Dark Fudgy Chocolate Avocado Cookies (gf, vegan)


If you like your chocolate nice and dark, then I promise you will love these cookies. They're rich and fudgy, chunky (almost brownie-like), and verging on bittersweet. They also just happen to be, you know… Really good for you. I know, I'm pretty happy about it too.

You know those times where you just really. want. chocolate? One of those times is the reason these cookies came about. I just really wanted chocolate. Rich, dark, sinful-tasting chocolate. And boy did they do the trick. They may have even done the trick a bit too well - I was a whirl of energy for the rest of the afternoon and well into the night. Maybe eating like, half of the batter (yes I licked the spoon, and ran my fingers around the bowl, and I expect the same from you) and then two cookies straight from the cooling rack, and then another one once they'd cooled down was a bit excessive… Just a friendly reminder that cacao does have a bit of caffeine in it, so these bad boys aren't great for a pre-bed snack! I speak from experience. No regrets.

But anyway! Let's talk ingredients. I used amaranth flour because it's what I had in the pantry, but I'm 98% sure that coconut flour would work just as well. If anyone tries that out let me know how it goes! If you want to use other flours, just remember that amaranth and coconut flour are very absorbent flours, so you'd have to play around with the liquid/dry ratio. I also used raw cacao powder, which is the unprocessed, unheated, much more nutrient- and mineral-rich, natural form of cocoa powder, and it also tastes much richer than cocoa powder. In saying that, I'm sure cocoa powder would work well, and if you're sensitive to caffeine/prefer not to eat cacao, then try using carob powder instead!

I completely adore the addition of avocado into any desserts. If you haven't ever tried avocado chocolate mousse, then I absolutely recommend giving it a go. I've fed it to friends before who don't normally like ~vegan~ ~healthy~ food and they've loved it! The use of avocado in this recipe is what gives the cookies their delicious fudginess.

Finally! I used Loving Earth's chocolate buckinis in this recipe, which are oh so heavenly, but I am well aware that many of you wouldn't have these in your pantry (especially if you don't live in Australia. If this is the case, I'm so sorry that you miss out on the goodness that is Loving Earth, and I hope they sort  out international postage stat). Chocolate buckinis are basically a mix of activated raw buckwheat, coconut flakes, goji berries, raw cacao powder, and coconut sugar. As a substitution, mix together 3/4 of a cup of raw buckwheat, a tablespoon each of coconut flakes and goji berries, and a tablespoon of coconut sugar.

Enough talk. We need cookies.








What you need:

1/2 cup of amaranth flour + an extra tablespoon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup of raw cacao powder
1 cup of Loving Earth Chocolate Buckinis (see above for substitutions)
1/2 tsp of cinnamon
Pinch of salt

1/3 cup of almond milk (I'm sure any milk would work just fine)
1/2 an avocado, mashed
2 tablespoons of maple syrup/agave/coconut nectar (don't skimp on this, when I say tablespoons I mean like… heaped tablespoons) (the cookies aren't ridiculously sweet, which is what I love about them, but if you've got a mega sweet tooth then maybe add extra)



What you need to do:

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius, and line a tray with baking paper.
Mix together your flour, baking powder, cacao powder, cinnamon and salt. Add the buckinis and stir in well.
In a separate bowl, mash the avocado. Add the almond milk and your sweetener of choice, and mix together until very well combined.
You should have a nice sticky batter, which holds together well.
Dollop onto your cookie tray. You should have 12 pretty big cookies.
Pop into the oven for 25 minutes. Try not to eat them all at once!


2 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Vegan carrot, orange and ginger cookies



Grain free, refined sugar free and vegan carrot, orange and ginger cookies with crunchy buckwheat and cacao bits! These cookies. They're addictive. I'm warning you now. But they're also ridiculously good for you, so it's all fine. In fact, I wouldn't judge you if you ate them for breakfast… I might just join you. But aside from that, they're the perfect mid-afternoon snack to tide you over til dinner, the perfect I-need-a-treat-with-my-cup-of-tea snack, the perfect damn-it-it's-only-11:30am-and-I'm-ready-for-lunch snack, or the perfect middle-of-your-shift-at-work snack when you just need SOMETHING to nibble on (which is how these came about…). There are so many wonderful flavours in these cookies - a little bit nutty from the buckwheat, a little bite from the freshly grated ginger, fruity-sweetness from the orange zest and juice, little bites of deep, earthy chocolate from the raw cacao, plus they're a little bit carrot cake-y! They kind of taste like a muesli cookie except minus the muesli… Does that make sense? Just try them, you'll understand.




Ingredients (note: unfortunately I'm a very erratic experimental baker and don't measure my ingredients perfectly, so use your discretion to decide whether to add more or less of anything… eek)

1 and a 1/4 of a cup of buckwheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
A teeny pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup of raw buckwheat groats
1/2 cup of cacao nibs
1 tablespoon of coconut sugar (this is totally optional, depending on how sweet you like your cookies!)
1 grated carrot (about a cup's worth)

1/4 cup of maple syrup/agave syrup/honey if you're not strict vegan
1 tablespoon of soft coconut oil
Juice of half an orange (just eat the other half, nom)
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, and grease a tray (I use coconut oil to do this) and/or line with baking paper.

Mix the buckwheat flour, salt, baking powder, optional coconut sugar, buckwheat groats and cacao nibs all together in a bowl. Add the carrot and mix.

In a separate bowl, combine the coconut oil, maple syrup/honey/agave, and orange juice, then add the grated ginger and cinnamon. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until combined. Here, I actually added an extra tablespoon or so of buckwheat flour because I thought the mixture was little too wet, but judge it for yourself. The mixture should still be reasonably wet and sticky!

Dollop tablespoons of the mixture onto the tray, shape them a little if you wish, and then pop them into the oven for 15 minutes! Devour, and try not to burn your fingers when they're fresh out of the oven and you juST CAN'T HELp yourself.






0 comments
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,