A month or so back I stumbled upon blog so lovely I immediately became enamored. The name, Sprouted Kitchen. The mission, to make whole foods tasty. The pair behind the movement, husband and wife Sara and Hugh Forte – cook and photographer, respectively.
Consider me hooked, hence the reason I hopped over to Amazon mere moments after discovering their site and snatched up a copy of their new cookbook. This is my humble attempt at honoring the amazing work Sarah and Hugh have put forth in this stunning book that has now become my constant cooking companion, favorite coffee table book, and source of light reading on the weekends (all three true statements).
I love Sprouted Kitchen because it’s not trying to be anything, per say, besides honest. It’s not trying to secure the market on gluten free cakes or sneak spinach into brownies or make you give up meat. It’s simply presenting whole foods in a beautiful, simple way and making them damn delicious in the process. Proof? These gluten free cookies that require just a few ingredients (that’s my kind of recipe) and contain three of my favorite flavors: chocolate, coconut and almond.
John and I had a few friends over for dinner last week and as we were expecting a few gluten-free eaters, I knew these cookies would be just the thing to bake. I had everything on hand except coconut flake, which I walked a block or so over to our local specialty foods purveyor (Nifty Nut House) to grab a pound or so of. While there I also managed to snag a “sample” of a double dipped dark chocolate malt ball – an object so large it hardly warrants the title of sample and more like small feast. Either way, I headed back to our place, the Kansas wind whipping my hair in all directions, coconut clutched in my hand and a happy chocolate-coated malt ball belly in tow. Life was good.
I was so excited to make these cookies – my first recipe to try from Sprouted Kitchen – that I think I literally squealed out loud while gathering my ingredients. Three things I loved about this recipe: It was simple, healthy and quick to prepare; not to mention it yielded some seriously amazing chocolate chip cookies that any eater – gluten free or not – would be pleased to pick up (yes, the cookie platter was plumb empty halfway through our dinner party).
So thank you Sara for dreaming up such delicious, wholesome recipes and sharing them on Sprouted Kitchen. And thank you Hugh for capturing it all with your impeccable photography skills. I suspect these cookies – and your cookbook – will be warming my little home and my heart for a long time to come. Cheers.
- 1¼ cups almond meal
- ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate (Sara used cacao nibs)
- ½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt (Sara used sea salt)
- ⅓ cup brown sugar (Sara used muscovado)
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together almond meal, dark chocolate chips, coconut, baking powder, salt and sugar.
- In a separate bowl, beat egg until uniform in color and doubled in volume.
- Whisk in the coconut oil and vanilla, then add to dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or even overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls, place on baking sheet with 1-1/2 inch space in between each. Press down slightly to flatten a bit.
- Bake until edges begin to brown, 7-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool before serving.
Dom November 20, 2012 at 10:09 am
Do you think a flax egg would work in place of a chicken egg? I don’t often have eggs in my house so was hoping to make do with what I have.
Dana November 20, 2012 at 10:24 am
Yes! I think so. They may be a bit more delicate but it’s worth a shot. Hope that helps!
Maria November 20, 2012 at 10:22 am
I loooove everything about this recipe – except for the addition of brown sugar. Any ideas for a cleaner substitution?
Dana November 20, 2012 at 10:24 am
muscavado, coconut sugar, raw sugar? Hope that helps!
Fabiola February 23, 2013 at 2:49 pm
Chocolate protein powder (MRM whey protein I use and xylitol. You can also use stevia).
Andrea Marcotte February 24, 2013 at 3:40 pm
I always replace sugar with either agave or a datte paste
Eric March 15, 2013 at 3:44 pm
Agave has a higher calorie count than sugar–it’s just the lower glycemic index that people like. Better to do coconut/palm sugar. I’m going to try this with stevia, myself.
Andrea Marcotte March 16, 2013 at 7:07 am
Well I use raw organic dark nectar low in calories. Dattes taste amazing and can be used as a binder when baking, plus they are nutritional additive with fiber and energy. Stevia is a great replacement for drinks and certain things but for cooking it just doesn’t have the same ability, characteristically, to caramelize or thicken or bind. Good little sweetner for coffees or shakes though! No calories, or glucose.
