Tips on how to bake paleo + paleo chocolate chip cookies recipe

There are only so many ways to bake a cookie. Whether using wheat flour or grain-free options, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel chocolate chip cookie. These paleo chocolate chip cookies are as close to the classic as you can get, and a great way to begin your paleo baking journey.

Grain-free + paleo-style baking

If you’ve landed here, you are most likely in search of a recipe sans processed flours and refined sugars. Which is where we begin: replacements for wheat flour.

My favorite easy-to-find grain-free flour options

Thanks to the movement toward a less-processed life, bakers have a plethora of gluten and grain-free flours to choose from nowadays. Cassava, sorghum, tigernut flour – the list goes on and on.

However, many are only available online, and cost a pretty penny at that. Here are my favorites that can be found in most nationwide grocery stores from thoughtful brands like Bob’s Red Mill:

• Fine-ground almond flour
• Coconut flour
• Tapioca flour/starch (not modified)
• Arrowroot starch

For a great paleo chocolate chip cookie, start with the classic

If I’m craving a chocolate chip cookie, I want it to taste as like my great-grandmother’s cookies. AKA in the vain of the beloved, original recipe from Nestlé Tollhouse. Coconut flour lends a lovely flavor and is great for structure. But personally, I don’t want it dominating my numero uno comfort food.

In baking too many batches, I found tapioca flour to provide the best copycat texture as traditional cookies. While not necessarily hard-core paleo, I love the crumb and texture it creates, and its lack of strong flavor.

How tapioca flour is made

Tapioca flour is a product of the cassava root. The root of the cassava plant is peeled, chopped, washed and spun until it becomes a starchy pulp. The pulp of the shredded root is dried, and that is tapioca flour.

Yes, still processed. But a much less inflammatory ingredient than conventional white wheat flour. And you’re using MUCH less here, compared to a recipe that calls for wheat flour only.

Baking paleo chocolate chip cookies with less sugar

White sugar as we know it earned the nickname “white death” for a reason. It’s inflammatory, and it spikes insulin levels in healthy people, let alone those who struggle with obesity. Consuming it in excess can lead to a host of chronic illnesses, Type 2 Diabetes the most common.

For all these reasons and more, I shun conventional white sugar on principle. If you do need it on occasion (and who doesn’t), organic is my recommendation. And for routine baking – especially when my kids will partake – I use coconut sugar or honey.

Any form of sugar is broken down to the same basic molecules by your body. But the less refined and chemically-processed, the better.

Paleo chocolate chip cookie ingredients

• Fine-ground almond flour
• Tapioca or arrowroot starch (or a smaller amount of coconut flour)
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Avocado oil or ghee (or simply butter if the small amount of milk solids don’t bother you)
• Coconut sugar or honey
• Eggs
• Vanilla extract (can’t forget vanilla!)

The role of eggs in any chocolate chip cookie recipe

Many high-ranked recipes for grain-free cookies are lacking in the eggs department. The protein (albumin) in the egg white coagulates at oven temperatures, and provides amazing structure to baked goods. #bakingisscience

When baking with less starchy flours, structure is a hot commodity. In any classic cookie recipe, standard, proven ratios call for one egg per cup of flour. This is true for paleo-style, gluten-free and grain-free recipes. So use one egg for every cup of flour of any kind.

Any chef’s secret for great cookies every time

For any cookie, pie crust or shortbread, you won’t meet a chef who will mix the batter and bake straight away. See: The Great British Baking Show. So much drama about dough not getting cold enough in the time allotted.

Especially if you choose avocado or coconut oil for dairy-free cookies, chilling the dough before scooping and baking is non-negotiable. Cold, solid butter and oil will melt slower, and prevent a super-spreader event in your oven. And help give you a glorious crumb akin to grandma’s.

Because there’s no need to reinvent the chocolate chip cookie here. Just a few of the ingredients.

Yours in cookies,
Christina

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