These sinfully decadent double dark chocolate and cherry cookies only seem too good to be true. Our gal, Laurel of Sweet Laurel Bakery, has created yet another delicious dessert that meets all our needs for a healthy and truly satisfying treat. Entirely gluten-free and paleo, these vegan cookies are made from almond flour, coconut oil and sweetened by dates. Sweet Laurel takes things one step further by helping us create our own chocolate chips sweetened entirely with maple syrup. Um, yum. Forget the box of chocolates this Valentine’s Day, we’re stuffing packages full of these guiltless sweets into the mail by the baker’s dozen…
Sweet and tart red cherries are perfect in this simple chocolate cookie recipe. This combination of flavors is one of our favorites, and gives the cookies a little bit of depth and bite. Feel free to mix it up and add your favorite dried fruit to the mix!
Double Dark Chocolate Cookies with Cherries
Makes 3 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
2 ½ cups almond flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup cacao powder
1 cup coconut oil
3/4 pound date paste (or 1 lb dates, chopped and blended into paste)
½ cup paleo chocolate chips
½ cup dried cherries
For the chocolate chips:
4 oz unsweetened organic baking chocolate (100% cacao)
1 Tbsp maple syrup (or more depending on how dark you like it)
Directions:
For the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Blend the dates and oil in blender. Blend in dry ingredients. Add chocolate chips and cherries. Place by tablespoon onto parchment-lined pan and bake 7-8 minutes. Cool completely and remove from tray.
For the chocolate chips:
Break baking chocolate into one-inch pieces and place in thick saucepan or double boiler. Over a very low heat, melt baking chocolate. Once melted, take off heat and add maple syrup and stir. Pour chocolate onto parchment paper and spread into a rectangle, about 8×12 inches. Place parchment in freezer. Once hardened (will take a few minutes), break off pieces and use as needed.