Andrea Marcotte March 16, 2013 at 7:10 am
Also, I always squish up a banana for added binding to replace eggs and sweetness for the sugar… Alwwwwaayysss especially in cookies.
Averie @ Averie Cooks November 20, 2012 at 4:47 pm
Have wanted to pick up their book and almost have like 20 times but keep saying I don’t need another cookbook – but clearly, I do. They look AMAZING!! Job well done! (them for the recipe, you for executing flawlessly!)
Meredith Wheeler November 21, 2012 at 1:39 pm
Are coconut oil and almond meal found at any grocery store or do I need to go somewhere special for those two items?
Dana November 21, 2012 at 2:38 pm
for almond meal, you can actually just buy raw almonds and process them in the food processor until they look like flour (that’s all it is). However, you can easily find both of these items at Fresh Market, Natural Grocers, Dillons Marketplace or Green Acres. Hope that helps, friend!
Meredith Wheeler November 21, 2012 at 6:11 pm
thanks. :)
mary January 5, 2013 at 4:14 pm
Lucy’s Kitchen makes and sells the most AMAZING almond flour! She’s got a website online.
Stephanie April 1, 2013 at 11:11 pm
If you have a Trader Joes close by it is the cheapest place for Almond meal :)
Janis February 11, 2013 at 5:55 pm
Trader Joe’s has fantastic pre-made almond flour in a lb. bag for $4.99 . Same price for whole almonds – $4.99 for a pound bag. They also have coconut oil for 5.99 for a 16 oz. jar. Personally I love getting my coconut oil from Costco because of how huge it is- I use it for everything! From baking, to moisturizing, using it as a carrier oil for essential oils, my deodorant base, and the list goes on. It’s about $21 from Costco for a 78 oz. tub.
Kathleen @ Kat's Health Corner November 22, 2012 at 8:57 pm
Oh my gosh. Dana, you recipes are the BEST!!!! :D
Lauren November 25, 2012 at 1:55 pm
These cookies were amazing! I loved the texture. I will be making these again and again. Thanks for sharing!
Victoria November 29, 2012 at 11:02 am
I tried to make these last night…i was so excited to find a receipe with almond meal because i make almond milk every few days. They wouldnt cook up for me though. theyve been cooking for 20 minutes and not browning. The almond meal is usually dry because i strain the meal for the milk. Perhaps this is where i went wrong? should i just process the almonds with the milk for the receipe? thanks for the feedback! Aloha
Dana November 29, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Victoria, I wouldn’t soak the almonds before using them in this recipe. It changes the texture and likely doesn’t allow them to absorb the moisture of the coconut oil and egg.
Caryl Hale December 29, 2012 at 7:19 pm
I soak almonds and make milk, then I dry the strained off meal in the oven. Afterwards, I process the meal in processor until it is more fine like flour. Perhaps this will cook up better.
sara forte December 4, 2012 at 4:34 pm
oh my yours look so perfectly delicious! Thanks so much for the kind words, really appreciate it. Glad your gf friends appreciated them. Your photos are fabulous! Take care!!
Dana December 5, 2012 at 7:32 am
Thanks Sara! So grateful for your cookbook. It’s been a joy to go through it so far. Best! Dana
Kumari Williams December 11, 2012 at 10:50 am
Thank you for the recipe and the beautiful pics. I made them last night and made a few modifications to the recipe to fit what I had on hand and they turned out great. I also added flax seed to them and you’d never know it. Cheers!
Shelly December 12, 2012 at 1:36 pm
I just made a batch of these for my daughter. I was looking for a simple gluten free cookie for her, and this was perfect! I ground my own almond meal. This recipe was super easy and she loves them. :) The only hard part was waiting the minimum 30 minutes before I could bake these awesome cookies. Thanks so much!
