Almond Flour Cookie Bars Recipe (Gluten Free, Non-Dairy)
Delicious chocolatey, gluten-free, almond flour cookie bars with chocolate chips! Soft, chewy, and easy to make. Plus, the secret ingredient of tahini adds a unique twist, creating a creamy and rich flavor profile that you'd never guess is non-dairy. Simple to make and irresistibly delicious, these almond flour cookie bars will be on repeat.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer
- 9×9 baking pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup tahini
- 1/4 cup coconut oil
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 2/3 cups almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a 9×9 baking pan with parchment paper and then grease lightly.
- Cream together: In a mixing bowl add 1/2 cup tahini, 1/4 cup coconut oil, 1/2 cup white sugar, and 3/4 cup brown sugar Whisk together until fully combined into a creamy mixture.
- Add egg & vanilla: To the creamed mixture add 1 egg (at room temperature) and 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract. Mix again until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients: Stir together 1 2/3 cups almond flour with 1 teaspoon baking soda and add to the wet ingredients. Mix together with an electric mixer until you no longer see bits of flour throughout, and the mixture has formed a stiff dough.
- Stir in: Add 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir together. Note: don't worry if the chocolate chips aren't fully incorporated at this step, we will mix them again in the pan.
- Transfer to pan: Continue to mix in the chocolate chips as you transfer the dough to the prepared 9×9 pan, distributing the chocolate chips as evenly as possible throughout the dough and press into an even layer.
- Bake: Place pan in the oven and bake at 350F for about 28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. The top will be golden brown. Note: all ovens bake differently, so I recommend checking on the bars after 23 minutes. Reduce or increase bake time as needed.
- Cool & Serve: When ready, remove from the oven. Let cool for a few minutes and cut into bars. Enjoy!!
Video
Notes
If you’re not crazy about tahini, you can try replacing the tahini with coconut oil. This means 3/4 cup coconut oil and no tahini. The texture will be quite different (and won’t hold its structure as well) – maybe even more than the tahini version. Bake it for about 25 minutes and then let it set in the fridge for an hour. Once set, dig in!
Thank you so much for the recipe I will be making it soon
Thank you, Susan! I hope you all love it. It’s a great flourless, dairy free option to have on hand.
Is tahini necessary for this?
Hi Valeria. Tahini is a key ingredient here helping us to keep this dairy-free. If you don’t care for it to be dairy-free, you might be able to try butter instead. Please note, I haven’t tested it with other ingredients, so I am not sure of the end result, but I will try to test a non-tahini version for you soon. If you’re avoiding tahini but feel like having something similar, I’d highly recommend baking my chocolate chip cookies instead! They’re so good and pretty quick to make. I’d love to hear what you end up deciding!
Hi Valeria. I just tested a version where it uses all coconut oil instead of Tahini. So, a total of 3/4 cup coconut oil (and no Tahini at all). It worked and is even BETTER. I actually prefer it. The texture is very different and looks odd when it comes out of the oven. I baked it for 25 minutes and let it set in the fridge for about an hour. Once set, it was DELICIOUS. Thanks for the suggestion!
Can you clear up something ? When there are eggs in a recipe, is that really dairy free? Thank you.
Hi Rochelle! Great question. Most people consider milk-based products dairy, so it is common to leave eggs out of that definition. But you bring up a good point in that while the recipe is dairy-free, it is not vegan because it does have eggs in it. Hope this helps!