These 3-Ingredient Chocolate Cookies are easy cookies perfect to fix your chocolate cravings in a minute. They’re made with no refined sugar, no oil, and no dairy.
I love super-simple cookie recipes and I think I’ve found the simplest way of making chocolate cookies. It only takes 3 ingredients and less than 15 minutes to make them!
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3-Ingredient Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup Self-Rising Flour - (note 1)
- 5 tablespoons Maple Syrup - (note 2)
- 2 tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Optional
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 tablespoons Chocolate Chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C). Line a small baking sheet with lightly-oiled parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add the self-rising flour and cocoa powder, and whisk together until consistent.
- Add maple syrup and stir with a rubber spatula until it forms a sticky thick batter.
- Use a oiled cookie dough scoop, or oiled tablespoon to grab a tablespoon of dough and drop dollops of batter on the baking sheet. The dough is super sticky more like a brownie batter and that's normal. I used two spoons to push and drop the sticky dough on the baking paper.
- Repeat until you have dropped 6 even dollops of dough.
- Now lightly oil your fingers with olive oil or coconut oil, and rub the dollop of dough to form a round cookie, do not flatten the cookie keep a nice height or they get dry.
- Bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C). They should be dry on top, form small cracks, but stay soft when out of the oven to avoid dry cookies.
- Let them cool down on a cooling rack at room temperature for 10 minutes and enjoy immediately for best texture. The cookies soften after a day. They are still safe to eat for up to 4 days, but texture changes.
Notes
Nutrition
While the full recipe card is just below, don’t miss my ingredient selection hints, baking tips, and step-by-step pictures.
Ingredients and Substitutions
You only need 3 ingredients to make these super-simple cookies. Here’s how to pick them.
- Self-Rising Flour – Forms the base of the cookie, providing structure and lift. You can easily make your own by mixing ½ cup all-purpose flour with 1 teaspoon baking powder if needed.
- Maple Syrup – Acts as the natural sweetener, replacing refined sugars while keeping the cookies moist and chewy. Alternatives like agave syrup, coconut nectar, or brown rice syrup can be used, though the flavor may vary slightly.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder – Provides a rich, deep chocolate flavor without any added sugars or dairy. It’s the key ingredient that delivers the chocolatey taste in these simple cookies.
How to Make 3-Ingredient Chocolate Cookies
This is a super-simple recipe, ready in under 15 minutes – baking included!
Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
Incorporate the maple syrup until it’s sticky and use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter.
Drops dough balls on a baking sheet and flatten them slightly with your hands,
Bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes at 350 °F (180 °C).
Carine’s Baking Tips
Let me share a few more tips for perfect cookies every time.
- Avoid Overbaking: Bake for only 6–8 minutes at 350°F (180°C). The cookies should show small cracks on top and be just set to maintain a soft, chewy center.
- Handle with Oiled Hands: Since the dough is very sticky (more like a brownie batter), lightly oil your hands (using olive or coconut oil) when shaping the dollops into round cookies to prevent sticking without adding extra fat into the dough.
- Serve Warm: These cookies are best enjoyed fresh out of the oven when they are crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. They tend to become softer over time at room temperature.
- Uniform Dollops: Use a cookie dough scoop or a tablespoon to form evenly sized dough portions to ensure consistent baking.
- Double Chocolate Variation: Stir in the optional chocolate chips for a more intense chocolate flavor without changing the simplicity of the recipe. Gently fold them after mixing the main ingredients for a richer flavor.
- Flavor Enhancements: You can try adding a dash of espresso powder or a pinch of sea salt on top before baking to add a sophisticated twist that complements the chocolate.
This was a fun and Minimal recipe cookie. I added a tablespoon or so of leftover brewed coffee and I added espresso. I think next time I’ll add less espresso. They were pretty chewy. I Baked at 6.5 minutes. Are they supposed to be very chewy? Delicious though.
They are not chewy, but because you added coffee, which the same as adding water/milk with flour, you changed the consistency of the cookeis. To add a coffee flavor, I would rather use coffee extract or instant coffee powder.
I love your recipes and have completed the Save by Email box several times, but I have never received a link in my emails. I have checked my Junk box too. However, I receive your regular emails!
Oh no! We can investigate but I will need the email you used to save your email. Can you email me at contact@theconsciousplantkitchen.com
Made your 3 ingredient cookies chocolate chip excellent, Used a smaller scoop instead of recommended scoop. A little short on Maple syrup so I used to add to my pancake syrup. Also put chocolate chips and vanilla in The cookies.
Thanks for such a lovely feedback!
Gluten free baker here ☺️ and just wanted to let you know that gf flour absorbs moisture different than regular flour so I had to add an extra 2 tbsps of maple syrup to get the sticky brownie consistency. They are like little clouds ☺️ It was nice to find a vegan recipe that wasn’t almond based !
Oh wow, I am so glad you are sharing a gluten-free option with me! I haven’t tried yet, but I have many readers that love gluten-free option, thank you so much.
Carine, this is the best recipe I’ve tried for a 3-ingredient cookie. We ate all the batch within an hour lol