Ah Christmas time. A time for family, faith and food. And by food, I mean cookies.
All this Christmas baking does not bode well for my postpartum plan to get back down to my pre-pregnancy size. My sweet tooth also doesn’t help.
This time of year is a great time to try to find some healthier treats to add to the mix. Last year, it was these Dark Chocolate Dipped Almond Cookies that my family actually enjoyed and could eat without feeling super guilty. This year, I decided to put a different spin on those and the result turned out great. I might even like these better.
Healthy Dark Chocolate Sugar Cookies {Vegan} {GF Opt.}
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup Almond Meal*
- 1 ¾ cup Whole Wheat Flour (or sub all-purpose GF flour)
- ½ cup Dutch Process Cocoa
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Sea Salt
- 1/3 cup Canola Oil or Melted Coconut Oil
- 2/3 cup Honey or Agave
- 3 TBSP Vegan Butter (such as Earth Balance)
- 1 Flax Egg (1 TBSP ground Flaxseed + 2 ½ TBSP Water)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 TBSP Sugar (for flattening)
Directions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine almond meal, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Stir until just combined. In a medium sized mixing bowl, beat honey (or agave), oil and butter with an electric mixer until creamed together. Beat in the flax egg and vanilla until combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Refrigerate the dough for one hour.
After the dough has chilled, roll into 1-inch balls and place on prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Dip the bottom of a glass in sugar and press onto the cookies to flatten them slightly. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until they are set. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
*Almond Meal can be found at some grocery stores (I found mine at Trader Joe’s). If you can’t find it, simply process 1 cup of almonds in a food processor until a crumbly mixture has formed. Be careful not to process it for too long or else you will end up with almond butter!
