You might be surprised to see so many different Paleo cookies available for your snacking pleasure. Cookies are usually reserved to free days, or completely banished from most diet plans. But as long as you make sure to take out all of the things that makes regular cookies bad for you, and replace them with items that are all-natural, and actually help the body, they get the green light. Here is our collection of some of the best, tastiest cookies that won’t put a big roadblock on your path to getting leaner.
1. Chocolate Chip Paleo Cookie Bars
These cookie bars will have you wondering when you’re actually going to start dieting. Nothing about them says diet food, which is what makes Paleo so effective. Just look at the ingredients she’s using to make these: almond flour, almond milk, coconut oil, maple syrup, and more. All natural, wholesome foods that combine to make America’s favorite type of cookie, just in bar form. One of the things many Paleo followers are surprised by is the number of foods you can eat, rather than the number of foods that are off limits. By making a few adjustments you can enjoy all sorts of goodies in moderation.
2. Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies
Take one of the most popular cookies on the planet, chocolate chip, and add pumpkin spice to it and you’ve created a new form of yum. These cookies might look like ordinary chocolate chip cookies but they are infused with the taste of pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread, or pumpkin pancakes. This means you are getting double the delicious from one cookie, and it didn’t require adding anything fattening or bad for you to it. In fact, they’ve kept the ingredients list very tidy, and are only using items that are high quality and Paleo approved, including a special type of chocolate chip that doesn’t use any dairy.
3. N’Oatmeal Cookies
These cookies are billed as being Paleo’s answer to the oatmeal cookie problem. The reason oatmeal cookies are off limits is because you can’t eat oats while eating Paleo. So they’ve gotten rid of all the oats in this, and they have somehow managed to capture the taste of an oatmeal cookie without using oats. When you think about it, it’s not just the oats that are giving the cookies their taste, it’s the seasonings and spices that go into the cookies. By replacing the things that aren’t good for you with things that are, they have managed to crack the code on creating a cookie that can be referred to as healthy, or at least not unhealthy.
4. Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
Chewy cookies are often preferred over dried out crunchy ones, and these cookies definitely deliver on the chewy promise. They are made with ingredients that have been around for ages, like molasses and ginger, as well as Paleo friendly items like almond butter, coconut sugar, coconut flour, cinnamon, and allspice. When you are ready for a break from the classic chocolate chip cookie, give these a try and you’ll be treated to a new taste sensation. With an advertised turnaround time of 23 minutes you can go from having no cookies to biting into a warm and chewy cookie in no time.
5. Magical Two-Ingredient Halva Cookies
You probably would never imagine you’d be able to make cookies using just two ingredients, but that is the special part about paleo that many people like. In this recipe you’re using tahini paste mixed with honey to make cookie dough, and you simply mix it up and form it into balls of dough like you would with any other cookie. The magical part is that these taste great, and can even be topped with other paleo items like an almond, or a piece of dark chocolate. Trying things like cookies made from tahini paste is just one example of the way you’ll need to broaden your horizons while on Paleo.
Photo: Bliss Delish
6. Cinnamon Butternut Stuffed Cookies
These cookies will have you wondering what they’ll think of next when it comes to paleo cookies. That’s because they’ve managed to add a vegetable to a cookie but still have them taste good. In this case they are using butternut squash along with ingredients like almond flour, honey, butter and cinnamon. The end result is a buttery and sweet cookie that also helps you fulfill your vegetable intake for the day. Most cookies do not take on the onus of trying to fit a vegetable into them, and that’s what makes these so amazing, because they’ve pulled it off in grand style.
7. “Date” Night Cookies
These cookies use dates in them so you’ll be getting all of the nutrients that come from eating date. They also include pecans, so you’ll get crunchy mixed with chewy, which is usually a good combo. The other ingredients are all paleo friendly, including almond flour, coconut sugar, salt, and honey. When you use these items be sure to pick out the ones that are of the highest quality. For example, choose organic raw honey for the honey, and go organic for the rest of the ingredients whenever possible on Paleo. It’s about getting back to earlier times, before we used so many chemicals in our food.
