Almond Hazelnut Coffee Cake Cookies

Winter is here and it’s got me craving cookies. My daughter too. This weekend at the ski hill she wanted coffee cake. Totally out of the blue. I’m not a fan of making cakes. They are pretty much just white flour, sugar and butter, nothing really nutritious. I’ve been making lots of almond flour cookie recipes lately, so I thought I’d do a little experimenting this morning. They literally took 5 minutes to whip up and 15 to bake, so we had them for breakfast.

Here’s a little comparison of regular flour vs almond flour. As you can see there is a huge difference in carbohydrates, calories and fat. Although there is a significant more amount of fat in almond flour, keep in mind that fat makes you feel satiated, leading you to eat less. Moreover, as it is high in protein and fat and low in carbs it prevents spikes in your blood sugar levels like you get from refined wheat. Even though almond flour has a quarter of the amount of carbs as white flour and is more nutritious, remember they still are cookies not carrots!

This recipe is pretty versatile. I used a combination of almond flour, hazelnut and ground flax seeds. You can substitute it anyway you like, just as long as you stick to the ratio. The same goes for the fat. I used half butter, half coconut oil, but you could use one or the other.

Almond Hazelnut Coffee Cake Cookies, makes 12- 16 cookies

• 1 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1 cup hazelnut flour
• 1/3 cup ground flax seeds
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup melted butter, or coconut oil, or both
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar

Heat oven to 325 degrees Farenheit. Mix the first 6 ingredients together in a large bowl. In a medium bowl beat eggs with maple syrup and slowly beat in the butter or oil. Whisk until well combined. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix thoroughly. In a separate bowl toss together the cinnamon and brown sugar. Add to the cookie dough and gently cut it in, but do not mix it too much. Drop by the tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and press down gently on the tops if they look more like balls. I use a cookie scoop, so mine are quite round and need to be flattened a bit. Bake for about 15 minutes. They are done when the centre is firm. Let cool before you remove them from the sheet pan, about 10 minutes and transfer to a baking rack till completely cooled. If you like your cookies crisp leave them on a plate instead of in a container. They will still be chewy on the inside. I usually freeze half so they stay fresh. Just be sure to use parchment paper between the layers if you stack them.