As the brisk Autumn weather begins to pick up we naturally turn to food that comforts us and nourishes our souls on days when we simply wish we could stay in bed longer. Rather than buying your baked goods we’d suggest giving these gooey hazelnut chocolate gluten-free cookies a try. They’re just as devilish as the real thing but no one will ever know otherwise.
Ingredients
- 160g buckwheat flour
- 200g ground hazelnuts
- 120ml maple syrup
- 80ml coconut oil (melted)
- sea salt (to season)
- 125g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 150g double cream (can use dairy alternative)
Start by preheating the oven to 180 degrees. By the time you’ve mixed everything up and formed your cookies you’ll be ready to place your favourite treat in the oven and relax on the sofa with a cup of your favourite herbal tea.
Combine the buckwheat flour, 75g of the ground hazelnuts, maple syrup, coconut oil and a pinch of sea salt in a bowl and mix together till a firm mixture has formed. Using a teaspoon roll small balls before flattening. You can line your tray with parchment baking paper or a silicone baking sheet.
These should bake for 15 minutes until they’ve become golden and look ready to take a bite out of!
Setting these aside, if you’ve managed not to eat them all up, it’s now time to focus your attention on making the chocolate spread.
You’ll need to chop the chocolate into a fine powder by either popping into a food processor or carefully using a knife to cut into small bits. Transferring this into a saucepan you can now add the double cream (or dairy alternative) keeping the heat very gentle. As soon as the chocolate has melted add the ground hazelnuts. This chocolate spread can be drizzled over the cookies (when hot) or spread in-between two cookies much like a macaroon.
Additionally you can bake the cookies in advance and if stored in an airtight container will last for up to one week. Simply top with the chocolate spread as and when you wish to serve them.
Written by May Simpkin
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About The Author
May Simpkin
Qualified nutritionist May is passionate about the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle. Her no-nonsense approach focuses on realistic, practical and achievable advice to improve health and wellbeing.