These chocolate cashew cookies are like a chewy brownie and sugar cookie combined, rolled in chopped nuts. A fun chocolaty holiday treat that’s pretty healthy too!
Heeeeey, December! Out of all the winter months you’re the only one I can actually tolerate and it’s solely because you’re filled with a good 25 days worth of excuses to bake cookies. So starting today, I’m taking advantage of that.
For some reason, I hardly shared any holiday treats on here last year. I have no idea why and by the looks of the traffic from December 2012 to this site, you guys weren’t happy about that.
Can’t say I blame you. I mean, who wants to see spaghetti squash latkes when there are cookies to be eaten?!
Clearly I wasn’t in my right mind last year.
So let’s get this cookie party started.
I had a momentary lapse of judgment on Saturday and somehow thought it would be a good idea to head over to Trader Joe’s mid-afternoon on a holiday weekend.
Ha. Hahahaha.
That store is chaos on a normal weekend let alone a holiday one. Curses were mumbled, “excuse me’s” were said with more frustration than politeness and eyes were rolled when BOTH lines I stood in had people that either couldn’t figure out how to work the credit card machine, enter their pin for their debit card or, decided that it was 1983 again and writing paper checks was an acceptable form of payment.
But, I left with a bag of cashew flour, coconut sugar and plenty ideas for cookies swirling around in my head.
First up, these chocolate cookies rolled in chopped cashews. They’re like a brownie meets sugar cookie rolled in nuts. Except check out that ingredient list.
Yep, pretty impressive if I do say so myself.
They’re gluten-free, made with wholesome oats and cashew flour and a bit fudgy (like these Peanut Butter Stuffed Black Bean Cookies). A great one to add to the dessert table spread!
Check out more health{ier} holiday cookie recipes like these:
Dark Chocolate Amaretto Fudge Cookies
Almond Pulp Cookies (Cranberry Orange Thumbprints)
Chocolate Dipped Cashew Almond Butter Cookies with Candied Sage
Dark chocolate dipped orange macaroons
Orange Pomegranate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Gingerbread Collagen Cookies
Chocolate Cashew Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup oat flour
- 1/2 cup cashew flour
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons cold, hard coconut oil
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped cashews
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tablespoon almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- chopped cashews for rolling, about 1/4 cup
Instructions
- Sift the oat flour, cashew flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
- Add the coconut oil and work it through the flour mixture with your fingers until it becomes a small breadcrumb texture.
- Add the coconut sugar and 2 tablespoons of chopped cashews and mix.
- Beat the egg, milk and vanilla in a small bowl.
- Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix together with a spatula until a dough forms.
- Lay a piece of plastic wrap out on a flat surface.
- Sprinkle the chopped nuts on the plastic wrap.
- Transfer the dough onto the plastic wrap and using wet hands, form it into a log shape. The dough will be wet and sticky so wetting your hands is important.
- Roll the log of dough around so that the chopped nuts stick to the outside. Use the plastic wrap to help roll the dough and get the nuts to stick.
- Wrap the log in the plastic wrap and freeze the dough for about an hour until it is firm enough to slice. If you had trouble forming a log shape because the dough was too wet, try re-shaping in the plastic wrap once it has frozen for 10-15 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the freezer.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
- Using a serrated knife, slice the log of dough into rounds about 1/2 an inch thick and lay on the baking sheet, leaving about an inch of space between the slices.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
I LOVE that you used oat flour! It is one of my favorite flours to bake with. Sadly, I am grain free right now (hopefully it’s just temporary). Oh man do I miss my oat flour! These cookies look amazing :D