Holidays are just around the corner, and if you’re anything like me, bringing a healthy (ish) treat to all the parties and family gatherings is a must!
In my family, we have some gluten-free as well as vegan members, but the treats have to pass the “normal” eater’s taste-buds, and it can be a tricky task to satisfy all the different taste palettes.
First off, let me put out a disclaimer: I am not a baker. I have made banana-muffins-explode-in-the-oven kind of not-a-baker. Cooking is a whole different beast (a beast I really enjoy!). I think it has to do with the left verses right brain thing.
Baking is more of a science and you can probably guess by now how good I was in biology. This is what I finally decided on making for a Thanksgiving treat to bring to one of my (three , yes three) get-togethers.
Chocolate Snow Ball Cookies!
Now, since I am not a baker, I took inspiration from a Pinterest recipe from crazyforcrust.com: “doubleChocolateSnowball”
I personally prefer the gluten free and vegan version that I created better than the original recipe ( I made both).
So let’s get started
Ingredients:
I ended up doubling the recipe and making a ton of cookies!
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I used the Ghirardelli dark ones that don’t have milk) But here is a 100% vegan alternative Enjoy Life 🙂
1/4 cup cocoa powder ( I used dark cocoa…I like real chocolate!)
2 1/4 cups flour (2 cups oat flower and 1/4 cup tapioca)
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs vanilla
1 cup vegan butter (I used the Smart Balance flax)
Heat your oven to 375 degrees and line a baking tray with parchment paper.
Mix (slightly melted) butter and powdered sugar together and add vanilla.
I did this by hand but an electric mixer would make it go faster.
Add in your flours and the pinch of salt.
It will get really thick, quickly.
Add in that cocoa powder.
Stir in the chocolate chips, lightly.
I took a spoon and made a rough glob of dough, rolled it into a ball shape and lined them on a parchment paper-covered baking tray.
Each tray held about 12 cookies.
Now it’s time to bake! I accidentally baked my first batch a little long….they just didn’t look done, but they were. Bake about 8-10 minutes until the top is not so shiny.
I would dive into one with a fork or toothpick just to make sure it is not goopey. A little underdone, more brownie texture is better than overcooking them.
Once they are all baked, roll them in a bowl of powdered sugar to cover the cookie. I found that keeping them on the warm side while coating them in sugar helped the sugar stick.
Now plate them up (don’t forget to save a few for yourself, girl, you earned it!) and get ready to party!
Gluten free and vegan snowball cookies
