NOTE: I have updated this recipe and shared it on Instagram here.
Dear cookie monsters past and present,
Rejoice, you can eat cookies! Just because you are on the healthy lifestyle train to infinity (I hope) this doesn't mean you can't enjoy an healthy indulgence now and again. These cookies are just that – healthy gourmet! While I don't recommend you eat 6 in one sitting, you can certainly enjoy a couple with a cup of tea!
If on the other hand, you are new to Joyous Helath, then you are going to appreciate that healthy can and should be delicious. So toss out the store-bought preservative filled packaged cookies and try out this super easy recipe, using my favourite flour – coconut flour!
I was joyous to find coconut flour at Homesense the other day which is why I was inspired to create these little gems. For those of you who don't know what Homesense is, it's a store in Canada that sells housewares at cheaper prices and they also have a food section. I've bought hempseeds there before too, for super cheap!
I am so excited to share these cookies with you and I just know you are gonna love them. I will share the nutritional highlight below because it tastes better when you know they're good for you too :)
Desserts
Gluten-Free Raspberry Jam Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup ground almonds (otherwise known as "almond flour or meal")
- 1/3 cup coconut flour, sifted
- 1/3 cup tapioca flour (otherwise known as "tapioca starch")
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam (I used Crofter's Organic Raspberry Jam)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Preferably in an electric mixer like a KitchenAid combine the oil, maple syrup, applesauce, egg, and vanilla. Then add the tapioca flour, almond flour, and coconut flour. Mix again.
- Roll into little balls and place on a greased cookie sheet or parchment paper.
- Use your fingers to create an indentation and fill it with raspberry jam. Bake for about 12-15 minutes on convection oven or 20 minutes with regular oven setting.
P.S: Your kitchen is about to smell amazing!
As you may have noticed from my book JOYOUS HEALTH: Eat and Live Well Without Dieting, I absolutely LOVE coconut flour. It has such a wonderful texture as you will notice these cookies are soft and chewy.
Here are 5 Health Benefits of Coconut Flour:
- No belly bloat
- Completely gluten-free and hypo-allergenic: if you have food allergies and intolerances, then coconut flour should be a staple in your diet (especially if you like to bake!)
- Contains the highest amount of fiber compared to all other flours at 58% fiber: in comparison, wheat has about 27% fiber and fiber helps to fill you up. This is why eating just 2 of these cookies is totally satisfying.
- You will eat less junk when you eat more fiber-rich foods (like those with coconut flour): in fact, studies show that people who eat more fiber eat 10% less calories overall (not that I recommend you start counting calories -- I'm the ANTI-calorie counter).
- High in protein: Coconut flour comes from the meat of the dried coconut, so it is high in protein. Protein is essential for tissue rebuilding and repair, satiety, skin health and mental health.
- High in lauric acid: Lauric acid is a healthy saturated fat which is essential for your immune system health.
Coconut flour is not easily substituted in place of other flours. I suggest you stick to recipes that already call for coconut flour as it can be tricky to work with it. It has a unique personality, as I like to say :)
Please feel free to share your favourite coconut flour recipes below. And let me know if you try this one out!
Happy Baking!
Joy
Hi Joy, For your raspberry jam recipe, I have a food sensitivity to almonds, can I just add more of one of the flours instead? Or what would you recommend?
ReplyYou could try using brown rice flour. The only thing is the texture is quite different and almond flour has a good weight to it. If you use brown rice in place of almond I would add 1/4 cup more. But please note this will be an experiment as I've not tried it before like this. Or you could try buckwheat flour.
Any chance I could substitute the tapioca starch for something else or remove it all together? I tried using this once and didn't like the texture it gave the recipe..... Also, these look super tasty!!!
ReplyYou could try arrowroot flour if you like. But just to re-assure you, the texture is really nice! They are soft and chewy (but not too chewy)... If you've ever used coconut flour before then the consistency is the same. I didn't really notice any difference myself using tapioca. Let me know if you try it with something else!
I'm a Regular Guy, Not Caveman - blogger of weight loss, fitness and healthy lifestyle. I aim to spread awareness on healthy living and fitness. I really like the recipe and they look super yummmm...... so thought I'll drop in a note :)
ReplyHi Joy, just need to know if you you use RAW coconut flour. That's the one I buy at the health store. You will be happy to know that I bought your book 5 weeks ago and have already done 60% of your recipes...never before have I ever been so pleased with a cookbook. Truly tasty recipes that my family and I will enjoy for years to come because we can stick to this way of eating. Thanks for sharing your joyous way of eating with all of us. You are truly making a difference...I think that what you are doing is grand and you should be filled with pride.
Replyhi Carel! So glad to hear you've made most of the recipes already. The brand of coconut flour I use is called "let's do... organic". It's not technically raw. However, I can't see how they would need to apply any heat to make the flour before packaging it because it's just the dried out pulp that's leftover from making coconut milk. Hope that helps! Thanks for your sweet message!
Hi...if I want to make these vegan, would a flax egg be a good substitute?
ReplyI haven't tried it myself yet, but if you try it let me know if it works!
Hi Joy McCarthy! I would love to bake this for my partners birthday tomorrow, however I am worried 8 servings wont be enough. what would the measurements be if i needed to serve around 15 people? many thanks in advance!
ReplyDo you have the nutrition data for these cookies?
ReplyHi Gaylene, no sorry I do not have this information. I know there are some apps you can plug in the information and find out. I think myfitnesspal is one of them.
I had to add another 1/3 cup of all three flours to thicken it up enough to roll a ball. I also had to cook it for only 15 min so they didn’t burn. They turned out okay except they could use a little more sweetness due to the extra flour.
ReplyHi Jamie! Did you use the updated recipe in the link at the top? The OG recipe is pretty old which is why I updated it :)