_edited_jp.jpg)
We have been craving both a sticky date pudding and cookies for a while now and decided to combine them and come up with a creation of our own. These cookies, while a treat are much healthier than store-bought ones, with the little sugar coming from non-refined sources. They are great for most allergy types due to being gluten-free and vegan.
Serves: 10 cookies
Prep time: 45 minutes (15 prep, 30 minutes chill)
Cook time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
Pecan cookie:
100 grams of roasted pecans
2 flax eggs
½ a cup of oat flour (or blend oats until a flour)
½ a cup and 1 tablespoon of coconut flour
1 cup of plain gluten-free flour
1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder
½ a tablespoon of cinnamon
½ a teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 cup of cashew milk (or milk of choice)
⅓ a cup of melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons of maple syrup
½ a teaspoon of salt
Caramel topping:
10 dates
2 teaspoons of coconut oil
2 teaspoons of water
A pinch of Salt
Steps:
Preheat the oven to 180C fan-forced.
Prepare your flax egg.
In a large bowl, mix together your flours, baking powder, cinnamon, pecans and salt.
In a bowl, mix coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla essence and flax egg.
Make a well in your flour mixture and add your wet ingredients.
Mix until fully combined, it should be a sticky dough consistency.
Roll into 10 equal golf ball size balls.
Let it chill in the fridge for at least half an hour.
While the balls are chilling, make your caramel.
Soak your dates in boiling water for 10 minutes.
In a food processor blend the dates, oil, water and salt until the dates have fully broken down and your mixture looks like caramel (this process may take 10 minutes, depending on your food processor.)
Put balls on a baking tray lined with baking paper and press your thumb in the middle of the dough to create a small well for the caramel filling.
Put a teaspoon amount of caramel filling in each well.
Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Let the cookies cool for at least 15 minutes as the caramel will be hot.
Top your cookies with extra pecans, or enjoy as is!
Note: If you want to make these cookies in a hurry, skip the chilled step. However, we found it helped bind the cookies better.