Soft Baked Cookies (Two Ways!)
As I promised, I’m giving these recipes to you all quick and dirty. No need to mess around when there are cookies to be baked. And trust me when I say you’re going to want to get these babies in the oven ASAP! Just follow my three keys to soft baked cookies and you’re already set for success!
I’ve played around with these cookie recipes enough to develop two versions: One version that’s healthier (no dairy, no gluten, no added sugars) and another version that’s not quite healthy, but is still gluten-free and I guarantee you’ll have almost all of the ingredients in your cabinets!
So let’s take one at a time here. I’ll give you my three keys to the softest cookies (applies to both recipes) and then I’ll set you free.
KEY #1: Almond Flour
Yes, I did just say above that you should have ~almost~ all of the ingredients already in your cabinets. If you don’t have almond flour already in your pantry and you’re considering closing out of this recipe already, please don’t!! I PROMISE that a $7 bag of almond flour from your closest Big Lots will change your cookie game. This is honestly the main reason these cookies are so fluffy. Almond flour is gluten free, super light, and adapts well to quick-bake recipes. I throw in 2 TBS of coconut flour to hold it all together, but if you’re not GF I’m sure 2 TBS of regular would do just as well.
KEY #2: Cooling your Coconut Oil (healthy version) or Melted Butter (regular version)
Sooooo so important. I read on a random blog post forever ago that there’s two secrets your mom never told you about baking cookies: completely melted butter and brown sugar are how to get the softest cookies eva. So here we are. Just remember if you’re using coconut oil to not let it cool TOO long. I did that on one of my first test versions…. and later bit into a cookie that just had hunks of coconut oil chillin’ in the middle like surprise nuts. No one likes surprise nuts.
KEY #3: MIX THAT WET BOWL
This is where it might be a little confusing, so I’ll try to make it as straightforward as possible. You’re gonna have Bowl #1. That’s your wet ingredients bowl. Then you’re gonna have Bowl #2. That’s for dry ingredients. You can whisk/mix each of these bowls to your hearts content. I want those mixtures HOMOGENOUS. (Wow haven’t said that word since 10th grade Bio.) BUT- the key here is that when you’re ready to mix the two bowls together, only stir as much as necessary (i.e., to get the dry bits of flour mixed into your liquids) and then stop. The more you beat down your wet and dry ingredients together, the less fluffy your cookies will be.
And in case you missed the headline of this blog post, we’re going for soft and fluffy cookies here. So let’s get baking!
Trust me when I say that neither one of these recipes are better than the other. To be completely honest, I took an entire container of cookies to work this week (healthy mixed with regular) and no one even noticed a difference other than the colors. It’s all about preference!
Healthy version (left) and regular version (right)
Healthy recipe first:
Soft Baked Cookies – Gluten Free and No Refined Sugar
Seriously the SOFTEST cookies I’ve ever had. They’re so light and fluffy that I find myself reaching for one more.. and another one more..
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup coconut oil melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 2 tbsp almond milk
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 splash vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients:
- 1 cup almond flour (KEY #1)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch sea salt, more for sprinkling
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-
Melt the coconut oil and set aside to let cool (KEY#2 you don’t want to stir in the coco oil while it’s too hot, but you also don’t want to wait so long that it starts cooling and clumping.. no one wants clumpy oil cookies!!!)
-
Mix all dry ingredients in their own bowl (not chocolate chips), and all wet ingredients in their own bowl. Coco oil can be added last to the wet ingredients when it’s cooled.
-
KEY #3: All wet ingredients need to be mixed so well that the wet ingredient bowl looks like a mix of light brownish slop. Next, mix your wet ingredients into your dry bowl. Do NOT overmix at this point. You want your wet and dry ingredients combined just enough that you don’t see dry spots of almond flour.
-
Once you get to that point, fold in your chocolate chips. Place a spoonful of dough on a sprayed cookie sheet in a heaping mound. (The more of a skyscraper you make your dough mound, the fluffier it will be because it can’t flatten out as much in the cooking process!) Then top with a little sprinkly of sea salt.
-
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. When the cookies are done they will still feel pretty squishy on the insides, but the outer layer should be a little crisp and the bottom of the cookie slightly golden. ENJOY!
And now the regular version!
Soft Baked Cookies – Regular Version
Seriously the SOFTEST cookies I’ve ever had. They’re so light and fluffy that I find myself reaching for one more.. and another one more..
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 tbps milk
- 1 splash vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour (KEY #1)
- 2 tbsp coconut flour or regular flour
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 pinch sea salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
-
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-
Melt the butter and set aside to let cool (KEY#2 you don’t want to stir in the butter while it’s too hot or it will curdle your milk!!!)
-
Mix all dry ingredients in their own bowl (not chocolate chips), and all wet ingredients in their own bowl. Butter can be added last to the wet ingredients when it’s cooled.
-
KEY #3: All wet ingredients need to be mixed so well that the wet ingredient bowl looks like a mix of light brownish slop. Next, mix your wet ingredients into your dry bowl. Do NOT overmix at this point. You want your wet and dry ingredients combined just enough that you don’t see dry spots of almond flour.
-
Once you get to that point, fold in your chocolate chips. Place a spoonful of dough on a sprayed cookie sheet in a heaping mound. (The more of a skyscraper you make your dough mound, the fluffier it will be because it can’t flatten out as much in the cooking process!) Then top with a little sprinkly of sea salt.
-
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. When the cookies are done they will still feel pretty squishy on the insides, but the outer layer should be a little crisp and the bottom of the cookie slightly golden. ENJOY!