Shelly December 12, 2012 at 1:37 pm
Oh yes and I used regular butter instead of coconut oil and they still turned out great.
Judy December 27, 2012 at 7:55 pm
I made these for Christmas..they were AMAZING!!!
Alanna December 28, 2012 at 2:27 pm
I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Kathy January 11, 2013 at 5:49 am
Made these last night. Great flavor – I was really pleasantly surprised how good these were. I didn’t have coconut oil so I used a few T. of butter and I added more vanilla (like I always to to recipes), and they were wonderful. I think the chilling helped them not spread too.
Kathy January 12, 2013 at 3:26 pm
ok this is my second comment on these cookies. They are even better the next day! Really, really good.
Jen January 14, 2013 at 6:22 pm
Just made a batch. These are excellent.
S January 16, 2013 at 11:48 am
Hi,
While these cookies sound amazing, I’m after a savoury recipe for the leftover meal after I’ve made almond milk (I have enough sweet recipes to last two lifetimes). Please can you suggest something delicious and savoury?
Also, the reader who wanted a substitute for the brown sugar – try dates. works every time.
Terry January 17, 2013 at 8:13 pm
These look amazing and I can’t wait to try them! However my boyfriend is NOT a fan of coconut :-( any suggestions for some kind of substitute for that? Seems difficult
Dana January 18, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Hmm, I kind of stumped here. The coconut adds such a nice texture and flavor. I suppose you could try just adding in additional almond meal to compensate? Sorry I couldn’t be of more help as I’ve only tried the recipe with these ingredients…
Corrie April 2, 2013 at 1:05 am
Totally late to this party, but I think you could add rolled oats! I’m planning on making these for my husband to take with his lunch, and my only coconut is sweetened. So I was debating between reducing the sugar or replacing it with oats.
yeni January 23, 2013 at 9:21 pm
For the one who tried to make the cookies with the leftover almond meal from making your own milk. You need to put the meal to dry in a cookie sheet in the oven a 175 degrees until is dry
WSS January 24, 2013 at 6:54 pm
These were delish! I did use Rob Mill fine almond flour and they turned out great. Also, I had to sub coconut oil with coconut butter. Yummy!!!! These definately cured my sweet tooth!
Mary Dye January 26, 2013 at 11:05 am
I have recently started making almond milk and it offers such a creamy texture in the vitamix. Does almond meal keep? Is fridge or frozen better? What recipes can be found to use it? I have must added some meal to a pot of white rice…it’s quite tasty. I also added some to my cooked oatmeal this morning…also yummy! Thanks!
Andrea January 26, 2013 at 11:10 am
these were delicious
Linda Scott January 27, 2013 at 1:27 pm
hi there. ive made these twice with leftover almond meal (from making almond milk) which i dried out in the oven. unfortunately both times they havent held together very well during cooking. they are too crumbly and fall apart, despite no problem forming balls before going into the oven. any suggestions? my second batch i tried an extra spoon of coconut oil to increase moisture.
Dana January 27, 2013 at 4:48 pm
Linda, I haven’t made these with almond meal leftover from making almond milk. I’ve only used raw, ground almonds so unfortunately it may not work once the almonds have been soaked…
Brenda January 29, 2013 at 2:59 pm
these look wonderful; yet, I will be trying them with some gf oatmeal instead of the coconut as my family, like others above, doesn’t really like it. I’m sure they’ll be wonderful~ thanks for sharing…
Lianne January 31, 2013 at 9:36 pm
I was wondering if anyone tried making these with honey? If so how did they turn out? Or the person that mentioned dates, what’s the substitution ratio?
Jessica January 31, 2013 at 11:41 pm
I love these biscuits! They are so easy to make and taste great. I didn’t have coconut oil so like other people I used butter, I am going to make them again and try them with coconut oil though. I also added a tablespoon of chia seeds to mine and some LSA. I cant wait to share them with everyone, thanks for posting.
