First came my famous tahini brownies, followed by incredible blondies, millionaire bars, and eventually these amazing cookies. The Tahini Queenie back and I’m so excited to re-share one of my absolute favorite, easy desserts using tahini. Ready?
Say hello to these damn good paleo tahini chocolate chip cookies. They’re gluten-free, vegan-friendly, grain-free and absolutely delicious. What more could you want? I first perfected them years ago and still can’t get enough. Perfectly crispy on the outside, chewy in the middle, and filled with puddles of dark chocolate.
FREE Ultimate Guide to Cookie Baking
Sign up below and get a FREE printable e-book with my best tips & tricks for baking perfect cookies every time!
Ingredients in these tahini chocolate chip cookies
These paleo tahini chocolate chunk cookies are made with plenty of gluten free baking staples and are so easy to make. Here’s everything you’ll need:
- Tahini: if you haven’t had tahini yet, then what are you waiting for? It’s just ground sesame seeds.
- Egg: you’ll just need 1 egg in this recipe. See below for an option to make them vegan!
- Coconut sugar: I love using coconut sugar in recipes because it’s an unrefined sugar replacement for brown sugar or regular sugar in most recipes. It keeps these cookies paleo.
- Coconut oil: Personally, I love using virgin coconut oil in this recipe. It keeps the cookies dairy free, and you’ll just need a couple of tablespoons.
- Flours: you’ll need fine, blanched almond flour and coconut flour in these cookies to keep them grain free and gluten free.
- Baking staples: don’t forget the baking soda, vanilla extract, and salt! Learn how to make your own vanilla extract here. I also like to sprinkle these with a little fancy Maldon sea salt after baking.
- Chocolate: Personally I love using a 72% dark chocolate bar in this recipe. I recommend coarsely chopping the chocolate so that it’s not overly small. You can also use 1/2 cup of chocolate chips if you’d like.
Simple ingredient swaps
I also recommend sticking with the recipe the best that you can (especially in baking), but if you’re out of a few ingredients or need to make some swaps here’s what I can suggest:
- For the coconut sugar: feel free to use brown sugar instead.
- For the tahini: I love the texture and flavor that the tahini gives these cookies but I think cashew butter would also work well.
- For the coconut oil: feel free to also use melted butter, vegan butter or ghee.
- For the coconut flour: I think that oat flour might work in this recipe, but please note that I have not tried it. Let me know in the comments if you do!
Can I make them vegan?
Yes! Feel free to use one flax egg in place of the regular in these chocolate chip tahini cookies. Learn how to make a flax egg here! Be sure to also use dairy free chocolate as well.
Don’t forget these cookie baking tips
- Do not use substitutes. Unless mentioned above or in the notes section, do not use any substitutes in these grain free tahini chocolate chip cookies. For example, almond flour should not be replaced with any other flour.
- Pack your almond flour. You can pack the almond flour just like you would with brown sugar. It makes all the difference!
- Use a room temperature egg. This will ensure that the coconut oil does not coagulate and cause the cookie dough to be super lumpy. Just place your egg in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes, or run warm water over the egg for a minute to bring it to room temp.
Storing & freezing tips
Feel free to keep these tahini chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days, then transfer them to the fridge or freezer. Learn exactly how to freeze the cookie dough or the baked tahini cookies using this tutorial!
More paleo friendly desserts
- Grain Free Tahini Brownies (the best brownies I’ve ever eaten!)
- Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Paleo Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies
- Fudgy Almond Butter Blondies
- Salted Tahini Caramel Millionaire Bars (vegan + paleo)
Get all of our paleo dessert recipes here!
If you make these tahini chocolate chunk cookies, please let me know by leaving a comment and rating the recipe below. You can also use the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen on Instagram so I can see your creations! xo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
The Best Paleo Chocolate Chunk Tahini Cookies
Ingredients
- Wet Ingredients:
- 1 egg*
- ½ cup (77g) coconut sugar
- ¼ cup (58g) tahini
- 2 tablespoons melted and cooled coconut oil (melted butter or melted ghee will also work)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Dry Ingredients:
- ¾ cup (84g) fine packed almond flour
- ¼ cup (28g) coconut flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 (3 ounce) dark chocolate bar (at least 72%), coarsely chopped*
- Fancy Maldon Salt, for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the following: egg, coconut sugar, tahini, melted and cooled coconut oil and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Next add the dry ingredients: almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until a cookie dough consistency forms, then fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Grab about 1 heaping tablespoon of dough with your hands and roll into a ball. Place ball on cookie sheet and flatten the top of dough a bit with the palm of your hand.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes until edges are just slightly golden. We want to slightly underbake these so they stay gooey. Once done baking, immediately sprinkle with Maldon salt. Cool on cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before removing from pan. Makes 10-12 cookies.
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Recipe by: Monique // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on January 15th, 2019, republished on March 1st, 2022, and republished on April 16th, 2025.
These were so quick and easy to make and they taste amazing! They are crisp on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside, perfect flavour and texture. I will definitely make these again, and again, and again!!
I didn’t make any variations to recipe and used flax egg.
Absolutely! Glad you enjoyed!
Really nice cookies!! Easy and delicious! Will make again!
The perfect treat!
I love this recipe I made it several time! I tried with an egg and with « flaxseed » egg and surprisingly I prefer the vegan version!!
Oo noted! Glad you love this one!
