Sunday, April 26, 2015

Crispy Grain-free, Sugar-free Cookies

Many of you know that grain-free and sugar -free baking can be a little tricky. Nothing bakes quite like wheat flour. Pretty much everything I have made since changing our lifestyle almost 2 years ago has tasted great. The texture has left much to be desired. It is kind of frustrating when you want the edges and bottom of your cookies to be crisp but the middle warm and chewy. I have eaten many a very tasty "cookie" with a spoon off a plate because it was either too crumbly or almost liquid inside. Well, today after much trolling on pinterest and almost 2 years of trial and error, I think I have done it! A cookie that is crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside! My tribe loved them. Here is a picture of the dough rolled into balls.


Then I flattened them with the heel of my hand.
 
 

These were halfway through baking.
 
 
 
These are done. Nice and golden.

 
See the bottom! Golden and crisp!

 
Here is a cross-section!

If to follow THM, these are S.

Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups raw cashews

Process the cashews in the food processor for a while . . . until it is warm and smooth and turns into cashew butter. Transfer to a bowl and add the following:

1/4 cup Nature's Hollow Xylitol Honey
1 Tbsp Vanilla Bean Paste (be sure it doesn't have sugar in it . . . some brands do. I make my own.)
3/4 tsp maple extract (I use Frontier brand organic.)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda

Mix these ingredients with a hand mixer and then add the next ingredient a little at a time until you get a dough that is stick but not gloopy. It may stick to your hands a bit but, it should come together as a solid ball of dough.

Vanilla Whey Isolate Protein Powder (I used Jay Robb.)

Then fold in with your hands whatever mix-ins you like: chopped nuts, sugar-free chocolate chips, etc. I used 1/2 cup of Lilly's Chocolate chips. Then I used my small Pampered Chef cookie scoop to make dough balls. It was very sticky so every 3 or so scoops, I sprayed my scoop with coconut oil spray. I flattened the dough with the heel of my hand and baked at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or until golden.

Let me know what you think.