When I was 10 years old, I watched one of my all-time favorite movies, My Best Friend’s Wedding, and I couldn’t believe what an amazing job Julia Roberts had. I wondered what career on earth could be better than being a food critic? Then I thought of the one job that could be better – a DESSERT critic. I wasn’t sure if this actually existed, but from that point on, my 10-year-old-self decided that would be my career one day. A girl can dream, right!? Well, 19 years later, I’d say I’ve pretty much made this my unofficial “job”. It’s a tough one, but someone’s gotta do it! My friends and family would tell you that I’m constantly in search of “the perfect cookie”. You may think it’s ironic – a nutritionist slash cookie critic (insert “confused”-thinking-emoji here). BUT bear with me here because maybe this is the ideal way to describe my nutrition mindset.
I don’t think we should ever have to deprive ourselves of the foods that we love the most. We should allow ourselves to enjoy our favorite happiness-inducing foods, savoring each bite without any guilt. A major way I’ve been able to do this is by making healthy substitutions to my favorite sweets, and paleo baking has been my savior. Using whole, real ingredients that have actual health benefits (think almond flour, coconut oil, etc.) makes me enjoy these treats even more because I know I’m fueling my body well, and I won’t have that heavy, blah feeling and sugar crash that happens after overindulging in processed, high-sugar sweets. The problem is, so many recipes may have healthy ingredients, but they don’t really satisfy a strong sweet craving. And then there’s some that are just perfect.
Staying true to my “dessert critic” ways, I can say I’ve tried almost every single paleo chocolate chip cookie recipe out there. Yeah, there were a lot of good ones, but I was yet to find something great. Until THIS one. Scrolling through all of the google results for “paleo chocolate chip cookies”, I stumbled upon a recipe from Bakerita. How had I not found this blog until this point? Oddly enough, it just so happened to belong to a family friend of mine from San Diego who I hadn’t seen for years. I tried out Rachel’s recipe and after one bite, I knew, I had FINALLY FOUND THE PERFECT PALEO CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE!! Honestly, it may be the perfect cookie regardless of being paleo, but the fact that it’s made with such clean ingredients makes it that. much. better.
Now that I’ve made these over and over and over, I had to ask Rachel if I could share with all of you. She said YES and it just felt selfish to keep these all to myself. So do yourselves a favor and make these ASAP and savor ever single perfect bite!
Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil, room temperature (not melted)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg, room temperature
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
1 cup chocolate chips or chunks
Yields 15-20 cookies
Instructions
- In a stand mixer or with beaters, cream together the coconut oil and coconut sugar until smooth.
- Add in vanilla extract and egg and mix together until evenly combined.
- Add the salt, baking soda, and almond flour, and mix until combined. Fold in chocolate chunks.
- Cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour. Note: you can make the dough up to 2 days in advance and store in the fridge until you’re ready to bake.
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Scoop cookie dough evenly onto a baking sheet and press down slightly.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.
So excited for you to fall in love with these cookies like I did. Thank you so much to Rachel from Bakerita for bringing this sweetness into my life!
