Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

Today is a grey, rainy winter Sunday. But sometimes, they are the most perfect days for pottering at home in the kitchen, reading and generally just hibernating indoors. This morning after taking Hank for his morning walk/run (he runs and I walk briskly and try to keep up with him!), I thought it would be a grand idea to bake some cookies that had caught my eye on the very beautiful and delectable Apples Under My Bed Blog, I absolutely adore Heidi's blog. It's cheerful, a bit cheeky and shares the most delicious eats.

I had a bit of play with this recipe to make a gluten-free version They are chunky cookies with a crispy base. I've just eaten two for afternoon tea and they went down a treat. The rest of the batch is now waiting for us for after-dinner treats for next week. That's if my husband doesn't eat them all first!

These cookies are egg-free, dairy-free and refined sugar-free, simply sweetened with a little pure maple syrup. Although I'm sure honey would work just fine too. I used a 70% dark chocolate and coarsely chopped it into chunks of random sizes. I love it when you get a cookie with a hidden chunk of chocolate. That envious cookie that everyone wants!

Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies - recipe adapted from hummingbirdhigh.com

Makes ~18 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon brown rice flour
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 teaspoon iodised salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla powder or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
8 squares dark chocolate (at least 70%), chopped

Preheat the oven to 175°C and line a baking tray with baking paper
In a medium bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, almond meal salt and baking soda until well combined. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the canola oil, maple syrup, and vanilla until well combined.
Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl, before folding in the chopped dark chocolate pieces.
Roll large or heaped teaspoon-sized pieces of cookie and place each dough ball on the prepared baking tray around 5cm apart.
Bake in the oven until the cookies are golden and slightly firm to the touch, about 10 minutes. Once the cookies are finished baking, transfer the cookie sheet to a wire rack and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet completely.