8. Paleo Strawberry Breakfast Cookies
These cookies are meant to be eaten at breakfast time, and will help start today the right way with the antioxidants and yummy flavor from strawberries. Of course strawberries are one of the recommended fruits on the Paleo diet, but fruits in general take a back burner to meat and vegetables. So it’s nice to get your fruit serving at breakfast time because you’ll be eating plenty of vegetables and protein the rest of the day. It’s still recommended to get a daily serving or two of fruit, and strawberries make a great choice for their nutrition and taste.
9. Chocolate Coconut Almond Cookies
Here are almond cookies that are filled with plenty of coconut goodness, as well as the chocolate you’ll probably be craving at some point. They also use almond flour, which is great because almonds have healthy fats that are important to consume while on the Paleo diet. Since the almonds are in flour form you don’t have to crunch them up, and they simply blend into the background of the cookie. They also add a nice flavor so they’ll taste a bit like an Almond Joy because of the ingredients being so similar to those of an Almond Joy. Check the bottom of our list for a cookie that goes full Almond Joy makeover.
10. Chocolate Chunk Salted Caramel No-Bake Cookies
When you don’t feel like baking these are the cookies you want to serve up. They look and taste incredible, and since you don’t have to bake it they are ready much more quickly than ordinary cookies. Salted caramel is enjoying lots of popularity these days, and these cookies do a good job of capturing both flavors and putting it into cookie form. There’s something about the way salt, chocolate, and caramel all go together, and to be able to do it in a paleo friendly manner is pretty impressive.
Photo: Beauty and the Foodie
11. Sunflower Butter Cookies
These cookies make a wonderful presentation because you make the design of a flower on them using sunflower seeds and dark chocolate. The design is actually a reference to the sunflower seed butter that is used throughout the cookies. If you haven’t tried this type of butter yet, you should drop what you’re doing and go try some right now. It is a wonderful replacement for peanut butter, and provide a nutty taste as well as plenty of nutrients. Since peanut butter is a no go you’ll want to find suitable substitutes, and having jars of sunflower butter and almond butter make it so you don’t really need peanut butter anymore.
12. Happy-House Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here are cookies that are touted as being The Best, which means they have set the bar pretty high for themselves. They are opening themselves up to be compared to all chocolate chip cookies, even ones that are not following paleo guidelines. But they do a good job of defending their title by producing a high quality cookie with ingredients that are paleo approved. They’ve gone with a mix of almond flour and coconut flour, and going with 80% dark chocolate chunks for a healthy and delicious chocolate. We’ll stay on the lookout for any other cookies that want to go for the title.
13. Lemon Cookies
Lemon cookies provide a nice change of pace to the chocolate themed cookies that abound in the cookie world. These are made with lemon zest, so you’ll get a very strong lemon flavor, balanced out with the sweetness of honey and the creamy nuttiness of cashew butter. There is plenty to enjoy with these cookies, and you’ll have the peace of mind knowing that you aren’t foiling your dieting plans by having a cookie or two. These cookies work their magic by using an icing, so it really feels like you’re being bad, but you aren’t.
14. Triple Almond Cookies
Got almonds? These cookies will use them up in a hurry because each cookie is adorned with an almond. But there are also two other forms of almonds being used, one is the almond flour that replaces all-purpose flour, and the other is almond extract, which will infuse these cookies with a strong almond taste just to make sure. There’s pure maple syrup used, which will make sure that these are sweet as well as nutty. The use of coconut oil means they’ll have a nice buttery flavor to them, and that you’ll be getting healthy fat. Coconut oil is one of the Paleo oils you should be using instead of vegetable oil or canola oil.
15. Double Chocolate Cookies
The only thing better than chocolate is twice as much chocolate. That’s the promise with these cookies, and they deliver on it by putting cocoa powder right into the batter, and then pouring in the chocolate chips on top of it. This means that the entire cookie is chocolate, with chocolate chips mixed in as well. You’ll get a mouthful of chocolate delight in each bite, and you won’t have to feel sinful when you do. They contain no grains or dairy, so just be sure not to eat the whole batch by yourself. Your non-Paleo friends would love to share these with you.
