Crunchy Cacao Nib Cookies

Why hello, stranger.  Yet again, some time has elapsed since last I wrote.  However, I am here because these cookies are pretty dang good & their recipe is worth sharing.  

As a young'un, I was a major fan of the chocolate chip cookie - the USA's special gift to the world.  My earliest cooking experiences mainly involved baking, from recollection, because this was clearly top priority for my taste buds.  Dad would have me assist him in measuring out the ingredients & taught me not to be afraid to do away with the wooden spoon & plunge my hands straight into the ingredients awaiting a good mix.  Of course, our hands were squeaky clean before doing this.  But then your fingers would be caked in cookie dough . . . not a crying shame.

In any case, I decided to whip up some chunky crunchy crumbly goodies based on ingredients I had to hand & inspired by some recipes I've spotted round the blogger traps lately.  Here's what I came up with:

Perfect beauties, I'd say.

So, to get down to business, you will need to preheat that oven to 170 degrees C & gather these ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup coconut flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 TBS melted coconut oil

2 eggs

1/3 to 1/2 cup sweetener of choice (I was experimenting with xylitol - grand success. Alternatively, you could use coconut sugar, cane sugar, maple syrup, but may need to start lower & add according to the scale of your sweet tooth :)

3 TBS almond butter

3/4 cup walnuts or pecans

1/3 cup cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips

To begin, you'll want to mix all your dry ingredients together in one bowl, save for the walnuts & the cacao nibs.

Then you can whisk up your eggs, coconut oil, almond butter, & sweetener.  Pour this gooey mix into the dry ingredients and dive in.  

Admittedly, I was more civilised this baking session & used my trusted wooden spoon.  This mixture is especially moist due to the almond butter which makes for a soft & chewy centre, *cue heavenly voices from on High*

Finally, you can mix in your nuts & chips/nibs.  

Now, you will have to get your fingers a bit caked for this next step.  Grab a little pinch of the mixture & test if its sweetness is to up to scratch.  If so, grab a tablespoon & scoop out portions of the cookie dough onto a lined baking tray.  The dough will probably stick to your fingertips & you might need to lick it off pre hand-wash.  Lucky!

Flatten out your golden goo balls.

These little guys will take approximately 10-15 minutes to cook.  I like an underdone cookie, myself, so I went for the lesser time.

Allow them to cool for a few minutes & they'll be ready for lift-off-the-tray-and-pop-in-your-gob time.

Happy baking!