Thick and soft coconut-flavored cookies with chocolate chips and chopped almonds throughout, these gluten-free Almond Joy cookies are a fun treat that coconut and chocolate lovers will love!
Chocolate and coconut are the best.
My love for coconut has grown leaps and bounds over the last several years, so much so that now I’m basically a coconut freak. 😉
Of course, coconut is even better when it’s accompanied by chocolate AND nuts, like the classic Almond Joy candy.
Sweet and chewy coconut, with a little almond, dipped in chocolate. It’s my favorite candy bar by far, and I’ve been recreating a lot of recipes with those flavors in mind recently.
Of course Almond Joy Cookies came first. These thick and soft cookies are filled with shredded coconut, coconut oil and coconut extract, for plenty of coconut flavor, and studded with chocolate chips and chopped almonds throughout.
Pools of chocolate, crunchy nuts, all covered by sweet coconut, in a soft and thick gluten-free (and easily dairy-free) cookie.
You could say that Almond Joy just got an upgrade.. into cookie form!
A few important cookie details, first:
These cookies are NOT the “4 ingredient Almond Joy Cookies” you may have seen on Pinterest. This recipe is basically chocolate chip cookies, gone almond joy.
These Almond Joy Cookies are also LOADED. For real.
So much so that they need a little extra love and care to make sure you get all of the ingredients in each cookie and the cookies don’t crumble apart.
After you make your cookie dough batter you’ll need to scoop your dough with a small cookie scoop, and scoop each cookie out into your hand. Gently roll each cookie dough ball till it forms a complete cookie dough ball. Then you’ll place it on your tray and bake them in the oven.
By using your hands you’ll soften the coconut oil just a bit, so the dough will get a little more soft and easier to mold around all of the cookie mix-in’s. Don’t miss this step or you could have coconut, nuts and/or chocolate chips falling out left and right!
For gluten-free cookies, just be sure to use a high quality all purpose gluten-free flour. Right now I like King Arthur measure for measure and Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1.
For dairy-free cookies, you’ll need to use coconut oil (or you can use a dairy-free butter alternative) and dairy-free chocolate chips.
Last but not least, use coconut extract if you really want some Almond Joy-like coconut flavor! You can make these without the coconut extract and they’re still delicious, but if you want coconut to be the star of the show then I highly recommend using coconut extract.
Forgo your classic chocolate chip cookies, and amp them up a bit with coconut, coconut extract and chopped almonds, for Almond Joy Cookies.
These homemade cookies are a great easy dessert to whip up on the weekends, and enjoy the rest of the week!
In case you need more gluten-free cookie recipes: Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Snickerdoodle Cookies.
- 1 1/2 cups gluten-free all purpose flour
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened (or butter)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 tsp coconut extract
- 1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips (dairy-free if necessary)
- 1/2 cup almonds, finely chopped
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To begin, preheat your oven to 350 and line two pans with parchment paper.
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To a small mixing bowl, add your dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt) and stir them together.
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To large mixing bowl, add your coconut oil, brown and white sugar and use a mixer to cream them together for a couple minutes. Add your egg, vanilla and coconut extract and blend again briefly, till combined.
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Pour your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients and stir them together till well combined. Add your coconut, chocolate chips, and almonds and fold them into your batter. Your batter will be loaded, and may not stir together entirely, that's okay.
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Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out a ball of cookie dough and press it against the side of your bowl to help the dough and mix-in's stay together. Then, squeeze it out into your hand and gently roll the dough together till you form a cookie dough ball with all of the mix-in's incorporated. Continue till all of your cookie dough balls have been formed.
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Bake 12 cookies per sheet, evenly spaced out, and in the oven for 11-13 minutes (or till the edges are set but the middle still looks a touch underdone).
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Let cool, then devour!
These cookies last about a week, stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
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