Chewy coconut almond cookies are irresistible enough for company. Dress them up with chocolate, coconut, or favorite nuts and your cookies monsters, gluten-free or not, will thank you.
Gather all the ingredients and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Mix together the almond flour, coconut, baking powder, salt and sugar in large bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk the eggs for a minute or two until they are thoroughly combined. Add the coconut oil and the vanilla and almond extract. Blend well.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Add chopped nuts if using.
Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, shape 24 cookies (a few more if you mixed in nuts). Roll the cookies in any of the garnishes above, if you wish. Place 12 cookies on each baking sheet and press down to about 3/8th of an inch or 1 centimeter, using your fingers or a flat bottomed glass. If you want thin crisp cookies, flatten to 1/4-inch (6mm). These cookies do spread a bit so if you like bigger cookies please read the Note below regarding fewer cookies per cookie sheets.
Bake the cookies and start checking at the 8-minute mark. You are wanting to see some light browning along the edges but the cookies should still soft in the center. If you want the cookies to quite crisp, bake another minute or two.
Allow the cookies to cool on the trays for 10 minutes before removing them.
Optional Garnishes
Garnishing ideas
If using the chocolate drizzle, melt the chocolate gently in a small pan over medium heat. Or melt in the microwave melt at 20% power in bursts of 15 seconds, stirring in between. Either way chocolate melts quickly so watch over it carefully. Drizzle using your inner artist.
Or finely chop your favorite nuts and roll the dough balls in the nuts until well covered.
Or combine the sugar and spice together and roll the dough until well coated.
Notes
I have found that flaked or desiccated coconut can be found in quite fine, medium flake, or large flakes. The flaked coconut I bought at Whole Foods was quite fine and the Trader Joes coconut needed to be chopped finer. I wound up using the finer coconut inside these cookies and the larger flakes to roll in for the outside coating.
If you are wanting pale cookies that will look pretty decorated, be sure to use blanched almond flour. If you don’t care about the color, you can use almond flour that has some almond peel.
These chewy coconut almond cookies are pretty soft but if you are rolling them in nuts or coconut, the softness helps the garnishes to stick to the dough.