Chocolate Chip Coconut Macadamia Cookies (grain and dairy free with egg and sugar-free options)

Cookies are one of my favorite things to make.  And eat.  Of course, since going gluten-free and figuring out that I have candida, the only options for me now are healthy cookies, and grain-free cookies and sugar-free cookies are even better.

We've been trying to limit our intake of sweets in general around here, but I still take joy in making healthy delicious treats for my family and friends.

And these Chocolate Chunk Coconut Macadamia cookies are a fabulous addition to my Healthy Recipe Repertoire.  Some of our favorite cookies are – Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Soft Pumpkin Cookies, and while they aren't really cookies, we love these Almond Joy Bars and Coconut Delights.

In case you haven't noticed, there is a lot of controversy on the internet now about eating grains.

Some of the different recommendations regarding grains include:

• eating no grains
• eating only whole grains
• eating grains, but soaking all grains before eating them
• eating only non-gluten grains

Now, I can't say that I've sorted all of this out, but in order to watch our carb intake, I've been making more grain-free goodies these days.

Whether you are on whole grains, no grains, or gluten-free diet, these wonderful cookies are a great treat for you all year round, but especially for the Christmas Holiday season when all kinds of white flour and sugar-laden treats will be calling your name.

Now you can make some delicious baked goods and feel good about offering them to your family and friends.

I saw these cookies on Civilized Caveman's site, and they looked so good that I just had to try a few substitutions (for the eggs and the sweetener) to see if I could make them work for my family.  And voila – they were great!  He's got some amazing recipes over there.

This is the first time that I have tried a recipe from this site before, and I must say that it is worth checking out.  I wasn't grain-free when I first saw this recipe, but since I have gone grain-free, this is a site that will certainly prove to be quite valuable.  Grain-free or not, give it a look – it's not often that I do so few alterations to a recipe.  This one was great from the get go.

Recipe Notes

• These cookies, while not low calorie, are really filling, so you'll find yourself naturally eating fewer (I think :-)).
• You can use any healthy sweetener instead of honey, but if using a granulated sweetener, see my post on Substituting Sweeteners since you may need to change the amount. If desired, add 1-2 scoops (each scoop is 1/32 of a teaspoon!) stevia or a bit more sweetener to taste.
• Note that the egg amount varies from 1-4. Even though it's doing things in reverse order, you might wish to add the coconut flour first and then the eggs, one at a time, to see how many you really need for this recipe.
  You can use an equivalent substitute instead of eggs. If you would like to make your own egg substitute, see my Homemade Egg Replacer. Use Gelatin Egg for AIP.
• Instead of macadamias, you may use whatever nut or seed you can have, and you can also omit altogether for AIP.
• Here are my Homemade Chocolate / Carob Chips which are a great make-your-own option.
  Make additional variations by substituting nuts and/or dried fruit for the chocolate chips.  A nice combo would be cranberries and pecans, for example.  Just use whatever you have available!

More delicious, healthy treats (most all are grain free):

• Almond Joy Bars (allergy & sugar free options)
• Almond Truffles (with allergy & sugar free options)
• Soft Pumpkin Cookies (allergy & sugar free options – these have grains, but they're good!)
• Silky Smooth Bean Fudge

What's YOUR favorite cookie?