Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies: Comparing 6 Recipes

Each paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe is represented above in succession beginning with Recipe 1 and ending with Recipe 6.

After undertaking (and succeeding at) the challenge of designing a delicious "paleo brownie" recipe for a friend, I decided it was time to tackle paleo chocolate chip cookies. (After testing these six paleo cookie recipes, I created my own very tasty paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe.)

My ultimate goal is to deliver a cookie that looks and tastes as close as possible to a traditional chocolate chip cookie but does not step far outside the bounds of the paleo way of eating.  That means excluding most refined oils (other than nut oils, olive oil, and coconut oil) and refined sugars (though many of the paleo cookie recipes break this), dairy (other than a few eggs), and flour or other domesticated and refined grains and legumes. For a longer description of what people generally consider "paleo," you can refer to the post in which I compared 5 paleo brownie recipes.

Before recipe-smithing on the fly, I wanted to get a sense of the existing recipe landscape. I searched for what looked like to the top paleo chocolate chip cookie recipes on the internet and tested them. The results are below, along with a photo and link corresponding to each paleo cookie recipe I reviewed. I've included notes on flavor and appearance based on my own observations and the help of three tasters.

In the coming weeks, I'll develop my own (hopefully) better recipe taking the best of what I've learned from these and traditional chocolate chip cookie recipes. Again, my goal for this future cookie is to get as close as possible to the traditional chocolate chip cookie in appearance and taste. Keep your eyes peeled for that upcoming post! NOTE: Done and done. . . I crafted my own delicious paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe based on what I learned from the six paleo cookie recipes below and trial-and-error recipe tweaking.

Finally, though some of the cookie recipes below may not be up to modern gustatory standards, any cave man would prefer them to rotting meat!

Recipe 1: Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Paleo Project

Flavor: After hearing me list the ingredients and then taking a bite, one taster commented with surprise: "I don't dislike it!" Not too sweet, but not bland, the other tasters described it as a "less sweet chocolate chip cookie." All of us thought it was sweet enough to be palatable, without being as sweet as a standard cookie. I balked, though, at the recipe's lack of salt. According to my taste, a hint of salt is one of the key characteristics of a classic chocolate chip cookie.
Texture: These cookies are surprisingly lightweight - maybe half the weight of a similar sized standard chocolate chip cookie - and not very durable. My tasters described the texture as "okay," "muffiny," and "grainy." One taster likened it to a "cupcake cookie" similar to the cookies that can be made using funfetti cake mix. I thought the inside of the cookie had a kind of pasty, wet texture (maybe from coconut milk?) that I didn't care for.
Appearance: They look rugged, like they're made out of processed granola.  The first few batches held their shape like biscuits, so I flattened the last batch before baking to make them look more normal. You would not mistakenly reach for one thinking it was a normal chocolate chip cookie.
Overall: I was skeptical about the lack of sugar (sweetness comes only from dates, chocolate chips, and 1/2 Tbs honey), but this was plenty sweet and pretty good! I didn't care, though, for the light texture. Still, at least one taster preferred this recipe to recipe 5, which yields a cookie that is more standard in taste and texture.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe from The Paleo Project
Notes: for the coconut milk beverage, I used SO Delicious brand
I omitted the cinnamon called for, because it isn't a standard flavor in choco chip cookies
I couldn't find medjool dates, so I used 6 deglet dates
For me, this made ~24 cookies that took 15 minutes to bake

Recipe 2: Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Food Lovers' Primal Palate

Flavor: This tastes more like a standard chocolate chip cookie, and more like a cookie in general, than the results of recipe 1. One taster mentioned that he wouldn't have known it was a "specialty" cookie. While the coconut flavor comes through, the maple flavor is not very noticeable. (Note: One blog reader commented that she did not find the coconut flavor to be overwhelming, even though she hates coconut. She also adds an additional half teaspoon of salt to the recipe, which may impact the overall flavor).

