Double chocolate gluten free cookies made with chickpea flour! They’re surprisingly excellent, with a nice texture and a nice chocolate flavour. Obviously healthy-ish but definitely a treat despite being little grain free protein bombs.
With the new recipe update, they are very much like flourless brownie cookies, and the texture is significantly improved. There are still some notes to keep in mind with these (mostly with chickpea flour and liquid) so take a look at the tips section below if it’s your first time making the cookies.
Because I don’t follow a gluten-free diet, I really aim to get the perfect texture on any GF recipes I share – if it’s not as good or better than a spelt version, it isn’t posted. These are really, really good.
Scroll to the bottom of the post or click “skip to recipe” above to see the recipe card with full ingredient measurements and instructions.
Ingredients
- Chickpea flour
- Cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Sea salt
- Vanilla (see substitutions)
- Coconut oil
- Maple syrup, honey, or date syrup (see substitutions)
- An egg
- Dark chocolate
Method
Melt the coconut oil and set it aside to cool slightly. Preheat the oven and line a baking sheet with parchment (these do stick a little, so lining is needed). Whisk the chickpea flour, cocoa, baking soda, vanilla (if using powder), and salt in a large bowl. Make sure you whisk enough to break up any clumps of chickpea flour.
In another dish, whisk together the coconut oil and maple syrup. This helps to cool the coconut oil down further in case it’s still warm and prevent any egg scrambling. Whisk in the egg (and vanilla extract if using).
Stir the coconut oil mixture into the flour mixture until no streaks of flour are visible. The dough should be thick but not stiff and very glossy looking. Stir in the chocolate to incorporate.
Scoop the cookie dough out onto the prepared baking sheet, about two tablespoons each, for nine cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies are cracked and the edges are just firm to the touch.
If over-baked, the cookies will be dry and cake-y, so err to the side of under-baking if unsure. Cool for about ten minutes on the pan before cooling fully on a rack.
Tips and Notes
Chickpea flour varies pretty significantly from brand to brand and it’s important to take a good look at the texture of the cookie dough after mixing. It should be just like regular cookie dough in consistency and very glossy in appearance.
If the dough is dry, which will be the most common issue, then add a tablespoon of non-dairy milk, mix, and add more if needed, mixing between each addition. If it’s your first time using chickpea flour then it may be worthwhile to use a slightly lesser amount of flour and add more as needed to get the same texture as pictured above.
The chocolate covers up the chickpea flour taste completely BUT it’s very important not to taste the raw dough and try to avoid smelling it, too. Wet chickpea flour smells awful and you might be tempted to dump it if you taste it before baking.
Don’t be tempted to reduce the amount of coconut oil – they texture is poor with a lesser amount. I know it’s a bit high for one of my recipes but these are very well worth it.
If you don’t want to buy chickpea flour just for this, I have several recipes on the blog that use it – sweet potato latkes, strawberry rhubarb crisp, and you can always make socca. It’s great for binding and thickening, and works well in veggie burgers (like in these black bean meatballs) and sauces.
Substitutions
I use vanilla powder because extract is prohibitively expensive here and I can’t get liquor right now to make my own. Use a teaspoon of extract in place of the vanilla powder and whisk it in to the liquid ingredients. No vanilla? Use cinnamon or another spice you like instead.
For this recipe, maple syrup, honey, and date syrup can all be used interchangeably in the same amounts. Maple syrup will make a very slightly less sweet cookie and honey is rather sweeter, so it’s a good way to adjust based on your sweet tooth without adding to the ingredients. I particularly like date syrup in these.
I haven’t successfully made these without egg, but you can try these vegan flourless chocolate tahini cookies for a good alternative. There are some comments laying out vegan options (e.g. using a chia egg) but since this isn’t a vegan website and I haven’t found the vegan versions satisfactory, I don’t have a tried and true sub.
Use either cacao or baking cocoa, either work here. Cocoa makes a richer, darker cookie. Make sure you’re using cocoa and not cocoa drink mix – there shouldn’t be any sugar, milk solids, etc. in the ingredient list.
More Gluten-Free Desserts
Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Almond Flour Brownies
Chocolate Hazelnut Tart
Almond Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Chocolate Chunk, Raspberry, and Almond Cake
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Double Chocolate Chickpea Flour Cookies
Gluten free chocolate cookies made with chickpea flour for a grain free cookie with an excellent texture and piles of chocolate. High protein chickpea flour and healthy ingredients make these a great snack for anytime of day.
