Cookies, especially of the chocolate chip variety, tend to divide people into often mutually-exclusive textural preference camps. Among the front runners are chewy, crispy, cakey, and the somewhat elusive crispy-edged with a chewy center. If I had to choose only one to eat for the rest of my life, I’d go for chewy – but fortunately, this is a decision I won’t likely ever have to make. The other day I was craving really any sort of chocolate chip cookies, but was out of regular whole-wheat flour and eggs, two usually-important ingredients.
Enter two unlikely replacements: coconut flour, and ground flaxseeds mixed with hot water. Having just completed our vegan training at work, I was especially enthusiastic about the prospect of a vegan cookie. The cookies couldn’t have been easier to mix up with a fork and wooden spoon, and less than 40 minutes later we had a full plate of chocolaty, nutty, cakey-cookie goodness.
½ cup coconut oil, melted
½ cup maple sugar (not syrup)
½ tablespoon vanilla extract
4 tbsp ground flaxseed mixed with ½ cup plus 1 tbsp hot water
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup coconut flour, sifted
¾ cup chopped toasted walnuts
¾ cup chocolate chips
Up to ¼ cup room temperature water, as needed
- Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat liner.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together first five ingredients until thoroughly blended.
- Add coconut flour and stir until flour is just incorporated. Mixture should be thick, but if it’s too dry to incorporate the flour, add water by the tablespoon.
- Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts and form dough into a ball. Chill dough until firm; about 30 minutes.
- Break off chunks of dough and flatten into discs. These cookies don’t spread when baked, so shape them how you want to eat them.
- Bake until lightly browned; about 15 minutes depending on how thick you make them.
- Cool on a wire rack.
can't wait to try this one!
Posted by: David Phillips | 07/13/2010 at 10:55 AM