My Favorite Hot Cocoa Cookies
Published 12/9/2019 • Updated 11/5/2024
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Ready for my all time favorite healthy Christmas Cookies? These delicious hot cocoa cookies are made with almond butter, cocoa powder, and coconut sugar making them paleo and gluten free!
The Best Winter Cookie
Today was a great day in the Fit Foodie Kitchen. Why? Because we got to make these healthy hot cocoa cookies! These hot chocolate cookies are my all-time favorite healthy Christmas cookie because.
Guess what? They don’t actually taste healthy! It’s the best when you make a cookie and they’re secretly healthy. Amiright?
I’m a real stickler for nut-butter based cookies and these for sure fit the bill! Made with an almond butter base, coconut sugar (these are refined-sugar free!) an egg, unsweetened cocoa powder, and a little vanilla…these hot cocoa cookies really are the best ever!
Why do I love them? Well…
- They’re dense and delicious.
- These hot cocoa cookies are perfectly sweetened with ONLY coconut sugar!
- They are grain-free meaning they don’t use ANY flour at all!
Step 1: Mix Ingredients
Start with 1 cup of almond butter on the bottom of a medium-sized bowl. Then, add the rest of your ingredients and mix. Sometimes you just need to get messy and use your hands, but a spoon works too! Your dough should feel like classic cookie dough, moist and malleable.
Ingredient Questions
Can I use a different almond butter? Yes, you can use whatever nut butter that you would like! Just be sure that whatever nut butter you use is drippy. This is important because it is one of the main wet ingredients in this recipe!
Do I have to use coconut sugar? No, you don’t have to use coconut sugar. Feel free to substitute the coconut sugar for any granulated sugar like brown sugar!
Can I make these cookies vegan? You can try and make these cookies vegan by using a flax egg in the dough. However, we have not tested this recipe with a flax egg, so let us know how it goes!
Step 2: Scoop, Roll, and Pat
Once you’ve got your hot cocoa cookie batter ready to go, use a cookie scoop to spoon about 2 tablespoons of dough into your hands. Roll your cookie into a ball and then pat it down to form your cookie.
Keep this in mind–> These cookies will not expand THAT much.
Step 3: Bake
Once you’ve got your little cookies on your baking sheet, it’s time to bake! Set your oven to 350ºF and bake your cookies for around 12 minutes.
Here’s a tip–> Make sure to NOT over bake these cookies. Remember that if you leave your cookies on the baking sheet after you remove them from the oven, they continue to bake a bit longer.
If you over bake these hot cocoa cookies, they will crumble. So be careful!
Step 4: Time to Decorate
The option is yours to eat your hot chocolate cookies just the way they are OR you can make a yummy frosting to go on top with a sprinkle of peppermint candies. I mean, think hot cocoa, but in cookie form!
We opted for a homemade buttercream frosting which calls for butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla bean.
Vegan Frosting Option–> Try placing a can of whole fat coconut milk into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Next, place ONLY the hard part of the canned coconut into a bowl and discard the liquid.
Beat the hardened coconut milk on medium/high speed until it is thick and forms peaks. Add to the top of the hot cocoa cookies and eat immediately.
If you are using the vegan frosting option here are a few things to keep in mind–>
- Wait to put the coconut whip cream on the top of these cookies until the cookies are cool. The coconut whip will melt if the cookies are hot.
- Feel free to flavor and sweeten these cookies if you would like! Maple syrup or vanilla bean would both be great additions to this frosting.
- Frost these cookies right before eating if you are using this coconut whip, they will not keep well with the vegan frosting!
Christmas Cookie Recipes
Learn How to Make These Cookies
Hot Cocoa Cookies
Ingredients
Hot Cocoa Cookies
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
- 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
- 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
Optional: Paleo Vanilla Frosting
- 1/2 cup palm shortening
- ~3 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 vanilla bean
Optional: Vanilla Butter Cream Frosting
- 1 cup softened butter, unsalted
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 vanilla bean, the paste
Instructions
For the Cookies
- First, preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place all ingredients in a large bowl, mix until combined.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop out around 2 tablespoons of dough into your hands. Roll in the palm of your hands to create a ball, then flatten into a cookie shape. Place on baking sheet. Repeat.