Ingredients
- 110 grams (3/4 cup) chickpea flour (besan/gram flour)
- 25 grams (1/4 cup) cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder (or 1 teaspoon extract)
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 80 grams (1/3 cup) coconut oil, melted
- 80 ml (1/3 cup) maple syrup or honey
- 1 large egg
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, vanilla, and salt.
- In another dish, whisk the coconut oil and maple syrup, then add the egg and whisk again until fully combined.
- Stir the coconut oil mixture into the flour mixture, mixing until no streaks of flour remains. Stir in the chocolate to evenly incorporate.
- Scoop the dough, around 2 tablespoons per cookie, onto the baking sheet. Flatten each cookie slightly with your palm (wet your hands to prevent sticking).
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the tops are cracked and the edges are just firmed. Don't over-bake.
- Cool the cookies for ten minutes on the pan before removing and cooling completely on a rack. They'll keep in an airtight container for at least three days and freeze well.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
9Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 198Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 145mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 2gSugar: 13gProtein: 5g
This data is provided by a calculator and is a rough estimation of the nutritional information in this recipe.
This post was originally published in February 2018. It has been updated with improvements to the recipe, and new photos and text, as of October 2020.
Gemma says
Yum! Could you freeze the dough as individual cookies-in-waiting do you think? Thank you!
Alexandra Daum says
I haven't tried it but I don't see why not! If you try it please let me know, and I'll try it soon too and see how it goes.
Gabby says
I made these with honey and subbed butter for the coconut oil, and they are amazing!! So yummy. Fluffy and chocolatey, almost like a brookie. I love using besan flour so this recipe is awesome!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
So happy to hear that, thank you Gabby!
Stephanie says
Love the recipe! I don’t have any vanilla powder on hand. Can I substitute for vanilla extract?
Thanks so much!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Thanks, Stephanie! You absolutely can, just add a teaspoon of extract to the wet ingredients.
Courtney says
I know this is an old recipe, but I just found it today. I used butter and honey and they are incredible! Not too sweet, but everything I want in a cookie.. Thank you so much!
Kader says
Hello, what is approx calory per one?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
No idea, sorry! You can add the ingredients to an online calorie calculator if you want to find out.
Stacy says
Just made these cookies this past weekend and they were a huge hit in our home! Didn’t have coconut oil so I used butter instead. Definitely a winning recipe, thank you!
Ana says
Awesome recipe! Thanks for sharing
dee says
Can I use my vanilla extract in place of vanilla powder? If so how much teaspoon wise? One to one or more?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Absolutely! I need to update some of my recipes to reflect that. I use 1 teaspoon of extract in these cookies.
Charmaine says
Really keen to try these. But I can’t have sugar. What would you recommend in place of the 50g of chocolate?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Charmaine – if you can’t have sugar but maple syrup/honey works, then you can probably find a naturally sweetened type of chocolate to use (like Lovechock or Hu). Otherwise, I’d sub in cacao nibs or dried fruit (like cherries). Hope that helps!
Tomo says
I tried this today with vanilla extract. It was absolutely delicious! Thank you for the great recipe!
Natalia says
Just baked them – taste amazing!! I replaced half of the coconut oil with almond butter : )
Katie says
Love these! To make them vegan and oil free, I subbed 1 chia egg for the regular egg and use d coconut cream instead of oil. Sooo yummy!
lowell-james hicks says
Good. I was hoping there would be an eggless solution posted. Haven’t used eggs in ANYTHING for forty years, and have never had a failure.
Fiona S says
You can make a chia seed egg substitute.
Camila says
Hi! These look amazing : ) Could I use sugar instead of honey?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I haven’t tried this, but I think you could if you add another tablespoon or so of liquid to the mix. Please let me know if you try!
Fiona S says
Maple syrup!
Taryn says
Hi, I just made these, mine puffed up into a rounded fluffy cookie rather than a soft gooey like in your photos. Any idea why that would be?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Taryn, did you follow the recipe exactly? If you did, then I’d guess that either your oven was running a bit cold and they baked at a lower temperature, or your baking sheet is thicker/nonstick. To account for that you can add a splash of milk to the dough.