Texture: Cakier than a standard chocolate chip cookie. While the batter seems too wet and oily at first, it dries out while baking. Still, I found the cookie center to have a slightly pasty, wet texture, so perhaps err on the side of baking these longer rather than shorter. 

Appearance: These look a lot more like chocolate chip cookies than most of the other recipes, but they need to be pressed flat before baking to achieve the standard cookie look, as they spread very little while baking.  A few tasters noted that the exterior is not like a normal chocolate chip cookie...it is shiny/glossy (We're guessing that the maple syrup caused the glossiness).  The cookies are also more yellow than standard.

Overall:  Tasters thought it was good, but didn't rave about it. Based on taster comments, this could pass as a regular cookie recipe, but not as a regular chocolate chip cookie. Also, I'm not sure maple syrup fits the bill for most who eat paleo foods, since it's not much different from refined granulated sugar in terms of sugar content. 

Recipe:
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies from The Food Lovers' Primal Palate
Notes: For almond flour, see notes under recipes 5 and 6 on the best brands to use.
I used 1 tsp salt as the recipe called for, but one reader suggests upping this to a total of 1.5 tsp.
I baked for 12 min, this made about 36 cookies.

Recipe 3: Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies from Regina on the Elana's Pantry Forum

Flavor: Taster comments included: "smells and tastes like there are oats in it," "does not taste like a chocolate chip cookie."  I thought this tasted pretty good, but was maybe just a little too sweet.

Texture: In terms of approximating a cookie, I thought this was the least offensive texture so far. Tasters described the texture as "gingerbready," "loaf-like," and "crunchiness" at the bottom of the cookie. I found the cookies to be soft, again somewhat wet inside but not undercooked, and crispy on the bottom. The batter is denser and dryer than any of the other recipes I tested (though the resulting cookies were not dry) and looks much more like traditional cookie dough.

Appearance:  Because of the palm sugar, these are much darker than normal chocolate chip cookies: "looks like pumpkin bread"was one taster's assessment. I had to press these cookies flat before baking to help them be cookie-shaped.

Overall: This could also probably pass as a real cookie - but not a standard chocolate chip cookie. Also, I haven't looked into the use of palm sugar in the paleo diet. According to the manufacturer packaging, palm sugar ranks lower on the glycemic index than regular sugar. I plan to do a little more reading about sugars and oils before working on my final recipe.

Recipe:
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies from Regina on the Elana's Pantry Forum
Notes: The recipe calls for 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon coconut flour. Just use 1/2 cup...way easier and no big difference.
I added 1/2 tsp salt, since the recipe mentions adding salt in the instructions, but not in the ingredient list. The recipe also calls for 8 tablespoons refined coconut oil. That is equivalent to 1/2 cup, incase you don't want to measure each tablespoon out individually!
For me, these took only 8-10 min to bake, not the 13 min called for. Watch closely! The recipe made ~24 cookies.

Recipe 4: Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies from Fitness Fail

Flavor: Tasters described this as "bland," and "yuck." It tasted a lot like bread with chocolate chips in it. I was again surprised that there was no salt in the recipe, but even more surprised to see that there was no oil. :(

Texture: The texture is also very much like bread: both cake-y and springy.

Appearance: These do look something like a chocolate chip cookie...more than recipe 1 or 3. Again, I pressed them flat before baking. Still, they ended up looking kind of rough and pointy where parts of the dough had failed to melt down under the heat (due to the structure from the high-fiber coconut flour and lack of temperature-sensitive fats)

Overall: This was the least-liked cookie recipe. Nobody cared much for it, either as a stand-alone cookie recipe, or as a stand-in for a real chocolate chip cookie. Still, here it is for the curious:

Recipe:
Paleo(ish) Chocolate Chip Cookies from Fitness Fail

Notes: The recipe calls for splenda/honey/sugar. I tried using Splenda/fake sugar once in a baked good, and it was AWFUL, just AWFUL, bitter and nasty. So, I used palm sugar that was left over from the previous recipe, hoping to maintain moisture ratios called for in this recipe. For me, this recipe made about 12-16 cookies.

