The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Guide

sammysamgurl

4 years ago

Here we have it. After what seems like an endless amount of cookies and 2 days of experimenting, I have developed The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Guide.

This guide will discuss my successes and failures as I attempt to create the perfect keto chocolate chip cookie or the “Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies”.

The perfect keto chocolate chip cookie to me has to be chewy on the inside with just a slightly undercooked center, but also crispy on the outer edges and filled with delicious pockets of rich bittersweet chocolate.

To some the perfect chocolate chip cookie might look different and that's why I love experimenting. I'm now able to give recommendations on how to alter the following recipe to fit your tastes so you get YOUR perfect keto chocolate chip cookies…not mine. (But I'll give some suggestions along the way).

Where did this chocolate chip cookie obsession start you may ask?

Well, when I began keto, chocolate chip cookies were one of the first things I ever attempted to bake.

And let me tell you, they were terrible.

I had no idea what I was doing. They were crumbly, dry and all you could taste was an excessive amount of stevia. Yuck.

Thus, as I continued to learn to bake keto, chocolate chip cookies always remained a recipe I wanted to master.

I attempted them several times again.

One being these Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies For Two that were good but too crumbly still.

Second, being these Chewy Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies that were actually good and became the top recipe on my website in terms of people liking, making them and sharing them. They also were the cookies that sparked the idea for my Kick Kookies business that I ran for a year and a half. (Slightly different recipe but similar to the one posted).

I then came up with these Keto Chocolate Chunk Cookies just last week, which I have to say above all of the ones I've made so far, are the best and closest to traditional chocolate chip cookies. So with that in mind, I decided to use this recipe as my “control” for this entire post. I knew these were good already..but I wanted to make them GREAT.. so they were a perfect place to start the experiment.

You can check out the full recipe for them here.

But here's the short copy:

Keto Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Easy keto chocolate chip cookies that taste just like the real thing!

Course Dessert, Snack

Keyword keto chocolate chip cookies

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 12

Total Time 22

Servings cookies

Calories 156kcal

Ingredients

1/2 cup salted melted butter, 120g
70 g sukrin brown sugar sweetener see tips for how to sub this if you don't have it
4 tbsp + 2 tsp powdered monkfruit/erythritol sweetener 56g
1/4 tsp salt 1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter
1 egg room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup almond flour 112g
1 tbsp coconut flour 8g
1 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking soda
9 squares roughly chopped dark chocolate 50g (I used Camino's 70% bittersweet baking chocolate)

Instructions

In a large bowl add your melted butter, sweeteners and salt. Whisk for 1min, until very well combined.
Next add your egg and vanilla extract. Whisk again until smooth.
Add the almond flour, coconut flour, xanthan gum and baking soda, mix everything using a fork then a spoon once it gets too thick. Mix well until your dough is no longer super sticky.
Add your chocolate chunks and mix one last time.
Place the dough in the fridge for at least 20min before baking. Pre-heat your oven to 350*F during this time.
Bake for 12min or until the edges are just lightly browned but the cookies are still soft. Let them cool fully on the baking sheet before attempting to remove them (I mean you can always take a warm one off if you really can't wait, it just may be a little gooey and fall-apartish at first). Once cooled you can transfer them to a plate and serve with a glass of coconut or almond milk! Enjoy your Keto Chocolate Chunk Cookies!
Store these in an airtight container on the counter for up to 7 days. These also freeze well if placed between layers of parchment or wax paper in an airtight container. I highly reccomend microwaving these for 15s before eating from room temperature OR 20-30s from frozen! So good!!

Notes

Store these in an airtight container on the counter for up to 7 days. These also freeze well if placed between layers of parchment or wax paper in an airtight container. I highly reccomend microwaving these for 15s before eating from room temperature OR 20-30s from frozen! So good!!
For the chocolate in these cookies I used a 70% bittersweet baking chocolate by Camino but you can use any chocolate and any % you wish, I'd just recommend using a bar over chocolate chips if you want the true effect of these chocolate chunk cookies!
If you don't have the brown sugar replacement called Sukrin then you can also use 1 tsp molasses combined with an equal amount of regular sweetener in place of it. (So 1 tsp molasses + 70g regular sweetener). Molasses is low on the glycemic index and only adds ~0.35g of carbs to each cookie so it's a great replacement that won't cause your insulin to spike..especially because this recipe has added fibre which lowers the effect even more.
This recipe uses MELTED butter. Don't use softened! The melted butter helps with the chewiness of these cookies.
If you want the BEST version of these cookies, refrigerate the dough over-night before baking. This allows the cookies to develop more flavour.

