Thursday, September 19, 2013

Chocolate Chip Cookies at the Beach!

Happy Thursday! This morning I decided to take a break from eggs for breakfast and have my simple Fage 2% Greek yogurt with cinnamon and a little stevia instead. Last night I had planned to make "yellow squash pasta" for dinner with Italian sausage, peppers and mushrooms in the sauce...but both of us were still so full after having such a late lunch yesterday (close to 4:00 pm) that neither of us were hungry for dinner.  So, instead, I did what every other respectable person on vacation at the beach would do...I made chocolate chip cookies (recipe below) to have with our toasted hazelnut coffee last night! LOL  I snapped a photo for you to see below. It's a beautiful and cool morning here so we are going to get our morning beach walk in before it gets too hot. Enjoy!

P.S. -- Happy Birthday to my oldest son today! You have been such a beautiful gift in my life and I love you so very, very much!




Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Walnuts

Ingredients:


2 cups blanched almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder (aluminum free)
1/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt
1/2 to 3/4 cup Swerve sweetener, or to desired sweetness (I used 3/4 cup in mine)
1/4 cup butter, softened (1/2 stick)
4 ounces (brick style) cream cheese, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup 70% or 85% cacao chocolate bar (3.5 ounces), chopped -- use 70% for sweeter chips (I used Green & Black's 70%)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  In a medium mixing bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and Swerve sweetener (or other granular sweetener).  Make a well in the center of the bowl and add softened butter, cream cheese, egg and vanilla extract. Using a wooden spoon, cream and mix dry and wet ingredients together until the dough is mixed and blended well.  Using a rubber spatula, fold in walnuts and chocolate chips/chunks and mix just until blended.  Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls (or lightly roll into balls for neater cookies) onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet;  very lightly tamp down (do not flatten) -- the cookies do not spread much while they bake.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned. Cookies are very soft when hot and will firm up as they cool.  Let sit 10-15 minutes and then, using a spatula, transfer to a rack to completely cool. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

        

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49 comments:

Patricia said...

Right on Girl! I say it's a good trade off!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

LOL...thanks, Patricia! I almost didn't post that I had that for dinner...but decided I was safe, and that the cookie police weren't going to come after me! :-)

Kathy said...

Before going wheat free I used to make and freeze CCC on a regular basis to grab only 1 or 2 every now and then. Have not had any in more than 18 months now! I'm looking forward to trying your recipe that looks easy to prepare and bake. Do you know if these cookies will freeze well?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Kathy! Wow, 18 months without a cookie -- you are my hero! LOL While I have not personally frozen them (that I can remember)...I know others that do. If you decide to make them, I hope you enjoy them...but then again, I'm sure any cookie would taste pretty good after not having any for that long! ;-)

Anne said...

Made these cookies today and they are amazing! My husband is going to be "over the moon" when he comes home and sees them on the cooling rack. Before going grain free he always enjoyed coming home to homemade cookies and though I've tried a few recipes in the last couple of years this is the first one that is sooo good. Thank you so much for so generously sharing your recipes with us all.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anne -- Thanks so much! I am so glad you like the cookies and hope your husband does, too. I hope you both enjoy them. I had a couple for dessert tonight! :-)

samudra said...

when and why
did you change recipe…it used to call for 1/2cup ricotta cheese, now calls for 4oz cream cheese?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Samudra -- I didn't change it -- I just made another variation of it. The original with ricotta is still posted. Here is the link: http://www.gourmetgirlcooks.com/2013/08/its-pizza-chocolate-chip-cookie-night.html

Some people commented that they had leftover ricotta they didn't know what to do with -- so I made another variation that used cream cheese (the leftovers of it last longer than the ricotta). I love them both! :-)

Unknown said...

Do you have a carb count for these cookies and what a serving size should be?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Sarah -- I usually don't post carb counts because you might make this batch of cookies and get 12 big cookies or 15 medium...depending on how you scoop them. I get 2 dozen when I make them. I have also intentionally made them smaller before, too and gotten more cookies. When I make 2 dozen I generally will eat either 1 or 2. Also, the brand and type of chocolate you use will alter the carb counts as well. This is the calculator I use when I want to add up the carbs in a total recipe -- hope this helps. http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php There are others like this, too. That way, you will get a more accurate count of what your portions actually are based on what ingredients you add and how many cookies you actually make with the recipe. :-)

Unknown said...