Photo: 24 Carrot Kitchen
16. Chocolate Fudge Cookies
What happens when you combine the taste of fudge with the form of a cookie? You get these chocolate fudge cookies that are every bit fudge and every bit cookie. There’s just no mistaking the fudge flavor, and to be able to pull that off using healthy ingredients is quite impressive. She’s using almond flour so there isn’t any gluten or grains in the cookies, and the type of chocolate she’s chosen is free of dairy and often used in Paleo baking.
17. Frozen-Inspired Paleo Spritz Cookies
The perfect cookie to enjoy while watching Frozen, these spritz cookies have a magical look and flavor to them. If you’ve been looking for a cookie that can satisfy your craving for a butter cookie or a shortbread cookie, these are the ones to go with. You can make the design by following her directions and all you need is a piping bag for the dough. It’s always a good idea to make these types of visually appealing cookies with Paleo to remind yourself that it’s about having fun!
18. Lavender Rosemary Butter Cookies
These butter cookies will give your senses a treat because they are made with ingredients that are generally found in aromatherapy products. Lavender is used to sooth the senses, and rosemary is generally found in lunches and dinners and looks a bit misplaced in a cookie recipe. But they’ve stumbled upon a nice blend here, and these go great with tea. You can sweeten them up with a bit of raw organic honey, and they’re relying on a mix of almond flour and coconut flour to make them taste and feel right.
19. Paleo Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies
Here are shortbread cookies that are a great way to get your shortbread fix as well as your chocolate fix. That’s because they’re loaded with chunks of chocolate in a shortbread that doesn’t use any grains at all. Shortbread is usually made with heaps of all-purpose flour, so you’re avoiding all of that by using a mixture of almond flour, coconut flour, and arrowroot flour. Add in some unrefined sea salt and these will have that classic shortbread taste, with chocolate that is made by you so it doesn’t consist of a bunch of fillers.
20. Chewy Chocolate Cookies
These chocolate cookies are nice and chewy so you can get the feeling like they’re fresh from the oven, even if they’re not. They have a mixture of dates and macadamia nuts, and they’re using straight cacao powder so there’s no hint of milk chocolate here. It’s these little differences that make such a big difference. Milk chocolate has dairy and refined sugar in it, so by going with cacao powder you cut that out and you are left with the chocolate sans dairy and sugar. That spells a win for Paleo followers.
Photo: Guilty Kitchen
21. Chocolate Chip Plantain Cookies
Plantains are a great fruit to start using in your Paleo lifestyle because they aren’t as popular as bananas and haven’t been developed as much as bananas have. An organic plantain is very similar to the types of fruits that would have been around back in the time of early man, and this cookie recipe shows you how to use them in a chocolate chip cookie. Chocolate and bananas are a nice combination, and the additional ingredients are all Paleo friendly so you can have this fruit-infused cookie as a nice treat any time.
22. Peach Crumble Cookies
It’s not too often you see peach being used in a cookie, and here they’ve managed to make it delectable without the need for grains, dairy, or processed sugar. Of course this starts off with fresh peaches, and it uses almond flour instead of general purpose flour. The sweetness comes from honey, and the buttery flavor comes from ghee, two items that you’ll find on the Paleo approved foods list. Even the use of sea salt instead of refined salt makes a difference to your overall health and feelings of wellbeing.
23. Coconut Snowball Cookies with Cacao Nibs
You’ll love not baking these no-bake cookies that have coconut flavor mixed with delicious cacao nibs. They look like little snowballs and the coconut flavor comes from three different coconut items in the ingredients. Shredded coconut, coconut oil, and coconut butter all combine to give you plenty of coconut flavor, as well as a rich buttery taste. Honey helps to sweeten things up naturally, and makes this a nice treat to have when cravings hit. A great cookie any time of the day or year.
24. Almond Butter Banana Cookies
These cookies use plenty of almond butter, which is a good thing, not only for your taste buds, but also for your health. Almonds contain essential fats that your body needs, fats that won’t make you fat, and almond butter is made by crushing up almonds, just like peanut butter comes from just peanuts. These cookies also contain banana, dates, and pecans, so they’re a nutty, fruity, buttery tasting cookie that will make you feel like you can eat whatever you want, even though technically you’re on a diet. Bananas work well with nuts, and this is a cookie recipe to keep handy.
