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These Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookies are rich, dense, and filled with a quick salted caramel. It’s soft and gooey fresh out of the oven, oddly delicious frozen, and Paleo, dairy free and low FODMAP (always)! Because of its richness, it’s best enjoyed with a cup of your favorite non-dairy milk. And the mister and I both like to enjoy it fresh out of the freezer which works out since we’re not going to eat 12 in one sitting, and I like to have sweets on hand for emergencies. 🙂 Now let’s get into it!
What You’ll Need
Small saucepan – To make the quick caramel on the stove.
Medium bowl – To combine your dry ingredients.
Large bowl – To mix your wet ingredients & dry ingredients together.
Baking sheet & parchment paper – For baking.
About the Ingredients & FODMAP Content
For the Quick Caramel
Maple Sugar + Coconut Sugar – This entire recipe uses mostly maple sugar, which is generally low FODMAP. Coconut sugar is only low FODMAP in 1 teaspoon servings. Considering this quantity of caramel makes about double of what you need, this puts the coconut sugar under the FODMAP-friendly threshold. I use coconut sugar in the caramel to give it a richer flavor and a deeper caramel color. You can use all maple sugar, but the caramel will be more of a yellow-gray color, and it will lack a certain richness in flavor. If you are fine with refined sugar, you can sub all of the sugar in the caramel with brown sugar.
Tapioca Flour – Because this caramel comes together in less than 10 minutes, we use tapioca flour to help thicken the caramel quickly instead of boiling it down.
Coconut Cream – Coconut cream is the solidified portion that is typically at the top of cans of coconut milk. There are full cans of coconut cream available at grocery stores, however you can also purchase coconut milk, store it in the fridge to solidify and spoon off the coconut cream from the top. Coconut cream is low FODMAP in 1/4 cup servings.
Sea Salt & Vanilla Extract – A little somethin’ for flavor.
The Wet Ingredients
Refined Coconut Oil – The fat component in these cookies. I like to use refined coconut oil as it does not add any coconut flavor.
Maple Sugar – I use granulated maple sugar, which I buy off of Amazon, to keep this refined sugar free and low FODMAP. If you are okay with consuming refined sugar, feel free to replace the maple sugar with 50% white sugar and 50% brown sugar. I haven’t tried this myself, so definitely let me know how it goes if you do!
Egg – Helps bind the ingredients and makes this cookie softer and chewier. I have not tried replacing the egg in this recipe with a plant-based alternative.
Unsulphured Molasses – Helps soften the cookie further. Molasses is low FODMAP in 1 teaspoon servings.
Vanilla Extract – For extra flavor.
The Dry Ingredients
Fine, Blanched Almond Flour – The low carb base of these cookies. I typically use Bob Red Mill’s which I get from my local grocery store. Or Anthony’s Goods, which I order off of Amazon. Almond flour is low FODMAP in 1/4 cup servings, putting each cookie under the FODMAP-friendly threshold.
Tapioca Flour – As a finer flour, tapioca helps to lighten the base of the cookies, and also acts as a binding element. I’ve used many brands of tapioca flour successfully, including Anthony’s Goods, Bob Red Mill’s and Thrive Market. Tapioca flour is low FODMAP in 2/3 cup servings.
Cacao Powder – This makes the cookie base chocolatey and rich. Cacao powder is low FODMAP in >2 teaspoon servings, putting each cookie under the FODMAP-friendly threshold.
Cream of Tartar + Baking Soda – Helps give the cookie a tiny bit of rise in the oven.
Tips for Success
- For the almond flour, tapioca flour and cacao powder, I always use a kitchen scale to ensure I’m using the right quantity. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, then use a spoon to pour flour into a measuring cup before leveling it off with the back of a knife. This ensures you’re not using too much flour.
- When setting the caramel in the freezer, I try to use a large shallow bowl (or a wide plate with a lip) to ensure it gets cold throughout and sets fully by the time I’m ready to use it.
- Be sure to only use 1 teaspoon of caramel per cookie, and adjust as needed from there. You don’t want the caramel to spill out of the cookie while sealing. Any holes in the cookie caused by this will lead to the caramel leaking out while baking.
- The cookie dough can definitely rip on the underside when folding it over the caramel. It helps to ensure the bottom of the flattened cookie dough is cradled by and touching your palm. If I start to feel it ripping, I use the fingers of my other hand to smooth over the rips as I go.
If you try my Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookies, leave me a comment below to let me know how you like them! I love it when you guys try my creations and I’d love to know if you enjoy them as much as I do! Or snap a pic and tag me on Instagram @thefodmapfactor.
Looking for other baked goods? Try my peanut butter version of this cookie. Want something a little different? Try my Lemon Cardamom Gingerbread Cookies.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookies – Low FODMAP, Paleo, Dairy Free
Ingredients
Quick Salted Caramel (Makes 2x What You Need)
- ½ cup maple sugar
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 tablespoon tapioca flour
- 1 cup coconut cream
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Wet Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons refined coconut oil melted and slightly cooled
- ⅔ cup maple sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons unsulphured molasses
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Dry Ingredients
- 1¾ cups fine, blanched almond flour (224g)
- ¼ cup tapioca flour (36g)
- ⅔ cup cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
Make the Quick Caramel
- In a small saucepan, combine coconut sugar, maple sugar and tapioca flour. Mix well, ensuring flour is distributed throughout. Add coconut cream and place pan on stove on medium-high heat, stirring constantly while coconut cream and sugar melt.
- The mixture will turn a caramel color. Bring to a simmer, reducing heat if needed, and heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer to a freezer-safe bowl and set aside to cool slightly. Once slightly cooled, place in freezer to set.
Prep the Remaining Ingredients
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, add all dry ingredients and mix thoroughly to combine. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add all wet ingredients and whisk to incorporate ingredients well. Mixture will thicken and become sticky.
- Pour dry ingredients into wet. Fold mixture into itself with a rubber spatula until all ingredients are evenly incorporated. Cookie dough will be soft and malleable, but not sticky.
Assemble & Bake the Cookies
- Divide cookie dough into 12 equal parts. To prepare a single cookie, roll into a ball and flatten with your fingertips and palms until it is about ⅓ of an inch thick.
- Retrieve caramel from the freezer. It should be viscous enough to hold its shape when dolloped. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of caramel into the center of the flattened cookie.
- Cradling the flattened cookie with one palm, use palm and fingertips (of both hands) to gently fold all the edges over the caramel at once to meet at the top, pinching the edges to seal the caramel in and being careful not to let any caramel spill out. If caramel spills out inevitably, you may need to use less next time. Ensure the bottom of the cookie also does not rip, smoothing any tears out as needed.
- Place the now spherical cookie on the prepared baking sheet, pinched side down. Gently flatten the cookie slightly so that it is about 2½ inches across. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Cookies should be placed about ¾ of an inch apart. You may need to make multiple batches depending on the size of your baking sheet.
- Top cookies with optional flaky sea salt. Bake for 9-10 minutes. Once done, let sit on tray for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.