My next foray into my pursuit of the perfect chocolate chip cookie is creating a Paleo version. That way I can feel less guilty about eating a batch a day. Well not really, but at least this way I can delude myself.
And anyway, what good is scarfing down a ton of cookies if you can’t enjoy yourself? As a mentioned before in The Ultimate Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookie, the key to creating an amazing chocolate chip cookie lies in the chocolate.
Chefs do not use a bag of chocolate chips, sorry Toll House. They take a bar of chocolate and coarsely chop it. The result: The chocolate is much bigger and much meltier (probably not a word but should be).
OK so chocolate mastery, check. Next the flour. Since grain is a no no, what’s a girl to do? Now embracing a Paleo lifestyle has introduced me to all kinds of, we’ll call them, alternative ingredients: Cassava flour, coconut nectar, maple sugar and now, tiger nut flour.
Tiger nuts are not actually nuts but tubers so they are nut-free. The flour from tiger nuts is much less starchy than cassava or arrowroot so it makes a cookie with a much better flavor.
Lastly, the sugar. I truly love dark brown sugar in chocolate chip cookies. So far, I find anything Paleo with chocolate is best flavored by maple syrup and my introduction to maple sugar has been a Paleo baking miracle.
Maple sugar is really close to dark brown sugar and both give baked goods so much more depth than table sugar. It will honestly take your baking to the next level.
Yields 18 to 20 cookies
30 minPrep Time
28 minCook Time
58 minTotal Time
Save RecipeIngredients
Adapted from Alton Brown's The Chewy Gluten Free
6 tablespoons coconut oil
10 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter
1 3/4 cups tiger nut flour
1/2 cup casava flour
1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups maple sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons coconut milk, nut milk or soy milk
12 ounces paleo-friendly semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup chopped nuts of your choice {optional}
Instructions
- Melt the coconut oil and butter in either a saucepan over low heat or a microwave. Once melted, pour into the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
- Add the sugar, vanilla and milk to the bowl with the butter and using the paddle attachment, mix together on medium speed for at least 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl.
- Add the whole egg and egg yolk and mix on low until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the bowl.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low until thoroughly combined. Scrape down the bowl.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate and nuts, if using. Tip: View a video on How to Fold an Ingredient into your Batter.
- Chill the dough in the refrigerator for approximately 2 1/2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Tip: Remember the oven needs at least 20 minutes to preheat fully in spite of what the read out says.
- Shape the dough into 2-ounce balls. Tip: 2 ounces is 1/4 cup so if you don't have a scale you can use a measuring cup. Also ice cream scoops are usually 1/4 cup. Place the balls on parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for 14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through for even baking.
- Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on the sheets for 2 minutes. Move the cookies to a wire rack and cool completely. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container.
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