I absolutely love these cookies! They are super easy and very tasty. With the added benefit of being healthier than your average cookie because you will be using date paste instead of refined sugar.
You will need:
½ cup date paste (never heard of date paste? I hadn’t until I made this recipe. It’s easy to make and a great substitute for sugar, especially in recipes that have a denser consistency. I ate the left-over paste in my oats the next morning and it was delicious)
2/3 cup creamy unsweetened peanut butter
2 tsp ground flax meal* (I didn’t have flax meal, so I replaced it with Chia seeds that I grinded to a paste, and it worked well)
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp vinegar
1/3 cup flour (more if needed for consistency)
¼ cup dark chocolate chips, melted for topping (can be left out if you are wanting to make vegan cookies)
Flaked sea salt, for topping
*Flax meal is a thickener and binder. Also known as Linseed.
This is how:
- Preheat your oven to 180degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with baking paper or spray with a cooking spray.
- Now to make the date paste. Place one cup of tightly packed dates in a glass jar and cover them with warm water. Once the dates have softened drain them and reserve the water to make your paste. Remove the pips with your fingers or gently slice them open with a sharp knife. Now pop the soft pitted dates in a food processor or high-speed blender and puree them with about ¼ cup of the reserved water. Blend for about 1 minute until very creamy. If you accidently threw away the water, just use warm water instead.
- Back to the cookies – blend together the date paste, peanut butter, flax meal, baking soda, vanilla extract and vinegar. When the above mentioned is well combined add the flour and mix. The mixture should be fairly sticky, but not to tacky.
- Place 2 tablespoons of the mixture in your hands and roll into a ball, place the dough ball on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the dough. Dip a fork into flour and gently press onto the cookies to make a hashtag pattern.
- Bake the cookies for 10 minutes until just set. Ovens may vary so keep an eye on them from 6 minutes onward. I almost burnt mine. The cookies will be chewy.
- Remove from the oven and cool. Drizzle the melted chocolate over them and top with sea salt if you wish.
Enjoy!
xxx
Original recipe from Plant based Juniors
