These Vegan Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies are infused with fresh orange juice, chocolate chips and are also oil-free and gluten-free! They have wonderful crispy edges with soft and puffy centers. You only need 8 ingredients and 20 minutes to make them!
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VEGAN ORANGE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
There are lots of combos out there when it comes to chocolate. Chocolate and cherries, chocolate and peanut butter, chocolate and coffee (my personal fave), chocolate and mint, but too often people forget that chocolate and orange go together beautifully as well. After the crazy success and daily remakes of these Vegan Lemon Cookies, I really got a craving for some more citrus. So, I made an orange version. The recipe is slightly different, more orange juice than lemon, since it’s so sweet and not sour. This allowed me to use less syrup, too. You also do not need to chill the batter before baking!
I love, love orange desserts, but decided chocolate chips would take the orange to the next level. I was right. These have the wonderful flavor of orange and rich chocolate enveloped into soft, puffy cloud-like cookie texture. The edges are crispy and the centers are soft, moist and tender.
HOW TO MAKE VEGAN ORANGE COOKIES
First, you will need to gather these 8 ingredients (+salt):
- superfine blanched almond flour
- fine oat flour
- tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
- coconut sugar
- baking powder
- maple syrup
- fresh orange juice and zest
- dairy-free chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
To a large bowl, add the almond flour, oat flour, tapioca, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk very well to make sure no lumps remain. Add the chocolate chips.
To a small bowl, zest the orange and squeeze the fresh orange juice and add the syrup. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir until it comes together into a thick, sticky batter. Try not to eat all the batter, it is so dang delicious.
Use the cookie scoop to place 9 mounds on the first pan, spaced 2 inches apart, as they will spread and puff up beautifully. Do not flatten them. Bake for 12 minutes, or until they are getting golden brown along the edges.
Puffy, golden, fluffy and gorgeous orange chocolate chip cookies!
OTHER VEGAN COOKIE RECIPES TO TRY:
- Vegan Snickerdoodles
- Best Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Thin Mints
- 5 Ingredient Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Vegan Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies
- Vegan Grain-free Chocolate Coconut Cookies
If you make this recipe, be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @thevegan8 #thevegan8!
Vegan Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (112g) superfine blanched almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill labeled "superfine")
- 1/2 cup (64g superfine oat flour (I use Bob's Red Mill)
- 2 tablespoons (16g) tapioca starch (or cornstarch)
- 2 tablespoons (24g) coconut sugar (or white sugar)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 6 tablespoons (90g) dairy-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3 tablespoons (45g) fresh orange juice (do not use bottled!) + zest of 1 orange
- 3 tablespoons (60g) pure maple syrup
NOTE
- Always use a scale for accuracy when baking, following MY gram weights listed. You never need cups, just the scale and bowl and make sure to zero out in between each ingredient.
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- I love using this cookie scoop for the perfectly round cookies, since the dough is a bit too sticky to roll into balls.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. If you only have 1 sheet, just cook the first batch, let them cool and repeat. It is ok to let the batter sit.
- To a large bowl, add the almond flour, oat flour, tapioca, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt and whisk very well to make sure no lumps remain. Add the chocolate chips.
- To a small bowl, zest the orange and squeeze the fresh orange juice and add the syrup. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir until it comes together into a thick, sticky batter. Taste the batter, it's kind of amazing, right? I debated on not baking it.
- But I went ahead and baked them. Use the cookie scoop to place 9 mounds on the first pan, spaced 2 inches apart, as they will spread and puff up beautifully. I did not flatten them at all. Due to different brands of almond flour being more fine or not, this can affect how they spread. Also, in addition, I live in a warm, humid climate, which also helps them spread well. If you are in a drier climate or want yours spread out more, slightly flatten the cookies before baking, not too much, just a bit. Bake for 12 minutes, or until they are getting golden brown along the edges. Repeat with the remaining batter.
- Cool 10 minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack. Eat one and come back and leave feedback because they are so yummy, right?! These will stay crispy around the edges for a couple of hours and will then turn super soft. Still yummy and fabulous, but these aren't meant to be crispy cookies except when just freshly made. Store cooled cookies in a sealed container or on a plate covered with foil. The tighter the seal, the softer they will be.
