Gluten Free Chocolate Avocado Cookies

December 7, 2020

Chocolate Avocado Cookies are a fudgy mix between a cookie and a brownie to satisfy your chocolate cookie cravings! You’d never guess these Chocolate Avocado Cookies are made without grains or butter and can be made free from the top 8 food allergies!

Gluten Free, Nut Free, Grain Free, Dairy Free, Soy Free, Egg Free option

Chocolate Avocado Cookies with flaky sea salt

This is a recipe I’ve been meaning to share with you for years! I actually shared the recipe for these Chocolate Avocado Cookies on Instagram first a couple of years ago, but I’ve remade them dozens of times and think they deserve a permanent home on my blog!

You’ll definitely want to save this recipe to return to over and over.

These Chocolate Avocado Cookies are…

A fudgy cross between a cookie and brownie
Made in 1 bowl…
With less than 10 ingredients
Delicious
Sweet, but not too sweet
Low in added sugar
Full of chocolate flavor!

When I first started working in the culinary side of nutrition, developing recipes, I was obsessed with making healthy substitutions in recipes.

However, as my nutrition philosophy has evolved over the years and I dive more and more into the research behind intuitive eating, I know that these substitutions aren’t necessary.

If you want to eat a cookie, eat a cookie and enjoy the heck out of it!

However, whether you have allergies, don’t want to go on another trip to the grocery store, or love experimenting with different ingredients that may have some nutritional advantages (just me?!), it’s also 100% OK to make “healthy” substitutions in recipes.

Here’s the kicker…

As long as you’re not sacrificing SATISFACTION, “healthifying” a recipe is 100% OK!

Why? Satisfaction is essential to turn off your cravings and hunger hormones. If you’re eating a dry, cardboard-like cookie for the sake of having a cookie, that’s not going to satisfy your craving for a chocolatey cookie.

But if you’re eating a slightly healthier Chocolate Avocado Cookie that has melty chocolate chips and a fudgy brownie-like texture, well that sounds pretty good to me!

Ingredients in Chocolate Avocado Cookies

These cookies have only 8 ingredients (plus salt), and I bet you have most of the ingredients on hand.

Cassava Flour

OK, so this may be one ingredient that you may not regularly keep in your pantry, BUT, I love baking with cassava flour because it’s a nut-free, grain-free substitution. It’s just as high in starchy carbs as regular flour because it comes from the yuca plant (which is a starchy root vegetable), but I think it’s delicious and love baking with it.

One caveat – it’s extremely powdery. So you may have to wipe down the counters really well after baking with it!

If you don’t have cassava flour and don’t want to wait for it, I have a couple of swaps below…

Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Obviously you can’t have a chocolate cookie without cocoa power! Be sure you’re using unsweetened cocoa powder so you get to control the amount of sugar you add.

Brown Sugar

Brown sugar and white sugar aren’t all that different. Brown sugar has molasses added to it to give it a bit of an earthy feel and I love baking with it, when I’m using just one type of sugar.

This entire batch of cookies only has 1/3 cup of sugar, which is definitely NOT a lot of sugar for cookies. That also means they’re not overly sweet. If you’d like to up the sweetness, just increase the sugar to 1/2 cup and it works great.

Check out the sugar swaps below.

Baking soda

The leavener of choice in this recipe is baking soda. You need it. Make sure it’s not expired!

Salt

I don’t really count this as an ingredient because I’m fairly certain if you’re baking cookies, you have salt in the house, BUT it is an essential ingredient! Salt is so key when baking. It balances out the sweetness from the sugar and chocolate, so really don’t forget about it!

I love to finish these cookies off with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt too. I keep a little jar on my kitchen counter, and getting that salty chocolatey bite is the BEST!

Avocado

We can’t have chocolate avocado cookies without AVOCADO! Avocado replaces butter in this recipe, making it dairy free.

Here’s why I like to use avocado in this recipe. Avocado is…

Full of healthy fats, so actually filling and heart-healthy at the same time
Packed with fiber! 1 medium avocado contains about 13 grams of fiber.
It’s a good source of magnesium. Most of us are a tad under the recommended magnesium intake.
Loaded with other vitamins and minerals (vitamins B6, C, iron, and potassium to name a few)

Egg

I find that whenever I bake with cassava flour I really like to use an egg to add moisture and prevent an overly crumbly cookie.

There is a vegan substitution below, to be sure to check out the swaps!

Mini Chocolate Chips

Mini chocolate chips are my favorite in this recipe because they melt throughout the cookie adding to the chocolatey flavor and sweetness in every bite, without the sweetness being overwhelming.

If you only have regular sized chocolate chips, that’s OK too, but I love these Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.

Double Chocolate Avocado Cookies with ingredients

Ingredient Substitutions for this recipe

Tis the season to be flexible, so here are some swaps you can make for this Chocolate Avocado Cookies recipe…

Instead of cassava flour, use all-purpose flour

Instead of 1/2 cup cassava flour, I recommend using 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons to a full 3/4 cup all purpose flour. How do you know how much to add? You don’t want your batter to be too wet. Start with 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons and add from there if your batter seems too brownie-like.

Instead of an egg, use a flax egg

Make this recipe vegan by using a flax egg instead of real eggs. The cookies may have a slightly bigger crumb because the eggs really help hold them together!

Instead of brown sugar, use white sugar, coconut sugar, or date sugar

You can really swap in any sugar you have, but I do suggest using a dry sugar, not something wet like maple syrup or honey.

How to Make Chocolate Avocado Cookies

It’s not too difficult to make these chocolate avocado cookies.

First, in a large bowl mix together cassava flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Then, add avocado and the egg to a high-powered blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. You don’t really want chunks of avocado in these cookies, so make sure it’s smooth!

Add the avocado mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix together with a sturdy spoon until uniform consistency forms. The dough will be thick, but keep working it until smooth. Then fold in chocolate chips with a sturdy spoon.

Using a 2-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Flatten with the palm of your hand. Repeat with remaining dough. You will make about 9 cookies. The cookies won’t spread too much so make sure they’re flattened a bit.

Don’t forget to sprinkle with flaky sea salt and additional chocolate chips, if you’d like. Personally, I think this makes the cookie!

Then you’re off to bake for 8 minutes. Let them cool for a few minutes before transferring to a wire baking rack to finish cooling.

They’re even better crumbled on top of ice cream or even mixed into banana ice cream! Serious YUMS!

Other healthy desserts you may enjoy…