Small Batch Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Egg Free)
There's no egg and no flour in here (!) but these are chunky, crazy flavorful and packed with dark chocolate. Everything you love about a classic ccc, minus the gluten & egg!
I first published this recipe in my IG stories and planned to leave it there but it has had such wide appeal to those who needed a variation on my one yolk cookies that I figured I’d give it a home here too, where non-IG users could find it.
This is a small batch cookie recipe; makes just 7 cookies (you could make ’em bigger or smaller too, to get fewer or more) and there’s a lot about it that is adaptable to accommodate even more food restrictions. Let’s talk about what makes the dough of these cookies and how you can get it the way you like!
Small Batch Egg Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Probably no other recipe on my site (save maybe the brownie babka, and that was a short-lived hit during the height of lockdown) has received as much love as my one yolk chocolate chunk cookies. I’ve been bombarded with messages, photos, tags, comments and questions about how to get them just so, and how to adapt them to other pantry staples. A few people even asked me, what if I don’t have the yolk?! Wait – how can I make one yolk cookies without the yolk?
Turns out it IS possible, as I discovered while playing around with the dough a few weeks ago. When I started working on the recipe I had a yolk ready and was going to simply make them gluten free. But I stopped and thought, what if we went a little further in this adaptation – I had flaxseed on hand from the project I was working on (and the client had requested I work with as many of their ingredients as I could) so I said – let’s try it! And, magic. I did not miss the yolk one bit.
How to make an egg-free cookie dough
There are a number of ways to do this; some taut aquafaba as a great substitute and some flaxseed. Sometimes, with a banana bread or something that has a lot of yogurt in it, you can get away with leaving the eggs out all together (yogurt is the sub I go to when making my challah egg free). Back in the early days of lockdown when eggs were scarce I had tried making my thick cocoa brownies with aquafaba and with flax – neither worked. Eggs play a huge part in the base of cakes and brownies that it’s a lot more tricky to leave them out. Cookies are a different game however.
Usually the ratio of 1 egg to make a flax egg is 1 tsp flax to 3 TB water. Since I’m aiming for a chewy cookie and I need the binding effect without the additional water (why I prefer yolks in my cookies rather than whole eggs) I use a little less water than the recommended ratio.
Small Batch Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
There’s a caveat here: this recipe works not simply because of the flax/water but also because I’m using almond flour. Together these make a chewy, perfectly textured cookie dough.
Once I had made my dough and kept (mostly) the sugar, butter & flour the same I had a very soft dough that was going to spread like mad in the oven. I had melted the butter, to emphasize the chewy cookie which made the dough soft, but even chilling it didn’t help. Almond flour doesn’t have the same absorbent quality as AP so I had to add a lot more to get to a good consistency.
The result: a super chewy cookie! Full of flavor! I merely had to stir the ingredients together and let them rest to encourage the dough to bind. These cookies don’t spread much so even though I use a cookie scoop (specifically this one) to get equal sizes I flatten them a bit before they went into the oven.
The best part is that because they are full of ground nuts, they make a more nutritious snack and are kind of filling in a way that most sweets are not. And OH please use good chocolate!
Recipe Ingredients
Almond Flour: similar to almond meal but almond flour is finer and is made after the nuts have had their skins removed so it’s closer in look and texture to a flour than a ground nut. You could use almond meal, the cookies will look different but they’ll taste very similar. Almond flour is a bit pricey but if you get it on Amazon in bulk you can find a good deal.
Flaxseed Meal: Made out of ground flaxseeds. They do have to be ground. You need very little of this but it’s important as this is your main binding ingredient. Because we are using almond flour here, it’s even harder to get it to ‘bind’ so we shouldn’t omit the flax. Once you make your ‘flax egg’ stick your finger in it to see how it becomes a bit egg like in texture. Find it in grocery stores or online.
Brown Sugar: light or dark is fine. If you don’t have any on hand and really want to use granulated you may do so, but the cookies may not turn out as chewy.
Butter: this is where you can take the cookies a step further and make them dairy free & vegan. Butter is my preference because it makes a more delicious cookie overall but you could make this with coconut oil or with a vegan butter.
Chocolate: I generally prefer a chopped up chocolate bar to chocolate chip cookies but occasionally I find chocolate chips that I really do like as much as a bar. There are three I would recommend: Whole Foods 365, Guittard Dark and Nestle’s Artisan Collection. In some of the photos you’ll see cookies with bigger chocolate pools, for those I chopped a gluten free chocolate bar (chocolove).
Small Batch Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Small Batch Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup butter melted and cooled
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground flaxseed mixed with ½ TB water
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 cup almond flour
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Method
- Mix the flaxseed with the water, set aside.
