Almond Meal Cookies with Chocolate and Cherries

Chocolate and cherries will get me through the rest of this cold, rainy February.

In the midst of the low-carb/gluten-free/paleo craze, I've been thinking that all of these cookie recipes with almond meal look really good. I decided to go all out and try some cookies that have 100% almond meal, no flour. I wasn't sure what the texture would be, but my standards for texture in my baked goods have been significantly lowered since that three-year stretch around middle school when I enjoyed inventing fat-free cake recipes (with green food coloring, usually), so I decided to give it a go.

It turns out they have great texture! I actually like the texture better than ordinary cookies. They're really hearty and rich. I love for my cookies to have a little bit of a bite to them, rather than dissolving in my mouth and making me instantly want another one. I felt really satisfied after two of these.

I pretty much followed this recipe and just added dried cherries, because why miss an opportunity to pair cherries with chocolate?

The Recipe:

1.5 c almond meal

1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 c chocolate chips

1/4 c dried cherries

Cream butter and sugar. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
Mix in almond flour, salt, and baking soda.
Fold in chocolate chips and cherries.
Form 1-inch balls on a cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 for 12 minutes or until edges have browned.

The Verdict:

Overall grade: B+

Overall reason: Delicious. Not healthy, but the almond part is good.

Time to prepare: 20 minutes

Husband quote: (with surprise) "These are really good!"

Comments

Kitchen renovation!

BEFORE: AFTER: Still to come: a beautiful new induction range and some wood shelving on the left side, above the backsplash. And maybe the shelving unit on the wall facing the cabinets should be green, but we're going to live with a while before making that decision.

Curry Fried Rice

Excited for these leftovers. One of the things I wanted to try with my new jar of curry powder was fried rice. Years ago, Miles got fried rice at Korea House and it was the best fried rice I'd ever had. I suspected there was curry powder in it, but at that time I had never really cooked with curry powder, so I tucked that knowledge away for a later date. After reading a few recipes, I went rogue on this one. I couldn't even begin to effectively guess at what proportions I ended up with, so the recipe below is more of a rough guideline of ingredients. The "Recipe" (sorry no quantities; follow your heart): leftover jasmine rice tofu, cubed and crisped in the oven with avocado oil and salt vegetables: garlic, onion, cabbage, red bell pepper salt curry powder (I used a Vietnamese one) soy sauce sugar sesame oil future topping ideas: runny egg, sesame seeds, green onion Saute the vegetables in avocado oil until softened, and salt them to taste Add the tofu and toss to...

Samosa Burritos

Imagine a pile of plain yogurt and some Indian pickle for dipping I saw a Pinterest recipe for samosa-filled quesadillas, which led me to this recipe from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen for baked samosas using tortillas, which led me to just use the giant tortillas I had in the fridge and make them into full-sized burritos. They were a hit! I largely followed the recipe from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen, but I added some potato, omitted the chana masala powder and just added a bunch of cumin instead, added bell pepper and fresh chilies, didn't bother with the "sealing paste," and basted them in a little bit of melted butter (omit for vegan version). Everyone except the 5-year-old liked them! The Recipe (adapted from Nadia's Healthy Kitchen ) 2 cans (30 oz total) cooked garbanzo beans, rinsed (I eyeballed the equivalent from dry beans) 1 small onion, chopped 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 thai chili, minced 1 bell pepper, chopped 1 potato, baked until soft (or microwaved for...

Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

Search This Blog