Recipe 5: Paleo Cookies Based on Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Elana's Pantry

Note: I changed this recipe quite a bit from the Elana's Pantry version. Skip ahead to Recipe 6 for a better attempt at the recipe.
Flavor: All tasters, myself included, were put off by the taste imparted by the oil that I used (walnut). While the original recipe called for grapeseed oil, most paleo experts are rabidly opposed to using grapeseed oil, so I was trying to use a paleo-friendly oil that wouldn't impart cookie-unfriendly flavors. Walnut oil might actually work fine...I think I just need to use less of it. Otherwise, there were no negative comments on the taste.

Texture: "Soft," "limp," and "oily" were comments from tasters.

Appearance: This and recipe 6 looked the most like real chocolate chip cookies, but there was so much oil in this (my fault) that the cookies looked wet and translucent. Gross!

Overall: I failed in a few ways with this recipe: First by trying to replace the butter with an equivalent amount of oil...which turned out to be too much oil, secondly by using an oil that had too strong a taste, and finally, I may have under-measured the almond flour by using a measuring cup. I weighed the almond flour in Recipe 6 in order to make sure I had an accurate measurement. If you're trying to decide whether to make recipe 5 or 6, make recipe 6. Recipe 6 comes straight from Elana's Pantry as a dairy-free recipe, calling slightly less oil, and it works better as a result.)

Recipe:
Based on Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Elana's Pantry
Note: I changed this recipe from the Elana's Pantry version by using a different fat, which may have resulted in a less tasty cookie than if you follow it to the word. Instead of butter, I used walnut oil (1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs), a more paleo-friendly oil, as I had hoped it wouldn't impart strong flavors like olive oil and coconut oil do. This made about 36 cookies.

As for almond flours, don't use Bob's Red Mill brand...it's too coarse. Use one of Elana's recommended brands: http://www.elanaspantry.com/ingredients/blanched-almond-flour/

Also, if you have a scale, measure this by ingredient weight for best accuracy. 1 cup blanched almond flour = 4 oz by weight, so 2.5 cups  = 10 oz by weight.)

Recipe 6: Paleo Cookies Based on Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Elana's Pantry

Note: I followed this recipe closely, only exchanging grapeseed oil for a nut oil.
Flavor: Salt was doubled in this recipe compared to Recipe 5, and most tasters thought it was an improvement. One taster thought these were a great variant on a traditional soft chocolate chip cookie. However, some tasters thought that the walnut oil imparted a flavor that just didn't work. I would suggest a different type of oil, or less oil. While the original recipe called for grapeseed oil, most paleo experts are rabidly opposed to using grapeseed oil, so I was trying to use a paleo-friendly oil that wouldn't impart cookie-unfriendly flavors. Otherwise, there were no negative comments on the taste.

Texture: Like a soft chocolate chip cookie, but a bit oily. Tasters used adjectives like "soft," "limp," and "oily" to describe these cookies. Most objected to the oiliness, but one taster thought they were a great soft cookie.

Appearance: For one taster, this cookie conjured up memories of Mrs. Field's cookies in terms of look. Of all the cookie recipes tested, this one looked the most like a standard chocolate chip cookie.  I pressed down on the top of these cookies before baking to help them flatten.

Overall: These were the most like regular chocolate chip cookies in terms of appearance and taste, but all six tasters objected to the amount of oil. I thought the oiliness might be due to an inaccuracy in measuring (The first time around, I measured by volume using a measuring cup, which can make it easy to over- or under-measure). However, I made the recipe again and weighed the almond flour with a digital scale. The result was improved, but still too oily. Aside from oiliness, this would be one of the more promising recipes.

