Flourless, Sugar Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I should say, refined sugar free!  After all, you have to get the sweetness from somewhere!  This is about as close to a health food cookie as you can get.  I was eager to try this recipe after finding it on The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen.  We recently returned from a trip visiting relatives in upstate New York, and as anyone on any sort of special diet knows, sticking to it on a vacation is quite challenging.  Of course in my case (and the rest of the food sensitive world), the issue is immune responses for my little boy and not a few extra pounds on my waistline!  I certainly did my best, but we learned some valuable things...namely he is not reacting to little traces of no-list ingredients anymore...a HUGE milestone!!  I learned today from Tom Malterre, a CN who specializes in food sensitivities (and who along with his wife happen to run the aforementioned blog) that around 10 months of age, a baby's intestines become less porous.  Apparently they are born with more porous guts to allow the large breast milk protein to pass through...I love learning new tidbits!!  But this may also explain his reduced reactivity to things found in my milk.  Time and more experiments will tell!  Anyways, back to why I was so eager to try these cookies: no sugar!!  Since I ate much less on my trip without my well-stocked pantry at hand, I ate far less sugar, and dropped some weight!!  Eager to continue this trend, rather than try to curb my overwhelming desire to be baking, I'd try cooking with minimal to no added sugar!  Theses cookies are SO fabulous!!  Every single person in my family LOVES them, as do all the people I have shared them with.  They satisfy that sweet tooth without making your blood sugars all crazy, and I find myself actually sated by these after one.  They are moist and yummy, give em whirl, you won't be disappointed!

½ cup packed pitted medjool dates (about 6 to 8 dates, Trader Joe's best deal, Costco close second!)

¼ cup hot water

¼ cup virgin coconut oil ($5.99/1lb at Trader Joe's)

¼ cup honey (or any liquid sweetener)

¼ cup ground flax seeds or chia seeds

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup almond butter (Costco has 1 large jar for $5.49)

1 cup quinoa flakes (or instant oats would work)

½ cup almond meal flour (Trader Joe's best deal, or make your own by whirring whole almonds in a coffee grinder)

¾ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup chocolate chips 

Soak the dates in the boiling water a few minutes to soften.  Puree in a food processor.  Add in coconut oil, honey, flax, vanilla and pulse until well blended.  Add in almond butter and blend.  Sprinkle the soda and salt evenly over mixture, followed by the quinoa flakes and almond meal, pulse until well blended, and add in chocolate chips.  Drop large spoonfuls on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat, parchment, or a light grease.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until golden, about 12-15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let set to firm up about 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack (any sooner and they will fall apart on you).  Makes about 12-15 large cookies.

This recipe was shared on Sweets For a Saturday,  Sugar Free Sundays, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, My Meatless Monday, Just Another Meatless Monday, Monday Mania,