I’ve got news. And a delicious recipe I want to talk to you about… or, well, um, type to you about… Whatever… But I’ll start with the news, which – to be honest – is hardly news at all. I’m sure all of my trusty readers have already noticed it, but….
I’ve got a new theme! Yay!
A theme? Yes, a theme! For those of you out there who don’t know anything about the Internet – don’t be embarrassed, only 11 months ago I didn’t know anything about the Internet either – a theme is basically an outfit. I’m not much of a fashionista myself – if it was up to me, I’d wear my old, ripped-up jeans anytime anywhere – but it’s the best way I can explain about themes.
Clothes are important, but we all know that it’s really not about the clothes right? I mean, I can wear ripped-up jeans on Monday and then wear a glitzy dress on Tuesday. It won’t change who I am. It’s the same with themes and blogs. If the content of a blog is a person, then the theme of a blog (or a site) is an outfit. Changing the outfit won’t affect the content, but if you want to leave a good first impression it’s important to wear something representable and nice.
Does that make any sense at all? Or does it only make sense in my head?
Anyway, yay! I’m so excited that I got this new and shiny theme installed. It’s so pretty! The photo’s are bigger, I’ve got myself a brand new visual recipe index (just hover over the ‘recipes’ button in the menu bar to see for yourself), a real footer (scroll, scroll, scroll down and you’ll find it) and even a sparkling new bio in the sidebar.
Okay, maybe it’s not sparkling.
And okay, I put it there myself, but still… Looks pretty good, right?
Now let’s take a long, hard look at these cookies. They look just like regular chocolate chip cookies, right? They’ve got the chocolate chips, a nice brown color and cute, crinkled tops…
Nothing suspicious, right?
Well, brace yourself, because I’ve got more news-that-really-isn’t-news. These cookies don’t have any flour in them! That’s right: just like the title of this post says. Titles can be such post-spoilers…
Aaaanyway, I usually don’t like flourless stuff. Wait, let me rephrase that: I usually don’t like gluten free stuff, unless it’s something that was never meant to have gluten in it anyway, such as chocolate truffles or smoothies and such. A few weeks ago, I bought Gwyneth Paltrow’s new cookbook, ‘It’s All Good’, and although I love most of her savory recipes (her salads are amazing!) I didn’t like her gluten free banana muffins. They weren’t disgusting, they just tasted like a big ball of nothing. Like taking a bite out of a balloon… Like a tennis ball only without the rubbery aftertaste…
Apparently, it’s not all good…
Sorry Gwyneth…
These cookies are not from Gwyneth’s book, though. It was actually a recipe for Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that I read on Sally’s Baking Addiction that inspired me to make these cookies! I love Sally. I made her a crazy delicious Caramel Apple Peanut Butter Loaf Cake once which I still dream about sometimes and her soft Caramel Molasses Cookies are just amazing!
So, when I first read about the Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies on her blog, I immediately wanted to try them!
After I made a few batches, I ended up changing the recipe a bit, using baking powder instead of baking soda (as baking soda requires an acid to work properly) and adding less chocolate chips. Shocking, I know! But in my defense, Sally does put a lot (like: a lot!) of chocolate chips in her cookies, and since the chocolate chips I used were pretty small (which means that more of them fit in a cup) I used a little less to make sure there was enough cookie to hold the chocolate chips together. I also made the cookies a little bigger, because I like big cookies!
Anyway, one of the best things about these cookies is that you only need five ingredients to make them: almond butter, an egg, some brown sugar, a little baking powder and dark chocolate chips. Sally uses homemade almond butter, but since I had a jar of all-natural, store bought almond butter in my pantry, I used that instead. But if you want to, you could use peanut butter or even something fancy like hazelnut butter if you can get your hands on it!
I bet these cookies taste absolutely amazing with hazelnut butter. Probably a bit like Nutella cookies…
Because these cookies don’t contain any flour, I like to think of them as healthy. I mean, sure, there’s sugar and chocolate, but it’s dark chocolate, which is good for you. Plus, a little sugar never hurt anyone. Well, maybe diabetics… Anyway, the fact that these babies are flourless and the fact that they contain huge amounts of almonds, which are ridiculously good for you (according to Sally, almonds are actually the most nutritionally dense nut!), makes these cookies kind of good for you.
Kind of…
Better yet, if you’re gluten-intolerant and you want to make a completely gluten free version of these cookies, all you need to do is make sure to use gluten free baking powder and gluten free chocolate chips. That’s it! And they’re so much better than Gwyneth’s gluten free banana muffins…
Enjoy!
- 1 egg
- 250g (or 1 cup) almond butter, cold or at room temperature (I used all-natural, store bought almond butter)
- 90g (or ⅓ cup + 4 teaspoons, packed) light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 100g dark chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F and line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk the egg until frothy. Add the almond butter, the sugar and the baking powder and stir the ingredients together with a wooden spoon. Make sure to mix them well. I wouldn't recommend a whisk for this; the mixture will be too thick. Stir in most of the chocolate chips, holding a few back to press into the tops of the cookies later.
- For each cookie, scoop out 2 tablespoons of cookie dough and roll into a ball. Place the dough balls onto the lined baking sheet (they won't spread, so you can arrange them pretty close together) and press down on each ball with your fingers to get a cookie shape. Press the chocolate chips you held back earlier into the tops of the cookies.
- Because you've used your hands to shape the cookies, the cookies will look a little oily at this point, because the heat of your hands will have melted some of the almond oil. Firm it back up by placing the baking sheet in the fridge for 10 minutes. You don't want oily cookies.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. They shouldn't (and won't) brown on the outside, but the tops of the cookies crinkle slightly as the cookies bake.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. Enjoy!
Looks really good my brother is gluten intolerant and I think he would love this.