In the realm of desserts, Christmas is all about the cookies. Baking & decorating a galore of cookies. And eating them, of course. Some of my earliest holiday memories involve decorating and eating large bell-shaped sugar cookies with traditional green and red icing. My mom liked bells and sometimes, we used tree shapes. These days the variety of cookie cutter molds is endless & the cuteness stakes much higher; reindeer, snowmen, angels, squirrels, birds, snowflakes etc.
Well, these aren’t quite “sugar cookies”. Nor the traditional ginger and molasses that are so beloved during Christmas time. These are gooey, chewy, double chocolate cookies. They EXUDE chocolate. The type of cookie that when you break apart or take a bite when still warm will show you a rich trace of dark, melted chocolate. My kids & I baked these cookies over the weekend to gift to family and friends during the holiday season. The chocolate happened because I was hell-bent on chocolate. (Am pretty sure no one will complain.)
The kids seemed pretty happy, too. Especially when sampling mama’s baked goods. My 5 year-old son is the dough scooper & my 2 year-old daughter is my chocolate chip quality control gal. She carefully adds extra chips or nibs on the top of each cookie dough scoop before they go into the oven. Heck, its like working on “Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory”. I know these happy memories will stay with them, always.
These cookies are gluten-free & made with almond flour, which is the flour I most commonly use when baking these days. The recipe calls for raw cacao as well as for “dark chocolate”. I like to use 50% dark chocolate chips or raw cacao nibs for a healthier kick, which are actually a bit more bitter. I sweeten these with coconut sugar, which is lower on the glycemic index than white refined sugar. I like to make them a bit on the thin side so that they have crispy edges & a chewy middle, just the way I like my cookies.
Almond Flour Double Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips OR raw cacao nibs
- 1 + 1/2 cups almond flour or almond meal
- 4 tbsp of raw cacao or good quality cocoa
- 1/2 tsp of gluten free baking powder
- 1/2 tsp of sea salt
- 1/2 tbsp of pure vanilla extract (I love madagascar vanilla!)
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup of coconut sugar or raw cane sugar
- 1/2 cup of grass fed butter or organic butter
- 1 tbsp of arrowroot flour for dusting (a clever hack used to avoid icing sugar!) Same effect. No one will know.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F & line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. (you will need 2 cookie sheets, or bake 1 sheet at a time)
- Melt 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips or nibs in a heatproof bowl over a slowly simmering sauce pan filled with water. This prevents the chocolate from burning. (We leave 1/2 cup of chips or nibs for later)
- Use your food processor (if you don’t have one, use an electric mixer) & throw in the almond flour, sea salt, coconut sugar, raw cacao & baking powder & pulse to blend evenly.
- Add the softened butter & keep pulsing until you have a paste.
- Throw in the eggs, the vanilla & the melted chocolate.
- Fold in the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips or raw cacao nibs.
- Use a tablespoon to measure the dough ( I use clean hands to scoop it out). If the dough feels runny- (likely if you over blend) I always use an old trick: place dough in a bowl & refrigerate for 1 hour). Fixes it right away!
- Scoop the dough about 2 inches apart & top with additional chocolate chips or nibs, if desired. “Too much chocolate” said no one, ever!
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool for about 20 mins so they can harden.
- Bask in the Christmas cheer & enjoy with coffee, your favorite tea or a cold glass of almond milk!
Galletas de Doble Chocolate con Harina de Almendra
Ingredientes
- 1.5 tazas de harina de almendra
- 3/4 taza de azúcar de coco
- 1/2 taza de mantequilla organica
- 2 huevos
- 1/2 cucharadita de polvo para hornear (libre de gluten)
- 1/2 cucharada de extracto de vainilla
- 1/2 cucharadita de sal de mar
- 1 taza de chispas de chocolate amargo o obscuro (50% cacao)
- 4 cucharadas de cacao puro o cocoa de buena calidad
- 1 cucharada de harina de arrurruz para darles ese topping similar a el azúcar en polvo.
Instrucciones
- Encender el horno a 350F y alinear una hoja para galletas con papel pergamino.
- Usar 1/2 taza de chispas de chocolate (guardamos la otra 1/2 taza para después) y se derriten sobre un plato hondo a prueba de calor, sobre una olla con agua a fuego lento. Hacemos esto para que no se nos queme el chocolate.
- En un procesador de comida ( si no tienen procesador de comida, pueden usar una batidora eléctrica), agregar: la harina de almendra, el cacao en polvo puro, el azúcar de coco, la sal y el polvo para hornear y mezclar en “pulse” por 20 segundos.
- Al procesador se le incorpora la mantequilla poco a poco hasta obtener una mezcla uniforme, siempre en “pulse”.
- Se le dejan caer los 2 huevos, la vainilla y el chocolate derretido y se mezcla en “pulse” por segundos hasta obtener una mezcla uniforme.
- Agregar la otra 1/2 taza de chispas de chocolate amargo (sin derretir) y mezclar a mano. **Nota: si se mezcla demasiado en el procesador, la consistencia se vuelve muy liquida. Una solución super simple: se pone la mezcla en un contenedor y se refrigera por 1 hora.**
- Se usa aprox una cucharada de mezcla por galleta (un poco menos) y se ponen un poco separadas.. (2 pulgadas)
- Opcional: poner mas chispas de chocolate con la mano sobre cada mezcla de galleta para que sean visibles al estar listas las galletas.
- Se hornean por 8-10 minutos. Se dejan enfriar por 20 minutos para que puedan endurecer.
Que las disfruten con sus seres queridos estas Navidades!
Those little snowmen are the cutest little things ever! Love how you decorated and set up the cookies, they look delicious too!
@thesweetestlink thank you!! I found the snowmen at the dollar store, same with the little boxes. It’s my go-to place for little trinkets. Hope you give the cookies a try! 🙂