Recipe:
Based on Dairy-Free Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from Elana's Pantry

Notes: Don't use Bob's Red Mill brand...too coarse. Use one of Elana's recommended brands: http://www.elanaspantry.com/ingredients/blanched-almond-flour/

Also, if you have a scale, measure this by ingredient weight for best accuracy. 1 cup blanched almond flour = 4 oz by weight, so 2.5 cups  = 10 oz by weight)

The recipe calls for grapeseed oil. I used walnut, a more paleo-friendly oil, as I had hoped it wouldn't impart strong flavors like other paleo friendly oils (olive oil and coconut oil) do.

This recipe made ~36 cookies.



I hope some of you find these  reviews of paleo cookie recipes helpful in your own search for the best paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Again, if you want to see the recipe I formulated after learning from the above recipes, you can find it here. I used what I learned about the ingredients and outcomes of these recipes to make a final paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe that best approximates the standard chocolate chip cookie we all know and love!

Enjoy!

BakerGal

Labneh (Yogurt Cheese) with Pita Chips

Ever wish you could make a rich, creamy dip that was also healthy?

Labneh (also known as lebni or labni) is a homemade yogurt cheese. It's a common middle eastern food, and similar preparations can be found elsewhere including in Greece, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, India and Pakistan. It's also a common Tajikistan food. After a friend of mine raved about this homemade cheese, I set out to make some myself!

Labneh is very easy to make and delicious. Yogurt imparts the dominant flavors: tart, light, and fresh. Extra virgin olive oil poured on top adds a contrasting grassy, herbaceous note. My preferred mode of transit to mouth: a baked pita chip seasoned with salt, olive oil, and herbs.

Yogurt cheese is just about the easiest homemade cheese you can make. Enjoy it as a middle eastern dip.

Requiring little more than yogurt and salt, this healthy dip is easy to make: strain yogurt to remove the whey, resulting in a thicker yogurt. The longer you let it strain, the thicker it becomes. The result is a soft, fresh cheese that you can use in a variety of ways: packed in olive oil, as a dip, as a substitute for sour cream or cream cheese, served with honey à la greek yogurt, or used as an ingredient in sweet or savory dishes.

Olive oil is an important condiment when serving labneh. One of the more traditional preparations is to roll the cheese into small, walnut-sized balls and then store them in extra virgin olive oil. I opted for another common (and much easier) route: put it in a bowl. Even when served as a dip, though, the cheese is given a dose of olive oil before being sprinkled with herbs (crushed mint, powdered sumac, za'atar, thyme and garlic are all common accompaniments, depending on your country of reference).

Labneh recipes work by straining yogurt for several days until it thickens.

Labneh cheese, when unseasoned, tastes similar to greek yogurt. 

You can serve this middle eastern yogurt cheese with olive oil, pita chips,  and olives.

In the photos above,  I've catalogued my approach to decorating the dip: garlic, herb, and oil-packed olives add some color in the top photo, paprika and olive oil top the dip in the second photo, and oil-packed sun dried tomatoes garnish the center of the dip in the bottom photo.

Not able to find za'tar to garnish the yogurt cheese, I had hoped to use powdered sumac - it has a beautiful red color and an acidic fruity tartness - but didn't have the time to track down a supply of that, either. Instead, I used paprika - the nearest thing in terms of color, and flavorful in its own right.

Also, although I had wanted to use whole milk yogurt, the yogurt fairy brought me nonfat yogurt. I was sad to lose the delicious fatty richness of whole yogurt and was worried that I would end up with a runny mess, but it worked fine! So if you prefer a low-fat cheese, go with it.

I strained the yogurt for three days to achieve the consistency seen above.

