NUT BUTTER COOKIES WITH NUTS, SEEDS, HONEY, TART CHERRIES AND DARK CHOCOLATE

Notes: When you think of delicious cookies you don’t think grain free, gluten free, and no added oil or butter, but these cookies are packed with flavor, healthy fats, just the right amount of sweetness and roasty, toasty comforting notes and spices. The dark chocolate dolloped on top is the pièce de résistance. You’ll crave these over and over again. They’re also a lot lighter and chewier than you would think. They’re softer than a biscuit cookie and lighter than a granola bar. I cannot emphasize how much the flavor is enhanced by first toasting the walnuts and pine nuts. All the nuts and seeds used for this recipe were raw to begin with, and you should aim for raw when making your own version as you’ll have a lot more control over the flavor and saltiness and of course raw nuts will be fresher and healthier as well. I think most people know this, but I’ll say it anyway: Keep raw nuts (and roasted nuts for that matter) refrigerated. The delicate oils can go rancid when they sit around at room temperature for long periods.

Now let’s get to the recipe, which makes about 7 cookies. If you want 14 cookies, double the ingredients.

Total prep and baking time: 45 mins

The ingredients.

Equipment:

• Kitchen scale.

  If you need one the OXO Good Grips digital kitchen scale is one I’ve personally tested for accuracy and precision and highly recommend. About $50 on Amazon

• Food processor

• 3-inch cookie cutter or cake ring mold.

  These are the cake ring molds I bought a while back and are still available. They’re good quality and I’ve used them for several recipes.

• 1.5 inch cookie dough scoop

• I used a silicone air mat to bake these, but if you don’t have one parchment paper will do just fine.

Ingredients:

• Raw walnuts: 60 g

• Raw pine nuts: 2 tbsp (20 g)

• Raw cashew butter: 70 g

  I used Artisana Organics Raw Cashew Nut Butter.

• Raw almonds: 30 g

• Raw pecans: 30 g

• Black sesame seeds: 1 tbsp

• Ground cinnamon: 1 tsp

• Ground ginger: 1 tsp

• Dried tart cherries: 20 g

• Honey 3 tbsp

• Pink Himalayan salt: 1/2 tsp

• Dark chocolate: 80 g

  These Guittard 74% Dark Chocolate Wafers are the ones I used. They’re also organic and certified Fair Trade.

• Sea salt (garnish)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F (176 C).

2. Toast walnuts and pine nuts separately in a pan on medium-high heat for a couple of minutes until toasted in color and fragrant.

3. Blend walnuts in a food processor to a fine chopped consistency.

4. Add all ingredients together in a bowl (except chocolate) and mix thoroughly.

5. Portion cookie dough out with a 1.5 inch cookie dough scoop onto baking sheet (yields about 7 cookies).

6. Use a 3 inch round cookie cutter or cake ring mold to shape cookies and compact them down.

7. Bake for 12-15 minutes until edges are toasty.

8. Let cool to room temp.

9. Melt dark chocolate in microwave starting with a 30 second burst, and 2-3 additional 20 second bursts, mixing the chocolate thoroughly after each burst so that all the chocolate that will melt with the residual heat is allowed to do so. This is the microwave tempering method that preserves some of the cocoa butter in the right structure so that it will resolidify as shiny and evenly as possible.

10. Spoon/dollop melted chocolate over half the of front and back of each cookie and place down on parchment paper to allow the chocolate to harden.

11. Garnish chocolate with a sprinkle of sea salt as it cools.

12. When the chocolate is solidified they’re good to go and keep super well in the fridge for many days.

Shaping the cookies.