GRAIN FREE COCOA BUTTER COOKIES — CREATING HEALTHY TIMES

recipe sugar cookies scd gaps low carb sugar-free grain-free gluten-free lactose-free #paleo #vegan #lowcarb #

One of the biggest problems when following the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, especially in the beginning, is that you have to make and bring your own food whenever you go on longer outings. No matter where I went, I found it impossible to trust that I would find something proper to eat. I even ran into problems when people assured me that they would prepare something to accommodate me and ended up with foods that did not entirely fit my diet. The problem is that throughout the healing process, there are phases when even the tiniest amounts of carbohydrates feed the inflammation that is still present in the gut. As a result, such mistakes can cause symptoms such as stomach pain, bloating, headaches, or brain fog, just to name a few. It would seem like a good idea to simply skip a meal to avoid this issue, but for people with gut inflammation, hunger and cravings become very strong. Then you’re either tempted to eat foods that are not suited for the diet or, if you really end up not eating at all, essentially meaning you are ‘fasting’, strong die-off reactions will follow soon. Either way, it’s a situation you want to avoid. The only solution is to bring safe and filling foods that you can eat at your regular meal times.

Besides fruit, raw vegetables, and cheese, I usually make or bake something involving nuts, which help ease the cravings. The recipes for crunchy honey peanut bars, carrot cake muffins, savory and soft cheese crackers have always been among our favorites. Lately, I’ve been experimenting with a cookie recipe that I wanted to be similar to simple sugar cookies. I used almond flour and cocoa butter as a base, adding honey and date paste as sweeteners. The result is a cookie that takes less than 30 minutes to make, tastes great, isn’t too sweet, and no one in my family of six didn’t like! You can play around with the amounts of sweetener to make it more or less sweet or substitute the honey entirely with date paste and vice versa. I think they absolutely resemble the good old soft and chewy sugar cookies that I used to love so much.

In fact, if you always enjoyed to dip your cookies in milk, these are the ones! Pair them with almond milk or raw milk and a good story before bedtime!

P.S. Don’t forget to brush your teeth! :)

recipe sugar cookies refined sugar-free gluten-free grain-free lactose-free low-carb paleo scd gaps

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup cocoa butter, melted
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of sea salt (optional)
2 tbsp date paste

optional: 1/2 recipe of honey sweetened chocolate coating

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat the oven at 310° F/150° C.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the cacao butter in a small saucepan or double boiler on low heat. Set aside.

Add the almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt to a mixing bowl. Stir to combine. Add the honey, date paste, and cacao butter and stir until well combined.

Form the dough into 1” balls and place them on the baking sheet. Flatten the balls into 2”cookies.

Bake the cookies at 310° F/150° C for 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool completely.

Optional: dip the cookies half way into honey sweetened chocolate coating (1/2 recipe is more than enough). Place the cookies onto baking-paper-lined baking sheets and place in a cool spot or refrigerate until the chocolate coating is firm.

Store the cookies in cookie tins in a cool and dry place.

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