Almond Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

A great variation on the chocolate chip cookie. For something a little different and a bit more special, try this cookie made in a mini muffin pan. It is delicious and it will look a little more sophisticated on your holiday cookie tray.

My inspiration for this recipe came from research on using almond flour in baking. I found an awesome website called elanaspantry.com. Elana wrote a cookbook on cooking with almond flour. Elana uses ONLY blanched almond flour in all her recipes and clearly states that her recipes will not work with natural almond meal (ground almonds with skins).

I do want to try some of her recipes because they sound amazing. I just ordered some blanched almond flour online and I can't wait to get it and start baking! But in the meantime, I had recently bought a bag of Trader Joe's almond meal. I figured I would experiment with it and see if I could come up with something tasty. I think I did. The cookies were soft and chewy and had lots of chocolate flavor. And even though there is not a lot of sugar or fat in the recipe, you are not left disappointed after eating these cookies. They are definitely satisfying and best of all, they are low carb. Yay!! We can eat more :) They are also much better for you than regular flour based chocolate chip cookies since almonds contain tons of nutrients, vitamin E and protein. They are also perfect for anyone on a gluten free diet. Just make sure you use gluten free oats!

I plan an experimenting more with almond flour. I want to try making brownies, muffins and maybe even a cake. If anyone has a great recipe using almond flour, I'd love to hear about it.

Almond Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bites

adapted from Elana's Pantry

2 ½ cups Trader Joe's almond meal
3/4 cup old fashioned oatmeal, ground fine in blender or food processor
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup grapeseed oil
½ cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (such as Ghiardelli 60% Cocao)

1. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, ground oatmeal, salt and baking soda
2. In a medium bowl combine grapeseed oil, maple syrup and vanilla
   
3. Stir wet ingredients into the almond/oatmeal flour mixture until thoroughly combined
4. Fold in chocolate chips
   
5. Spoon 2 tablespoons of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, press down to flatten
6. Bake at 350º for 7 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden
7. Cool cookies on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then serve

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

A New Version Of An Old Favorite

I love to experiment with recipes to come up with new twists. This one is just that. I have an Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Biscotti recipe that I make every holiday that everyone loves. So why change it, you ask? Because I can!

I love biscotti, but sometimes I enjoy a nice soft and chewy cookie as well. This is what I was trying to accomplish with this cookie. I think I succeeded. Everyone loved them. Another thing I was trying to achieve was to reduce the amount of butter and sugar in the original recipe. I did this by substituting half the butter with 1/4 cup of canola oil and cutting back just a little on the white sugar. You would never know I messed with them. They came out as tasty as ever. I also came up with a few different versions of this recipe using cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger cranberries, white chocolate and apricots. But that's a whole other post!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups quick oatmeal (or old fashioned)
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups chopped toasted walnuts - optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together butter, oil, sugars, vanilla, cinnamon and eggs. Combine flour, salt and baking powder and mix into butter mixture. Mix in oats, chips and nuts.

Onto a parchment lined baking sheet, spoon out mixture to form 4 logs the length of the sheet, 2 logs per baking sheet*. Leave enough space in between each log, since they will spread while cooking.

Bake for about 2o-22 minutes, so that when you touch the tops they are firm and lightly brown. Remove from the oven and cool.

Slice logs diagonally and decorate. Once the decorations are dry, store in an airtight container.

To decorate: Just melt some semi-sweet chocolate chips and some white chocolate chips in the microwave, separately. Dip a spoon in the melted chocolate and drizzle over the cookie tops. I actually use squeeze containers because it makes it so easy to drizzle. While the chocolate is still wet, shake on some candy sprinkles.

* If you want to make smaller cookies, shape into 6 logs, placing 3 logs per sheet and bake for around 12-15 minutes.