These Paleo chocolate chip walnut cookies are so delicious and made with really simple, pure ingredients!
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie Recipe
Dark chocolate? Check. Nutty goodness? Check. Ooey gooey deliciousness that takes you back to childhood cookie heaven? CHECK. These cookies are the whole package, y’all. While they may not be widely Paleo approved, I put dark chocolate and honey into the “acceptable with moderate use” category.
Chocolate Chip and Walnut Cookies Ingredients
The ingredients below are super simple! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Almond Flour/Meal – to start, you’ll need 3 cups of sifted almond flour or meal.
- Dark Chocolate Chips – 1 cup of dark chocolate chips heads into the mix to bring all of the delicious chocolatey goodness.
- Walnuts – 1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts goes into the mix too.
- Sea Salt – a ¼ teaspoon of sea salt enhances all of the other flavors in the cookies.
- Baking Soda – a ½ teaspoon of baking soda helps the cookes to rise just a tad.
- Honey – a ⅓ cup of honey adds a subtle sweetness to the cookies.
- Virgin Coconut Oil – to add some more moisture to the dough, you’ll also need 2 tablespoons of melted virgin coconut oil.
- Vanilla Extract – a ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract brings the most delicious hint of vanilla.
- Egg – 1 egg binds everything together!
How to Make Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
The process is super simple, so don’t be intimidated! Here’s how you’ll bring these cookies together:
- Prep – preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Mix together the dry ingredients – in a large bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients (almond meal, salt, and baking soda) together with a fork or a whisk.
- Add the chocolate chips and walnuts – add the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts to the dry mixture and stir to incorporate evenly.
- Whisk the wet ingredients together – in a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together (honey, oil, vanilla extract, and egg). Note: you may need to slightly heat the honey and oil in order to liquify them — 30 seconds in the microwave will do. Be sure to heat BEFORE you add the egg.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients – make a crater in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the whisked wet ingredients, then stir the wet ingredients into the dry until evenly mixed.
- Spoon out the dough – using a 1 tablespoon scoop or a spoon, spoon out balls of the dough and align them on the baking sheet.
- Press the dough – using either the palm of your hand or the back of a spoon greased with a little coconut oil, smash the balls of cookie dough down. Because the cookies don’t expand much during baking, the shape you make will stick.
- Bake – bake for 10-13 minutes (or until golden brown), then let cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from the parchment paper. Note: the cookies will not come off the parchment paper very easily if they’re too warm.
- Enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Time Variations
There are MANY chocolate chip cookie recipes in the world (on the internet, in books, in magazines, and passed down from generation to generation), each with its own set of instructions. Some recipes call for a higher temp and some for a lower temp — similarly, some call for longer baking times and some for shorter ones. My best advice here is to follow the recipe exactly! These cookies take 10-13 minutes in a 350°F oven.
How to Store and Freeze Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store fully baked cookies in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, just pop the cookies in the microwave or oven until fully warmed through!
How to Freeze Chocolate Chip Cookies Dough
If you’d rather freeze the cookie dough as opposed to the baked cookies, simply prepare them fully, roll them in a “log” shape, then wrap in parchment paper to freeze. When you’re ready to bake, slice the cookies from the log, bake, and enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nuts FAQ
This recipe calls for walnuts, but ANY nut that you love would work great. Pecans, hazelnuts, and macadamia nuts would all be delicious here.
Refrigerate your dough for at least an hour for thicker, chewier cookies!
Egg yolks are said to make cookies extra moist and chewy. You could absolutely try replacing the egg white in this recipe for an extra yolk!
Each of these cookies contained about 135 calories, 10 grams of fat, almost 8 grams of carbohydrates, just 4.5 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.
Chocolate Chip Walnut Paleo Cookies
Ingredients
- 3 cups almond flour or meal sifted
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1 cup walnuts roughly chopped
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup honey
- 2 tablespoons virgin coconut oil melted
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or aluminum foil).
- In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the dry ingredients together with a fork. Includes: almond meal, salt, and baking soda.
- Add the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts to the dry mixture and stir evenly.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients together (honey, oil, vanilla extract, and egg).
- You may need to slightly heat the honey and oil in order to liquefy them. 30 seconds in the microwave will do. Be sure to heat BEFORE you add the egg.
- Make a crater in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the whisked wet ingredients.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry until evenly mixed.
- Using a 1 tablespoon scoop or a spoon, spoon out balls of the dough and align them on the baking sheet.
- Using either the palm of your hand or the back of a spoon greased with a little coconut oil, smash the balls of cookie dough down. Because the cookies don’t expand much during baking, the shape you make will stick.
- Bake for 10-13 minutes (or until golden brown), then let cool for at least 5 minutes.
- Note: the cookies will not come off the parchment paper (or aluminum foil) very easily if they’re too warm.
Nutrition
You are a genius. These are by far the BEST chocolate chip cookies paleo/primal/gluten free or otherwise. I used the Red Mill almond flour (a little more course than most) and followed your recipe to the T and they came out amazing. I’ve already made two batches and shared them and nobody had any clue they were made without wheat flour or processed sugar. Thank you so much for the great recipe!!
