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
I want to double the batch. For the second batch can I use rice flower for 3/4 of the flower? The rest would be almond meal. Excited about trying them. Thanks.
How, exactly, are chocolate chips paleo?
Love your recipe! Thanks for sharing! It is a great base recipe that you can customize.
I mixed it up a bit and used pecans instead of walnuts, took out the chocolate and added 1/2 cup coconut finely shredded, subbed maple syrup for the honey and added some pumpkin pie spice and they were divine!
These are my absolute favorite cookie now!! So easy and delicious! I know the recipe be heart. Wouldn’t change a thing.
Awesome!!! I have more people tell me they know this recipe by heart. I love it!!
Wow these are so yummy just cooked a batch and we can’t stop eating them. So great
I’m so glad you like them, Lidya!
Can you use Coconut flour instead of Almond? If so do I need to change the amount I use?
Thank you!!
Hi Danielle! Coconut flour has a REALLY different influence on baked goods. It’s highly absorbent and therefore, difficult to say what a substitute might look like.
Oh my goodness! I loved these cookies! I made them for a family camping trip because everyone would get sweets but even camping I try to stick to the daily grind! Everyone ate them and loved them – the grain free and non grain free peeps alike. I replaced the walnuts with pecans because it was what I had in my fridge. They were fantastic. I WILL be making these again. Thanks! I was wondering…does anyone have nutritional facts about them though?
That’s wonderful, Lynne! I’m so glad everyone liked them. I have also made them a number of times with pecans 🙂
Okay, so I just had to come back and tell you that these are even BETTER the next day! I had one this morning with my coffee…Oo lala they are so yummy!
Also, I forgot to mention that I added a dash of cinnamon to my batter…
These will be a regular feature in our grain-free home!
Cinnamon sounds delicious!
Seriously FABULOUS!!!!! And soooo easy! I didn’t have walnuts, so I used some organic shredded coconut—deelish! I can’t
to wait to try with walnuts! Thanks for sharing your great recipe!
I ran out of almond flour, so I used cashew meal which I randomly had on hand for 1/3 of the recipe. The mixture did seem dry as other posters have noted, but I used a good rubber spatula and some elbow grease and filled everything together in no time. Final product. .. amazing! !! Doubled the vanilla, too, and my kitchen smelled like heaven. I bet people who didn’t know these were paleo would never guess this wasn’t a regular chocolate chip cookie. Actually, I would even say they are better than the average chocolate chip cookie! Thanks for posting this recipe!
Great Read!! Thanks!! Amazing pictures!!! I just recently wrote a blog post on my favorite paleo chocolate cookie recipe, a easy one and super yummy!! Thought I would share:)
https://myjourneyrx.com/2014/04/06/amazing-paleo-chocolate-chip-cookie-recipe/
Thanks Michelle
Made these tonight and they were awesome. Will be a regular new addition to the weekly desserts. Thanks!
Awesome! So glad you liked them, Ashley!
I just made these, and OMG they are AMAZING! My four year old and two year old daughters just can’t get enough if them! They are the perfect treat to crave any sweet tooth! And so guilt free!! Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
It’s my pleasure! Sharing the grain-free cookie love 🙂
The cookies just came out of the oven, they look amazing!! I said to my daughter they probably wont taste amazing, but they do!!!!!! Such an easy recipe, followed everything to a tee, next time I would cut back on the choc chips (a little too chocolatety for me) Thanks for posting the recipe!!
I’m so glad you liked them, Linda!!
OMG!!!! Cookies haven’t come out of the oven yet but the batter is yummy!! Totally making these for our paleo holiday treat exchange. Thanks
Haha the batter is my favorite part!