I was inspired to bake yesterday after visiting Elana’sPantry. She has several amazing gluten free recipes. Gluten free is friendly for Primal/Paleo because you use almond or coconut flour to replace white flour. Elana also avoids the refined sugars (white/brown sugar at the grocery store) and use more raw natural sugars (honey/agave nectar). So far, I have made her brownies and now her White Chocolate Chip Cookies as a base to create a new version:
Ingredients:
2 ½ cups almond flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup agave nectar
2/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup sliced almonds
Directions:
1. Set the oven for 350°
2. Combine the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl
3. Mix the wet ingredients together in a small bowl
4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry
5. Fold in the white chocolate and almonds
6. Form ½ inch balls and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet
7. Place cookie sheet on middle oven rack for 7-8 minutes
8. Cool and store/serve
Yield: 20-24 cookies
These not only make your home smell like warm vanilla and roasted almonds, but they taste delicious too! I was surprised at the sweet and salty combination – the sweet white chocolate perfectly balances the roasted almonds and sea salt in the recipe.
The only thing I would modify for next time is to add an egg. These cookies were a little crumbly, which may be due to my use of Bob’s Red Mill almond flour (Elana doesn’t use the brand as it can make some of her recipes runny/grainy, though I didn’t have that problem). The addition of an egg would help hold these together better.
I happily ate two of these last night and the scale read 137.6lbs this morning so they are definitely low carb! I’m just under what I weighed before the road trip to Ohio. The real challenge will be this weekend when I go to Galena with my Mom for her birthday….surrounded by delicious treats, rich food, and exotic alcohol and coffee. Wish me luck and will power!
Krista