Cynthia February 3, 2013 at 12:26 pm
These are incredible! I made them without the coconut since I didn’t have any so I guess they will be six stars next time I make them. Thanks Dana!
sara February 3, 2013 at 7:43 pm
I made these but used stevia instead. I am normally a pretty good baker but these came out like little coconut flavored salt balls. :( I was so excited to eat them too! Whaaa! I double checked my salt measurement and it was per recipe. I’ve never baked with stevia before…could that be the problem? I can’t use brown sugar…only honey or stevia. Any help so I can toss these and try again?
Denise February 17, 2013 at 9:01 am
I made them with stevia and they turned out great! 1/3 cup of sugar = 1/2 tsp of pure stevia.
Melissa Ann February 6, 2013 at 9:01 am
My husband and I have recently gone gluten free but have a crazy sweet tooth. These cookies were amazing! I used half truvia and half brown sugar. I baked them for longer and they still came out soft and almost fluffy inside. Hubby couldn’t believe they were GF! Can’t wait to try some of your other recipes!! Keep up the good work :-)
Susan February 7, 2013 at 10:01 am
This is for Terry – my husband doesn’t like coconut either so I used a half cup of GF rolled oats for the shredded coconut and butter for the coconut oil – the cookies turned out amazing! I also had some left over almond meal (from making almond milk). It ended up being half homemade almond meal (which I had dried) and half Bob’s Red Mill Almond flour. Maybe all those extra chocolate chips that I threw into the cookies made them so good…
Merry February 24, 2013 at 9:35 am
Made these with 1/2c chopped walnuts and sub butter for oil. Awesome!
Christine February 24, 2013 at 4:52 pm
These are amazing! We followed the recipe using Cacao nibs and everything else as said and WOW! My hubby even liked them. He said they are like Almond Joy bars, but I don’t like almond joy bars and I loved these!!!
Marti February 26, 2013 at 12:02 pm
Substituting flaxseed for egg worked for me, except that the cookies were very crumbly.
I like to add 2 Tb whole wheat flour or ww pastry flour to add a bit more body to the cookies.
The basic recipe is very good and withstands tweaking!
Alaina February 26, 2013 at 2:21 pm
I just made these and they were fabulous! I was wondering what I could make with my Trader Joes’ almond meal and I am hooked. I would think these only work with the almond meal and not almond flour? Meal is a bit more coarse. Four of my children give them a thumbs up as well (the 5th one is asleep, but I’m sure he will love them also).
Katie February 28, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Just made these and they turned out really good. I replaced the oil with almond butter and replaced the egg with a flax egg. Really yummy!
Beverly March 1, 2013 at 10:12 pm
Oh my GOODNESS! Absolutely delish! Moist, chewy and yummy! Great recipe, thank you!
Amanda March 2, 2013 at 5:15 pm
Thanks you SO much for this recipe!! These cookies were amazing!! Mine didn’t spread out quite as nicely as yours did but the tender, puffy little nuggets we had couldn’t possibly have been better. My fiancé who prefers to eat GF loved them and my kids devoured them. We will definitely be making these again soon!!!
andrea March 3, 2013 at 8:48 am
these are awesome!! i liked these even more than regular chocolate chip cookies
Erin March 6, 2013 at 12:21 pm
These are seriously some of the best cookies I have ever tasted.
Jen March 6, 2013 at 3:39 pm
These were awesome! I made them for flour-free, high protein snacks for my kids and they LOVED them. I dropped the sugar a bit and made my own almond meal from raw almonds. They are a tad delicate, my son grabbed for them and they fell apart, but all in all…KEEPERS! Oh, after I made them, my husband asked if I could make some Chocolate chip cookies for him. After tasting these, However, the regular chocolate chip cookies didn’t hold a candle titties.
Andy March 6, 2013 at 7:45 pm
I just made these and I am very, very happy.
Holly March 8, 2013 at 2:37 pm
I’ve made these cookies twice and I can’t tell you the positive response these have received each time. They are absolutely wonderful!
Stephanie March 9, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Linked on my blog if that’s ok. Love the recipe!