- Bake cookies at 350ºF for about 12-15 minutes. Then, let cool for at least 20 minutes.
For the Frosting (both of them)
- Place all ingredients in a medium-size bowl. Then, using a hand mixer, whip for about 3-5 minutes until it is at desired consistency.
- Transfer frosting into a piping bag and pipe onto cookies using any tip you like! Sprinkle with crushed candy cane (not paleo)!
Tips & Notes
- Nutrition does not include frosting.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These sound SO delicious, Lee! I love that the only dairy they contain is eggs!
I wonder if you could sub the egg……hmmmmmm, i’m not the best at vegan baking 😀
I bet you could! I’ll have to try it and let you know how it goes. I’m not much of a baker either… except during the holidays!
😀 I try not to be, and yet I run a blog that is composed of 75% baked goods #fail
These cookies look so cute, Lee! Love them. I also love the round-ups that you ladies put together. Going to pin all of these cookie recipes asap.
😀 Thanks, lady!
YUM! I can’t wait to make these one weekend and eat them watching christmas movies. 🙂
ELF!!!!!!!! I watch that year round 😀
These all look GREAT! Maybe they’re not traditional for everybody’s Christmas but Mexican Wedding Cookies are my ALL TIME favorite Christmas cookie! There’s never a single crumb left behind. I wish they were healthy lol
YUM! I love those cookies! I’ve never actually made them myself, though!
These look AMAZING!!
Thanks, lady!
I did it for the photo…SOML. Can’t tell if I miss you or the crushed candy cane more…oh wait you duh.
😀 😀 😀 😀 It needs its own acronym. #IDIFTF
wow all of these look absolutely, mouth-watering delicious!!
Thanks, chica!!!
Girlfriend, these are AWESOME! I have been wanting to try Palm Shortening, and these are givin’ me all the reason to! Pinned!
Whole Foods baby….or Amazon 😀
I don’t even know what to do with myself with all those mouthwatering looking cookies recipes that are popping up all over the web!! YUM! I still haven’t tried a nut butter based cookie recipe, so I should give this one a try.
My all time favourite Christmas cookie are “Vanille Kipferl”, they are very crumbly, have kind of a half moon shape, and taste sooo vannila-y!! I could eat the whole batch at once, and even the dough 😀
OMG! MY favorite kind of cookie is nut butter based….you should really try it..I know you’d love it!!! Vanille Kipferl…I’m going to have to Google that 😀 Or you could give me a recipe…on the blog that you….DON’T have, but should.
I think in English they’re called halfmoon or crescent cookies. This is what they look like http://www.chefkoch.de/rs/s0/vanillekipferl/Rezepte.html sorry, these are all in German. It’s a simple recipe though, flour, eggs/egg yolks (for more crumblier texture), ground almonds, cold butter diced, sugar, mark of a vanilla bean (for the most amazing vanilly flavour and black spots!), baking powder, pinch of salt. All kneaded together and formed into shape. When they come out of the oven you toss them in powdered sugar when they’re still warm. PERFECT!
I don’t have time for blogging 🙁 And I’m no recipe developer, I would just post recipes from cookbooks or other bloggers with my substitutions… and there’s no point to that.
o0oooo those sound like perfection! You could TOTALLY be a recipe developer…you already are! You modify recipes all the time. That’s all you need. Plus you rock and i would be your biggest fan!
I really don’t think the world needs another recipe for anything. There are already enough recipes of this and that cookie and muffins and everything, and really, nobody needs my slightly modified versions.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
Hot Cocoa cookies!? Sign me up!
YEAH BUDDY!