Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies

COOKIES!!! I want COOKIES!!!  I have quite the sweet tooth and cookies have always been my favorite sweet treat (well, pie too.....).  Anyway, as my venture into low carb eating continues, I need something to replace cookies to keep my carb intake lower.  Replace cookies....NO!!!   I'd never be able to stick with any alternative eating plan ever...period.  So, it's now time for me to add some new baking tools to my toolbox because life without cookies...well, that's not happening for me!

I have thought dozens of times about trying to convert the recipe, but opted for trying recipes I found on the web where others had already done the conversion work.  Yes, I will admit that is lazy, but the ratios and quantities are different and well, it's just scary.  Ingredients for the low carb versions are a little on the pricey side and rather than risk an epic failure and trashing the whole batch of cookies, I became a follower rather than a leader in the recipe conversion department.

Today, I decided to pull myself up by my apron straps and give it a try.  I spent a bit of time looking at other recipes, analyzing the ratios of almond and/or coconut flour, eggs, etc. to try to decide what would be best.  Shoot, I even went all out and made my own low carb brown sugar because I wanted something lower carb than the Splenda Brown Sugar substitute in effort to keep the cookies as low carb as possible.

Baking with almond flour (I used Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour) for this recipe along with a little coconut flour is definitely a skill I need to perfect.  The resulting cookies are not the same as the original recipe, but were definitely a very nice, satisfying and tasty low carb chocolate chip cookie.

If you aren't doing low carb, you can find the original recipe here and they are awesome!
Otherwise, for my low carb baker friends or those who want to convert....start your ovens!  Get ready to sample some raw cookie dough (I know, I can't stay out of it either) and bake yourself and your loved ones some cookies to enjoy and ones you feel good about serving.

LOW CARB CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup salted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups granulated erythritol
5 Tbsp. molasses
1 1/2 tsp. granulated stevia
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 Lindt 85% Cocoa Extra Dark chocolate bar, chopped
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
Line baking sheets with parchment.
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the almond flour, coconut flour and baking soda and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl (I used my Kitchen-Aid), combine the erythritol and molasses and mix well to blend (this is your brown sugar equivalent).

Add to the bowl the stevia, vanilla and eggs.  Mix thoroughly.

Add the flour to the egg and sweetener mixture and the flours are well incorporated.
Add in the chopped chocolate bar and chopped pecans, stirring until just blended.

Drop cookies onto the prepared baking pans by kitchen teaspoon or use a small ice cream scoop.

Press slightly to flatten and bake in the 325 oven for 14 minutes.
Watch these closely as oven temperatures vary.  You don't want them to burn.
The cookies will puff up slightly while in the oven, but will flatten as they cool.
Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets for 10 minutes before moving them to wire racks to complete cooling.  The cookies are very soft while hot and will easily break apart.

Yield:  36 Cookies
Per Cookie:  110 calories, 9g fat, 2g protein, 4 net carbs (6g carbs/2g fiber)

...and that's What's Cooking at Cathy's ~ Enjoy!