I’m on a gluten free kick, and this year I’m doing some gluten-free holiday baking. I met Elana Amsterdam from Elana’s Pantry earlier this year when she was on her book tour for her lovely Gluten Free Almond Flour cookbook, and I’m starting to experiment with the recipes. I’m looking forward to my birthday next month when I can try out her recipe for chocolate cake! Yummy.

Chocolate Cherry Cookies (gluten free)

Try these cookies – they are delicious:

2 ¾ cups blanched almond flour
½ tsp sea salt
½ tsp baking soda
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup grapeseed oil
¾ cup agave nectar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate
1 cup dried fruit-juice-sweetened cherries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave nectar, and vanilla extract. Fold the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Fold in the chocolate and cherries. Spoon the dough 1 heaping tablespoon at a time onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the tops of the cookies look dry and start to crack – be careful not to overcook. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then serve warm.

Note – if you replace the agave nectar with a dry sweetener such as sucanat (like I did) you’ll either have to add ¾ cup water or reduce the amount of flour by ¾ cup. I added water, ¼ cup at a time, until the batter was soft and combined well.

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