Nutrition

*Update*

So, although I used the above recipe as the control chocolate chip cookies initially, after some brainstorming (and reading of 10 different chocolate chip cookie articles), I decided the amounts below were a better starting point or “control” to base each new recipe off of.

This became my new control recipe:

Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies – Control Recipe

Serves: 12 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup salted butter, softened 120g*
3 tbsp + 1 tsp sukrin brown sugar sweetener 40g, (see tips for how to sub this if you don’t have it)
6 tbsp + 2 tsp powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener, 80g
1/4 tsp salt (1/2 tsp if using unsalted butter)
1 egg, room temperature*
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup almond flour, 112g*
1 tbsp coconut flour, 8g*
1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup, 60g Krisda stevia sweetened chocolate chips*

Pre-heat oven to 350*F.
Cream butter and sweeteners together with a hand held mixer.
Add egg and vanilla extract, beat again until just mixed.
Add all of your dry ingredients to a bowl and whisk together.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
Roll the dough into balls and place evenly apart on a greased baking sheet, flatten slightly, then bake for 9-12min or until lighty browned. They will set more as they cool.
Remove from the baking sheet after 5-7min and leave on a wire rack to finish cooling.

So in every new recipe I tried, I used the ingredients listed above and only varied the ingredients with an astrix beside them in bold (unless I specify further changes later in the post).

Things I didn't change throughout any of the recipes and why:

Sweeteners

I kept the type of sweeteners the same throughout all of the recipes because I've already determined them to be my favourite for chocolate chip cookies in past experiments.

I use a combination of a powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend and a brown sugar sweetener called Sukrin. You can click the names of them to find out where to buy them online.

I recommend using both sweeteners in your chocolate chip cookies but you are welcome to use just a powdered monkfruit/erythritol blend for all of the sweetener called for if you want. It just may change the texture and flavour of the cookies slightly.

Alternatively, if you still want that brown sugar flavour but don't have Sukrin, you can see my tips in my last “Keto Chocolate Chunk Cookies” post where I tell you how you can create the same flavour using a very minimal amount of molasses.

Xanthan Gum

I ALWAYS use xanthan gum in keto baking. It's super important in creating a “chewier”, less crumbly texture in baked goods such as cookies. If you don't have it and plan on baking keto desserts more than once, I'd highly suggest it. A little goes a long way and a small bag can be expensive but will last you a good while!

Vanilla Extract

Vanilla extract is key for chocolate chip cookies! You really can't make them without it as it gives them their signature flavour. Pure vanilla extract is always ideal but imitation is actually so similar that many can't distinguish a difference in baked goods! Either or will work for this recipe. I always use 1 1/2 tsp for these cookies because the flavour of keto cookies tend to be better with a little extra vanilla as compared to their regular white flour, white sugar counter-parts.

Baking Soda

This one is a little tricky. In my past recipes I used to use just 1/2 a tsp but I find keto cookies for the most part don't like to spread as nicely as traditional chocolate chip cookies so sometimes you have to give them a bit of help. 1 tsp works great for this amount of batter and allows for the cookies to spread more evenly. I didn't change this throughout the experiments today.. but it could be interesting to look more into in the future. Just know if you want crispier/chewier and less cakey cookies..baking soda is where it's at!

Salt

I used scant 1/4 tsp of salt for all of the cookies below. I find this to be the perfect amount to bring out the flavour of the cookies when using already SALTED butter. If using unsalted, then a 1/2 tsp works best. You can even sprinkle a bit of flaky salt on top of the cookies if you are a real salt fanatic.

Butter

Now I know I “bolded” butter above to show it gets altered in two of the recipes below but I only actually changed the amount of total butter in one recipe. In the other, I just changed the way it was incorporated for one of my experiments below. In general I've found 1/2 a cup or 120g of butter to be the perfect quantity for the amount of dough below it's a good starting point to see what can happen when more or less flour is added. I used to work with 90g of butter originally but found the cookies always ended up too thick and dry for my liking.

Chocolate Chips

Again, I do change these for one of the recipes below. But for 7/8 of the recipes I kept these constant as “Krisda” stevia sweetened chocolate chips because I didn't want the chocolate detracting from the changes I made with the dough itself. I wanted them to remain relatively controlled throughout each recipe. Personally I actually prefer dark chocolate chunks to chocolate chips because I like the irregularity throughout the cookies..plus there's so many different brands to choose from! But if you want your cookies to look more consistent, chocolate chips are the way to go.

