Salt and Pepper Cookies
First of all, cookies! Again! Second of all, yes, you read that correctly. These are salt and pepper cookies. Key word pepper. And cookies. And salt.
I'm fully aware how peculiar it sounds. I never would have thought of putting black pepper in my cookies either. But then I saw a recipe with black pepper. And thought, "huh, that's interesting." And then printed out the recipe and made the cookies. Because I was looking for something new and exciting. With regards to my cookies, that is. And I don't shy away from strange flavors. And pepper sounded strange enough. And oddly appealing.
And let me tell you - the cookies were UH-MAZING. Seriously, these cookies are incredible! The slight yet sharp kick from the black pepper and coarse salt sprinkled on top combined with the maple syrupy sweetness of the cookies is genius. Pure genius. It's a bite right out of heaven. I would assume.
Oh, and these cookies are totally good for you. I'm talking no flour, no refined sugars, and creamy coconut oil good for you. That's a "good for you" I can work with. Any day.
These cookies can easily be made gluten free. Just use gluten free oats. Cuz that's the only type of flour used in these salt and pepper cookies. Oat flour. That you make all by yourself. In one easy step. By grinding oats in your food processor for 20 seconds until it resembles flour. Voila. Homemade oat flour. Done. Look below. Just a push of the pulse button is all the effort it takes.
And then, to make your life even easier, you can simply continue making the cookies in your food processor by adding the rest of your ingredients in and mixing them. Again with just one push of the pulse button.
And I guess you know what that means. This is another one-bowl-5-minute recipe. One-bowl-5-minute recipes are becoming a tradition on the blog at this point. Not a bad tradition either.
These cookies are sweetened with maple syrup and coconut sugar (or brown sugar if you don't have coconut sugar on hand). And, after your dough comes together with some melted coconut oil, the oats that you ground into a flour, and salt and pepper, you add the final touch. The most important touch, in my opinion. Any guesses?
Okay, I'm too excited to sit here and wait, so I'll just tell you: chopped chocolate!! YAS. Big hunks of bittersweet chocolate. I mean really, what's a cookie without chocolate chunks?! Not a cookie. Not a respectable cookie, at least. Unless it's a lemon cookie. Or cinnamon cookie. Or tahini cookie. Fine - I guess it can still be a real cookie without melty chocolate chunks. But not these. Do not skip the chocolate in these salt and pepper bites of heaven.
These cookies have more of a crunch than my cookies usually have, which I guess is the result of the lack of regular flour as well as the absence of any eggs. But don't worry - these cookies are still chewy. And soft. Very chewy and soft. With just a little extra crunch on the edges. But don't over-bake these, or they'll end up being all crunch and no chew.
And I just realized something else. Since there's no eggs in these salt and pepper cookies, I guess that means they're vegan too! Unintentional yet welcome surprise, just in case anyone interested in this recipe is a vegan.
One more thing: you might not want to tell people that there's pepper in these before they eat a cookie. Otherwise they might be too faint-hearted to taste one. Let them know after they've had their fifth one. Because you probably won't have time to get it in after their first. Because they will already be on their fifth.
Crunch, chew, melt. With a hint of black pepper. And a kick of salt. And melted pools of chocolate. This, my friends, is how I would summarize these magnificent salt and pepper cookies.
salt and pepper cookies
Adapted from the My New Roots cookbook
Yield: 12-18 cookies
2 1/2 cups (gluten-free) quick or rolled oats (I used quick)
1/2 cup coconut sugar (or light brown sugar)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted (measured in liquid form)
1/3 cup maple syrup (honey may be substituted)
1 tablespoon water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips)
Coarse salt, for sprinkling
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet.
Blend the oats in a food processor until becomes texture of flour (see photo above). Add the rest of the dry ingredients into the food processor and blend to combine.
Mix together the coconut oil, maple syrup, water, and vanilla extract right on top of the dry ingredients (or in the bowl you melted the coconut oil in) and pulse to combine. Stir in chocolate last.
Shape dough into balls between the palms of your hands and place onto sheet, leaving space for them to spread. Sprinkle coarse salt on top of each cookie.
Bake for 10-11 minutes, not more. Let cookies continue baking and firming up for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them.
On a completely unrelated note, I'm always the awkward green guy:
photo from dump a day dot com
