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Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (nut-free, paleo)

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I truly believe, that there’s nothing more simply beautiful than a well made Chocolate Chip Cookie. I just feel that they are the perfect dessert. Easy to make, unpretentious, and always satisfying. I know there are many camps on what defines the perfect CCC. But, to be honest, when it comes to a good healthified cookie, I’m not too discerning. While I prefer a soft and chewy cookie, I can find the love for the crispy variety. And really, I could go salted or plain. But there must be a good ratio of cookie to chocolate. These Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies are so easy to make, made with only good for you ingredients, have no refined sugars and are nut free but still paleo-friendly. I use a mix of cassava and tapioca flour instead of my usual go-to almond flour! These are made with tahini (one of my other favorite things of this world) instead of oil which gives them a beautiful flavor and wonderful chew. They are soft and dense and just perfectly sweet that I’ve been enjoying them as both a sweet breakfast or an easy dessert (often in the same day, because I really do love cookies that much). And of course, studded with mini chocolate chips (I use this brand which uses cane sugar) but feel free to use your favorite chopped up chocolate bar instead to keep them strictly paleo.

nut-free, paleo friendly (gluten/grain/dairy free), no refined sugar, oil-free

If you make this, I’d LOVE to see your creation! Please tag me on Instagram @freshlydafna and use #freshlydafna.

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Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (paleo, nut-free)

These Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect fun and delicious treat. Made in just one bowl with only good for you ingredients. These are cookies you can feel great about eating.

nut-free, oil free, paleo (gluten free, grain free, dairy free), refined sugar free

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup tahini thin, well mixed
  • 1/2 cup coconut sugar
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Dry Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup cassava flour
  • 1/4 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup chocolate chips plus extra for topping (optional)

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together all the wet ingredients until light and frothy.

  2. Add in all the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) and stir until just combined. Making sure not to overmix.   

  3. Then stir in the chocolate chips.

  4. Let dough rest in fridge for at least 15 minutes, preferably 2 hours. See notes below on chilling time.

  5. When ready to bake heat oven to 375 degrees and adjust rack to the center of the oven. Prepare baking sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.

  6. Using a small ice cream scoop, melon baller, or teaspoon scoop small dough balls onto prepared baking sheet. Press in additional chocolate chips to the top of each cookie mound if you like!

  7. Bake for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are puffed and edges just start to turn brown. The cookies will set a bit more out of the oven.

  8. Remove from oven and let rest on the pan for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Recipe Notes

Tahini: Make sure that your tahini is well stirred. I know there are a variety of tahini options out there. All should be fine, just make sure your tahini is drippy and not the thick dense stuff that often hangs out at the bottom of the jar.  

Chilling Time: You can make these without chilling however the cookies will turn out a little more fluffy and less dense. I found the ideal chilling time to be 2 hours. But if you don't have that kind of time, I highly recommend chilling for  at least 15 minutes. The dough is sticky and the chilling will make the scooping process much easier. 

Storage: These cookies will keep for 1-2 days in an airtight container at room temperature. Afterwards move to freezer. 

If you make this recipe I'd love to see your creation! Please either post a comment or picture on this page or if you're posting on Instagram please tag @freshlydafna and use #freshlydafna 

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Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins (paleo)

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I dare you to find a more adorable baked treat than these mini muffins with mini chocolate chips. I don’t know about you, but to me, there’s something so much more satisfying about eating something miniaturized. Maybe it’s because I can consume more of them? Or maybe it’s because, in this case at least, the crispy and chewy muffin edges are in perfect ratio to the moist crumb interior. Or, perhaps, it’s just that they cute and fun and that’s it? Well whatever the reason, these Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins are so tasty and so easy to make they are sure to be a new fan favorite with kids and adults alike.
If you are familiar at all with paleo or gluten free baking, you probably already have all the ingredients you need stocked and ready to go in your pantry! These mix up in just 1 bowl(!) and cook up in just under 15 minutes. The recipe yields 30 mini muffins. My mini muffin time has 24 cups so I just bake these in 2 batches, keeping the unused batter in the fridge between bakes. Sweetened with just two tablespoons of maple syrup to counterbalance the sweetness from the chocolate chips, these mini muffins are just the right amount of sweet to be acceptable as a snack for any time of day! I’ll take just about any excuse to sneak in chocolate into my breakfast. And these are just right: wonderfully moist, lightly sweet, and the perfect ratio of chewy to crispy. In short, make these right away and thank me later.

paleo (gluten/grain/dairy free), no refined sugar

If you make this, I’d LOVE to see your creation! Please tag me on Instagram @freshlydafna and use #freshlydafna.

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Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

These adorable mini muffins are super easy to make (in just one bowl, baby!) and with only good-for-you ingredients these are a wonderful snack for any time of day!

paleo (gluten/grain/dairy free), naturally sweetened

Course Snack
Servings 30 mini muffins

Ingredients

Wet Ingredients

  • 2 eggs pasture raised if possible
  • 2 tbsp coconut oil melted & cooled at least 3 minutes
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup nut/seed milk

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup tapioca flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare mini muffin tin by either using muffin liners or lightly greasing each cup with additional oil.

  2. In a medium bowl (or the bowl of stand mixer) beat together all the wet ingredients until it is light and frothy.

  3. Then add in all the dry ingredients (except chocolate chips) and mix until just well incorporated, ensuring not to overmix.

  4. Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

  5. Fill each mini muffin cup 2/3 way full, about 1 tablespoon each. This recipe makes 30 mini muffins, so either use 2 tins and bake all at once or cook in two batches. If cooking in batches, keep unused batter in the fridge until ready for baking.

  6. Bake mini muffins about 13-14 minutes or until tops are just lightly browned around the edges.

  7. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before removing muffins from tin. Let cool a few more minutes on wire rack.