25. Salted Pistachio Chocolate Cookie
Pistachios are a nut you can enjoy on the Paleo diet, and they are put to use in this recipe. You’re getting a chocolate cookie that’s been covered with pistachios. The salt is mixed in throughout the cookie, so you’re getting a salty, nutty, chocolatey cookie that is sure to satisfy on a few different levels. You might notice that there isn’t any dairy in these cookies. Making Paleo cookies is all about taking out what doesn’t work, and subbing in what does. In this case they’ve gotten rid of milk and replaced it with almond milk, and they’ve taken out the regular flour and are using coconut flour instead.
Photo: Beauty and the Foodie
26. Chocolate Orange Paleo Cookies
Chocolate and orange pair nicely together, and this cookies are made using all natural ingredients, nothing artificially flavored. That means the orange flavor comes from oranges, and the chocolate is a mixture of cocoa powder and dark chocolate. Even though there are many ingredients in these cookies, they still have the quality of being paleo friendly, so you’re getting things like grass fed butter, coconut flour, almond flour, almond milk, and more. They all combine to make a cookie that is a bit different than anything you’ve probably had while following the Paleo plan, but you’re sure to love them nonetheless.
27. Chocolate Pecan and Praline Cookies
These cookies are fit to serve your guests, because they turn out looking so good. Sometimes it can be hard to entertain company that isn’t following Paleo because you’re worried that they’ll think you are eating special diet foods, but these cookies are the same kind you would get if you weren’t following any kind of eating guidelines. They feature plenty of pecans, as well as a good amount of chocolate chips. You’ll see that they’re using organic cage free eggs, which is an indicator that they are paying close attention to quality ingredients, and all natural sources.
28. Vanilla Cookies with Creamy Chocolate and Almond Filling
Here are some heart shaped cookies that are great for Valentine’s Day, or any other day of the year. They are made with arrowroot powder, as well as almond flour, and just a bit of butter and honey. The frosting in the middle and on top is a combination of chocolate and almond, the chocolate coming from cacao butter, and the almond coming from almond butter. Rather than using just a chocolate frosting, it’s nice to have the nutty flavor of almonds mixed in as well. The heart shape is optional, and of course only attainable if you have a heart shaped cookie cutter.
29. Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies
Oreo is not the only cookie out there that can be a sandwich cookie. These cookies taste like carrot cake, but they can be eaten on the Paleo diet whereas traditional carrot cake cannot. The use of carrots means that you are getting your vegetables at the same time you’re having a tasty dessert. Other ingredients include coconut flour which avoids the use of ordinary flour, and just the right amount of nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon to make it taste like carrot cake. The frosting uses a bit of cream cheese, so Paleo purists might want to avoid this one.
30. Bacon Trail Mix Cookies
Bacon is a favorite for many Paleo followers, and since you don’t have to give it up while eating Paleo it is nice to include it in anything from deserts, to appetizers, to main courses. Here they are using it along with trail mix to make a very tasty cookie. These cookies will have the citrusy flavor from orange vest, sweetness from raw honey, the nutty taste from the flour, and of course the savoriness that comes from thick uncured bacon slices. So not only will these taste great, they will help fuel you through the next couple of hours since they have a balanced mix of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.
Photo: Sift, Stir and Savour
31. Do-Si-Do Cookies
Unfortunately, Girl Scout cookies are one treat you’ll have to give up while you are living the Paleo lifestyle. But that’s okay because many paleo chefs have been hard at work recreating some of the most popular Girl Scout choices to allow you to have your cookie and eat it too. Do-Si-Do cookies are one of the most popular choices, and they have been faithfully free mansions according to paleo guidelines. They are using almond flour, sunflower seed butter, sea salt, and coconut nectar to get these just right. So go ahead and have a few of them, just don’t get carried away by how good they are and eat too many at once.
