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Dark Choco-Almond Drop Cookies, or Sustenance for Thesis Proposal Writing Marathons

I recently returned to the idea of completing my thesis (and therefore my MA in Geography). Literally just a couple of days ago, after about 10 months of hemming and hawing over what I had written and what I still have left to do and thoughts of maybe scrapping the entire thing to find another topic, I decided that it's time. And I'm serious. And this level of seriousness calls for cookies.

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes of all time. It's simple to make and the cookies have such a wonderful texture to them once they're baked and even after they have cooled off. The original recipe came from the side of a shipping box from Vitacost, of all places. It caught my eye immediately because it's gluten-free. The original recipe has no flour whatsoever, which had me intrigued. Here is my slightly-tweaked version of these oh-so-yummy-tasty-mouth-watering morsels of chocolate chippy goodness.


Ingredients;
1 cup of nut butter (I used almond butter but any nut butter would work well)
1/2 cup of natural sweetener (I used agave nectar for these)
1 Tbsp ground flax seeds with 3 Tbsp water (in this batch, I used the juice of two small oranges)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup pecan pieces
1 cup chocolate chips

The original recipe calls for 3/4 cup but I tend to like things not as sweet and with the sweetness of the chocolate chips, 1/2 cup is plenty of sweetener. You can also substitute one egg for the flax seeds and water. This was the first time I had made this recipe without the egg, and I am quite pleased with the results.


I started by grinding the flax seeds in a coffee mill that is dedicated just to items like this (no coffee). Then I squeezed two (very small) oranges for a total of just over 3 tbsp of liquid, added the juice to the flax seed, and combined well.

Then I threw everything except the pecan pieces and chocolate chips into a bowl and mixed well.


I added the pecan pieces and mixed some more.


Then added the chocolate chips and mixed one more time.


To bake, I dropped spoonfuls of dough onto a baking pan and baked them in a preheated 350-degree oven for 10 minutes. Once out of the oven, I allowed them to cool on the baking sheet for about 6 minutes. Then with a spatula, I carefully moved the cookies to a cooling rack (okay, really it was a paper towel because I am lazy and didn't feel like digging out the cooling rack from the back of the cupboard).

These cookies will be delicate when they first come out of the oven, but as they cool, they become less so and develop a nice, slightly chewy texture. They are quite filling too, so one or two usually fills me up.

And cookies are never complete unless they are accompanied with a cold glass of almond milk (or regular milk, if you swing the way of lactose-tolerant).


This was the perfect stress-reliever for me as I settled onto the couch with my laptop, flash drive and several versions of my thesis proposal draft to wade through. Wish me luck!

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