Recipe Notes

These will keep a day or so in a sealed container at room temp, after that, these are excellent stored in the freezer!

 

Mini Chocolate Tarts (paleo, naturally sweetened)

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The past couple of years we have celebrated Mother’s Day the same way, a small BBQ lunch at my parents house with immediate family and a few family friends. My husband would man the grill and I would be in charge of the salad and dessert. I would always make these Mini Raspberry Chocolate Tarts because they were such a hit and were so perfectly suited for the occasion. Little small cups of chocolate with a slight tang from the raspberry jelly added into the ganache and topped off a fresh raspberry. Everyone loved them. But somehow, between last year and this year I managed to lose the recipe causing my OCD to go crazy trying to find it again on the internet. I shamefully spent about 14 hours of my life feverishly trying to find that recipe, and I honestly think the recipe has been scrubbed from the internet. The bright side to this whole fiasco is that, had I managed to find the recipe, I never would have come up with this healthier and even tastier version of the original.

These Mini Chocolate Tarts have a crispy and chewy chocolate cookie crust and are filled with a luscious lavendar and rose chocolate ganache. In a collaboration with Honey Mama’s chocolates I elected to use their Lavender & Rose flavored bar to suit the occasion. Really any kind of chocolate can be used here. The Honey Mama’s bars are naturally sweetened with honey, are made with well sourced ingredients, are dairy free with no weird additives or stabilizers. Their chocolate is so good and if you get the chance to try them, I can’t recommend it enough. They seriously melt in your mouth and come in some very lovely flavor combinations. My favorite is definitely the Mayan Spice.

These mini tarts are a double dose of chocolate but with only natural ingredients and do not feel over indulgent. I topped these off with some dried rose petals and a raspberry to contrast the chocolate. You can leave these bare or sprinkle something fun on top. We love these at Mother’s Day, but really these would be wonderful for any occasion where you want to impress chocolate-loving guests and ditch the desserts with processed sugars and gluten. Don’t be daunted by the seemingly long recipe. I go into a good amount of detail on each step because there’s nothing I hate more than an ambiguous instruction. And these do take a bit of time, but it mostly just waiting for the chocolate to set.

paleo, dairy free, gluten free, grain free, naturally sweetened

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Mini Chocolate Tarts

These mini chocolate tarts are the perfect little desserts to impress your friends and family without being laden with gluten, dairy, or refined sugars. These little tarts have a crispy and chewy chocolate cookie cup and a luscious chocolate ganache. I made these with Lavendar Red Rose Honey Mama's chocolate to make them feel super sophisticated but any chocolate will do!

paleo, dairy free, gluten free, grain free, naturally sweetened

freshlydafna.com

Course Dessert
Servings 16 mini tarts

Ingredients

Crust Ingredients

  • 1/4 coconut oil melted and cooled
  • 1/3 cup coconut sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup cacao powder
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp sea salt

Chocolate Filling Ingredients

  • 5 oz chocolate* (I used Honey Mama's Lavender Rose Chocolate) chopped
  • 4 tbsp non-dairy milk**

Optional Toppings

  • dried rose petals
  • raspberries

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease well a mini muffin tin with coconut oil. 

  2. Make the cups: Cream together the coconut oil, coconut sugar, egg, and vanilla until well combined. 

  3. In a medium bowl mix together all the dry ingredients: cacao powder, coconut flour, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly incorporated. 

  4. Add the dry ingredients into the wet and mix until just full incorporated and there are no light streaks. 

  5. Scoop out small golf sized balls of the dough and place them into the muffin tin cups. Then using your fingers press the dough into the rim side and bottom each tin so a cup forms. 

  6. Bake the cups in the center rack of the oven for 9-10 minutes. The top edges of the cups should look just slightly darker. Remove from oven and let cool down for about 5 minutes. Then gently twist out of the cups and let cool completely on the cooling rack. 

    This recipe makes about 16 mini cups, and my mini muffin tin only holds 12 cups so I made a full batch of 12, and then did another round of the remaining 4. 

  7. Make the ganache: In a double boiler, over a medium high flame place the chocolate and milk of choice to a heat-proof bowl. Mix the chocolate and milk until the chocolate just starts to melt. About 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and continue mixing. Keep stirring until all the milk has been combined with the chocolate and thick and shiny chocolate ganache forms. 

  8. At this point I like to put the chocolate mixture into a heat-proof measuring cup with a spout for easier pouring. Pour the chocolate into the little cups. If you are topping this with something heavy (like a raspberry) leave a little room from the top to avoid spillage. 

  9. Let the chocolate set (it will get thicker) at room temperature. This will really depend on the temperature of your kitchen at the time. For me it was a bit warm and took about an hour until I could add the topping. 

  10. Let it set completely for a few hours. If you are serving these the same day you can keep these at room temperature. Otherwise, you can store these in the fridge, just ensure that the chocolate has completely cooled to avoid cracks from forming from a temperature shock.

Recipe Notes

*I used Honey Mama's Lavender Rose Chocolate and they came out wonderfully. You could use any kind of chocolate or flavored chocolate. Honey Mama's also makes a Ginger Cardamom bar that I suspect would be terrific in this recipe.

** Non-dairy milk: I have made this with almond milk and coconut milk. We preferred the almond milk, it was more balanced. But feel free to use whatever you like without effecting the flavor of the ganache filling. 

If you make this recipe I'd love to see your creation! Please either post a comment or picture on this page or if you're posting on Instagram please tag @freshlydafna and use #freshlydafna

Disclaimer: I received some Honey Mama’s chocolates for free to develop this recipe and for a giveaway on my Instagram account. All opinions are my own and I was not paid to write this post.