natural cookies

I'm getting hitched here in a few weeks and one of the things I'm looking forward to is a homemade cookie bar... that and marrying someone awesome is good too, but you know, cookies.

My future mother-in-law has a gluten intolerance, I have a pal who's paleo, a few vegetarians, and a lactose intolerant. I want everyone to have a little something sweet at the reception but without forcing them to lie crumpled in bed beyond a legitimate hangover. Enter the search for the do-all cookie.

And I've found it. It's refined sugar free, processed oil free, gluten free, and lactose intolerant friendly. It comes by way of the Cookie + Kate blogs and I nearly pee'd my pants when Kate answered my comment. She used my name!  

However, consider yourself warned, it does not stand up well to substitutions.

Do not bother making them if you don't have honest-to-God coconut flour. Do not bother making them if you found coconut flour but ran out of baking soda and seek to substitute the appropriate amount of sub'd leavener by way of baking powder. Maple Syrup seems to do better than honey and if you use coconut oil like me, you'll need to refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes before baking.

Vegan, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

Slightly adapted from Cookie + Kate, makes about 40 small cookies.

These naturally sweetened, vegan, gluten-free cookies taste like a cross between the traditional toll-house chocolate chip cookie and girl scout samoas.  While they are not low-cal, they are healthy in that they contain no isolates. Which I think is a better deal. However, they are seriously delicious and you may need to temper yourself! 

I also like that they come together so quickly and that they don't contain any butter or egg to go bad. In Claire-world, that means you can leave the bowl in the fridge for a couple of days and make yourself a fresh cookie or two as you are baking your dinner... and of course there's no need to worry about salmonella, so lick that beater! 

Ingredients

• 1  1/2 cup almond flour (aka almond meal) firmly packed
• 1/2 cup coconut flour, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut flakes (optional) 
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt (Kate suggests fine grain sea)
• dash cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup coconut oil, melted (you can use the same amount of butter if you don't need these to be vegan)
• 1 cup real maple syrup (or honey)
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups vegan chocolate chips* 

*This is a huge amount of chocolate for the cookies. You can dial this back if you want and they would still be delicious. I used enjoy life brand and was very satisfied. I don't have any other experience with other brands. The small chips did a great job though. I think if they were more like regular size chocolate chips it would be a good idea to run em through a quick chop- otherwise they are going to be too melty and messy. 

Instructions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the melted coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Let the dough rest for at least 15 minutes in the fridge so the coconut flour can absorb some of the excess moisture and firm up so they won't spread too much in the oven. While resting, preheat oven to 350.
4. Scoop dough, one tablespoon at a time, in mounds onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches around each cookie.
5. Bake for about 9 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool on the sheet for a bit so they don't fall apart.