GLUTEN FREE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

I had been thinking about making cookies since my sister-in-law told me earlier this week that she had made three kinds of cookies.  I decided to make these cookies that use a coconut flour base instead of wheat flour.  They have a bit of a different consistency than flour based cookies and you need to let them cool slightly on the baking sheet before you transfer them to cooling racks.  This recipe is also a basic cookie recipe and you can add other things besides chocolate chips.  I didn't have regular chocolate chips but had chocolate chip chunks so I used a small food processor to chop them up into tiny pieces.  For the one cup of oil, I used liquid coconut oil.  If you are wondering what is sugar free syrup, it is the same thing used to make flavoured lattes.  Since I make my own lattes most of the time, I have both caramel and vanilla sugar free syrup in the pantry.  I also found that making smaller cookies worked better and they crumbled less.  They are very filling and I felt very satisfied after eating two cookies.  Both the DH and I enjoyed these cookies.  Since I made a large number of cookies, I froze half of them to be enjoyed at a later time.

To determine the nutrient breakdown of each cookie, I entered the ingredients into 'my fitness pal'.  Each cookie, based on the total number of cookies I made (58), has the following breakdown: calories: 91; carbs 5 grams; fat 8 grams; protein 1 gram; sodium 17 grams; and, sugar 2 grams.

Just out of the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups coconut flour
1 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
3 tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 cup Splenda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1 cup sour cream or coconut milk
1 cup olive oil, melted coconut oil or melted butter
1/2 cup sugar free vanilla syrup (e.g. DaVinci or Torani brands)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla or almond extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.   Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it.  In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the flour, nuts, coconut, Splenda, cinnamon, baking soda and chocolate chips.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the sour cream or coconut milk, oil or butter, vanilla syrup, eggs and vanilla extract.

Add the wet mixture to the coconut flour mixture and stir until it is combined.  If the mixture is too thick, add some almond or soy milk one tablespoon at a time until it seems that the batter sticks together.

Using your fingers, gather the dough into one inch mounds and drop them onto the baking sheet and flatten with a fork.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Cool on racks.  Makes about 58 cookies.

Adapted from the 'Wheat Belly' book.