Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut Oil and Sea Salt - Gluten Free Option

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I recently realized that I never posted about my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I made them for my MIL/FIL when they came to Chicago at the beginning of the summer, and entirely forgot that I'd taken out my camera during the process and captured the beauty that is chocolate chip cookies.

It's an old thing, I guess, these chocolate chip cookies that so many of us make. Yet, we are always trying to reinvent the wheel, are we not? We sprinkle them with sea salt or stuff them with nutella. We add a little peanut butter here or some oats there. It is such a standard thing, yet we all find a way to put our own spin on it. Such is life, I suppose.

On this particular day, my changes were made more out of necessity than desire. You see, when I do impromptu baking, I have a tendency to try to make do. Make do without eggs, or make do without vanilla. Make do without anything, just so I can get one step closer to cleaning out the pantry while simultaneously creating something I may never have thought of if I'd had my perfect choice of ingredients.

So, when these buggers were in the making, I made a few swaps. No olive/canola/veggie oil? No butter? I had some coconut oil on hand and gave it a whirl. No chocolate chips? Well, let's ignore the fact that a true household should never go without chocolate chips. I had a dark Lindt chocolate bar that was begging to play a role in these cookies, so I busted out the knife and got chopping.

In the end, these babies were delish. Adapted from this recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Coconut Oil and Sea Salt

Ingredients:

• 1 cup coconut oil, melted
• 3/4 cup + 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon coconut extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (if you are making this gluten free and using coconut flour, add an egg)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 chocolate bar, chopped (or 2/3 cup chocolate chips)
• Sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine oil, sugars, eggs, and extracts and mix well. Then add flour, baking soda, and regular salt (not sea salt) and mix until well combined. Because this recipe uses coconut oil in place of butter, it may seem a bit crumbly. Never fear! It will come out of the oven perfectly!
3. Fold in chocolate with a spoon or spatula.
4. Put 1.5 inch balls on parchment lined baking sheet and sprinkle with sea salt.
5. Bake for 7-8 minutes and then remove. Let cool and then stuff your face!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Do you have a special cookie recipe?
• Do you make it up on the fly or go step by step using a recipe?

Chocolate Chip Blueberry Almond Fiber Muffins

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Is it light and fruity? Is it rich and chocolatey? These delicious muffins are having an identity crisis! Time for you to make them and help them decide...

Nom nom nom. That's the sound of me eating these muffins for breakfast.

And lunch.

And a snack after dinner.

It's really not my fault, though. Sometimes you just need a bit of muffin in your life. And sometimes you're faced with a horrible muffin dilemma: Do I eat the blueberry muffin or the chocolate chip muffin? See, I understand you, people. I know your inner woes.

And now I've solved them! Because you'll never have to make that perilous decision again! Instead, you can have your muffin and eat it too... or... whatever.

What I'm trying to say is... make this, eat this, love this. Yum.

Ingredients:

• Fiber One Blueberry Muffins Mix
• 3/4 Cup Water
• 4 oz Applesauce
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons Shaved Chocolate (or chocolate chips)
• 2 tablespoons Sliced Almonds (or walnuts)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400.
2. Combine muffin mix, water, applesauce, and egg in a medium bowl and mix well until the batter is fairly smooth.
3. Add chocolate and almonds.
4. Place in muffin papers and bake for 14-18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Notes:

• If you'd like to end up with a bit of chocolate shaving on top for a garnish, add half way through baking.

Recipe | Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Cookie dough is delicious... and yet, I'm not a huge cookie person. Does that make sense? Cookies are generally so high fat and high calories that I sometimes feel like I just can't justify it (especially when I can eat Cake Balls or Cupcakes for only 100 calories instead). And yet, at the end of the day, there is always a way to make a dish healthier... like turning Chunky Monkey Ice Cream into Skinny Monkey Pudding or finding a way to make Carrot Cake Pops only 100 Calories.

After making Cookie Dough Dip using Chickpeas, I was determined to continue making this delicious treat... but I can't bring myself to make the exact same recipe over and over and over. Gotta reinvent. It's an addiction of some sort.

And so I decided, hey, why not try baking these things? It could work, right?

All in all, I'm surprised by how good these are. You will need to flatten them with a spatula because the thick batter does not self-flatten in the oven. Essentially, the shape they're in when you put them in the oven is just about how they're likely to come out. Other than that tiny tweak, these babies are delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (1 1/2 cups) Chick Peas, drained
• 1/2 cup Cashew butter (or Almond butter. Peanut butter also works but definitely adds a peanut-ey taste).
• 1/2 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 1/8 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Combine all cookie dough ingredients -- EXCEPT for chocolate chips -- in a bowl and mix well. I used a magic bullet but wouldn’t be surprised if a high powered blender is also effective. I’ve also tried using a hand-held blender and have to say that’s probably my favorite method.
   
3. Once no whole chick peas remain, add chocolate chips and stir.
4. Scoop 1 inch thick balls onto a sprayed or greased cookie sheet. Before placing in the oven, use the back of a spoon or spatula to flatten the cookies because they will not flatten on their own.
   
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until chocolate chips are melting.
6. Remove from oven and let cool.

Additional photos: