Friday, July 29, 2011

Chewy Cinnamon Almond Cookies (gluten- and grain-free)

Mmmm, chewy and moist with a hint of cinnamon.  These cookies are a great treat!  They are delicious by themselves, and they also make a great base for a homemade ice cream sandwich. 

Chewy Cinnamon Almond Cookies
Makes 18 large cookies
  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
  • 5 Tb honey
  • 1 Tb vanilla extract, preferably organic
  • 2&1/2 cups almond flour, preferably from crispy almonds*
  • 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt 
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda**
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan.  Turn off heat, and stir in the honey and vanilla extract.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.  
  3. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well.
  4. Use a 1 to 2 Tb scoop or spoon to drop cookies onto a stoneware or greased sheet pan.  Don't flatten them as they will spread well on their own during baking. 
  5. Bake at 350 degrees for 7-12 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned.
  6. Allow the cookies to cool before moving them.
*Crispy almonds are almonds that have been soaked in water with a little salt for 12-24 hours and then dried in the dehydrator until crispy (which usually takes about 24 hours at 155 degrees F in my Nesco dehydrator). Soaking the nuts neutralizes phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors. Phytic acid blocks mineral absorption of calcium and magnesium; enzyme inhibitors make nuts hard to digest. You could just make a large batch of crispy nuts to have on hand, and they are also much tastier for snacking that way, too. If the weather is nice, you can put the dehydrator on the back porch during the day to cut down on the heat and noise in the house.
**These cookies are are not technically GAPS-legal because the recipe includes baking soda, but they are SCD-legal.  Baking soda is not allowed on GAPS because it has a very strong alkalizing effect on the body (and most GAPS people already have low stomach acid, so strong alkalizers could be detrimental). We haven't had any problem with a little baking soda now and then, though.

This recipe is part of Handmade Christmas Gift Carnival, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Grain-Free Carnival, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday at Simply Sugar and Gluten Free, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet, Real Food Wednesday with Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Monday Mania at The Healthy Home Economist and Fight Back Friday at Food Renegade!

38 comments:

  1. Yummy....I am so looking forward to making my first almond flour batch and trying all your recipes. Thank you for sharing,

    Maria

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  2. These look great! I love using almond flour.

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  3. These were great!! Although I did add 1/2 a cup of Enjoy Life mini choc. chips, so I cheated a little. Used my homemade almond meal,and my 4 boys & I gobbled these all up!

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  4. AprilShowers - Thanks for letting me know how they turned out! I'm glad your family liked them, and I bet they were great with chocolate chips!

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  5. Do you think coconut oil would work in place of the butter?

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  6. Yes, coconut oil should work well. If you try it, please let me know how they turn out!

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  7. This looks fabulous! My book club is meeting at my house this Saturday and I will definitely have to give this baby a go!

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  8. This look so good!! I am going to make them tomorrow night :)

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  9. We made these and they were great- fast, easy and delicious! Thanks for the recipe.

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  10. These are so delicious! I made them twice in preparation for the hurricane that just came through (so the kids would have some yummy snacks on hand when the power went out). I thought Dr. Natasha said that pure bicarbonate of soda was fine (in the most recent edition that came out).

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  11. Great, Bonny! I actually don't have the most recent version of the GAPS book, so I was just going by what her website says. I just did another quick search and am not finding anywhere that baking soda is allowed on GAPS. Nonetheless, we haven't had any problems with using it occasionally.

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  12. Thanks for your response, Sarah! On page 164 of the newest edition (published 2010), she puts on the "Foods to Avoid" list "Baking powder and raising agents of all kind apart from pure bicarbonate of soda". Which is what pure baking soda is, right? I remember when I saw that for the first time I was so excited! And in recipes that call for baking powder, I have found that baking soda and a little squeeze of lemon juice work wonderfully. My kids are absolutely loving this recipe. I'm about to go make some more right now to send with my son to school as a snack!

