Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cassava Flour Cookies
This is no ordinary chocolate chip cookie! While it has chocolate chips, it also has dried cherries, cinnamon, and is made from naturally gluten-free cassava flour! They’re soft-baked, with a melt-in-your-mouth crumbly texture, and just enough maple syrup sweetness. These are my go-to cookie when I need to bake a quick, easy treat for guests. They never disappoint!
Cassava flour is not only gluten-free, it’s grain-free, nut-free, soy-free, Paleo, Vegan, Autoimmune Protocol friendly, non-GMO, and full of whole-food goodness! If you haven’t tried it yet, these simple to make Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cassava Flour Cookies are a great place to start!
To learn more about baking with cassava flour see: Getting to Know Cassava (Yuca) Flour.
While cassava flour is very similar to wheat flour, it can be dryer. It, therefore, needs a greater amount of liquid than the same recipe would if wheat flour were being used. I tweaked this recipe at least 6 times before I found the right combination of cassava flour, coconut oil, and maple syrup, leading to this soft-baked, yet firm cookie, with just the right amount of sweetness. I always create recipes with the least possible amount of sweetener required for it to be delicious (since I’m pre-diabetic.) Based on the 6 cookies I felt compelled to eat the day I came up with this version, I think I got it right! But feel free to add a bit more maple syrup or chocolate chips if you enjoy a very sweet cookie.
I use Otto’s Cassava Flour for all of my baking.
Click below to purchase Otto’s Cassava Flour online here!
Otto’s Naturals 100% Natural Cassava Flour Made from Yuca Root Bag, 2 Pound
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A common complaint in the gluten-free community is that gluten-free versions of a favorite food don’t taste the same as the gluten-containing food one is used to. Because of this fact, I recommend making something totally new, instead of trying to re-create a beloved food. Gluten-free food is AWESOME! It’s just a little different. Finding new, delicious meals and treats to add to one’s repertoire makes a gluten-free lifestyle truly enjoyable, without any sense of deprivation!
I think we can all agree that no cassava flour, gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free chocolate chip cookie is going to taste EXACTLY like a classic Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie – so why try??? It’s just going to be a disappointing, lesser cookie! Am I right???
That’s why I set out to create a cassava flour cookie that contained chocolate chips, (because I have no plan to give up chocolate chips!) but is its own unique cookie creation. A cookie that stands on its own! A cookie that no one thinks is trying to be a typical chocolate chip cookie!
These Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cassava Flour Cookies truly achieve that goal! They have just the right amount of cinnamon, which pairs perfectly with the bursts of chocolate from the chips! The sweet, chewy cherries add an unexpected twist that puts these cookies in a class by themselves!
These cookies freeze perfectly! They can be made in advance and pulled out whenever company drops by. Just leave them on the counter for an hour and they’re like fresh baked cookies again! If I’m baking them just for my immediate family, we eat a few then put them right into the freezer. This prevents us from eating the whole batch in one day! It’s hard to pass a plate of these and not grab one every time!!! While in the freezer, they’re available to be quickly defrosted whenever anyone wants a snack. They even taste amazing straight from the freezer! (Just ask my husband who never defrosts one before eating it!!!)
Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cookies
(Full printable recipe below)
Makes one dozen cookies.
Ingredients:
-3/4 cup Otto’s Cassava Flour
-1 egg – room temperature (I use a duck egg since I’m sensitive to the protein in chicken eggs, but any egg works.)
-1/3 cup organic coconut oil – melted / or Spectrum organic vegetable shortening (not melted)
-1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
-1/2 cup organic maple syrup -room temperature
-1 teaspoon cinnamon
-3/4 tsp baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt
-3/4 cup dried cherries – (I use Trader Joe’s Dried Bing Cherries – unsulfured, no sugar added.) They are large, so feel free to cut them in half, if desired.)
-1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels, semi-sweet baking chips, or mega chunks)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, blend maple syrup, melted coconut oil (or room temperature vegetable shortening), egg and vanilla. In a second bowl, mix Otto’s Cassava Flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Combine wet and dry ingredients into one bowl. Once fully blended, add dairy-free chocolate chips and dried cherries.
Stir to combine.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, divide dough and press down to form 12-14 cookies.
Bake on middle rack of oven for about 12 minutes, or until edges begin to slightly brown.
Enjoy your Chocolate Cherry Chunk Cassava Flour Cookies!!!
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This is no ordinary chocolate chip cookie! Yes, it has chocolate chips, but it also has dried cherries and cinnamon. YUM!!! And since these cookies are made with cassava flour, they're naturally gluten-free and full of whole-food goodness! They're soft-baked with a melt-in-your-mouth crumbly texture, and just enough maple syrup sweetness. These are my go-to cookie when I need to bake a quick, easy dessert for guests. They never disappoint!
- 3/4 cup Otto’s Cassava Flour
- 1 cage-free egg (room temperature) I use a duck egg since I'm sensitive to the protein in chicken eggs, but any egg works.
- 1/3 cup organic coconut oil – melted / or Spectrum organic palm shortening (room temperature)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup organic maple syrup -room temperature.
- -1 tsp cinnamon
- -3/4 tsp baking soda
- -1/4 teaspoon Himalayan sea salt
- -3/4 cup dried cherries - cut in half (I use Trader Joe's Dried Bing Cherries - unsulfured, no sugar added.)
- -1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I use Enjoy Life brand dark chocolate morsels, semi-sweet baking chips, or mega chunks.)
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Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
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In a large mixing bowl, blend maple syrup, melted coconut oil (or room temperature vegetable shortening), egg and vanilla.
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In a second bowl, combine cassava flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
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Combine wet and dry ingredients into one bowl.
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Once fully blended, add dairy-free chocolate chips and dried cherries. Stir to combine.
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On a parchment lined baking sheet, spoon and press dough into 12-14 equal sized cookies.
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Bake on middle rack of oven for about 12 minutes, or until edges begin to slightly brown.
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Enjoy!
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Disclaimer– In Crazy for Yuca I write about my own personal health and diet journey. My experience and recipes are not to be considered expert advice or suggestive that anyone follow any particular diet protocol. Each person’s body and medical issues are individual and need to be evaluated by a medical professional. If you have any concerns due to your specific diagnoses, please consult your doctor before eating yuca.