- Stir together the sugar and butter. Add the flaxseed mix and combine. Stir in the soda, salt and almond flour. Fold in the chocolate chips. Let dough rest at room temp for 20 mins.
- Scoop rounds onto cookie sheet lined with parchment and flatten them slightly
- these spread minimally. Preheat oven to 350.
- Bake for 10 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?
Share & tag me on instagram @buttermilkbysam
The best gluten free cookie I have ever made! My gluten free and non gluten free friends request these!
Sam, these cookies really are something else. I have made them countless times – my mom always requests them too, she is hooked. I made a batch this weekend and froze 4 of them – let me tell you, straight out of the freezer with a cup of tea, INCREDIBLE. PS – I make them with ghee instead of butter and they are SO GOOD 🙂 thanks for this incredible recipe that is topppppp of my cookie list, you are the best!
Shivani this is FANTASTIC to hear! I’ll have to try freezing them right before eating. Also I’ve never tried ghee in cookies before, worth an experiment.
I would love these for my grandson, he cannot have eggs, but he is also allergic to almonds!! Would using a gluten free blend work with these? They look so good.
Hi Karen! You can use oat flour, sub 3/4 cup oat flour (90g) instead of the almond flour.
Loved your vegan recipe
Sam, this cookie is ridiculously perfect.. I try to eat gf due to intolerances and this is my all time fav cookie ever! I have made it with ghee and lower sugar and still tastes amazing! Have also added raisins and even better. Thanks so much- my fav cookie recipe and one that my fam requests time and time again!
Surprised by how good these are (although I knew they had to be because everything I’ve made from Sam has been great) I made these with one egg yolk instead of the flax egg, after seeing it suggested on IG. I used almond meal, and I actually only had a touch over 3/4 cup left, but it seemed to be enough! They did spread a bit, which is probably because of the lower amount of almond meal. Will definitely make again!!
Sooooo I’ve made these twice in one week, once using almond flour and the other time grinding blanched almonds in my food processor. Hands down, grinding the almonds into a grainy “flour” made a more delicious chewier cookie with completely different texture than using flour. They look extremely different too. Sam, these cookies are soooo good! Thank you!!
Just made these and they are SO delicious!! I love the slightly nutty flavor almond flour gives these. I used left over dark chocolate chips and because I just purchased Hershey’s dark chocolate lava cake kisses I decided to wrap the dough of each scoop around one kiss. Love the extra little lava pool when I bit into them. I was able to make 8 cookies which was perfect. Will definitely make these again.
I posted a comment earlier mentioning how flat they were. So I shaped them into 10 circles and let them cool and they are DELICIOUS!! The texture is my favorite! Grainy chewy, I like them better than my favorite cc cookie recipe. And so easy! Can’t wait to make again. Thank you!
Best GF CCCs! I love the almond taste, though definitely gonna add some vanilla next time. The texture is spot on. I’m so excited to share these with friends with gluten and egg allergies. If I had one piece of constructive feedback I would love for the recipe to include weight measures for the flour, sugar and chocolate. I am incredibly lazy and don’t want to take out measuring cups when I can use my scale instead ?
Hi Sam, The dough was delicious but the cookies were as flat as pancakes. Followed everything to a T. What so you think happened?
Had extra egg yolks to use up but needed a gluten-free recipe, so I gave these a try (replacing the flax egg with one egg yolk proportionally) and they were fantastic. The chewy texture was amazing. Definitely a (small) crowd pleaser! Thank you!
Every single recipe that I have made off of your blog has been a hit! I made these today and was a bit skeptical about how they’d turn out, but they were AMAZING! I gave one to my dad, and he didn’t even think these were egg and gluten free.
I made these for a friend with Celiac’s and they said they are the best GF cookie they’ve ever had – they were even a little nervous that I’d maybe given them “regular” cookies! I was glad that I baked a double batch because, even as a gluten lover, I nommed on a bunch of these.
I made these again today and decided to try using unrefined coconut oil in place of the butter. They still tasted so good!! I live and die by this recipe
Huh. I was skeptical as I was making these. Like, six ingredients or something. I knew it could work for peanut butter cookies (3 ingredients or less!), but chocolate chip? The butter and sugar weren’t even *creamed*! And after the first bite I knew they weren’t exactly like other CCCs but BOY oh BOY by the end of my second bite it was like the heavens opened up and the rains came down and– Chocolate chip cookie fantasies were fulfilled. I love the TEXTURE of these – absolutely superior – something about them just feels so… thick and decadent! 10/10 will cookie again. Thank you!
