Flour-Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ohhh, treats!

Double chocolate chip treats.  Moist, dense, fudgy cookies full of peanut butter and chocolate bliss! Seriously, these cookies are not for the faint of heart.  Step aside "milk chocolate" lovers and make way for the real chocolate fans.  Why is milk chocolate even considered a type of chocolate anyway?!

I came up with the idea for these to use up the rest of a batch of walnut butter.  Here's a little secret: walnut butter is nothing, NOTHING in comparison to homemade toasted cashew butter! I will be posting a recipe for roasted cashew butter in the  new future :)  Anyways, I had about half a jar of walnut butter just sitting in my fridge begging to be used.  So, naturally, I decided to make super chocolaty cookies.  

My first batch was a disaster!  I used way too much baking soda (I'm pretty sure I measured a tablespoon thinking it was a teaspoon) and the batter was very wet so the cookies did not hold together.  The good news was I still had half a cup of walnut butter left.  With the addition of thick, creamy peanut butter (walnut butter is on the thin side) and one teaspoon of baking soda, these little gems came out fantastic!  As a true (dark) chocolate lover and nut butter fanatic, these cookies are perfection.  Feel free to play around with the nut butter combinations (almond butter, cashew butter, walnut butter, peanut butter) or make them all peanut butter because, peanut butter.  If you are allergic to nuts, not to worry!  You can make these bad boys with tahini, or any seed butter for that matter.  The options are endless, so get baking!

Flour-Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup nut butter of choice (I used a combination of peanut and walnut butter)*

1 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch sea salt

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*if you are allergic to nuts, use a seed butter like tahini instead of a nut butter

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

2.  Mix the nut butter and sugar together until well blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  

3.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the cacao powder, baking soda, and salt.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet in stages, mixing well between each addition.  The batter should be very thick (feel free to use your hands here!)  If your batter is runny, add a teaspoon of coconut flour at a time until it you are able to form it into a dough ball without it sticking.  

4.  Scoop tablespoon sized portions into your hands, and roll each one to make a ball.  Place on the prepared cookie sheet, about 2" apart.

5.  Gently press down the tops of the balls with the back of a fork.  Don't completely flatten the cookies, just press enough to leave the fork marks on the top of the cookies.  

6.  Bake for 10 minutes, then allow to rest for at least 5 before removing them from the pan to a cooling rack.