Salted Chocolate Chunk No Bake Cookies
Alisa Fleming ~ This recipe for healthy no bake cookies is adapted from Amber Shea Crawley’s beautiful new cookbook, Practically Raw. The tagline for her book fits perfectly, “Flexible Raw Recipes Anyone Can Make.” This is so true, as Amber includes gentle cooking directions for her raw recipes (where applicable), and in an oven, not a dehydrator! I love her adaptations for those of us who aren’t ready to make a full raw food conversion, but want to incorporate more raw and nutritious foods in general.
Of course, with health in mind, I dove into the dessert section first. I based the no bake cookies recipe below on Amber’s Crunchy Salted Cashew Cookies recipe – and holy cow, these babies are so addictive! The salt and natural sweeteners keep these from being overly sweet. In fact, I would almost venture to call these a snack, or a dessert-ish snack. However you categorize them, these raw cookies are heaven for those of us who crave the contrast of sweet and salty.
I changed up a couple of the ingredients entirely, based on the types of foods we use in our house, and naturally, I added chocolate. I halved some Taza semi-sweet chocolate chunks, which happen to be raw and soy-free, too. But you can use whichever dairy-free you choose.
I think it’s important to mention that Practically Raw is a completely vegan and gluten-free cookbook. Amber uses agave nectar in her recipe; we just have a preference for raw honey, but you can use agave without issue to keep the recipe vegan as intended.
One last note, I loved how cookie-like these turn out. Though you can’t see it in this picture, the bottoms of these no-bakes look like whole grain baked cookies!
The addictive sweet and salty taste melds even more if allowed to chill overnight. I like to store these raw bites in the freezer, where they do firm up quite a bit, almost like biting into cookie dough chocolate!
This recipe is adapted from Practically Raw: Flexible Raw Recipes Anyone Can Make by Amber Shea Crawley.
Ingredients
- 4 Ounces (3/4 Cup) Raw Cashews
- 1/4 Cup Coconut / Palm Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons + 2 Teaspoons Flaxseeds
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- 2 Tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted
- 2 Tablespoons Raw Honey (or agave nectar for vegan)
- 1/4 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate Chunks or Chips ( used Taza Semi-Sweet Squares to keep it “raw”)
- Coarse Sea Salt (I used Himalayan pink salt) for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
- Place the cashews, palm/coconut sugar, flaxseeds, and salt in your spice grinder or food processor, and whiz into a powder.
- Dump the cashew mixture into a small to medium-sized bowl and drizzle in the coconut oil, honey or agave, and vanilla. Stir well to combine and incorporate everything as evenly as possible.
- Stir in the chocolate chunks or chips to evenly distribute.
- Shape the dough into sixteen (more or less) balls, and flatten them gently onto a sheet or pan lined with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Really, you can shape them however you like, I just like to make them cookie-shaped.
- If desired, sprinkle the tops with a pinch of sea salt.
- Chill the “cookies” for 15 minutes in the freezer.
- Store them in the refrigerator or freezer, depending on how firm and cool you like them!
Notes
This recipe is optionally Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy free, Egg free, Gluten free, Peanut free, optionally Soy free, Wheat free, and Refined Sugar free
http://www.godairyfree.org/recipes/dairy-free-desserts/salted-chocolate-chunk-no-bake-cookies
7 Comments
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JenniferDecember 5, 2012 at 9:47 am
Thank you for sharing this recipe! These have become my favorite “treat” and are carrying me through the holidays (my first being grain and sugar free). I love cookie dough and these taste just like it. I use unsweeted carob chips in mine. And I love that they are so incredibly easy to make.
Alisa FlemingDecember 5, 2012 at 10:09 amAuthor
That’s great! I’m glad you are enjoying them as much as I do!
(what runs) LoriJanuary 12, 2013 at 8:07 am
I might have to make these right now… like RIGHT now. Your descriptions and photos got me..
Alisa FlemingJanuary 12, 2013 at 9:26 amAuthor
These are SO Lori cookies – you would love them!
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[...] Salted Chocolate Chunk No-Bake Cookies [...]
KristinaMay 10, 2013 at 5:19 pm
We have cashew, peanut and multiple seed allergies – do you think this would work with almonds?
Alisa FlemingMay 11, 2013 at 6:33 amAuthor
The result will be different, and I haven’t tested it to confirm, but it should work. Note that almonds are fattier and a bit greasier than cashews though.