Without any actual Nutella! These hazelnut keto chocolate cookies have all the flavor you know and love, but without any of the sugar. Expect extra chewy and ultra decadent treats!
(Nutella!) Keto Chocolate Cookies
With chocolate chunk (puddles!)
For real, these are truly decadent beauties! Expect an ultra chocolate cookie with incredible hazelnut hues (think actual Nutella!).
But worry not! If you’ve got no hazelnut flour on hand, feel free to use the staple almond flour. You’ll still end up with deliciously chewy keto chocolate cookies!
And feel free to sub the hazelnuts with macadamias, walnuts or pecans too. Or just do without… but I do love the added crunch of toasted nuts against the chewy texture!
Top tip: you can always whip up a batch, freeze the shaped dough for up to 3 months, and bake straight from the freezer on a rainy day!
The Chewy Cookie Factor
So here’s the deal guys, you get ultra chewy cookies by using xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!) or allulose (add 30% more) as your sweeteners. The cookies also spread out more while baking (something to consider when shaping them pre-bake).
So feel free to pre-flatten them more for thinner cookies (or keep them round for thicker ones). See picture!
The one caveat with these two sweeteners is that they take a while to firm up… as I’m a day! But a quick hack many of you know, is to simply pop them in the freezer once they’ve fully cooled down.
Now, if you want crisp cookies you’ll actually want to use erythritol (Lakanto‘s monk fruit blend is my favorite!) as your sweetener. Remember that xylitol and allulose don’t crisp up in cookies!
And just keep in mind that cookies with erythritol don’t spread much, so you’ll want to pre-flatten them well.
Oh, and don’t forget a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt (love Maldon!) on top. It’ll cut through the chocolate and sweetness beautifully.
The Sweetener
Since we’ve already discussed sweeteners above, let’s talk how sweet! In case you haven’t noticed, keto palates are all over the place (I feel mine fluctuates constantly still!). So I’m giving you guys a range of 110-140g (7-9TBS) of sweetener… which is already less than the average 200g in your usual cookies!
And sweetener aside, I like to add a teaspoon of blackstrap molasses for that brown sugar kick. 1 teaspoon (7g) adds 5g net carbs (depending on your macros, very little effect on carbs/serving). But carbs aside, blackstrap molasses is a nutritional powerhouse rich in vital vitamins and minerals, such as iron, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, and selenium. But feel free to leave it out, its totally optional!
And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys! 🐕
The Chocolate
Cocoa or cacao? Both work great, just know that quality really matters here. My favorite will forever be the Dutch-processed alkaline cocoa Valrhona, known to be one of (if not the) best cocoas in the world. But feel free to use a raw cacao powder (arguably more nutritional perks here), though keep in mind that your cookies will be lighter in color and more reddish in hue. Both are well and good, as long as they’re unsweetened and you like the taste.
And call me weird, but I don’t like chocolate chips in my cookies. What I like, is an actual chocolate bar broken up into bits. You see, chocolate chips were designed to not melt completely. And I’m all about those chocolate bits melting throughout the cookies.
So I suggest simply breaking up a chocolate bar into bits. But in the end, just use whatever your taste buds desire.
The Flours
Cocoa aside, these keto chocolate cookies use a mix of hazelnut meal (I bought Bob’s!)*, coconut flour (Anthony’s, best taste and texture by a mile!). Add a touch of xanthan gum, baking soda, and we’re golden.
*Do know that you can always sub the hazelnut meal for our usual almond flour (Anthony’s super fine is my absolute favorite!).
Looking for more keto chocolate cookies? Don’t miss out on our (properly crisp!) oreos, double chocolate shortbread… and even thin mints!
(Nutella!) Gluten Free & Keto Chocolate Cookies
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
- 96 g hazelnut meal or almond flour (for a non-nutella version!)
- 16 g coconut flour
- 50 g cocoa powder sifted
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 140 g (grass-fed!) unsalted butter at room temperature
- 110-144 g xylitol or allulose/erythritrol (I use 9 TBS)
- 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses optional
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 85 g Lily's Sweets dark chocolate bar broken up (or chips)
- 70 g hazelnuts lightly toasted and roughly chopped (optional, but highly suggested!)
- flaky sea salt to garnish
Instructions
- See recipe video for guidance!
- Lightly toast hazelnut flour in a dry skillet or pan over medium heat, until fully golden and fragrant (about 4 minutes). This is very important taste-wise to get that 'nutella' kick, so don't skip! Set aside to cool completely.
- Add toasted hazelnut flour (or almond flour!), coconut flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda and xanthan gum to a medium bowl. Whisk until thoroughly combined and set aside.
- Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer for a minute. Add in sweetener and molasses (optional), and continue to beat until light, fluffy and thoroughly mixed (7-10 minutes). Don't worry if your sweeteners don't dissolve!