Yelia says
I made these as a lil’ quarantine treat since grocery stores were closed for Easter and l was scraping the bottom of the pantry barrel. I subbed vanilla extract for the powder and used an equivalent weight of chocolate chips. The only thing I didn’t have enough of was the cocoa powder – having made it with about 1-2tbsp of cocoa powder, I can say having the full amount of cocoa powder is VITAL to the recipe. My cookies were puffy and not very chocolatey – still very beany, and a little dry (I cooked them for 14-15 minutes since they were still puffy af, and I wasn’t expecting them to be). I had also added a couple tablespoons extra of chickpea flour to compensate for the moisture level – so that just made it bean-city! I was suprised at for how sticky and moist the batter was, how dry and cakey the cookies were at the end. If I were to make it again, I’d definitely make sure I had enough cocoa powder (because I’m sure it does a lot to improve the structure and flavour) and probably double the amount of chocolate chip/chunks in the recipe since I feel I barely got enough.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I need to update the text for this recipe! Please don’t add extra chickpea flour, lol. If you try them again, definitely use the full cocoa amount – and they might puff up while baking but if they do, still take them out at the recommended time and they should partly collapse while cooling.
Layla says
I just made these cookies today and WOW! They are so good!
I used erythritol instead of maple syrup and added a bit of water to the mixture. They turned out just great!
Thank you for the recipe!
Kippers says
This recipe is terrible, I wouldn’t feed these to a dog.
What a waste of ingredients.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Sounds like you changed something about the recipe, based on the other rave reviews you see above and across social media for these cookies by people who’ve made them. So sorry you didn’t like them – hope you wouldn’t try feeding chocolate cookies to a dog in any case.
Suzanne deRoth says
At last a way to use all that chick pea flour that I bought on a whim! I tried to make a syrup using monk fruit as a substitute for the maple syrup. It wasn’t quite as sweet as I like but the important thing is that I CAN’T TASTE THE CHICK PEA FLOUR!!! This is a winner!
Andrea says
I want to try them! Can we substitute the honey for dates?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I haven’t tried it so I can’t make any guarantees but I think (?) honey would work!
Fiona says
Make a date syrup!
Nu says
These cookies are so tasty, lovely recipe!
Instead of chickpea flour, I used red lentil flour & furthermore I used olive oil instead of coconut. My oven also broke so I had to cook them on the stovetop. They turned out so well. And yes the raw batter tastes really bad hahah.
Nicole says
Just made these for my husband and brother-in-law who are gluten free.
My cookies got a bit puffy even though I followed the recipe exactly (other than subbing vanilla extract for powder), but they were still pretty good. I did try the dough (just for fun and because you said not to!) and it was disgusting (as you said it would be!). The gross flavor cooked out and the cookies tasted pretty good, although a bit dry. I also had to use small choco chips because that’s all our store had, and I’d recommend against it! The big chips are definitely needed in this recipe to distribute the sweetest because the rest of the cookie is not sweet. This recipe was just what we needed to use all of our chickpea flour that my instantcart shopper accidentally bought me…
I will definitely make this recipe again, but next time I’ll sub butter for the coconut oil (as others have done), I’ll add a bit more honey, a bit less baking soda and the regular sized choco chips. I also think they could be cooked for a bit shorter – maybe 9 minutes instead of the 10-12 I was doing. (Our oven is brand new and stays pretty hot!).
Thanks for the recipe! Cheers!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Nicole! Glad you liked the recipe despite a couple issues there. Please keep in mind that reducing the baking soda will probably make the cookies denser/puffier as it contributes more to spread than rise in a cookie. You might want to add a tablespoon of milk instead. Chickpea flour can differ so much from brand to brand so tweaking the recipe slightly to suit yours is a good idea!
Joanne andersen says
I haven’t tried these cookies yet but wondered if I could substitute quinoa or millet flour for the chick pea Flour. I am sensitive to all lectins and any bean or lentil is out for me.
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I haven’t tried them with an alternative flour but millet might work. You may need to play around with the amount slightly as it is a bit less absorbent than most chickpea flours. If you try it, please let me know how it goes.
rebecca says
Hey!
