These paleo chocolate chip cookie bars are made with tigernut flour, sweetened with coconut sugar and loaded with dark chocolate chips. They're a great allergy friendly dessert, as these cookie bars are gluten free, nut free, dairy free and egg free.
I know so many of you love my grain free, egg free and nut free recipes...so I've been trying to make it a point to include more allergy friendly recipes on my blog. And today I'm sharing these paleo chocolate chip cookie bars!
These cookie bars are made with tigernut flour, sweetened with coconut sugar and loaded with bits of dark chocolate. In addition, they use a flax egg instead of an egg and palm shortening in place of butter.
This is a cookie bar recipe the whole family will love and no one will guess that they're allergy friendly and actually healthy.
Why You'll Love these Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
- paleo friendly - made with simple, wholesome ingredients you can feel good about
- allergy friendly - made without eggs, nuts, gluten, dairy or soy
- small batch - perfect for when you want a small treat and not too many leftovers
- easy to make - the dough is made in one bowl, pressed into a loaf pan and then baked in the oven
Ingredients
The full recipe for these paleo chocolate chip cookie bars can be found in the recipe card below, but here's an overview of the ingredients you'll need:
- palm shortening - this is a great dairy free alternative to butter. You can try swapping shortening with coconut oil, but the bars probably won't hold together as well.
- coconut sugar - to sweeten the cookie bars. This can be swapped with any other granulated sugar or sweetener.
- flax egg - I used ground flax seeds and water to make a "flax egg". While I have not tried this recipe with a real egg, using one as a replacement should work.
- vanilla extract - for flavor
- tigernut flour - these cookie bars are made with tigernut flour and I have not tested any other type of flour. If you want to learn more about tigernut flour, take a look at my tigernut flour guide.
- tapioca starch - needed for texture purposes. You can swap tapioca starch with arrowroot starch/flour.
- baking soda - for a slight rise in the cookies
- salt - brings out more flavor
- miniature chocolate chips - because everything is better with chocolate 😉
How to Make Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
The dough for these chocolate chip bars is made in one bowl, pressed into a lined loaf pan and baked in the oven. Here are the steps:
- First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper.
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Mix in wet ingredients. Then fold in chocolate chips.
- Press the dough into your lined loaf pan.
- Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes.
- Cool to room temperature in loaf pan.
- Cut to desired size and serve!
Tips and Tricks
- Measure ingredients by weight. When given (in grams), measure the ingredients by weight for accuracy. You can do this using a small kitchen scale.
- Chill the bars in the fridge before cutting. Chilling the bars overnight, or for a few hours before cutting, makes the bars easier to cut.
- Chop up a chocolate bar. Instead of using miniature chocolate chips, chop up a dark chocolate bar.
- Top with flaked salt. Just before serving, top the cookie bars with flaked salt for a little extra flavor and crunch!
Storage
These paleo chocolate chip cookie bars should be kept in an airtight container or baggie. You can keep them at room temperature for a couple days, in the fridge up to 10 days, or the freezer up to 3 months.
FAQ
Tigernut flour is made from finely ground, peeled tigernuts. As confusing as it may be, tigernuts are not actually nuts, but small root vegetables. They are naturally sweet and nutty in flavor, perfect for baking!
Check out my tigernut flour guide to learn more about tigernut flour and how it can be used in recipes.
I have not tested any other flour for these cookie bars, but almond flour often works as a 1:1 swap for tigernut flour. So, you can try subbing with almond flour and let me know how these bars turn out in the comment section below.
This recipe requires either tapioca starch or a 1:1 swap like arrowroot starch. Starch gives these bars a chewier texture and helps the dough hold together.
The best swap for shortening will be butter (dairy free or vegan). I haven't tried coconut oil, but assume it would give these bars a more crumbly texture. You can try that swap, just note that the bars probably won't hold together as well.
More Paleo Recipes using Tigernut Flour
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (Nut Free, Egg Free)
- Yield: Fills a 9x5 inch loaf pan 1x
Description
These paleo chocolate chip cookie bars are made with tigernut flour, sweetened with coconut sugar and baked in a loaf pan. They're the perfect small-batch and allergy friendly dessert - paleo, gluten free, nut free, egg free and vegan.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup tigernut flour (118g) sifted, spooned & leveled
- ¼ cup tapioca starch (30g)
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 flax egg*
- ⅓ cup palm shortening (62g) room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup miniature dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper (I used a 9x5 inch loaf pan, but 8x4 inch will work too).
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients. This includes the tigernut flour, tapioca starch, coconut sugar, baking soda and salt.
- Mix in wet ingredients. This includes the flax egg, palm shortening and vanilla. Mix first with a fork or spatula, then use your hands to combine the dough (it will appear to dry at first, just keep working it).
- Fold in the dark chocolate chips.
- Press the dough into your lined loaf pan.
- Place the bars in your oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. When done, the bars will be golden brown with a slight rise.
- Cool the cookie bars to room temperature in the loaf pan.
- Cut to desired size and serve! (To make them easier to cut, chill the bars in the fridge overnight, or for a few hours before cutting.)
Notes
* 1 flax egg = 3 Tbsp water mixed with 1 Tbsp ground flax. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes to thicken, before adding it to your dough. You can make your own ground flax by grinding whole flax seeds in a coffee grinder.
Katie
Hope you all love these cookie bars as much as we do! Enjoy!