Everyone loves cookies...

Cookies are what my oldest daughter calls " a delicious necessity", that is, something that is delicious and one of those things that are required in certain social circumstances. You need cookies for tea (yes, need), parties, bake sales, church functions, eating while hiding in the closet talking on the phone, you know -- pretty much all the time. Here is a great and healthy cookie recipe I developed to bring to a house warming party. It is pretty good, nutty and sweet but too freaky-hippy like. The recipe relies on sprouted flour which is crazy expensive but can be made pretty easily and is sweet and toasty tasting. It takes time, but really isn't hard. See my tutorial on it HERE. The flour is sweet tasting and a pretty cream color and if you are not used to having it around, don't forget to label it so you can tell the difference between it and fresh ground wheat. Also, keep it in the fridge or freezer to prevent vitamin loss. The recipe also uses crispy almonds.

Crispy almond are simply almonds brined overnight in a salt solution and then dehydrated. You can dehydrate them in a conventional dehydrator or on cookie sheets (lined, if they are aluminum) in your oven on it's lowest setting. The purpose of brining is to liberate nutrients and minimize anti-nutrients that bind with certain minerals and prevent their absorption. Be sure to dry them completely otherwise they will mold! When you bite them, they should shatter and be utterly crisp with no moisture or soggyiness in the interior. Almonds tend to be the cheapest of nuts, so I use them the most, but if you are willing to shell out for walnuts or pecans this recipe will be super great. When brining nuts, for every four cups of shelled nuts use one tablespoon of salt (one and a half if using coarse) and water to cover. Some nuts produce more scum than others, which can be spooned off or you can just wait and rinse the lot after 8 - 10 hours. To make almond (or other nut) meal, I run the crispy nuts through the food processor until they are fine crumbs but not so far as to make nut butter, which is good, just  not what I am going for here.

By the way, this is a very large recipe. I have a very large family. Maybe you are not feeding an army and want to cut it in half but then again, putting some cookies in the freezer for a rainy day is always a good plan.

Crispy Almond Cookies

(Makes about 4 dozen cookies)

Preheat oven to 375.

Whisk together dry ingredients:
4C sprouted whole wheat flour
1C crispy almond meal
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Then beat until fluffy:
4 sticks butter
2 cups rapadura

To the butter mixture add two eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each. Beat dry ingredients in one half at a time.

Scoop out dough one tablespoon at time, place on cookie sheet and press flat with bottom of glass dipped in water. The cookies should be about two inches across. Leave three-to-four fingers space between cookies to prevent Siamese-cookie-twins. Bake 8 to ten minutes on parchment paper or silpat lined cookie sheets. Less time yields puffier, softer cookies and longer will give you thinner, crispy ones. For best results bake sheets singly or rotate multiple sheets half way through.

What else can you do with sprouted flour? How about pancakes and waffles, like you see HERE. What else can you do with crispy almond meal? See my recipes for gluten-free brownies HERE and gluten-free almond tart HERE. Trust me, this is gluten-free worth eating. You wanna see what else I serve that is nourishing but not so freaky hippy that the neighbor kids won't eat it? Check out my chicken nuggets recipe HERE.

Linking up with Real Food Wednesday, where are the cool kids are on Wednesdays!