Double Chocolate Cookies (and they’re egg-, dairy-, and refined sugar-free!)

Hello! I had a minor surgery yesterday. (No worries, my awesome Handsome Assistant is taking excellent care of me, I have fantastic lentil soup from one of my favorite spots, and I’m recovering well.) So, in lieu of a longer blog post, here is a recipe for very tasty vegan double chocolate cookies. They’re rich, they’re fudgy, and the maple syrup gives the flavor a bit of added depth.

Ingredients

Dry:

• 1 3/4 cups einkorn flour (or, if you prefer, 1 1/4 cup white einkorn, and 1/2 cup whole grain einkorn)
• 1/4 cup cocoa or cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips (I like the 72% cacao ones from Trader Joe’s)

This recipe works best as written, but you can use regular wheat flour instead of einkorn. If you do so, you may wish to increase the wet ingredients a little as einkorn flour tends to require less moisture than regular flour. You can also compensate by combining the 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed with 4 tablespoons of water, allowing it to sit and thicken, then mixing it with the other wet ingredients. I don’t know how well this recipe plays with oat, almond, or gluten free flour blends, but, as long as the consistency isn’t too dry or goopy, you should be okay.

Wet:

• 1/2 cup avocado oil (not extra virgin — extra virgin has a stronger flavor)
• 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F (176°C).
2. Sift flour into a large mixing bowl.
3. Add remaining dry ingredients and whisk together until well combined.
4. Combine wet ingredients in a separate bowl. They won’t cream the way butter and sugar do, but that’s okay! Mix them together as best as you can using a whisk or fork.
5. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Mix together either by hand or using a mixer.
6. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. (Depending on how large you make your spoonfuls, you should end up with 15-18 cookies).
7. Bake for 13-15 minutes.
8. Allow to cool, then enjoy!