I used ground sunflower seeds for the almond flour as I didn’t have any and oat flour for the coconut flour. they turned out delicious! thankyou
I’m glad that worked out well!
Absolutely delicious. I followed the recipe exactly as it’s written. I’ll be adding this one to my cookie rotation.
So happy to hear that!
Damn good is right. Finished them today after making them last night and multiple times I had to say “oh my god” while chewing because they’re just that good. Thanks so much for the recipe. I will be making them again and again <3 ~
Such a great dessert!!
Yummy.
I followed the recipe with the exception of: date sugar instead of coconut and 1 piece of chocolate bar atop each cookie instead of chunks mixed in. My cookies were tasty but a bit dry. Any suggestions?
Hmm you could add a tiny bit more coconut oil! These will also get more moist over time because of the gluten-free flour.
My husband said these are the best cookies I have ever made. They are truly delicious!
So glad you both loved them!
My husband said these are the best cookies I have ever made. They are truly delicious!
The texture of these cookies was incredible! Would never know they are gluten free. Subbed caramel chips for the chocolate bar and they were delicious! Will be adding this to my regular cookie rotation!
Caramel chips sound delicious! Glad you enjoyed!
Can you provide a weight – preferably in grams for your packed 3/4 cup fine almond flour please. I like the precision of a weight. Everyone packs differently! Thank you.
Hi! I’d recommend using an online conversion calculator to find the weight as I did not weigh the ingredients while testing the recipe.
These cookies are delicious! I ended up using half ghee because that’s all I had and half coconut oil and the result was fantastic. Very delicious.
Amazing! Glad you gave these a try and they turned out great for you!
Actually life changing omg
YESS! So glad you’re loving these cookies 🙂
Not my favorite recipe overall! I have made these a few times and have struggled to make them either gooey or crispy.. Instead they kind of come out cakey. I am not changing anything so not sure what the problem is.. Any advice? Thanks for a yummy recipe, just not my favorite personally.
I have started making this recipe with a dark chocolate sea salt tahini (so I omit the added salt and the chocolate chunks) and I mix on collagen powder to amp up the protein. It’s my new go-to breakfast cookie. I make the dough, shape it into flattened balls, separate with parchment paper, and freeze it. When I want a fresh cookie by the time the oven has preheated the dough is good to go.
Perfect! This sounds amazing, glad you are loving this recipe!
So freaking good. And really easy/quick to pull together.
Hi,I was wondering how can I halve the recipe I want to make just 6 cookies,all the ingredients can be halved but what about the egg?,will using the egg be too much?
Hi! If you’re halving the recipe, you can try whisking the egg and measuring out 2 tablespoons for the batter. Alternatively, feel free to make the full recipe and simply freeze half of the cookies (or dough) for later!
Damn good indeed! Thanks for a great recipe!
Hi! I loved these cookies! I used the exact measurements however the dough only yielded enough for 6 small cookies. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?
These are great, simple, easy to make and delicious. If you have a jar of tahini hanging around in your cabinet and don’t know what to do with it make these cookies. I made them twice this week already.
Perfect! So glad you are enjoying this recipe ❤️
This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for the past 2.5 years. I occasionally try other recipes, but I always come back to this one for a number of reasons. 1) It’s so easy to whip up a batch. 2) We’re celiac and I like that the recipe doesn’t use butter either. Tahini is such a good substitute. 3) I also like that the recipe makes a small batch – I love a fresh baked cookie, but I don’t want 3 dozen or more cookies in the house to tempt me for weeks to come.
Thank you so much for the sweet review, Danielle!! I’m so happy you’re a fan of these ❤️
Can you use pink Himalayan salt instead of Maldon? And what are your thoughts with topping up the nut butter with almond or peanut? I’m a little short in tahini and have the other two already in my pantry. Thanks!
Sorry if I’m late! Yes pink salt will absolutely work and it should be fine to supplement the tahini with a nut butter, too 🙂
delicious and simple! thanks alot
You’re welcome! And thanks for the comment 🙂
Great recipe! Healthy, easy and tasty! I substituted rice malt syrup instead of coconut sugar and worked perfectly fine. I made a double batch to last my partner and I the week.
Thanks Ambitious Kitchen!
Love from Aus,
Pip
Glad to hear that worked well and that you loved them, Pip! 🙂
We love it!!!
I used butter instead of coconut oil. Love this recipe, will be making more soon.
I’m so glad you love it! Glad the butter worked well 🙂
AMAZING! I have never made a gluten free dessert — it always intimidates me! These are perfectly soft with the most amazing texture. Made the mistake of not flattening the first batch, but they still came out beautiful and tasted divine! Made the recipe exactly as written. Definitely a keeper!
I’m so happy you tried them and that they came out perfect WOOHOOOO 🥳 Thanks for the review, Brooke!
Made these with a chopped paleo chocolate bar. Delicious!! Not too sweet, and nice and chewy. Will definitely be making these often! Thank you for a great recipe.
Aw yay, I’m so glad you loved them!!
They look delicious but there’s way too much
sugar in this recipe.
These are among my favorite cookies of all time. Everyone who tastes them loves them, and I always get asked for the recipe. In addition to being DELICIOUS, they don’t give you a sugar crash. They are perfect! Though I slightly prefer these made with egg, the vegan version is outstanding. Great gift…am making these for the umpteenth time rn.
Omg I’m so happy to hear this!! Great idea to gift them. Thanks so much for leaving a review 🥰