Occasionally Eggs: Double Chocolate Cookies

Double chocolate grain free cookies made with chickpea flour! This recipe has been written down in my notebook for a while but I didn't think they'd turn out. The first batch was a little iffy but now they're great, and definitely not bean-y. The chocolate covers up the chickpea flour taste completely BUT it's very important not to taste the raw dough and try to avoid smelling it, too. Wet chickpea flour smells awful and you might be tempted to dump it if you taste it before baking. This is my first recipe in ages that includes eggs so it's not a good idea to eat it raw in any case. I haven't been brave enough to try to make them vegan yet.

The cookies are surprisingly good, with a nice texture and a nice chocolate flavour. They're obviously healthy but definitely a treat despite being little protein bombs. Don't be tempted to reduce the amount of oil used; the first time I made them I used less and they were too difficult to work with before baking and the end result was really dry. Now they end up a bit like brownie cookies. If you've tried my ultimate peanut butter cookies the texture is similar (they're also gluten/grain free). I promise these don't end up tasting like chickpea, and if you don't want to buy chickpea flour just for this, I have several recipes on the blog that use it - like sweet potato pancakes - and you can always make socca. It's great for binding and thickening, so I'll toss some into my veggie burger mixture or use it in sauces.

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Double Chocolate Cookies

Makes a dozen

150 grams / 1 cup chickpea flour

25 grams / 1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

90 grams / 1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

60 ml / 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey

1 large egg*

50 grams / 1/2 a bar dark chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, vanilla, and salt. Mix the coconut oil, maple syrup, and egg until fully combined, then stir it in to the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate and let the dough rest for a couple of minutes to thicken.

Roll the dough into golf-ball sized balls, around 2 tablespoons, and place onto the baking sheet. Flatten each cookie slightly with your hand, and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges feel slightly crisp. They won't brown so keep an eye on the time.

Cool the cookies for a few minutes on the pan before removing and cooling completely on a rack. They'll keep in an airtight container for at least three days.

Tips:

• Chickpea flour is pretty easy to find in the 'ethnic' aisle at most grocery stores and it might be labeled as gram or besan.

• Don't worry about over mixing! Gluten-free flours can't really be over mixed so go nuts.

• The dough might seem to wet at first. The chickpea flour will absorb more of the liquid after a minute or two and then it should be easy to roll into balls.

Notes:

1. A large egg in North America, a medium in Europe.