Chocolate Cardamom Cookies

Intro: I saved this recipe because I was intrigued by the idea of a vegan, gluten-free cookie that had no sugar in it, save for what was in the chocolate chips. The featured article on Sakara Life also seemed like the women who started it were boss ladies, and that made me happy :)

Recipe is from Food and Wine Magazine (Feb 2017 issue): https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chocolate-cardamom-cookies

Despite their healthy ingredient list, these gluten- and dairy-free chocolate chip cookies from Sakara Life are superdecadent. Almond flour gives them a nutty, crumbly texture and almond butter keeps them wonderfully moist. 

Ingredients

• 4 cups almond flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon fine Himalayan pink salt
• 2 cups roasted salted almond butter (18 ounces)
• 1 1/2 cups honey, preferably liquid raw (see Note)
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

Step 1    

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, mix the almond flour with the baking powder, cardamom and salt at low speed until combined. At medium speed, beat in the almond butter, honey and vanilla until smooth. Add the chocolate chunks and beat until just incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Step 2    

Preheat the oven to 350° and arrange racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop 1/4-cup mounds of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets and flatten into 1/2-inch-thick disks. Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, until they are lightly browned and firm around the edges; shift the baking sheets from front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking. Let cool completely before serving. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

My Notes:
This recipe has a lot of expensive ingredients-- nearly an entire bag of almond flour, a jar of honey, and a jar and then some of roasted almond butter. I felt as though the batter came together nicely by hand, though it did require a bit of elbow grease to really incorporate the almond butter and honey, both pretty thick liquids, with the almond flour. I used 16 oz of roasted almond butter and about 2 oz of raw almond butter because I did not feel like opening another jar of roasted almond butter. I used 61% dark chocolate that I cut into rough chunks. I used liquid raw honey as the recipe specifies. It also rested into the fridge for 2 nights. It made about 24 cookies

1. If you don't incorporate the honey all the way, it spills out of the cookie (see photo below)

2. In my oven, these cookies took 12 minutes-- the first batch I pulled at 14 minutes, and that was already overdone.

3. The "raw" dough tastes better in my opinion than the baked product. You can taste the cardamom better that way, and it almost tastes like badam barfi (indian sweet).
4. These are quite dense. I ate two and I feel super heavy and full.
5. I will use these as "breakfast" cookies because they aren't very sweet, and I bet they'd taste better dipped into liquid. These are not great warm--- I repeat: RESIST the urge to eat them straight out of the oven. They are not good. They are like 1,000 times better when they've cooled.
6. I previously said I would not make again because I ate two while they were warm. Now that I've had them cooled, I would make them again. The DH likes them too!