Nutty Oat Cookies with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

Lots of good fats, not too much sugar, the right kind of nutty, and draped in dark chocolate. Swoon.

These cookies are a great snack in the middle of the day or a decadent-tasting-but-not-too-indulgent dessert if you need a little something after a meal. They are reminiscent of a peanut butter cup, but they’re vegan, gluten free, and kinda Keto (close enough for me).

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw walnuts, ground in a food processor
• 1 cup cashew or almond butter, unsweetened
• 1 cup rolled oats
• ½ cup coconut flour
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ¼ cup pure maple syrup
• 3 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted
• 1 Tablespoon ground flaxseed (to make a flax egg)
• 2.5 Tablespoons cold water (for that flax egg!)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• Dash of kosher salt
• One 3.5 oz. bar dark chocolate (80% cocoa or higher) for drizzle

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 325.
• First, make your flax egg. This is a vegan substitute for a real egg, and it’s simple to make. In a small bowl combined the flax seed and water, stir and put in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to gel. This will help bind your cookie as it bakes.
• In a small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients: ground walnuts, oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt
• In a larger bowl, combine the wet ingredients: nut butter, applesauce, syrup, oil, vanilla and, when it’s ready, the flax egg.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix well.
• Use an ice cream scoop to portion out 12 cookies onto a cookie sheet. Then flatten them gently with your hand or the back of a spoon.
• Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven, and after a minute or two, use a metal spatula to carefully place the cookies on a sheet of parchment paper to cool. (They will need to firm up a bit.)
• While the cookies are cooling, melt the chocolate. You can either melt in a microwave, or if you’re like me and don’t have one, boil water in a deep pan, place the chocolate bar in a small pot and place the pot in the boiling water. This mimics a double boiler. Your chocolate will melt nicely without separating.
• Using a spoon, drizzle the chocolate over the cookies, as liberally as you wish!

Yum.