Almond Butter Cookies

[buttoni]

Made my hubby some delicious cookies this afternoon. They came out kind of chewy and are still like that after they cooled off. I got this base batter idea from the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of the Honeyville Farms Blanched Almond flour bag. I made some drastic changes to their basic dough, however. They used all almond flour in their recipe and I’ve added some ingredients I find improve baked goods a bit. I’m very pleased with the chewy texture of these and will likely use this cookie dough for many variations in the future. These are not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL phase. I've already tried two different variations I'll post later as well.


INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour
½ c. coconut flour
1 T. oat fiber
1 tsp. glucomannan powder (konjac powder)
1/8 tsp. salt
½ tsp. baking soda
½ c. grapeseed oil (or softened butter, if you prefer)
2 T. almond butter
1 T. vanilla extract
½ c. granular Splenda
1 T. erythritol
1 egg, beaten
¼ c. imitation honey (I used Birgit Kerr's recipe with 1 tsp. real honey)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Measure out dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla. In a saucer, blend the almond butter and oil as best you can blend them. Add to batter and stir well to form a smooth dough. Roll into 1″ balls and place them onto parchment lined baking sheet. Leave 1″ space between cookies. Press balls down slightly flat and pop pan into preheated oven. Top with chopped, sliced almonds if desired, but this really doesn’t impact flavor, just the look. Bake for about 7 minutes. Do not overbrown these cookies or texture will be drier and less chewy. Remove from oven and cool on the pan a few minutes before removing with a spatula. These are delicate while hot but “firm up” nicely when they cool. Store in an airtight container.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 28 cookies, each contains:

102.7 calories
9.07 g fat
3.95 g carbs, 2.0 g fiber, 1.95 g NET CARBS
2.54 g protein
48.2 mg sodium
11.75 mg potassium

[pocahontas]

Yum! I dont have any gluc, is it totally necessary? These look delish!

[buttoni]

I think it's actually what makes them chewy and "plump". Omitting will change up the texture to likely a flatter, more crunchy/crumbly cookie, I suspect. That's why I've taken to putting a little gluc in most of my baked goods these days. It seems to enhance texture in subtle ways.

[pocahontas]

Well, one more reason to order it then!

[dawnyama]

Yum!!

[Nigel]

Those look scrumptious!! Thanks for the recipe and pic.

[jigglenomore]

[ladeeda]

Truly Elaine, did you use ALL the emoticons? lol~~ Ms Buttoni, thank you for sharing what looks like another yummy recipe. Question: Do you think that I could get away with 1/4c coconut flour? An 8parts almond flour to 1part coconut flour is about all system will allow or I suffer gastric distress.

[buttoni]

SURE! I think that would work OK, Ladeeda. I think you'll like these. They're one of my best LC cookies to date, I think. So I'll do a little , too.

[buttoni]

I then made some with 5 dried prunes (chopped) and ¼ tsp. cinnamon and those were great, too. Here's what those looked like:

I ended up with 30 cookies that time@ 99 calories each, 8.5g fat, 4.49g C, 1.97g fiber, 2.52 NC and 2.4g protein. Prunes are pretty carb-y, so I didn't dare put more in these. I didn't think to put some chopped pecans, but will maybe do that next baking as well. Reminded me of my Grandma's Christmas prune cookies. They are REALLY moist, cake-like, yet chewy. they remind me of the texture of Little Debbie Oatmeal cookies. In fact, I bet some rolled oats thrown in these along with the prunes and nuts would make a GREAT cookie!

[jigglenomore]

Incredible! Those look lovely! Can't wait to try both kinds!

[buttoni]

Hope you like them Elaine. I'm looking forward to experimenting with this basic dough.

[Nigel]

I like the prunes idea too!!

[PaminKY]

Don't you just love what glucomannan can do for your baked goods. One thing I do with my recipes is let it sit a few minutes before popping it in the oven to let the gluc do it's magic.

[sungoddess]

Thank you! I love recipes like this that use the flours and sweeteners I use. Also, I do love using gluc! It makes such a big difference in baked goods.

Now, if I could just find a way to make low carb sugar free butterscotch chips, I would have my favorite cookie!

Thank you for sharing your great recipes.

[buttoni]

Originally Posted by PaminKY

Don't you just love what glucomannan can do for your baked goods. One thing I do with my recipes is let it sit a few minutes before popping it in the oven to let the gluc do it's magic.

I do, Pam. It was your comments somewhere on the forums about how much it improved YOURS that got me to putting it in all mine! Thanks so much for that tip! Who'da thunk?

Hope you like these, Sungoddess. I'm going to try some chocolate chip and maybe banana nut cookies with this dough. Oh, and perhaps crushed pineapple and coconut one day, too.

I froze some of these and man, they're even chewier right out of the freezer!

[Tweaker Geek]

Buttoni - these cookies look wonderful! I've never used gluc myself but if that little bit (1 tsp.) results in chewy cookies I may look into it a little further. I really like a chewy cookie and as we all know low carb is a challenge for baked goods but we have come such a long way over the years! I love baking and I've made some really good cookies but they never quite seem to have that chewy texture of high carb baked goods.