I made these tonight and the only thing I did different was use powder stevia instead of swerve so I used 1/2 tablespoon which is equivalent to 1/2 cup sugar... everything turned out perfect except they are not sweet at all! The only part that is somewhat sweet is the chocolate I used... but other than that they taste like biscuits... :( what did I do wrong? Was stevia really that bad of an idea? Ugh should I have used more stevia?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Shawnee -- I have never made cookies using stevia before. I think you need the volume/bulk, too. If you don't have or use Swerve, you could have used some erythritol or truvia or some like xylitol (be very careful if you have pets though -- xylitol is toxic to them). Stevia's can be so tricky to use because they all vary so much. Also, stevia's sweetness tends to "bake off" quite a bit in the oven. The only suggestion I can offer using stevia, is to taste your batter first to adjust the sweetness. You want it a little sweeter than you want to compensate for some of the sweetness baking off. Be careful because too much stevia becomes bitter. That's probably what happened to you...your stevia sweetness baked off. Too bad, because these cookies are really good! I'm trying to think how you might be able to "rescue" them. Could you make a frosting of some sort to put on them when you eat them? Or sweetened cream cheese, etc.? Hope that helps. :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow these are amazing. I like them better than regular cookies... what kind of hocus pocus is this.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

LOL Anonymous...no hocus pocus...just "good stuff." :-)

Anonymous said...

Love these and they will be my go-to chocolate chip cookie from now on. They only thing I did differently was use about 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut that I had in the cupboard and I made them a tad sweeter by using 4 drops ez-Sweetz in addition to the Swerve. Hubby loved that first batch so much that I made a double recipe today so I can freeze half. Low-carb living is easy when there are recipes like this available! Thanks!'

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi there (Anonymous),

So happy you and your hubby enjoyed the cookies. It sounds like great additions. I've put a little coconut in them before too and liked it. It gives them a bit more "chew".

Thanks so much for letting me know you enjoyed them! :-)

Stephanie T said...

I LOVE these and always have them in my freezer! I actually prefer them about 5 minutes out of the freezer - plus it helps (a little!) with portion control! THANK YOU!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Stephanie,

So glad you are enjoying them. Good idea about freezing them to help with portion control too. I will have to do that next time I make them.

Thanks for letting me know you are enjoying them! :-)

Anonymous said...

These look soooo good! I wish you had a button to share on Pintrest. Thanks for sharing with us.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thank you, Anonymous. I actually have a Pinterest button at the bottom of every post. There is an area right before the comments section with a green "print button" and then a little row of all the various ways you can share it. The Pinterest button is the last one in the row right before the Google Plus button! Hope that helps. :-)

Unknown said...

I LOVE LOVE LOVE THESE COOKIES!! THANK YOU SOO MUCH!! MERRY CHRISTMAS <3<3<3 :D

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Barbara,

I am SO happy you love the cookies! It's nice to have a nice treat sometimes isn't it! Thanks so much...I hope you have a very Merry Christmas too! :-)

Anonymous said...

Delicious! I put just a bit less than 1/2 cup Erythritol (Swerve is very expensive) and pecans instead of walnuts + 1 tsp coco powder.
I put everything in my food processor (except pecans + chocolate). Filled my 12-Cavity Whoopie Pie Pan + sprayed with coconut oil.

This recipe starts well a brand new year! :)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anonymous! It sounds great -- so happy you enjoyed them. If you don't mind using stevia, you could always add a little bit of that to boost the sweetness, too. :-)

mindyjotorres said...

Is the butter in the recipe unsalted?

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Mindy,

No, I use regular butter. :-)

Emily Carveth said...

Hi GG,
THANK YOU for all you do! You are a life-saver - my boyfriend and I LOVE the brownies with Milk Chocolate Peanut Buttercream frosting - we never thought we could have brownies again after going grain-free! I can't wait to make these cookies, and I'm curious - have you ever experimented with the stevia-sweeneted chocolate bars for the chips? I've seen some on the market but never tried them. Thanks!!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Emily,

Thank you! I have eaten the stevia sweetened bars (by Lily and others) and like the way they taste but have never used them chopped in the cookies before. It couldn't hurt to try it though. Maybe you should try the chocolate as is first to make sure you like the taste before mixing it into the cookie dough. I do think that Lily's also makes stevia sweetened chocolate chips, too. :-)

Barry G said...