Labneh Recipe (Yogurt Cheese)

Equipment:
Sieve large enough to hold 1 quart of yogurt
Bowl to hold sieve
Sterile cloth napkin, paper towel, or cheesecloth folded until it is 4 or more layers thick (I tried all three options, and preferred using a cloth napkin. Layers of paper towel worked, too, but I kept worrying that they would break.)
Rubber band

Ingredients:
1 quart yogurt
1/2 tsp - 1 tsp salt (err on the 1/2 tsp side if you'd like to use it as a dessert)
Extra virgin olive oil
Za'atar/powdered sumac, or paprika
Fresh herbs of your choice
Olives and pita bread, if served as a dip

1) Line the sieve with a sterile cloth napkin, paper towel, or folded cheesecloth, and set the lined sieve in a bowl that will catch the whey as it drains.
2) Mix yogurt and salt thoroughly and pour into lined sieve. Gather edges of your sieve liner and secure them together with rubber band.
3) Let sit in fridge 24 to 72 hours depending on the consistency you prefer. If you're not sure how long this will take, open the sieve liner and check consistency at 24 hour intervals until it reaches the desired thickness. Labneh will keep for one to two weeks in the refrigerator.
4) To serve as a dip, place in dish and top with olive oil. Sprinkle with paprika or za'atar and fresh herbs, serve with pita bread and olives.

Note: If you can find a way to hang the sieve liner from a hook so that it is suspended above the bowl, you can ditch the sieve and the labneh will strain much faster. One suggestion is to place a wooden spoon handle across a tall container and hang the filled sieve liner from the handle using a rubber band.

This labneh recipe makes a delicious yogurt dip and an easy homemade cheese.

My friends loved the baked pita chip recipe, so I'll share that with you, too: Crispy Baked Pita Chip Recipe.

Enjoy!

BakerGal

Gin and Tonic Cake Recipe (Key Lime Cake Base)

Gin and tonic, a key lime cake, and a little imagination.

It all began when I had the idea to make the cake of all cakes: something unexpected, exciting, inebriating! "Life changing?" you ask. Maybe even that: I wanted to make a gin & tonic cake. A GIN AND TONIC CAKE! Are you excited? Should I repeat again in all caps?

For such an outstanding idea, though, I was surprised that I couldn't find any recipes online that fit my criteria.  All I wanted was a towering key lime cake (and classy, too...i.e. ditch the intense green food coloring), soaked in a syrup of gin, tonic and lime juice, with a similarly flavored light cream cheese frosting. Is that so much to ask for? Really, internet. I decided to step it up.

The top of each key lime cake layer is soaked in a gin syrup.

To build my own dream gin cake I'd have to piece together each element on my own. This risky and time-consuming approach was an overall success, but I won't lie...all did not go as planned.

Happily, it was tasty. Sadly, it didn't change my life...and somehow (also sadly?) I did think that a cocktail in cake form might change my life. One friend summed up the main problem in a nutshell: "I can taste the gin and tonic now that you tell me it's there."

I don't want to have to obtain a liquor license to serve this cake, but I do want it to have a gin and tonic flavor that's loud and clear. What to do? More gin? More tonic? Add juniper berries to the batter? Only time and more tweaking will tell.

There were other problems, too, explained below. For daring bakers and those readers who are just curious, I provide the recipes and what I thought about the outcome of each of the cake components.

I'd still call it an overall success: it was a pretty awesome idea to bring to life, was much admired by those who consumed it, and made a tasty lime-flavored cake that did have a noticeable, if not totally obvious, gin and tonic flavor.

The gin and tonic cake frosting is cream cheese based, flavored with key lime zest.

The frosting used cream cheese, whipped cream and gin and tonic syrup. Delicious, but not sturdy enough. 

THE RESULTS?
Gin and Tonic Cake layers: I was happy with it. The key lime cake recipe cooked faster than I expected (the original recipe suggested 25 minutes, but the layers cooked more quickly). As a result, it may have turned out a bit dry - nothing that a little bit of cocktail poured on top couldn't fix.

Gin and tonic syrup: This turned out fine, but I want something stronger so that the flavor of the cake's namesake cocktail is unambiguous.  Next time around, I would omit the water and instead dissolve the sugar in lime juice to make the simple syrup. I might even omit the sugar - there's plenty in the cake and frosting as it is.

