Almond flour chocolate chip cookies

I forgot what I bought the bag of almond flour from Trader Joe's for, but nut products shouldn't sit too long so I decided to find recipes to use it up quickly. As I haven't done enough field testing of macarons to really have the motivation to make those, I decided instead to make some gluten-free type of chocolate chip cookie recipes that feature nut and oat flours. This is the first of a couple I am planning to try. This one has the additional benefit of being egg-free, for those of you who need to worry about multiple allergies in a crowd of youngsters.

I ended up having to throw in a few handfuls of all-purpose flour to tighten up the dough (it was too wet at first), but one could just as easily throw in more almond flour, or oat flour, or even rice flour if the same problem is encountered. This may have been due to the fact I used the coarser almond meal rather than the blanched almond flour the recipe directs.

These were really well received! The texture is soft and pillowy, moist, and rich. Despite tasting rich, it was quite easy to eat a few, and quite satisfying too. A coworker said this sort of calorie and nutrient-dense cookie would be the type of food that Indian mothers make for their pregnant daughters. Any excuse to eat chocolate chip cookies is fine by me!

Wheat-free Chocolate Chip Cookies (Adapted from Elenaspantry.com)

Ingredients:

2 & 1/2 cups of almond flour (blanched if you can get it, but I used whole almond meal from TJ's and it worked ok)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

10 tablespoons butter, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla

1/2 cup agave nectar (or maple syrup)

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat.

Combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, and chocolate chips together in a bowl. 

In another bowl, mix together the melted butter, vanilla, and agave nectar. 

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until the dough is evenly moistened. If it looks too wet to keep shape on a baking sheet as a blob of dough, add more almond meal (or oat, rice flour) until you have a dough that is just stiff enough to make dough balls.

Form 1-inch balls and press onto prepared baking sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for 7-10 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middles look just set.

Cool and enjoy! Makes approx. 24 cookies.