Pam - do you let all recipes with gluc added sit for a few minutes? Does it make that much difference compared to just mixing up and putting right in the oven?

[slbbw]

I'm going to try these today! Have a question about your variations tho. Do you use almond butter in those as well? Am thinking of trying an oatmeal/raisin/pecan after I make the basic recipe.

So glad they're freezer friendly. I have a feeling portion control is key!

[Jennifer Eloff]

WOW!! Peggy, those cookies look so good. Wish I could come over for tea! Love the glucomannan in them too. Wait until Pam sees these! She loves glucomannan. Oh wait a minute, she did!

[buttoni]

Originally Posted by slbbw

I'm going to try these today! Have a question about your variations tho. Do you use almond butter in those as well? Am thinking of trying an oatmeal/raisin/pecan after I make the basic recipe.

So glad they're freezer friendly. I have a feeling portion control is key!

Yes, I left the almond butter in all the variations.

Thanks, Jen. I plan to try lots of variations on this dough. I'm off to grab one out of the freezer RIGHT NOW!

[Ginaaaaaa]

Those look yummy buttoni!!

Thanks for sharing!!

[buttoni]

Pam, I DO love the "gluc effect" in baked goods. And thanks for that tip about letting the dough "sit" a bit.

[buttoni]

PLEASE HOLD OFF ON BAKING THESE COOKIES UNTIL I CAN CHECK AND VERIFY WHETHER THERE IS AN ERROR IN THE RECIPE.

One person baked these and theirs came out dry. I do know that coconut flours can vary widely in texture (I use Lets Do Organic, which is very fine and powdery). Sometimes almond flours (I use Honeyville Grains) can vary in texture as well. My batter was fairly damp when rolled and pressed onto the pans. Let me take a closer look at my ingredient list and make sure there isn't an error before anyone else makes these. I will bake up a batch after supper and see if that is the case. I apologize in advance if there is an error listed somewhere. I will post my finding ASAP.

[sungoddess]

Would it help to give the amounts of flour by weight?

[buttoni]

OK, actually, I discovered the error has nothing to do with the coconut or almond flour. Man, my senior moments are getting bad these days. But my brother told me last week he thought he had lung cancer from an initial xray taken in January. His partner of 35+ years died in June of bladder cancer. Many worries on my mind this spring and summer. On a positive note, I just learned the cat scan did NOT confirm lung cancer. What a relief! So I've been a little pre-ocupied, but no excuse for carelessness. So sorry to have to correct this.

The error is I left out 1/4 c. Birgit Kerr's Sugar Free Honey. That will dramatically impact texture and chewiness. Don't know HOW I could forget that, as I had to dig it out of the jar since it has crystalized on me now! But what can I say.....I'm human. My apologies to SLBBW for having been first to make these and to discover they came out incredibly dry and not chewy.

This error changes nutritional stats very little, but calories now are 104.5 per cookie, fat=9.1g, carbs=4.12g, fiber=2.01, net carbs=2.05g and protein=2.54g

Please add this additional ingredient to printed recipes so these will bake up right for you. And again, my apologies for this error.

[buttoni]

Be sure to add this ¼ c. imitation honey also to the Prune Cookie recipe if you printed that version out to try also. The new nutritional info for the prune version is: 106.9 calories per cookie, 4.66 g carbs, 2.05 g, fiber, 2.62 g net carbs and 2.4 g protein.

[slbbw]

Don't beat yourself up about a simple error; rather give yourself credit for taking my little problem seriously, jumping in and fixing it! OK? OK!

I'll probably try these again today. My LC daughter is coming over this afternoon, so I think we may just have ourselves a little tea party!

Thanks so much, Buttoni

[buttoni]

I'm sure these will cook up right now. Hope you and she both like them. Hubby and I cooked them 2 more times last night and they are cooking up soft and chewy now that the imi. honey is in them. Luckily they freeze nicely, huh? I have tons of cookies on my hands to eat. A dirty job, but someone's got to do it. LOL

[buttoni]

Though you should be able to use any imitation honey, here's the recipe I used last for my imitation honey to "stretch the budget" and make a bottle last a lot longer (it's Birgit Kerr's recipe she posted here last year, but I made with erythritol instead of xylitol):

1 tsp. honey
¼ c. erythritol
2 T. imitation honey make with xylitol (I use Nature's Hollow from Netrition)
1 pkt. stevia

Boil the above for 2-3 minutes in small saucepan. Remove from heat, cool and store in airtight container. It thickens up as it cools. If it crystalizes in your pantry, warm open jar on DEFROST in your microwave to resoften it a bit. I made up a larger batch and it has kept well, but DID crystallize on me and I have to soften it when needed in a recipe.

Makes about 1/3 c. or 5 T. Each tablespoon has 12.6 calories, 1.24 carbs, .5 fiber and .74 net carbs

[slbbw]

Exactly as advertised They are perfect! I'm trying to stop at two! LOL! I'll let you know how the oatmeal/raisin/pecan version turns out.

Thanks again, Peggy