32. Paleo Samoas
Samoas are one of the top selling Girl Scout cookies, but are definitely not Paleo friendly. No worries, as they’ve figured out a way to bring you the tastes you’re craving without the nasty stuff that goes in the real ones. You won’t believe they’ve found a way to make sweet potatoes taste like a Girl Scout cookie, but that’s exactly what they’re using. Coconut flour, coconut oil, and coconut extract work to give them their distinctive coconut flavor, while vanilla extract, pecans, and dates work to give it the other tastes and textures you’ve grown to expect from them.
33. Tangerine Pistachio Cookies
Here is a nice mixture of tangerines and pistachios, two foods that you don’t usually see mixed together. But it works great, and these cookies have a nice citrus taste to them thanks to the tangerines, which also give them a bit of sweetness. The pistachios make these taste nutty, and they are using avocado oil, a healthy oil that you’ll find is a recommended oil while eating Paleo. Of course there are no grains used here, with coconut flour being used as the base. These cookies give your palate something new to discover and earn our thumbs up.
34. Coconut Butter Macaroons
Five simple ingredients go into these macaroons, which means you’ll be able to whip up a batch of them whenever you get the inkling. They satisfy not only a chocolate craving, but also a coconut craving, and a sweet craving as well. And since they’re macaroons, they look fancy and make you feel like you’re having a treat. Psychologically this is important because you don’t want to feel like you’re relegated to eating nothing but meat and veggies all day everyday. This reminds your taste buds and your brain that you can have tasty foods, and even sweet foods now and then.
35. Guilt-Free Pecan Pie Cookies
These pecan cookies look like mini pecan pies, and they are meant to mimic the flavors you get when eating a pumpkin pie. They are listed as being guilt-free so you shouldn’t have any regrets when you eat these. A regular pecan pie is going to have grains in the crust, but these cookies use almond flour, so no grains are used. Traditional pecan pie also has a bunch of sugar in it that sends your blood sugar levels soaring. These cookies use pure maple syrup, so after one or two of them you’ll feel satisfied and won’t need to eat any more of them.
Photo: Swiss Paleo
36. Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars
If you love cheesecake you’ll soon miss it when on Paleo. It’s simply something you can’t have because of all the cheese and other dairy products used in making it. These cheesecake bars imitate the dulce de leche flavors you might also enjoy, and they don’t use any dairy to make them. The cheesecake part is made from coconut milk, cashews, and other yummy things that are all taken from the list of foods you can have on Paleo. With three layers and a sauce involved in these, it’s a big production but worth the effort.
37. Tagalong Cookies
Here’s another take on a Girl Scout cookie favorite: Tagalongs. These don’t contain any peanuts, even though they provide a similar taste to the traditional Tagalongs which feature peanut butter. They also don’t contain any oil, not even coconut oil or another approved Paleo oil. There isn’t any diary in these, and not a hint of grain. They really are a Paleo eaters paradise if Tagalongs used to be your Achilles’ heel before you started eating like a caveman. Almond flour is used instead of ordinary flour, and sunflower seed butter gets the go ahead instead of peanut butter.
38. Double Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
These thumbprint cookies will have you seeing double with delight. That’s because they start with a chocolate base, and then have a big piece of chocolate stamped right into the center of them. Almond flour and coconut flour combine to get rid of all-purpose flour, and you’ll see that there are only high quality all-natural ingredients being used. The chocolate is dark, and that means that it will contain antioxidants, and won’t contain a ton of refined sugar and milk the way milk chocolate does.
39. Paleo Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipes takes chocolate chip cookies and gives them one little tweak to make them extra delish. They feature pure maple syrup on top of all of the other ingredients you expect in a chocolate chip cookie. This means you’ll get an extra dose of the sweet stuff, and also that distinctive maple flavor. It almost feels like you’re eating chocolate chip pancakes, but without having to get your mouth all sticky. We love this take on an old classic, and when you are looking for something a little different, but still want the basics, go with this.
