Wholesome Flourless Almond Butter Cookies
AUGH, I CAN'T. I SIMPLY CANNOT. THESE COOKIES. THESE FLOURLESS ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES. THEY'RE TOO GOOD. AND APPARENTLY, I NEED TO USE CAPS LOCK TO PROVE IT.
I'll admit, these cookies would never make it past the first audition for a cookie beauty contest. I'm not in denial. I know they're not the best-looking guys around. They're not perfectly circular. They're not super-thick. I know this. But their taste? The taste is friggin AMAZING!!!!
I don't even know how it's possible that these almond butter cookies are so good. There's no flour in these things. They're completely flourless. That means there's no gluten-free flour or almond meal involved either. They're naturally gluten-free. There's no refined sugar in the cookies either. There's also no butter. And there's also no oil.
So what is in them? Well, creamy, delicious almond butter to start with. Then, to sweeten things up, we add some coconut sugar to the mix. Then eggs, vanilla extract, the boring stuff (baking soda, pinch salt), and lastly, chunks of dark chocolate. Oh, and then coarse salt may be sprinkled on top of the cookies after they're baked to take them from out of this world to still out of this world.
And that's it. That's all it takes to make one of the world's finest gluten-free cookies. Or cookies, period.
Check out the ingredient list. These cookies are completely wholesome and good for you. They're good for your mind, body, spirit, and soul. All cookies are good for you though, so I'm not sure what my point was.
Wanna know another amazing aspect that these cookies have? Crispy, crunchy edges and super soft centers. And these almond butter cookies have my favorite type of cookie texture ever - a CHEWY texture. They're so perfectly chewy. And alarmingly addictive. Alarmingly. Maybe they're actually crack disguised in the form of a flourless almond butter cookie?! *brain explodes*
Of course, I have to mention the melty dark chocolate involved. I would have liked to call these "wholesome flourless almond butter chocolate chunk cookies" but that was quite a mouthful. And my mouth was already stuffed with wholesome almond butter cookies. Hey, good job - you've got that eye roll down pat!
These cookies take a few minutes to create, and can be made in a single bowl with a single rubber spatula after a single, split-second, spontaneous craving for cookies. And, 15 minutes later, you could be licking the baking tray clean. Because they'll be made, portioned, baked, and eaten in that amount of time.
Also, with regards to that single, split-second, spontaneous craving - the craving may not be able to be fulfilled because coconut sugar is not a pantry staple for a lot of people. In that case, just substitute brown sugar. It should still work. You might not achieve that caramelized taste these cookies magically have, but they'll still be finger-lickin good.
Go ahead, try to have just one. I dare you. No, actually don't. Have as many as you'd like.
wholesome flourless almond butter cookies
Adapted from Slim palate
Yield: About 15 cookies
1 cup creamy almond butter
3/4 cup coconut sugar (brown sugar may be substituted)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
7 oz. dark chocolate, chopped
Coarse salt, for sprinkling (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet (you may want to use two sheets, the cookies spread a bit) with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together the almond butter and coconut sugar until mixture is smooth (a machine fitted with a paddle attachment may also be used, but be careful not to over mix, or the oils from the almond butter will make the dough hard to work with).
Stir in the vanilla extract, egg, baking soda, and salt. Add in chopped chocolate last.
Round tablespoons of dough between palms and place onto sheets. Don't flatten. Bake cookies for 10 minutes.
Let cookies rest on sheet to firm and finish setting before moving them. If desired, sprinkle coarse salt over cookies while still hot.
On a completely unrelated note, this is true:
photo from dump a day dot com
