I was in the mood for something slightly sweet. I LOVE chocolate chip cookies, but I don't love the high sugar, high fat, and high carbs they contain - and I can't have the gluten, so where did that leave me?
I'd been playing around with the idea of making my own almond flour. Buying almond flour at the store is so expensive. I always have almonds on hand, because they make great healthy snacks. But did I really want to take the time to soak and blanch them? I wanted my cookies then and there, and, truth be told, I had no idea if this would even work. I was about to make almond cookies with almond meal and not almond flour. There's a difference here - meal is almonds in their rawest form, flour is blanched raw almonds with the outer skins removed. *I did find out afterwards that there are some things to consider when grinding almonds and I'll mention them at the end of this post.
I set to work experimenting - hence the lack of an actual recipe.
This was SO SUPER SIMPLE and really very delicious. It satisfied my craving and even the hubs liked them (not the most healthy guy I know, but, hey, there's still hope). Here's what I did:
I literally grabbed about a handful and a half of almonds and threw them into my Ninja. It took mere seconds to grind the almonds down into a very fine meal. I'm thinking you could probably use a blender if you don't have a Ninja or Vitamix. It'll just take a bit longer.
I threw the meal into a bowl and started adding ingredients. I can't say exact amounts, because I didn't measure a thing. Remember, this was an experiment :) My goal was to wet the almond meal into a cookie dough consistency, while adding some of my favorite cookie ingredients.
Peanut butter, a mashed banana, a few broken slivers of very dark chocolate (86% cocoa - the higher the cocoa percentage, the better), coconut oil, a tiny dash of baking powder, and a teeny tiny bit of coconut sugar went into the mix. No egg, no butter...just good for you vegan, gluten free stuff!
I preheated the oven to the usual 350 degree cookie temp. Using two teaspoons, I dropped small balls of cookie dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet (flattening ever so slightly) and baked for about 12 - 15 minutes. The result was a deliciously moist, nutty, yummy, guilt-free cookie. I'm definitely going to do this one again soon and I'll probably add some coconut flakes this time.
Some things to consider...
There are differing schools of thought when it comes to eating almond skins. Since this cookie DOES NOT call for removing the skin, be aware that, while almond skins are packed with additional nutrients, some people have trouble digesting raw almonds if they haven't been soaked beforehand.
I have IBS (the main reason for my gluten free diet) and I can say that these cookies did not upset my tummy at all. Obviously, I didn't eat all nine cookies (I had to share them with the hubby), so maybe, as in most things, moderation is key.
If you have digestion problems you may wish to soak the almonds first, but be aware this means you'll have to soak them for about 8 hours and then let them dry completely before pulverizing them.
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