40. Cinna-choco Brownie Cookies
These cookies are made to taste like brownies, but not just any old chocolate brownies, chocolate brownies laced with cinnamon. This delivers an eclectic mix of flavors not typically found in a cookie. She has them done up in squares, so it really does look like a cross between a brownie and a cookie. There’s dark chocolate, sea salt, cinnamon, walnuts, honey, and did we say chocolate? Yep, she has more than one type of chocolate, so be warned.
Photo: Our Earth Land
41. Red Beet And Carrot Cookies
It’s not everyday you see a vegetable in a cookie, so when you see two of them in one cookie you know you’ve stumbled onto something special. These might not win the award for prettiest cookies on the planet, but they definitely have it going on in the nutrition department. The carrots have beta Carotene, and the beets provide you with betalains, a special antioxidant that’s exclusive to beets and certain other foods. This might not sound tasty, but they’ve done a great job of doctoring it up to make them taste good.
42. Almond Joy Cookies
These cookies take the familiar flavor of Almond Joy candy bars and put them into a cookie. You get real almonds, real coconut flavor from coconut syrup and coconut milk, all while being able to pronounce all of the ingredients used. Giving up commercial candy bars and snacks may be the biggest hurdle for many Paleo eaters, but these cookies can help you resist and even revolt against them. Whip up a batch of these cookies whenever you get the urge to run out and buy candy from the store.
43. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles
These just had to be included on our list since they are a truffle, which is not necessarily a cookie, but they are stuffed with cookie dough, which technically means that deep down they are a cookie. You basically start by taking a Paleo chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and then cover the whole lot in chocolate. You’ll feel like you aren’t missing out on anything after eating these truffles, and your chance of staying on your path rises greatly.
44. Paleo Double Chocolate Maple Bacon Cookies
When you having a chocolate craving, it’s time to go big or go home. These cookies have double the chocolate, so all chocolate cravings are subdued. What’s even better is that she’s added in bacon, and sweetness from maple syrup so you’ll knock out a bacon craving and sweet craving as well. These cookies could very well end up saving you from veering off track, and remind you that Paleo allows for delicious treats like this. It’s not about willpower, so enjoy food again!
45. Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies are a time-honored classic, so if you’re going to tamper with them you’d better know what you’re doing. Olivia knows just what to do to keep everything you love about chocolate chip cookies and take them up a notch. Cranberry fans will want to try this one out, since she’s added the sweet/tart taste of them into a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. The result works, with the tartness getting your taste buds salivating and the chocolate chips reassuring you that life is wonderful.
46. Goji Cookies
Get the antioxidant power of goji berries in these delicious cookies. Goji berries are very nutrient dense, so you don’t need to eat a lot of them to make a big difference. Here they’ve infused them right into a tasty cookie so they’re fun to eat. To sweeten the deal they’ve drizzled chocolate over the top of them, which is a good idea because goji berries could use a little help in the flavor department as they’re not very sweet by themselves.
47. Chewy Chocolate Pecan Brownie Cookies
If you love nuts in your brownies you’ll want to try out these chewy chocolate pecan brownie cookies. It’s like getting all of the flavor of a pecan brownie but as a cookie. The chocolate is dark so it’s going to contain antioxidants that help the body, and magnesium to help you relax. It will also be free of dairy and OK to use with Paleo. It’s great that they’ve kept these cookies chewy, since sometimes you want a nice chewy cookie that feels like it’s right out of the oven.
48. Loaded Tahini Date Cookies
These cookies are totally loaded with dates, tahini, and ground flax seed. They’re bursting with nutrition, but all your brain will detect is the amazing flavor. Flax seed provides protein and fiber, with tahini and dates filling in many important nutrients. If you’re new to Paleo you might be surprised that a cookie can be so good for you, but it’s pretty much just a matter of using ingredients that support the body and cutting out all of the junk that’s part of the Standard American Diet.
49. “Nutella” Filled Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
There’s no actually Nutella used in these chocolate chip cookies, but you’ll still get the flavor you’ve come to expect. Former Nutella addicts will want to pay close attention, as she provides not one but two different recipes for a Nutella knockoff so you can try them both and see which one you think tastes closest to the real thing. Then you stuff these double chocolate chip cookies with your new supply of “Nutella” and have a blast.