Shane March 15, 2013 at 7:13 pm
Hi Dana,
I tried making these the other day, they did not spred nearly as nice as yours did… the only difference was that i used coconut sugar instead of brown sugar and chocolate chips instead of chopped dark chocolate.
Any wisdom to pass on as to how to avoid this? Maybe I didn’t add enough coconut oil (i did use 3 semi-heaping tablespoons though!)
Jodie Plaisance March 21, 2013 at 11:46 am
I made these today for a gluten free potluck I’m attending and they are the yummiest cookies. Ever!
I had the idea of making them jam-dot cookies and put some fig jam in a few and raspberry in some.
This almond meal cookie will be eaten a LOT in this house!
Mary March 24, 2013 at 8:00 pm
I just made these and they are SO good! I am gluten free and was looking for a cookie recipe to make using some almond meal I purchased a while back. YUMMY! I used ener-g egg replacer because my daughter is allergic to eggs and regular brown sugar (I will have to look for that other kind) and they still came out amazing. Thanks!!
Mary March 24, 2013 at 8:04 pm
whoops-forgot to rate the recipe in my previous comment
Annie March 28, 2013 at 5:57 am
Great! My kids loved these, thanks for sharing :)
Ruby March 30, 2013 at 8:07 pm
Whew. These are absolutely the bomb. I am looking for great gluten free low sugar cookies, and tried these. They are excellent. My baking powder may have been outdated because mines did not spread. But who cares, they were so good. I will have to see about that cook book!
Thank you so much.
Kristen April 4, 2013 at 8:20 pm
Subbed honey for brown sugar and it worked like a charm. These taste like macaroons to me! Lovely Paleo treat!
Crystal April 17, 2013 at 5:52 pm
These were fantastic! We’re gluten free in our home, but also vegan, so I used a flax “egg,” (1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoons water, let sit for 5 minutes,) as a substitute, and it worked perfectly. Making these again, tomorrow, for a playdate with some friends. Thanks for posting it!
Jenna April 24, 2013 at 12:31 pm
I substituted the shredded coconut for coconut flour and flax seed meal then I put in 3 big Tbsp of applesauce to make up for the moisture. I also added raisins, currants and sunflower seeds to the mix. They were sooooo good and extra healthy :) The kids loved them! I also made the original version of your recipe and it was great!
Stella April 24, 2013 at 11:48 pm
I just made these by just substituting the sugar with a mixture of blonde coconut sugar and Stevia drops , turned out amaaaaaaazing……..and I’m enjoying it as I write with the coconut coffee ice cream….I used the same mixture of sugars in the ice cream but the Stevia tasted a bit bitter.
Marie April 27, 2013 at 6:43 pm
Just finished making these – and they’re fantastic! I’m doing a low-carb diet – so I substituted half of the brown sugar with granulated stevia. They’re chewy, and delicious – thank you :)
Sandra May 1, 2013 at 8:20 pm
My cookies did not get flat. I used butter instead of coconut.they taste awesome.
Carol May 6, 2013 at 1:17 pm
My friend, Tracy, says these cookies are wonderful. I am fine with using coconut oil, but I don’t particularly like coconut. Could I substitute something else for the coconut? What about nuts?
Holli Koster May 7, 2013 at 8:41 pm
Will it work without coconut flakes?
Mindy Kaye May 11, 2013 at 7:44 pm
I substituted the banana for the yolk (leaving the white) after reading some of the comments above, used Ghirardelli unsweetened 100% cacao bar (food processed into small pieces) and used my Coconut Palm Sugar and wow these are fantastic! I do not feel deprived of my cookie love at all. Thanks for a wonderful recipe!
Chae May 12, 2013 at 2:53 pm
LOVE THESE! Made them 5x, but I can’t seem to get them to spread like the ones in the pics. Any recommendations? Following recipe to the T.
Dana May 13, 2013 at 4:12 pm
ou just have to pat them down a bit.
Barb May 24, 2013 at 1:48 pm
Can this cookie dough freeze well? I would like to mix batter in advance & bake later.