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  13. What a wonderful sounding recipe. I'm trying to cut back on grains and this sounds like a nice treat that my family would still enjoy (despite the lack of grains)
    I can't wait to give this a try :)

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  14. I am new to all this grain-free cooking. Can I use a ready store bought almond flour such as FunFresh Foods Gluten Free California Almond Flour
    (http://www.vitacost.com/FunFresh-Foods-Gluten-Free-California-Almond-Flour)

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  15. Hi Natalia,
    Yes, you can use almond flour from the store. I prefer to make my own using crispy nuts and nut flour because it is much healthier and easier to digest. Specifically, soaking the nuts reduces the amount of phytic acid in the nuts (phytic acid blocks absorption of minerals like calcium and magnesium in the digestive track). Of course, if you only eat a little bit of nuts, this is not an issue. We tend to eat more nuts on a grain-free diet, though, so I try to use crispy nuts whenever possible.

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  16. Okay so I finally got around to making these last night. I wish I had made them much sooner cuz they are sooooo good!!! The only bad thing is its hard to stop eating them!

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  17. Yay, Laura! I'm glad you like them!

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  18. WOW! I found your link on Frugally Sustainable, and I thought I would try this out. Our family has been gluten free for 18 months, and we ditched grains about 5 months ago. I was nervous to try these. I am not a *huge* honey fan (most of the recipes I have tried are so heavy on the honey, our family almost gets sick from the taste!) and I was a bit surprised about the lack of egg... however, I thought I would try these out. WOW! They are amazing! Thank you SO much for sharing this! These came out chewy, delicious, lightly sweet, and perfectly cinnamon-licious! Thanks!!!

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  19. Wonderful, Mellissa! I'm glad you liked them!

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  20. These are amazing!! I used coconut oil instead of butter (paleo diet) and they turned out superb! I made a dessert with these , frozen raspberries, 3 cookies broken into pieces drizzled with pure maple syrup - like fruit crumble but even better!!

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  21. Great Kimmy! That fruit crumble sounds delicious.

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  22. Looks awesome! But are almond meal and almond flour interchangeable?

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  23. Hi Amanda,
    It is preferred to use soaked, dried nuts and make your own almond flour because this helps to neutralize the antinutrients in the almonds (such as phytic acid). If you are going to buy pre-ground almonds, I think blanched almond flour is preferred as the skins are removed (and the skins contain most of the antinutrients). Almond meal still contains the skins.

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  24. Hehehe...I just tried to make them, but I had no parchment paper, so I figured, "eh, I can probably just pry them off!" Well...I didn't get cookies, but I did get some delicious grain-free granola!

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  25. Could you tell me how you make almond flour? Is is 1/4 lb almonds equal 1 cup flour? Thanks so much.

    R~

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    1. I make almond flour by grinding crispy almonds (which are almonds that have been soaked in salty water and then dehydrated) in my food processor. I'm not sure of the amounts as I've ever weighed mine.

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  26. These look great. I have a friend who makes something similar and I have been dying for the recipe. I think I will try these instead. :) Yum

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  27. Made these today and they're delicious!! I added raisins. My husband and 20 month old daughter love them, too. Thanks!!

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  28. I just made these - they taste good but are soft not chewy and didnt spread at all so I had to flatten them halfway through baking - any suggestions???

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  29. Hmmm, mine spread lots. Did you use homemade almond flour, or storebought? I think the homemade kind makes more chewy cookies since the flour is not very fine.

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  30. Did I miss something or this recipe doesn't have eggs? I made these last night and they just fell apart, crumbled. I used crispy almond for the flour. I did make a slightly modified version before with 2 eggs and coconut flakes and those were fine

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    1. How strange. Mine do not fall apart at all (and I know of others who have made them with no problems as well). Did you make sure to let them cool before you scooped them off the baking tray? Putting the remaining ones in the fridge would probably help them stay together better...

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    2. I did cool them completely before attempting to get them from the tray, but they would just fall apart. I will give them one more try though because they are very yummy:)

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  31. I just made some of these and they are quite crumbly too. Itt's hard to resist pulling off bits and nibbling on them haha.

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  32. These turn out perfect every time for me! They are fantastic and we do them with coconut milk ice-cream in between as ice-cream sandwiches!! The kids love them!

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  33. These are yummy! I was surprised to see no eggs -- most grain free baking I've seen is heavy on the eggs. Thanks for the recipe.

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  34. Yeah..It's Mother's Day, I'm on GAPS, and trying to find something to make for my mother. This place saved my life.

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