Thank you for the recipe! I thought they would be gross as the batter was rank! But they turned out decent! I wanted to post a photo but couldn’t, they look great and were light and fluffy inside. Spot on cooking time. I added a splash of oat milk (Dont ask why lol) the batter was more sloppy but they were lovely still! I appreciate your time sharing this xx
rebecca says
Reading more, I see you did warn about the batter haha – what’s up with that!?? Thanks again x
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hah, yes, chickpea flour is absolutely disgusting raw for some reason. Maybe this recipe needs a disclaimer! I’m glad you liked the cookies : )
Katy says
These cookies are amazing! I’ve been using chickpea flour for years but only in savory recipies. Such a delight to discover it can be used for sweets as well. We are a gluten free, dairy free household and these cookies check all the right boxes for us. I’ll be making them again and will try the chia egg option suggested in the comments section. Thanks so much for sharing.
Patricia Rohlandt says
Is Pea flour (whole dry peas) the correct flour to use please?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Chickpea flour is also often labeled besan or gram flour, it’s different from pea flour. You might need to look with alternative flours or with South Asian/Indian foods in the store.
Shameema says
Hi can I swap the honey/maple syrup for coconut sugar?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
I don’t recommend doing a 1:1 swap for this recipe as you’re going from wet to dry and it’ll dry out the cookies. You might be able to get away with it by adding quite a bit of milk, but I haven’t tested this.
Carmen says
Hi Alexandra, I was looking for a way to use up some chickpea flour I had, but now I’ve had to buy more flour because this recipe is such a winner! Just made my fourth batch. I increase the choc chips but otherwise stick to the recipe and everyone loves them, including my mum and my very fussy 4 year old. Thanks a million for posting your awesome recipe. Much love from Western Australia!
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
That is absolutely lovely to hear, thanks Carmen! So happy you like the recipe : )
Clarissa says
I love these cookies! My boys love them as well. So easy to make. I only need one cookie to satisfy my chocolate cookie craving so I like that. Thank you for sharing this recipe. I will keep making them for sure.
Valeria says
I make my own chickpea flour at home but does it have to be roasted chickpea flour or it doesn’t matter ?
Alexandra says
Hi Valeria! I’ve made these with homemade raw chickpea flour with no problems, though I do find that my flour mill doesn’t get quite as fine of a grind. It’ll still work with homemade but store bought roasted chickpea flour is definitely a bit finer and makes a softer cookie.
Natasha says
They were good but a little dry and puffy, I followed the recipe just as it says, Andy suggestions?
Alexandra says
Hi Natasha – they are a little bit on the puffier side, but shouldn’t be too much so as long as baking soda was used. If they were a bit dry I suggest a slightly shorter baking time.
Tina says
I just made theses for the first time and they are delicious. However, my batter never turned to a texture clise to being able to roll it into little balls. Any idea what i did wrong? So in the end i got 5 huge cookies, its ok there are only two of us.
Alexandra says
Hi Tina! I literally just took the new update for this recipe out of the oven and took pictures, and the updated version will be up later this week. Some types of chickpea flour absorb way more liquid than others, but I did reduce the flour by 1/4 for the updated cookies and increased the sweetener a bit so they’re more brownie-like and the batter is easier to work with. Check back on the weekend : )
Mimi says
Hi! These sound absolutely delicious and I’ll try making them today with vegan egg substitute.. would also love some almond flavour in there, do you think I could sub the coconut oil with almond or peanut butter? Cheers!
Alexandra says
Hi Mimi, I hope they work with the egg sub! I wouldn’t sub all of the coconut oil, but you could take away half of the coconut oil and sub almond butter, I think. You might need a little more nut butter to reach the right texture so definitely refer to the process shots to see the consistency is correct. I hope that helps!
Mimi says
hi there. followed the vegan option mentioned in of the comments (egg sub and coconut milk instead of oil) and first time i left them in a bit too long since the surface never started cracking, today i took them out in time and they were soooo soft and delicious! didn’t dare to use the almond butter yet, cause i feel it might conflict with the bit of chickpea taste that sometimes comes through, but banana also works as an egg sub instead of the chia/flax eggs!
Angela Holloway says
can you use unsweetened chocolate in this recipe?
Alexandra Daum says
I haven’t tried it, but other readers have had success with unsweetened chocolate. The cookies will be less sweet, of course, but it should work.
Sarah says
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! It blew me away how good these are! In fact, after letting them cool and then chill in the fridge (in a sealed container), they were even better. I’m going to have to double it next time because this first batch is almost gone.
**As you mentioned, chickpea flour really varies. I used Bob’s Redmill and only needed 90 grams to make these PERFECT. 🙂
Alexandra Daum says
I’m so happy you like it, Sarah! Thanks for your note on Bob’s chickpea flour, that’s really helpful.