This is about as close to a health food cookie as you can get.
I was eager to try this recipe after finding it on The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen. We recently returned from a trip visiting relatives in upstate New York, and as anyone on any sort of special diet knows, sticking to it on a vacation is quite challenging. Of course in my case (and the rest of the food sensitive world), the issue is immune responses for my little boy. I certainly did my best, but we learned some valuable things…namely he is not reacting to little traces of no-list ingredients anymore…a HUGE milestone!!
I learned today from Tom Malterre, a CN who specializes in food sensitivities (and who along with his wife happen to run the aforementioned blog) that around 10 months of age, a baby’s intestines become less porous. Apparently they are born with more porous guts to allow the large breast milk protein to pass through…I love learning new tidbits!! But this may also explain his reduced reactivity to things found in my milk. Time and more experiments will tell!
Anyways, back to why I was so eager to try these cookies: no added sugar!! Since I ate much less on my trip without my well-stocked pantry at hand, I ate far less sugar, and dropped some weight!! Eager to continue this trend, rather than try to curb my overwhelming desire to be baking, I’d try cooking with minimal to no added sugar!
These cookies are SO fabulous!! Every single person in my family LOVES them, as do all the people I have shared them with. They satisfy that sweet tooth without making your blood sugars all crazy, and I find myself actually satiated by these after one. They are moist and yummy, give em whirl, you won’t be disappointed!
Flourless, Date Sweetened Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup packed pitted medjool dates about 6 to 8 dates, Trader Joe's best deal, Costco close second!
- ¼ cup hot water
- ¼ cup virgin coconut oil
- ¼ cup honey or maple syrup
- ¼ cup ground flax seeds or chia seeds
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup almond butter
- 1 cup quinoa flakes or instant oats would work, or even almond meal for a paleo version
- ½ cup almond meal flour make your own by whirring whole almonds in a coffee grinder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Soak the dates in the boiling water a few minutes to soften.
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Puree the whole date mixture with the coconut oil, honey, flax,and vanilla until well blended.
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Add in almond butter and blend.
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Sprinkle the soda and salt evenly over mixture, followed by the quinoa flakes and almond meal, pulse until well blended.
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Add in chocolate chips and pulse a couple of times to mix in, no more (you want chocolate chips, not specks!)!!
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Drop large spoonfuls on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat, parchment, or a light grease.
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Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden, about 10-13 minutes.
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Remove from oven and let set to firm up about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack (any sooner and they will fall apart on you).
Can you taste coconut from the coconut oil?
LJ, I amnot the best person to ask…I don;t think I taste it anymore! I don’t taste a coconutty flavor, but if you dislike coconut, try the refined coconut oil (less coconut flavor) or use light olive oil (not extra virgin!).
Thank you!
Your cookies look awesome! I haven’t worked with quinoa flakes before. I love quinoa, so I really must look for them at our local health food store.
I love quinoa flakes and whole quinoa…they rock Alea (can’t stand the flour incidentally..)
These sound amazing! Glad to hear of your son’s improvement. Thanks for linking up to Healthy 2Day Wednesday!
Do you think, I could use flax meal instead of flax seeds? This looks delicious and I am featuring it, this week, on My Meatless Mondays.
As soon as the Jewish holidays are over, I will be linking up again. In the meanwhile, most of my efforts go to my class and cooking for the holidays. Be patient with me.
Hi Chaya! Yes, ground flax seeds = flax meal! Thank you for your question AND the feature!!
Thank you for your submission on Nourishing Treasures’ Make Your Own! Monday link-up.
Check back tomorrow when the new link-up is running to see if you were one of the top 3 featured posts! 🙂
I am so excited to try out these cookies. I’ve been wanting to bake more with dates and it just so happens I have quinoa flakes in my cupboard. I even have almond meal!
Perfect Karen, you and these cookies had a need for each other!! Let me know how they work for you!
This looks really good, but I certainly wouldn’t call then sugar-free. Just because you are using honey/maple syrup instead of traditional sugar does not make them sugar-free. Honey and MS are forms of sugar too.
Most definitely BF, titling is a tricky job…and I have adopted many other bloggers strategy of calling them sugar free while referring to refined sugars only. Dates, maple syrup, honey…they are all sugars! I referred to this in the opening paragraph. Thanks for your comment!
These look great!
great one tessa! thanks for linking with kids in the kitchen!
I make a flourless chocolate chip cookie and it is so good! I will have to try this recipe soon!
I’ve really gotta use dates more often, love that these are sugar free 🙂 Great job!
I saw this on Slightly Indulgent. I’d love for you to check out my tiramisu cupcakes that I shared as well 🙂
Thanks Kammie…your recipes always tempt me!
These look delicious and creative! Good to know that everyone loves them – sometimes it’s scary to try new recipes out on your family.
Well these are a shoe-in in our family (and circle of friends)!! Good luck, hope they past the test in your house too!!
@ The Better Baker – enjoy the cookies tonight, I know my whole family really loves them! Don't you love it when you have everything on hand so you can hit the ground running?! You'll have to let me know what your family thinks!
Amazing! I needed a healthy dessert for dinner at our son's tonight…and just happen to have all these ingredients. Just watched a video this afternoon too about how good coconut oil is for you. Cha-Ching!
Now this is great! A recipe that I won't feel too bad eating! Always good to have a balance!!!
I'd love for you to link up your recipes at What's Cooking Wednesday (http://thekingscourt4.blogspot.com/search/label/What%27s%20Cooking%20Wednesday) whenever you get a chance! We meet each week and would love to have you join 🙂
Raj- no, more like a moist peanut butter oatmeal cookie!! In my freezer right now for the lunchboxes this week!
Yum! Do these end up tasting like oatmeal cookies?