- Add in vanilla extract and egg, mixing until just incorporated. The mixture may appear slightly 'broken' (i.e. not thoroughly smooth).
- With your mixer on low, add in half of your flour mixture- mixing until just incorporated. Mix in the rest. You can either fold in the chocolate chunks (or chips) and hazelnuts now, or add them to the cookies right before baking. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and line two baking trays with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.
- Scoop out 14 rounds into the prepared trays and flatten them. The cookies will spread somewhat during baking, but you still need to pre-shape them slightly. Please note that cookies with xylitol and allulose will spread more while baking than those with erythritrol.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until just set (but still soft to touch), turning the tray around and sprinkling with flaky sea salt half way through, .
- Allow the cookies to cool completely on the trays. If you used xylitol or allulose, the cookies will be very fragile (but deliciously chewy!) while cooling. Store in an airtight container for up to three days.
- Top tip! For ultra chewy cookies, allow them to cool completely and pop them in the freezer for 15 minutes to speed up the setting of the texture.
As soon as I found Lily’s brand of sea salt caramel chocolate chips, I knew I needed to try this recipe! I don’t like hazelnuts, so I used the almond flour, dark cocoa powder and the Lily’s chips, and these cookies are so, so good! Great recipe and perfect to satisfy my chocolate cravings while still being low carb.
I need to try this one for sure… with adjustments! Just a note though… or two 🙂 I’ve spent years trying to fix my gut issues. The issue with xylitol has nothing to do with its origin. What I mean is that it has nothing to do with corn. xylitol always causes tummy issues if you eat over 50 grams per day, sometimes even less. I can’t eat it at all. Also, xanthan gum is a no-no for anyone with gut issues. Tried and tested.
Oksana you really cannot generalize! I personally have autoimmune gut issues and can do Xanthan gum just fine and can do birch tree xylitol but absolutely cannot tolerate the corn one from NOW. xo!
Just made these. So good! I will make again and switch up hazelnuts for either another nut or leave out. I do have a question. How do you store these? Can they be kept in the fridge or freezer? Thanks for a great recipe. Enjoying many of your recipes!
I made these with almond flour (since my friend is allergic to hazelnuts) and did the 15 minute freezer trick. They are amazing!! No one would guess they aren’t made with wheat or sugar!
SO wonderful to hear Bree! xo!!
Really need to put recipe in cups ect not grams to long to figure out or lookup. Please
U can click us cup metric option at the end of each recipe. Hope this helps. 😊
I’ve enjoyed every recipe of yours that I’ve tried. Thank you for sharing them.
The “U.S cups” links rarely work for me. Would you kindly check into its function?
Hi Paola, sorry, me again ! Do you think a teaspoon of molasses sugar would work instead if blackstrap molasses? My husband I’d Diabetic and follows a Keto diet, so don’t want to spike his blood sugar.
If you don’t like the spreading effect in the cookies, eliminate the baking soda as it caused cookies to spread. You could add some baking powder in place of it, beginning with ¼ tsp, and increasing it until you get a proper rise. They will not spread as much.
They look amazing! Could you give the carb totals without the chocolate chunks? I’ll probably use 85% choc, as good sugar free stuff is hard to find in the the UK (or ridiculously expensive). I can work this bit out separately.
They look amazing! And guess who has hazelnut meal in her cupboard!? Paola, would you be able to tell me the carb count without the chocolate? I’ll probably use 85% choc, as decent sugar free chocolate is expensive and hard to come by in the UK. I can then work out the carbs for the choc I use separately.
So, my favorite is gooey hot melty cookies, where the chocolate is still melted and the cookie is a bit crisp on the outside, but soft in the middle (sometimes undercooked).
I’m guessing there’s no way to get them lightly crisp on the edges, since erythritol would add the most crunch and that would be after a couple of days.
So, I’m guessing my best bet would be to go with a slightly undercooked cooky for the melty bit and use xylitol. Would you agree?
*DROOLS ALL OVER KEYBOARD*
Cannot wait to tackle them over the weekend!! Question Paola, if I want to use allulose you say to add 30% more? Is it because its less sweet?
Dying lol! Hope you love them Claire! And regarding allulose, its 70% as sweet as sugar so you want to add 30% more (you do so by multiplying the amount in grams by 1.3… for instance: 110 x 1.3 = 143 g! ) Hope this helps xo!
You had me at nutella without making nutella lol!! Do you think I could make my own hazelnut flour with hazelnuts?
Lol Mary Anne! And yeah definitely, you can run your hazelnuts in your food processor until you get a meal. Just be sure to pulse it and take breaks so you don’t end up with hazelnut butter! Yours might end up with some larger bits, but Bob’s hazelnut flour is more like a meal than the super fine stuff we get in almond flour anyways xo!