I love this cookie. The only thing I changed is that I skipped the chocolate chips, added 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes, and increased the Stevia to 1 cup.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

So happy you enjoyed it Barry! :-)

Anonymous said...

Want to try these soon! Was wondering, have you ever made these as Blondies? Wondering about size of pan and cooking time.

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi there,

No I haven't. I would probably use an 8 x 8" or 9 x 9" square pan. You would have to test them. Probably would need a bit longer bake time. I may give it a test here soon to see how they turn out and how long to bake. :-)

Anonymous said...

What do you think the measurements would be if using Truvia? I don't have any swerve and would have to order it online. I'd like to make these this weekend. :)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anonymous,

I would probably use slightly less than 3/4 cup. You could add 2/3 cup first, take a little taste of the dough for sweetness and tweak it by adding an additional tablespoon or 2 if you wanted it sweeter. Truvia is a little sweeter than Swerve but not drastically. Hope you enjoy them! :-)

Nursesheri said...

These are very good! I will most l ikely be using this as my go to choc. chip cookie recipe! I was a little hesitant to try them because of the cream cheese, but it doesn't really change the taste. I really miss brown sugar taste, so I added 2 teaspoons of molasses. I used a small scoop, a little larger than a tablespoon, and made 30 cookies. I baked them about 15 minutes. The sweetener I have been using lately is Pyure Organic stevia blend. It has same carbs as most other sweeteners I've used and my husband has no complaints of detectable stevia aftertaste, and I don't have any cooling from the erythritol. I find it at WalMart, it is cheaper and you use half amount called for in recipes! THANKS GG for all your amazing recipes. You have truly made living low carb A LOT more enjoyable, and easy. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!h

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Thanks so much Nursesheri. Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

Anonymous said...

I really enjoyed this recipe. I have been doing low carb on and off for 10 years and I am down 130lbs. I am just now getting into low carb baking because I have decided to go low carb as a lifestyle choice not only a diet. So it was great to find this recipe.

Do you happen to know how many carbs per cookie? I didn't have chocolate so I pushed some chopped up fresh cranberries I had on top before baking and they were fantastic. But I did notice a cool sensation in my mouth. I did find it odd but this would not keep me from making this again.

Thanks for sharing this recipe!

Anonymous said...

I just read your comment to Sara about carb count. So sorry I didn't read that before posting my question!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Anonymous,

No problem. Some folks do get that cooling sensation...you must have sensitive taste buds. You could always try pulling back just a bit on the granular sweetener and bump up the sweetness with a bit of stevia until the dough is sweet enough for you. That might help. But, your taste buds might not care for stevia either. Some folks find it bitter. Generally speaking if you don't use too much of one or the other you can strike a balance. I'm happy you enjoyed them and love the cranberry addition! :-)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

P.S. Anonymous - I completely forgot to congratulate you on losing 130 lbs. That is amazing and you should be very proud of yourself. I think a low carb lifestyle will help you keep them off, too! Congrats again! :-)

Unknown said...

I was wondering if I could use Almond Meal or King Arthur's finely ground Almond, this is all I have available at the moment and I would like to make them for Friday, thank you bunches:)

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Kathy,

Yes, for cookies that should work fine. Hope you enjoy them. :-)

Anonymous said...

Left over ricotta?... that's madness, there is always another batch of cookied to make!

Unknown said...

Question: what would happen if i made these with baking powder that had aluminum???

Unknown said...

Question: what would happen if i made these with baking powder that had aluminum???

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Lisa,

Nothing. It's just healthier not to consume aluminum if possible. Hope that helps.

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I am going to see if I can convert the recipe to using coconut flour instead of almond meal/flour - better for us. I'll report back...

RonTravis said...

These cookies are AWESOME! I made some for my wife and I last week and OMG!
My new favorite recipe! We used 1/2c truvia for the sweetener, pecans(on hand), Enjoy Life Dark Mini-chips and used spoonfuls on parchment.(made 40!) Just phenomenal, no one at work could believe they were GF! After plugging into FatSecret, the stats are as follows:
Total Fat: 5.27g, Chol: 7mg, Sodium: 32mg, Potassium: 1mg, Total Carbs: 4g, Fiber: 1.7g, Sugars: 1.92g, Protein: 0.92g

4 carbs a cookie! Bring em on! Got Milk? Yes I do!

Gourmet Girl Cooks said...

Hi Ron,

So happy you enjoyed them!!! Anyone I've ever served them to can't tell the difference either. LOL on the "got milk", too! :-)