Alright! With that said.. Let's discuss the things I DID change:

The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #1

The Changes Made:

Swapped out 1/2 of the almond flour for coconut flour to make a 1:1 ratio of coconut to almond flour as compared to the 1/16th ratio in the control recipe. (So 56g of almond flour and 56g of coconut flour)
In this recipe I also DID actually change the sweetener. I used equal parts powdered monkfruit erythritol sweetener ( 4 tbsp + 2 tsp or 56g) and Sukrin brown sugar sweetener (4 tbsp + 2 tsp or 56g).

The Results:

These cookies were definitely more cakey than my control recipe. This is because of the added coconut flour. Compared to almond flour, it is much more absorbent and sucked up a lot more liquid, which caused the cookies to be a bit drier in texture. They also didn't spread much due to this same reason.
These cookies still taste good and I don't think anyone would say no to them. They are actually very similar to my original Kick Kookies recipe but not quite what I was going for.
These also had a bit too strong of a cooling effect from the brown sugar sweetener so I switched that back to the control amounts for the rest of the recipes below.
(I rolled the dough into balls and flattened them slightly before baking for this recipe. They hold their shape very well so make them how you want them to come out!)

2. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #2

The Changes Made:

No more coconut flour, crossing that off the list. Instead I used 7 tbsp of almond flour (85g) and 2 tbsp (20g) vital wheat gluten (see my article on this ingredient if you don't know what it is) for the flour portion of these cookies.
Other than that, no other changes were made from the above control recipe.

The Results:

Pancake cookies. Yup. They spread way too much which means there wasn't enough flour to hold them together.
Although these were a bit of a crumbly mess, they were tastier than the first batch and crispier too. So not a complete fail. At least we're learning at this point!
(I dropped the batter onto the baking sheet by spoonful and did not flatten them at all before baking)

3. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #3

The Changes Made:

These cookies are #1's batter but this time we baked them at a lower temperature of 300*F rather than 350*F.

The Results:

Not a huge difference..BUT if you like thicker, slightly cakier cookies, this would be the way to bake them. I preferred the cookies baked at 300*F as apposed to 350*F in attempt #1 as these ones came out a little softer and less dry in the middles. Both attempts at this dough were baked for about 9 minutes.

4. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #4

The Changes Made:

I kept the almond flour the same at 112g or 1 cup but swapped out the 1 tbsp of coconut flour for 1 tbsp or 5g of whole psyllium husks.
Since I was using whole psyllium husks, I used my food processor to grind all of the dry ingredients for ~10-15 seconds (not including sweeteners). If you are using psyllium husks that are already ground you probably only need 1/2 a tbsp.

The Results:

We are finally getting somewhere! These turned out the most like traditional chocolate chip cookies so far. They have the bumpy but aesthetic looking tops and a very chewy, soft center. The psyllium really helped to create a “gooey-ness” that I hadn't seen in the other cookies. It also gave the cookies just enough lift but doesn't prevent them from spreading out a bit.
These keto chocolate chip cookies also tasted the best so far.
They do best if you drop them by spoonful and flatten them just a tiny bit before baking.

5. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #5

The Changes Made:

This attempt is just building off of attempt #2. I took the same dough that clearly did not have enough total flour before and added 3 tbsp (21g) of almond flour back to it for a total of 106g (~9 tbsp) of almond flour and 2 tbsp (20g vital wheat gluten). I also chilled the cookie dough before baking for about 30min.

The Results:

These cookies looked much nicer than the first very thin pancake ones. The taste was good, texture was nice. Similar chewiness to the psyllium husk cookies but the flavour was just a tad better in the psyllium husk cookies in my opinion.
I actually preferred the taste of these when they were flatter like pancakes but the overall texture was better with more almond flour so I think these would work best with 99g of total almond flour instead of 106g. It's a small change but it seems to make a difference.
I rolled these into balls and slightly flattened the cookies before baking after refrigerating and adding the extra almond flour.

6. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #6

The Changes Made:

Based off attempt #4's findings, I decided to try the same flour blend of 112g or 1 cup almond flour and 1 tbsp psyllium husks. I ground all of the dry ingredients in a food processor again.
But this time I used 2 egg whites rather than 1 whole egg to attempt to increase the overall chewiness of the cookie.

The Results:

A cookie that's not only super pretty to look at, but also still chewy even once fully cooled!
These cookies turned out lighter in colour as compared to the cookies with a whole egg added..which is to be expected. The vanilla flavour in the cookie is stronger in these and as I mentioned, the chewiness stays with these cookies after they cooled more-so than the ones made with a whole egg.
So far I think this may be my favourite recipe.
I baked these for 9min but they could easily be baked for another 3min and still retain their chewiness. They kind of puff up in the oven but settle down as they are left to cool.
I dropped the batter for these by tablespoon onto a greased cookie sheet. You don't really need to flatten these ones prior to baking unless you've refrigerated them for a while.

7. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #7

The Changes Made:

For this cookie attempt I went a little out there. I've had so much success with fat head dough for pastries and other baked goods in the past that I thought I might use it as inspiration for cookies. I figured the mozzarella could help add chewiness to the chocolate chip cookies…so yes, I added cheese to chocolate chip cookies (my mom looked at me like I was crazy when I told her what I was attempting).
For this change I swapped out 60g of the softened butter for 60g of shredded, melted mozzarella and used 112g of almond flour for the flour.
To incorporate it I just creamed together my butter and sweeteners as usual, added the egg and vanilla extract, beat again until smooth..then I melted my mozzarella in the microwave for 30s, and added that to the wet ingredients, mixing quickly. I also added the dry ingredients I had already whisked together and set aside at this time and then stirred everything together to form a thick dough. (It's important to work fast so the mozzarella doesn't separate). Then from there I just rolled balls and flattened them slightly on the greased baking sheet before baking.
I baked these for ~11min.

The Results:

These cookies were really interesting to me! I think texture-wise they were one of my favourites. The flavour was definitely a bit different then the other cookies because of the mozzarella taking the place of butter and at first I wasn't sure but the more I ate them the more I liked them. The mozzarella really helps to create a bit of crisp edge around the entire cookie but maintains a VERY chewy soft center even after cooling. The best way I can describe it is a butter tart texture and mouth feel.
Flavour-wise I think these have a “lighter” less intense flavour than some of the cookies. You don't taste the almond flour as much is probably what I noticed the most. But again, tasty and I'm interested in experimenting more with cookies using mozzarella.
I also should mention, these puff a lot in the oven and look very smooth and round but will flatten out a bit when cooled so they look more like a traditional cookie.

8. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie – Attempt #8

The Changes Made

And finally number 8, this one I was sure would be the real winner because I used one of my favourite recipe attempts (attempt #6) and made them exactly the same EXCEPT instead of creaming the softened butter with the sugar and sweeteners, I instead heated it in a pan until bubbling. I whisked it occasionally as it simmered until it began to turn brown in colour, ~5-7min then removed it from the heat. Also known as “browned butter”, this browning of the butter intensifies the flavour and brings out a nuttiness adding another depth of flavour to the cookies themselves.
After browning the butter, I let it cool for ~6-7min before whisking it in a bowl with the sweeteners and vanilla extract until a smooth paste forms, then I whisked my egg whites in a separate bowl (I didn't beat the egg whites, I just used a fork to whisk them until some bubbles formed) then I added those to the butter and sweetener mixture as well and mixed until smooth, then added my dry ingredients as usual.
Finally, I did actually change the chocolate chips to my fancy chopped chocolate for this recipe because I really wanted them to be a winner. I used 9 squares or ~50g of Camino 71% Bittersweet Baking Chocolate for this.
I recall dropping this batter by tablespoon and flattening just a teeny bit before baking if I'm remembering correctly.

The Result:

Slightly disappointing. I'm not going to lie. I was thinking the combination of the previous very chewy egg white cookies from attempt #6 and the intense flavour of the browned butter would create a real winner but I guess it just goes to show, even with all of the experiments in the world, there's still going to be surprises when it comes to baking.
I found the reason I didn't like these as much to be the fact that the egg white flavour seemed stronger in these. I did actually like the browned butter taste though so I THINK these could still be a winner if you tried them with 1 whole egg instead of the egg whites. (I'm very tempted to try this recipe again making that change!)
Overall these still weren't bad cookies, I just think there's room for improvement.

All cookies lined up in order from attempt #1 – #8. (First row from left to right is #1, #2, Second row is #3, #4 and so on)

OKAY, so we've went through all of the attempts BUT I wanted to take it a step further and test how the cookies hold up when refrigerated for 24 hours. Most people say the flavour intensifies which makes sense in my mind. It's almost as if you are “marinating” your cookie dough if you want to look at it that way, haha.

So without further ado, here's how they did the following day:

Cookies after 24 hours refrigeration.

Cookies after 24 hours of refrigeration and baking the next day (lined up in order from #1 to #8 minus number 3.

How Does Refrigerating Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies over-night affect the flavour and texture?

1. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #1 (Coconut Flour) -Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Better, this one seemed to have more flavour the next day. I think these benefitted from being left overnight.