I just made these using two yolks (instead of the flax) and 1/4 cup coconut oil (instead of butter) and they turned out soooooo delish!!!! Thanks for these small batch recipes, they’re just perfect!
Thank you for this recipe, Sam! I doubled this recipe and baked it on a pizza pan as a giant cookie cake for my nephew’s second birthday! He has many allergies and by using a vegan butter and allergy free chocolate chips, this checked all the boxes of a safe but DELICIOUS recipe we all enjoyed. It had great texture and none of the “sandy-ness” of many GF treats. I baked it for the same amount of time called for in the recipe and it was soft but still able to be cut into slices to top with some soy ice cream. It is always so wonderful to find recipes that can include him in eating the same thing as everyone else so he doesn’t have to feel othered. I am grateful for this recipe and your sharing it with us!
Forgot to put a rating — I actually give this cookie 25 stars, but 5 will have to do!
This was my gateway cookie into learning about the magic that is Sam’s baking! This cookie is my ultimate GO TO. I love it so much, it’s not too sweet, perfectly nutty, and filling enough that one does the trick (ok, fine, maybe usually two). It’s practically foolproof and I absolutely love that Sam tells me what to do in grams, for I would be lost without my kitchen scale.
Can we replace almond flour with all purpose flour
Nope. If you want an ap flour recipe check out the one yolk chocolate chunk cookie recipe
Love love love this recipe! I love how quick it is, and if I melt the butter in a large enough dish, it’s only one dish to clean. I bake gf for friends a lot and this recipe is going to be one of my go rod from now on. I’ve doubled the batch with great success too!
These cookies are magic!! They’re my go to “I need a little sweet treat” move. The nutty taste of almond flour is the perfect complement to the chocolate, and they aren’t too sweet. You are my new favorite baker and make me feel like a professional!
This looks amazing!!!
Can I use chia seeds instead of the flax seed? If so how much?
Can’t wait to make it!!! Xx
Lina, the flax seeds are used as an egg replacer. I’m not sure how chia would work in this case as I haven’t tried it.
Thank you for the reply! I’ll maybe try?!
I’ve used it as a bind for something before (I think) so thought I ask 🙂
Delicious!!!! I used earth balance to make these vegan. They did spread quite a bit so I’d refrigerate them before baking next time. The flavor is so delicious and not overly sweet. The texture is chewy and a littly grainy and quite addicting.
Hi. I was wondering how many eggs I would use instead of the flaxseed? I don’t have flaxseed handy so I was hoping to keep them gluten free but with eggs.
Sarah, in theory you would use one yolk (not sure if you saw my discussion above about what this recipe is based off of) but I can’t say for sure if it would work.
Okay. I just looked at your above convo and I guess she used 2 yokes. So maybe I’ll try that? Thank you!!!
Hi Sam. This recipe looks wonderful. Do you think it would be ok to use vegan butter instead of real butter? I have a friend that is vegan and I always look for recipes to make for him that don’t yield a ton of cookies.
Thanks,
Lisa
I think that would be fine!
Not even allergic to gluten but these are my new fav CCC recipe!! I’ve made them twice now and each time they turned out perfectly! I’d recommend not packing the flour in at all when measuring the almond flour, because that way the cookies spread out more and they resemble the original one-yolk cookies a little more. I also use dark brown sugar because I like the color and chew 😉
Aren’t they great?? I think the almond flour adds a delicious flavor otherwise missing from regular cccs!
These cookies were SO GOOD! I went a teeny step further in the “healthy” direction and subbed in coconut sugar for the brown sugar, and ghee for the butter! I also just used 2 egg yolks (I know it was probably supposed to be 1 but my batter was too dry I think) since I didn’t have flax meal ready. Definitely a must make again recipe!
Hi Lauren! Yes you would need two yolks because there’s a lot more almond flour in these than there is flour in the one yolk cccs recipe. So glad they worked out!
How many cookies does this make? U say servings 3-5…meaning ..?? What? Recipe sounds great. Thx!
Thank you!
Hi Dianne! It will depend how big you portion them – I used a 1.5 TB scooper and got 7 cookies.
I have decided to experiment with almond flour and almond meal. I accidentally bought a large bag of almond meal and this recipe was a great way to use 3 cups of it. I triple the recipe and I am so happy I did so. My cookies didn’t look as good as Sam’s but they are incredibly delicious! I baked them for 10 more minutes than indicated in the recipe and they are still chewy and juicy!
These cookies are so easy to make. The almond flour leave them with a grainy/unique texture that I personally loved!
So happy to hear it!
Hi Benan! Almond meal is a fine substitute here. So happy they worked out!