Gin Frosting: I took some liberties with the frosting, and all did not go well. I wanted a cream cheese-based frosting that wasn't as dense as real cream cheese frosting. Solution? Adding whipping cream sounded right to me. Then I also added gin and tonic syrup, because that seemed important. The result was just a little too runny. Next time, I'd try sour cream instead of whipping cream.

The gin and tonic cake as a whole: It was okay, but still needs some tweaking. I'm providing the recipes below for my own record and for those who are curious. It's definitely worth trying to improve upon.

Future tweaking: Keep the key lime cake recipe, cut the water from the gin and tonic syrup, use sour cream instead of whipped cream in the frosting. If you try your hand at your own version of a gin and tonic cake, definitely drop me a line! I'd be curious to hear your approach and how it turned out.

The key lime cake recipe was sturdy and flavorful.

Key Lime Cake Recipe for Gin & Tonic Cake

(Makes three 8-inch rounds)

After surfing the interwebs for a while, I settled on an Epicurious recipe for a key lime cake recipe that had good reviews. It looked like the cake would be sturdy enough to handle being drenched in gin and tonic syrup while living up to my flavor expectations.

I made several changes to their key lime cake recipe: I doubled the recipe, incorporated all of the lime zest into the batter, omitted the lime glaze, and replaced the self-rising flour with a combination of regular flour, baking powder and salt.

3 sticks butter, room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

4 large eggs, room temperature

1/2 cup milk

Zest and juice from 6 large limes (or about 12 Key Limes)

(Set ~2 Tbsp lime zest aside for frosting and ~1 Tbs zest for garnish, use remainder of zest for batter, set aside juice for syrup)

2 Tbsp lime juice

2 2/3 cups flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/3 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour three 8-inch round baking pan, and place buttered parchment paper rounds in the bottom of each pan. Using electric mixer, cream butter and powdered sugar in large bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in milk, lime juice, and zest (set aside 3 Tbsp zest for frosting), then beat in flour. Batter will be very thick. Pour batter into the cake pans and level the batter. Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. For me, this was about 15-20 minutes.

Gin and Tonic Syrup for Key Lime Cake

To get that authentic gin & tonic flavor, I felt that I needed to make a huge gin & tonic and incorporate it into both the cake and the frosting. I looked to those who had gone before me in this territory, and deferred to a recipe for gin & tonic syrup used to soak a white chocolate sheet cake.

100 g sugar

100 ml water

200 ml gin

400 ml tonic water

100 ml lime juice (or juice from appx 6 large limes or 12 key limes) 

Dissolve the sugar in the water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Combine the cooled syrup with the gin, tonic water and lime juice. I soaked each layer of the cake liberally with the syrup as I assembled the cake, added a 1/4 cup to the frosting, and still had some syrup left over.

Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting with Lime and Gin

This frosting has both a detectable cream cheese flavor and a light texture, but it is not as sturdy as I would have liked. I suppose that's not too surprising, since I came up with the recipe on the fly. I would not recommend using it to make this cake, but for the record, here's what I did:

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese at room temperature

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature


2 cups sifted powdered sugar

2 Tbsp lime zest

1/4 cup G & T syrup

2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat cream cheese and butter until fully combined. Add sugar, zest, gin and tonic syrup and whipping cream, and switch out paddle attachment for the whisk attachment. Beat on high until the frosting holds peaks. 

As mentioned above, this frosting is not so sturdy; I had to chill it to help it thicken up a bit. I then frosted the cake and set it in the freezer for an hour or so until it was time for dessert, just to be sure that frosting wouldn't ooze out.

In the future, I'd remove the heavy whipping cream and instead add 2 cups of sour cream. I'm guessing I'd need to double the frosting recipe to cover the cake since I would lose a lot of volume by omitting the whipping cream.

I'm not sure when I'll try version two of the gin and tonic cake recipe, but I will be sure to share when I do! Again, let me know if you've ever tried something similar or have any ideas!

BakerGal