Gluten Free Vegan Grain Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe comes from nourishingmeals.com These cookies are high protein, low sugar, vegan, and naturally gluten-free. Plus with no grainy gluten-free flours, these cookies stay moist and gooey in the center for days. I use chunky roasted almond butter; I don’t think raw almond butter would work here. For the ground flax, I grind my own in my Vita-Mix from golden flax seeds. A coffee grinder also works to grind seeds. I use Ancient Harvest Quinoa Flakes which I buy locally. They can also be found on Amazon.com. I use the Enjoy Life brand mini chocolate chips. The first time I made these I used cocao nibs which made the overall cookie not very sweet. When made with chocolate chips, the cookies taste sweet with a lovely chocolate flavor (the chips do have some cane sugar in them).

• Ready In: 22 mins
• Serves: 18
• Yields: 18 cookies

Ingredients

• 1⁄2 cup  packed pitted medjool dates (about 6 to 8 dates)
• 1⁄4 cup hot water
• 1⁄4 cup  virgin coconut oil
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 1⁄4 cup ground flax seeds
• 2  teaspoons vanilla
• 1  cup almond butter
• 1  cup quinoa
• 1⁄2 cup  almond meal flour (Bob's Red Mill)
• 3⁄4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1⁄4-1⁄2 cup  mini chocolate chip (or cocao nibs)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a large cookie sheet with coconut oil.
2. Place the pitted dates and water in a blender and let them soak for about 5 minutes. Then add the coconut oil and honey. Blend until very smooth, abut a minute.
3. Transfer date-oil mixture to a medium-sized mixing bowl (scooping out every last bit) and add ground flax seeds and vanilla; beat on high with an electric mixture until combined. Add almond butter and beat again.
4. Sprinkle the quinoa flakes, almond meal, baking soda, and salt over the almond butter mixture, beat again until well combined.
5. Drop dough by the large spoonful onto the greased cookie sheet. Lightly press each cookie down with the palm of your hand. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes. Remove gently with a thin spatula and transfer to a wire rack to cool. The cookies will be slightly fragile when hot but will hold together very well after about 5 minutes of cooling. Enjoy with a glass of fresh, raw almond milk!