Vegan chocolate chip cherry cookies
POSTED ON March 10, 2012
tea and cookies
A friend came over for brunch last weekend and I whipped up a batch of these cookies to have with a post-meal pot of tea. They were delicious. However, I knew they could be better and so I improved the recipe and made a second batch just now. The kitchen smells heavenly with the combination of coconut oil, dried cherries, almond meal, maple and vanilla studded with dark chocolate.
I really wish you could all try one!
cooling
just out of the oven
time to pour the tea
the end
Vegan chocolate chip cherry cookies
I suggest melting the coconut oil in an ovenproof dish while you pre-heat the oven. If you don’t have almond meal on hand, these work well with equal parts oats and spelt flour instead. I used sprouted spelt flour from Shiloh Farms but you can use regular whole spelt flour or whole wheat pastry flour if you can’t find sprouted. This time I also added the zest of a small orange to the batter, with or without the citrus they taste delicious. The cherries I used were sweetened with apple juice and very moist, if you find some that seem dry, pre-soak them in boiling water for a couple of minutes first.
½ cup raw walnut pieces1 ¼ cups Old fashioned rolled oats
¾ cup whole sprouted spelt flour
½ cup almond meal/flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup maple syrup
½ cup melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Zest of a small orange, optional
½ cup dried cherries
½ cup chocolate chips, I used vegan, grain sweetened
Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
Spread walnuts onto a parchment lined baking sheet and toast for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Gently crush with a rolling pin or roughly chop and set aside.
Save parchment paper for baking cookies.
Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine the oats, spelt flour, almond meal, baking powder and sea salt in a medium sized mixing bowl and set aside. In another bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla and orange zest if using. Pour into the oat mixture and stir until combined. Add the dried cherries, chocolate chips and walnuts, and stir again. If mixture seems very wet, let it sit for 5 minutes.
Scoop batter on a parchment lined cookie sheet using a ¼ cup measure, about an inch appart. Place cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, rotating tray after 10 minutes. Bake until bottoms and edges are golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.
Makes 14 medium size cookies.
POSTED IN Baked Goods, Dessert
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Just made these… The batter was delicious so I am sure they will be very good. The only problem is I just noticed they are flat. I think the batter was too wet as I look at the picture that looks drier. Oh well, I will try it again with a little less liquid.
My dough was pretty wet but it did sit for a bit and absorbed some liquid before I put them in the oven.
The sprouted flour may also be slightly different or oven temp. Let me know how the next batch turns out.
I think I will bake mine for 20 minutes max next time.
Happy baking!
omg!! i can’t wait to try these! i have everything in the pantry minus the cherries:( sadness. i will shop for then tomorrow.
Thank you so much for this recipe. Just made them and they are great. You are not kidding when you say “the kitchen smells heavenly”.
I used grain sweetened carob chips instead of the chocolate chips. Still yummy. Thanks again
Yum! I’m going to have to try adding cherries to one of my fave cookie recipes:
http://eeshyourheartout.com/2011/12/15/crookies/
I love using almond flour to bake with too!
Ooooh, these look lovely! I can’t resist the chocolate-cherry flavor combination and I love that you have so many chocolate chips in each cookie. I’m definitely bookmarking this recipe to try soon. Thanks for sharing it!
These look great! I’m going to have to try them soon. I’m just curious… what melted out of the cookies in your picture? Is it chocolate? Is that a characteristic of the grain sweetened chips?
Made these today with a few adaptations (sprouted whole wheat pastry flour, currants, no citrus, and toasted pistachios)…very delicious and thank you for posting.
These look absolutely divine! I have been in a cherry/cranberry mood lately- just made cranberry-carrot muffins this morning. I think these will be next- perhaps for this afternoon! It’s a rainy day here. Perfect for baking. Thanks for the recipe!
Yum! I love that you use maple syrup instead of granulated sugar. These sound like my kind of cookies!
Do you think I could sub butter for coconut oil?
Yes, they’ll be delicious with butter too!
Oooh, I am happy right now 🙂
I made these this afternoon with a lot of tweaks. It was my first time really changing up a recipe like this (I’m fifteen), and it went very well 😀
I subbed coconut oil for butter like I asked about earlier, cranberries for dried cherries, and two teaspoons of orange essence and one of vanilla for the tablespoon of vanilla extract. I also added two tablespoons of brown sugar, because I seem to have a sweeter tooth than you do. It was also my first time cooking with spelt flour.
The cookies are delish!! Thanks for posting the recipe. I think next time I may try making them with honey from our beehives instead of maple syrup.
Just made these after a stressful day. Incredibly delicious, possibly the best cookie recipe we’ve come across. I substituted equal parts oats and spelt flour for almond meal (as suggested) and it worked very well. Also, there were no dried cherries at the health food store so I used dried cranberries. Mmm! Decadent!