What awesome feedback!! Thanks, Tina! I’m thrilled that you liked them. Happy baking 🙂
So, I’ve made these delicious cookies a few times now (thank you!), but I’ve added an extra egg every time… I’m using Red Mill almond flour, which might not be as fine as what you have been using and therefore needs a little more moisture? Regardless, it’s been a great recipe for me. The only real problem is that you end up eating so many of these cookies it kind of defeats the purpose of a paleo treat:)
Hi Terran! Thank you for your feedback! I’m glad you found a modification that works for you. I have the same problem with these cookies – they vanish! Happy you like them 🙂
I know your recipe calls for Almond MEAL, but looking at your pictures it definitely looks like Almond FLOUR to me. I think some people use these terms interchangeably, but they really are two different things and give food different consistencies. I’m going to make them now with the FLOUR, but if you wouldn’t mind clarifying, that would be great! Thanks!
You’re right! The more fine almond flour is what I usually use, though either will result in a tasty cookie 🙂
I just completed the inaugural Oxfam Trailwalker 100 km event in Perth Western Australia this weekend. My team and I completed this very challenging event in one go and these cookies where such a highlight – especially at 1:30 am and about to hike a very challenging section. Thanks so much for sharing. Love your site.
Sorry, “were such a highlight”
Hi Tania! Wow! That is the neatest story. Congratulations to you and your friends for completing the 100 km event! I haven’t been to Australia, but it’s on my list. I’m so glad you all liked the cookies. Warms my heart to know that a little tasty Paleo love made its way across the globe. Thanks so much for your comment. Made my day.
I was on the way to bed when I found this on Pinterest Guess now I will be up baking for awhile…
Haha I hope you love ’em Jan!
Food paleo cookies- kids loved!
That’s awesome feedback!! Thanks, Katherine.
How important is it to sift the almond flour? It took forever and killed my sifter last time I tried it.
You can sift with a whisk in a bowl! New trick I learned. I think it’s important because it helps keep the cookies fluffy.
I dont have any baking soda! Does it matter? New to baking so please excuse my lack of knowledge! Also, just wanted to mention I have been doing the paleo diet for a little over a month now and used a lot of your recipies…I feel great and can’t ever imagine going back to my old diet. So thank you for the inspiration! Jo x
Your comment just made my day. Stories like yours are the reason I started my blog in the first place. Can’t thank you enough for your comment! The baking soda is pretty important to the cookies – it helps keep them fluffy instead of flat and dense. Do you have any baking powder? If so, try using 3/4 tsp to substitute. Not that I’ve tried this before, but that would be my first step for an experiment. Please let me know how they come out! And if you stop by the store for some baking soda, I’m sure they’ll come out perfectly. Congratulations on your lifestyle change and keep up the great work!
Made these today! So good I had a hard time not eating them all!! Do you have a calorie count per serving? THANK YOU
Hi Tara! I’m so glad you liked the cookies! I don’t have a calorie count handy but I can try to figure an approximate up. I’ll be back in touch!
Oh my goodness, these cookies are the BEST!!! I made them yesterday for the first time, my husband walks in the door & says awe you made me cookies. I smiled and said of course honey. He took 2 cookies & then came back and asked if he could have 4 more. Then later that evening he says, where are MY COOKIES, I need a snack!! Let me tell you this man is a cookie man and knows his cookies, well so he thought he did!! LOL If these cookies can fool my husband into thinking they are his Toll House Chocolate Chip homemade cookies, no one else will be able to tell any difference & they are H E A L T H Y. Thank you so much for sharing such an amazing recipe!!!
That’s hilarious! Thanks for sharing, Suzanne. I’m so glad you guys liked them.
I would like to try this recipe but I’m deathly allergic to walnuts. Can I just omit them without having to replace with anything else or should I use more almond flour in their place?
Hi Tracy! You can just leave the walnuts out. I’ve made them many times with just the chocolate chips. Hope you love ’em!
So I made these yesterday, and I had problems. When it came to mixing wet with dry, it seemed that I didn’t had wet enough at ALL. I ended up putting in an extra egg, but still it looked nothing like the dough in the picture…..what did I do wrong??
Hi Cecilie! Thanks for your comment. Not being in the kitchen with you, it’s difficult to say where it went wrong. These cookies have been made hundreds of times by myself and other readers, so I know the ingredients are correct. It’s possible that if you didn’t liquify the coconut oil and honey {a short spell in the microwave will do this …~20 sec}, than it wouldn’t have mixed well with the dry ingredients. They definitely don’t need an extra egg though. Remember, also, that paleo batter is much thicker than regular/gluten cookie batter. I hope that helps some and that they work out better next time!
This also just happened to me! I feel like it should be 2 cups of flour instead of three or something. The batter just looks crumbly. 🙁
Hi Cassandra! I’m sorry the batter didn’t work out for you. Make sure all your wet ingredients are melted before you add them to the dry. That may help!
It has to do with type/brand of almond flour/meal used.
those cookies look amazing…pretty sure when my whole 30 is up on march 8th this is going to be first on my to cheat list…
Thanks, Sara! Good luck with the rest of your Whole 30. That’s the next challenge on my list 🙂
I really adore the fact that paleo is catching on with EVERYONE these days!! 😀
Me too, pretty lady! I’m spreading the paleo love one batch of cookies at a time 🙂
It was an honor to have you, my love and an honor to eat the H out of those cookies!!! Cannot wait to make these for my new hubby and for our next gathering, which will be sooner than later – cheers!!