahlua.
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Excellent, Roxy!!! 🙂
I just made these. I used half amaretto liquor and half water and I snuck a little extra sea salt in there as you suggested and they were OH MY GOODNESS, next level delicious. I just googled almond flour chocolate cookies and I found you. Now you have a new BIG fan. All of your recipes look fantastic. Limited ingredients is right up my healthy lifestyle alley! Thank you!!
Whoohoo! And oh good heaven, I love the idea of the amaretto and extra salt (admitted salt fiend, right here :)) I am going to have to try that asap, so brilliant Mandy. Yay for simplifying in a healthy and delicious way 🙂
So very good! I added chocolate chips and pecans but would be great any way.
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Excellent, Lee! 🙂
Hi, I really like your website. I’ve tried a few of your recipes and they’re all great. You have a very unique style of baking, you use whole food ingredients and not a bunch of oil and sugar and milk and things you don’t really need to make stuff. I’m always looking for simple recipes that don’t require a lot of oil or sugars, and yours are perfect. Real food for real people! I tried this cookies and added some chocolate chips to them. Very good. My daughter will be awake soon and eat them all. Thanks for ANOTHER great recipe!!!
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Thanks so much for the note, Salty— I love imagining your daughter waking up to homemade chocolate cookies !
Just made these cookies! Delicious!!!
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Hooray, so glad they were yummy, Vlada!
Can you use oat flour instead of the almond flour?
Hi Laura,
It’s possible, but I think it could take some tweaking to get it right. The almond flour has fat, oats have no significant fat, so without adding some fat, the cookies will not be tender. You could try adding about a tablespoon of fat/oil along with the oat flour.
Yesss. These hit the spot. I was craving chocolate so bad, but I’m too lazy and impatient to make elaborate cookies. I subbed Mac milk for the water & it turned out great. Not too sweet, perfect texture, no gross Over sugared feeling after.
You the MVP today 😘😘
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So happy to hear it, Jess!
Hi, would a 1/4 cup of maple syrup work for this?
I think that should work fine! Use it in place of both the water and sugar. If it is too thick, try adding a tiny drizzle of water (few drops at a time). I would love to here how it works!
I have this recipe in the oven now and am worried they won’t turn out properly. My dough was very crumbly. I mixed for nearly a minute by hand, and it did not adhere. I did add 1/4 tsp more water and that helped some, so i left it. I did have to press/make it into balls by hand because it would not stay on the spoon. I have them in the oven now. Fingers crossed!
Hi Rachel,
Oh no, so sorry that the dough is not as expected. Based on your description, it sounds like you may have had too much almond flour and/or cocoa powder in the mix. It’s very easy to overpack the cups in baking, it happens often. For any kind of flour, or floury ingredient (like cocoa powder), lightly spoon into a cup and then level off with a knife. I have gone in and added measurements in grams, too, in case you want to weigh the ingredients.
I am hoping that your cookies still taste good, even if they do not spread much! 🙂
I just made these using almond extract with almond on top. To die for! Perfect size and fills my chocolate craving! Now I will experiment 🙂
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Oh wow, that sounds so good, skc!
Hi, I’m process sugar free & am wondering if I could substitute raw honey for the coconut sugar?
Thanks so much!
That should work fine with an adjustment, Joyce. Use 3 tablespoons honey, and Wait to add the water— you will problem only need a tablespoon. Add that, and if it’s not moist like the photo, add a little bit more. Would love to know about the results!
Would I be able to sub chocolate protein powder for the cocoa powder?
Hi Heather,
I think you could make this work with chocolate protein powder, but it will definitely be different than the original. Less chocolate-y, and the protein will likely affect the shape. Not that it doesn’t have potential to be good— but it could take a few tries and adjustments to get it where you want it to be. But I think you’re right to look to this as a solid starting point for a protein cookie! I May have to try to figure it out…😊
Hello Camilla,
What kind of cocoa powder do you use? I used Fresh Market Dutch Chocolate Cocoa powder today. My cookies could definitely use more sugar! I’m going to try using 1/4 cup coconut palm sugar next time.
Hi Elizabeth,
I prefer the flavor of natural cocoa powder over Dutch process (personal preference–fruitier and more full-flavored to my tastes). I either use Ghiradelli premium baking powder or Hershey’s (they are not alkalized/”Dutch”)
Wow! I can’t believe how good these turned out with only four ingredients. My six year old daughter loves them! What more can I ask!!!!! I will be making these often. I will definitely try other almond flour and eggless recipes. Thanks for sharing. I give this recipe a 5 ⭐️
Thanks a million, Pardeep! 🙂
These were oh so yummy and also easy to make. I used Swerve with a drop or two of liquid vanilla Stevia and added a chopped sugar-free Lakanto chocolate bar and chopped walnuts. I also added instant coffee to the water to enrich the chocolatey goodness. I’m thinking almond extract, chopped cherries and sliced or slivered almonds would also work well. They really are quite versatile.
Hi Tara,
I am so glad to hear that you tried these with Swerve— that will be great for many other readers (me included)— I appreciate it! Oh my goodness, cherry and almond sounds brilliant— yum!!!
HI Camilla!
I made these today as I was dying for some chocolate! I took your tipsy suggestion and used Coconut Rum for half of the water…dreamy good! I added 3 chocolate morsels in the top and just one satisfied the raging chocolate monster inside of me. Fabulous! Thank you!
Laura
You are making me crave a batch right now, Laura! Sounds so good, and so glad you are enjoying the recipe! 🙂
These cookies are so decadent and delicious and feel healthy and energizing! I put in some raw walnuts as well. Simply amazing recipe! Thank you!
HUrray! So glad to hear it, Lori–thank YOU!:)
These are amazing! Love the texture and just the right amount of sweetness. Thank you for such a simple gluten free winner of a recipe!
Oh Amelia, you are so welcome, and thank you for the sweet feedback 🙂
Hi. Can this recipe be doubled ? I am talking about the chocolate almond flour delicious looking cookies
Hi Cindy–yes, absolutely! Double or even tripe to your heart’s content:)