Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies With Cocoa Powder

These almond flour chocolate cookies are soft and chewy, with a fudgy chocolate center, loaded with chocolate chips, and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt. They're simple to make and naturally gluten-free cookies!

Why You'll Love This Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies Recipe

These rich and decadent almond flour chocolate cookies are a chocolate version of my popular almond flour chocolate chip cookies. Both are soft, chewy, and equally delicious, but this version is for the ultimate chocolate lover. Made with Dutch-processed cocoa powder, two types of chocolate, and a pinch of espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor, these cocoa cookies have easily become a favorite recipe. Here are more reasons why you will love this almond flour chocolate cookie recipe:

• Soft and chewy cookies with a rich chocolatey flavor. These double chocolate almond flour cookies have a soft and fudgy texture, made with a chocolate almond flour dough base and packed with chocolate chips!
• Only a ten-minute chill time! That's right, just ten minutes in the fridge will help the cookies from overly spreading.
• Gluten-free and grain-free. These double chocolate cookies are a great recipe for anyone following a grain-free or gluten-free diet.

Almond Flour Chocolate Cookies Ingredients

You’ll need the following ingredients to make these chocolate almond flour cookies:

Ingredients

• Butter: 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened at room temperature. You want the butter to be between 65°F-68°F. You can use an instant-read thermometer to check the exact temperature. 
• Dark Brown Sugar: This yields a rich molasses flavor that pairs well with dark chocolate while adding moisture to the cookies.
• Egg: One large egg at room temperature. Have the egg sit on the counter around the same time you pull the butter out of the fridge.
• Vanilla Extract: Use a high-quality pure vanilla extract for the best flavor.
• Almond flour: Blanched almond flour (not almond meal) gives these cookies their chewy texture, nutty flavor, and golden brown color. 
• Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder: The deep dark chocolate flavor comes from the unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Nautral unsweetened cocoa powder has not been tested with this recipe.
• Arrowroot Powder: Tenderizes the dough and helps keep these almond flour cookies soft after storage. You can also use cornstarch.
• Espresso Powder: Enhances the cocoa flavor.
• Leavening Agents: A little baking soda and baking powder will give these cookies the perfect rise.
• Salt: Helps enhance all of the flavors.
• Dark Chocolate: I use two types of chocolate, 60% and 72% cacao bittersweet baking chips (chocolate discs) to get the melty chocolate puddles. You can use regular dark chocolate chips but please note that the cookies will spread less. Chocolate chips have a higher ratio of cocoa butter to maintain their shape thus causing less of a spread and more resistance to the dough.
• Flaky Sea Salt: A few pinches of flaky sea salt on top to create gourmet cookies.

Find the printable recipe card with full instructions and measurements below.

How To Make Chocolate Almond Flour Cookies

• Step 1: Cream butter and brown sugar. Add the softened butter and dark brown sugar to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment or large mixing bowl. On medium-high seed cream together for 2-3 minutes.
• Step 2: Add egg and vanilla extract. Beat the egg and vanilla extract until the mixture is light and fluffy.
• Step 3: Add dry ingredients. Whisk together the almond flour, Dutch-process cocoa powder, arrowroot powder, espresso powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on high speed until combined.
• Step 4: Fold in the chips and chill the dough. Add the chocolate chips and fold them into the dough with a rubber spatula, scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure all the flour is incorporated. Cover the bowl and refrigerate it for 10 minutes (no longer). While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

• Step 5: Scoop roll and bake. Remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator. Scoop and roll about two tablespoons of dough (40 grams, weighed on a food scale) between clean hands. The cookie dough will be sticky and may require you to wash your hands a few times between batches. Place 5-6 cookie dough balls onto a prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. If desired, add extra chocolate to the top of each cookie dough ball and bake for 9-10 minutes.
• Step 6: Let the cookies cool. Remove the baking sheet from the oven, and bang the baking sheet on the counter a few times to help flatten the cookies. Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt and round out the cookies with a circular cookie cutter if desired. Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Expert Tips

• Use softened butter. Room temperature butter, or "softened butter," is crucial to achieving the best results. Melted butter will cause the cookies to spread too much and harden once they cool. I recommend leaving the butter out on the counter for about 1 hour before baking. The butter should be around 65-68°F, which you can check with a food thermometer.
• Use a food scale. I recommend using a food scale to measure the almond flour and Dutch-processed cocoa powder.
• Watch the baking time. Chocolate cookies often bake faster than other cookies because the cocoa powder in the dough absorbs heat more efficiently, leading to a faster cooking time. These almond flour cookies should have crispy edges and the middles will look slightly undone. Because almond flour is high in fat, you may notice a bit of oil residue on the lined baking sheet when transferring the cookies to the cooling rack, but this is normal.

Storage Instructions

• Storage: Store any leftover chocolate almond flour cookies in a glass airtight container for up to 3 days, at room temperature. 
• Freezing:  Once the cookies have completely cooled, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 2 months. When ready to serve, remove the freezer bag from the freezer and bring the cookies to room temperature. 

More Almond Flour Cookie Recipes You'll Love

• Soft and Chewy Amaretti Cookies: These traditional Italian cookies are made with a few simple ingredients, and bursting with a delicious almond flavor.
• Limoncello Cookies: Pillow soft cookies made with limoncello liquor and lemon zest. These truly are the best cookies for summer!
• Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies: These cookies taste similar to traditional chocolate chip cookies, only they are made with fine almond flour and loads of chocolate chips.

I hope you love this almond flour chocolate cookie as much as I do! If you make it, I’d love to hear how it turned out in the comment box below. Your review will help other readers in the community.

Recipe