Choc-a-lot chip cookies

I think it's about time I made something sweet don't you?

How about something stuffed to the brim with chocolate?

Let's think about this for a minute shall we? Large chunks of dark chocolate. Moist, soft, ooey-gooey tender goodness. I can hear fresh baked homemade cookies calling my name. Oh the aroma!

It might be surprising to learn that such an exceptionally decadent looking cookie can actually be healthy. Don't get me wrong, I'll be the first one to point out that a cookie is still a cookie, but if you're looking for a little something something and don't want to blow things out of proportion with a sugar overload, these little cookies will do the trick.

They can even be made vegan by using brown rice syrup or maple syrup instead of honey. And can be made gluten-free with the use of certified gluten-free oats.

The cookies are crying to be dunked in milk!

I always love finding recipes that have been cleaned up. It's not easy recreating something that tastes so good to start with already. I mean, how do you bake a cookie without using butter, eggs, processed sugar, and all-purpose flour?

Well after a few trials (some of which were complete fails) I found that by grinding oats, almonds, and buckwheat, and using coconut oil or sunflower oil I could pull together some pretty amazing cookies. . .That's how!

You know how most cookie recipes start out by telling you to grease a baking sheet, and half the time you know you don't have to because the cookies have so much butter in them that they're practically self-greasing? Well that's the best part about these guys is that they don't come out really greasy.

Yeah. Eew. Dangerously delicious, but not very friendly towards your waistline.

These chocolate chip cookies will satisfy any sweet tooth without setting you back 5 pounds and they aren't full of any weird chemicals, enriched flours, or unhealthy fats like those packaged store bought cookies are. Just loads and loads of chocolate! Hey, they aren't called Choc-a-lot Chip for nothing!

Choc-a-lot Chip Cookies (makes 16-18 cookies)

Adapted from veganricha.com

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp ground flaxseed
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• pinch of sea salt
• 4 tbsp warm water
• 1/4 cup virgin coconut oil
• 4 tsp unpasteurized liquid honey or maple syrup
• 4 tsp unsulfured molasses
• 4 tbsp organic cane sugar
• 1 cup ground oats
• 1/2 cup ground raw buckwheat flour (ground from raw groats in a blender)
• 1/2 cup almond flour (ground almonds)
• A heaping 2/3 cup of dark chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and prepare line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together flaxseed, ginger, nutmeg and sea salt. Add warm water and next four ingredients through to and including cane sugar, mixing well to combine (I find a rubber spatula works best). Let this sit for 2-5 minutes.
3. While the wet mixture rests, grind up your buckwheat groats and oats in separate batches using a coffee grinder or blender.
4. Add the flours and mix well into a ball of dough. Then, add the chocolate chips and mix to incorporate. 
5. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 15 minutes to chill the dough.
6. Scoop tbsp of the dough onto cookie sheets and give them a little pat to flatten them.
7. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack (if you can wait that long).

*When grinding any grains into flour I always use my coffee grinder, because I find it does the best job. Especially when I only need small batches. A 1/2 cup does just fine in it.

*You can use sunflower oil instead of coconut oil in case of allergies.

*These can be made gluten-free with the use of certified gluten-free oats.

 

I don't know what it is about the texture of these chocolate chip cookies but they are to die for. Maybe it's the combination of everything in them. You'll just have to test out a batch, see for yourself and report back. :)

Shared at Fit & Fabulous Fridays.