Hi! I made you lemon cookies and had fun adding some cardamom and ginger and they came out so yummy.
I’m going to try these but substitute the chocolate chips for carob chips.
I’m wondering if you have any advice what I might add to the recipe if I wanted the texture to be more crispy than soft?
Thank you!
Hmm, not sure without adjusting the recipe but I would just try to bake them longer because that in itself will make them crispier.
Good tasting and chewy! I added pure orange essential oil from Morocco! Delicious!
I wanted to add that I didn’t have almond flour so I ground slivered almonds in my vitamix and it worked well. My son’s girlfriend is gluten free so I am sure she’ll love them as much as we do!
Awesome, so glad that they were a hit!
This is our new go to cookie recipe. The ingredients are perfect for my choc/orange loving husband who struggles with gout. I have used almond meal, which also works pretty well, just a softer version. Well done and thank you.
So so happy to hear you love the cookies Heather!
Hi Brandi, thank you for this wonderful recipe! I have made it twice already and it is a hit! I was wondering if they can be frozen?
So wonderful to hear Kate! Yes, they can be frozen!
Yum I just made them. I didn’t have almond flour so I grinded cashews to make flour and they turned out lovely. Great flavour with the orange 🍊
Awesome, so happy you enjoyed them!
Would LOVE these!! But allergic to almonds. All other nuts are fine! Is there a sub for the almond flour? Please say there is one. So salivating!!
Hmmm, the almond flour is what makes the cookies so moist and fluffy since there is no oil used. You could try grinding up cashews into a fine flour and try that. Not sure how it will compare. They have less oil in them than almonds though, so may be more dry and cakey.
!I tried the lemon cookies and loved the and liked using almond flour.! They were gone in two days! I will be making these chocolate orange ones for sure. thanks for sharing this
So happy to hear that!!
Delicious! I make a lot of different cookies… my teenage daughter said these are the best! So excited that there are only whole food ingredients. The orange flavor makes me smile! Thank you!
Awww, so glad to hear that Elizabeth!
I am a cookie lover and after reading your recipe, I feel like I have been makin wrong. Will try you recipe and let you know how it turns out. Thanks for sharing though!
The flavor of these cookies is delicious. However, mine did not spread at all and pretty much maintained the shape they were when I scooped them onto the cookie sheet. Any thoughts on why? I did use super fine almond flour.
Hi! Glad you liked them! See step 5, I go over that exact thing.
I made them a few times,and my son love it.Chokolate and oranges are perfect together. Recepi is really exelent,and tasty 😋
oh my godddd every recipe i make from this blog is amazing!!! before this one, i tried the coocnut chocolate cookies recipe and after that, this became my go to vegan blog for everything! I absolutely love love love the simple, wholesome ingredients and that there are gram measurements!
The cookies were delicious! So light yet full of flavour. They hold their shape very very well even though they’re made with almonds and oats. I just milled blanched almonds and oats i had at home, and they worked perfectly! Mine spread exactly like the picture, with that little dome in the center. We dont have maple syrup here, so i used honey, and i used a little less than the listed amount because i used milk chocolate and was afraid the cookies would turn out too sweet. this worked perfectly! Next time, i’ll make sure to have dark chocolate on hand cuz that would ge amazingly well with the orange flavour. i also added a splash of vanilla cuz i love vanilla and orange.
Also, something odd, when i tried them, they had a subtle coconuty texture and flavour. I thought it was just me, but then my mom tried them and said the same thing!! Idk what it is about this cookie, but it really is greater than the sum of its parts.
My brother who never likes the orange and chocolate combo LOVED these. He literally said this is the best cookie I’ve ever made. I think these cookies can be enjoyed by anyone.
Fantastic recipe.
Layan, you are the sweetest!! Thank you! So flattered to hear all of this, thank you for the lovely feedback!
Can I make the dough a few days in advance and refrigerate?
I have actually never tried that, but I would think it would start to dry out since it has potato starch in it. But I can’t say for sure since I always bake it the same day. It only takes 10 minutes to throw together though, so it’s very quick! It might be okay a day in advance, but a few days I really don’t think it would.
Delicious recipe as always Brandi.