Texture: Softer, this was something I noticed all across the board with the overnight cookies. These came out softer when baked for the same amount of time. I believe it's because the dough had more time to get hydrated. These barely had any colour to them the next day and were very smooth in texture.

2. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #2 (Vital Wheat Gluten) -Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Not great, I almost feel like the 24 hours enhanced the vital wheat gluten flavour which I wasn't a big fan of. These were better on day 1.

Texture: These still came out quite pancake flat but a slightly better shape then the day before.

3. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies **Attempt #3 (Baked Attempt #1 at 300F instead of 350F) – Refrigerated 24 Hours**

I skipped Attempt 3 because it was so similar to attempt #1 and because I found all of the cookies to come out softer the next day so there wasn't a need to lower the oven temperature this time.

4. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #4 (1 Whole Egg + Psyllium Husks) – Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Good! I really enjoyed these the next day. They are almost on par with the egg white version now!

Texture: Softer with a chewy center (could just bake longer).

5. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #5 (Attempt #3 + 3 Extra Tbsp of Almond Flour) – Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Same as Attempt #2, just overall not the best flavour due to the vital wheat gluten. I like these ones better but still not my favourite cookies. The vital wheat gluten helps with browning though because of the increase in protein so I'd be interested to see how a small amount of protein powder added to cookies would work similarly with maybe less of a strong flavour.

Texture: Soft and somewhat chewy.

6. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #6 (Egg Whites + Psyllium Husks) – Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Better! I liked them on day 1 and I still like them today..maybe a little more because the flavour is more balanced and there is no hint of egg white taste.

Texture: The texture is chewy just as the day before and the cookies again need to be baked longer or they end up softer than day 1.

7. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #7 (Mozzarella Cookie) -Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Still the same interesting lighter flavour that I enjoyed on day one.

Texture: Chewy as I said before! If you look at the center of the cookies, it almost looks like caramel or taffy. It's a cool texture.

8. The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies Attempt #8 (Browned Butter/Chocolate Chunks) – Refrigerated 24 Hours

Taste: Blah. I found the egg white flavour to be even stronger today for some reason. These 100% would be better with 1 whole egg.

Texture: These looked so pretty coming out of the oven but the cookie is almost too “gummy” or light because of the egg whites lightening it.

Overall Winner AKA The Ultimate Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies:

This is so tough but I would say it's a tie for me between Attempt #6 (The Egg White Only Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies) OR Attempt #7 (The Mozzarella Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies).

Both of these were great in their own way. I like the egg white ones for their flavour and chewiness but the mozzarella ones also offer such a unique texture that they are almost just as good in my opinion! The mozzarella cookies tear apart more like a thick caramel where-as the egg white cookies tear apart more like the gooey inside of a brownie.

Both of these I'd recommend using a high quality, chopped dark chocolate if you can but chocolate chips also do just fine.

*I do also want to mention that Attempt #8 (The Browned Butter Keto Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe) I believe could be the overall winner if you were to use a whole egg. AND Attempt #4 (The Psyllium + 1 Whole Egg Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies) are actually great the next day and are pretty much just as good as the egg white ones with maybe just slightly less chew.

I really do think any of these recipes can be great depending on your own personal preferences.

For example…

For More Cakey/Thicker Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Use a combination of both almond and coconut flour with a 1:1 ratio.
Bake at a slightly lower temperature (300*F) to keep the cookies soft in the center.

For In-between Cakey and Chewy Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Use the control recipe as written above but add 1 tbsp whole psyllium husks instead of coconut flour and grind all of the dry ingredients in a food processor.

For Crisper Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Use a bit less almond flour than the original control recipe calls for and replace the coconut flour with 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten or protein powder to allow for more browning.
You can also just bake the cookies longer than the standard 9-12min.

For The Chewiest Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Opt for 2 egg whites in place of a whole egg and then 1 tbsp whole psyllium husks (ground with the rest of the dry ingredients, excluding sweetener) in place of the coconut flour in the control recipe. (For lighter chewy cookies that tear apart like the gooey inside of a traditional chocolate chip cookie or brownie center),
OR use 60g of shredded and melted mozzarella in place of the butter called for in the control recipe. Also exclude the coconut flour entirely. (For chewy cookies that tear apart more like caramel does, a bit thicker than the above option).

For More Flavourful Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies

Use browned butter instead of softened butter.
Use high quality chopped dark chocolate rather than chocolate-chips so the chocolate is more dispersed throughout the cookies.
Leave them in the fridge for 24-36 hours before baking.

Here Are Printable Copies of My Two Favourite Recipes: