I’ve always loved cookies. Pre-vegan, they were my “can’t say no to” treats. If a cookie was on offer, I was there, no questions asked. These days, it’s easy to say no to any food that isn’t vegan. But that hasn’t stopped the love for my sweet old pal, the cookie. Nowadays, I’m in the kitchen trying my hand at baking my own recipes. So far, so good… but I also like to get a helping hand from Google every now and again.
My latest find is from Nourishingmeals.com. While not all of their recipes are vegan, some definitely are—such as these gluten free, vegan, flourless choc chip cookies…
Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These cookies are high protein, low sugar, vegan, and naturally gluten-free. Plus with no grainy gluten-free flours, they stay moist and gooey in the center for days. I use chunky roasted almond butter; I don’t think raw almond butter would work here. For the ground flax, I grind my own in my Vita-Mix from golden flax seeds. A coffee grinder also works to grind seeds. I use
Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes which I buy locally. They can also be found on
Amazon.com. I use the Enjoy Life brand mini chocolate chips. The first time I made these I used cocao nibs which made the overall cookie not very sweet. When made with chocolate chips, the cookies taste sweet with a lovely chocolate flavor (the chips do have some cane sugar in them).
Yield: 18 cookies
½ cup packed pitted medjool dates (about 6 to 8 dates)
¼ cup hot water
¼ cup virgin coconut oil
¼ cup raw agave nectar
¼ cup ground flax seeds
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup almond butter
1 cup quinoa flakes
½ cup almond meal flour (Bob’s Red Mill)
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ to ½ cup mini chocolate chips (or cacao nibs)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet with coconut oil.
Place the pitted dates and water in a blender and let them soak for about 5 minutes. Then add the coconut oil and honey. Blend until very smooth, abut a minute.Transfer date-oil mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl (scooping out every last bit) and add ground flax seeds and vanilla; beat on high with an electric mixture until combined. Add almond butter and beat again.
Sprinkle the quinoa flakes, almond meal, baking soda, and salt over the almond butter mixture, beat again until well combined.Drop dough by the large spoonful onto the greased cookie sheet. Lightly press each cookie down with the palm of your hand. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove gently with a thin spatula and transfer to a wire rack to cool. The cookies will be slightly fragile when hot but will hold together very well after about 5 minutes of cooling. Enjoy with a glass of
fresh, raw almond milk!
Note: Quinoa Flakes are made from organic quinoa that is steam-rolled into a quick cooking quinoa flake.
Recipe and photo courtesy: Nourishingmeals.com
