Last Updated on February 18, 2017 by Patricia Carter
SUMMARY: I hear you… school lunch bags and dessert. Well… here is what I pack; it is the very same chocolate chip cookie recipe that you sampled. Actually, I always double this recipe making it in bulk using a very large stainless steel mixing bowl that I happened upon at Marshall’s. I freeze all these cookies, and we just eat them straight out of the freezer! They make great packable school lunch bag chocolate chip cookies! Substitutions for healing diets SCD, GAPS, and UMass IBD-AID are noted.
The best part: it beats any store bought snack or protein bar because this recipe uses protein rich blanched almond flour and eggs. Kick it up a nutritional notch and use pastured eggs. The fat is a medium chain triglyceride full of antimicrobial lauric acid — coconut oil; it is easily absorbed in the small intestine. Finding prepared food that uses coconut oil is rare. Even Whole Foods bakery and other prepared foods uses soybean oil (soybean oil, corn oil, and vegetable oil which was found to increase diabetes, metabolic syndrome and paired with fructose, replicate IBD symptoms.)
And the sweetener — none other than maple syrup (it’s beneficials are called out below the recipe) and Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels. Updated to provide substitutions for the healing diets: for SCD/GAPS try subbing honey for the maple syrup, and for the chocolate, sub raisins, apples or properly prepared chopped nuts. For UMass IBD-AID sub Penzeys cocoa for the chocolate chips (see slide below for the How-To’s). But remember… make sure you are not filling up on these; consuming adequate vegs/fruits/meats, etc… is priority on healing diet regimens — for why, see WHY EAT THE BEETS, CABBAGE, RED COLORS, my top read post thanks to CNN.
It’s great to nix the processed sugars, rice syrups, and industrial seed oils of commercial baked goods. This recipe does it deliciously, and honestly, these are so great, they have replaced their traditional wheat flour counterpart on all my Christmas platters shared with family and friends.
Interestingly you’ll learn that you actually eat less of these types of whole foods compared to their commercial counterparts “where you can’t eat just one.” Many equate this to the increased nutrient density and more satisfying protein/carbohydrate/fat components.
Lucky kidos that get to nosh these out of their lunch bags. Lucky too those that nosh these straight out of their freezers!
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Notes
This beats any protein or snack bar as it uses almond flour, maple syrup, and coconut oil instead of wheat flour, rice components, sugar, and questionable other ingredients.
Nutrient dense whole food is so satisfying that you can make smaller sized cookies if you prefer; no need for mega sizes!
Ingredients
- 2 eggs. You want these at room temp, or just place eggs in warm water for a few moments.
- 1/2 cup maple syrup, Grade B is best but Grade A works too. You also want this at room temp. If it is refrigerated, just warm it up a bit on the stove-top. Alternatively, use honey for SCD or GAPS.
- 1 tsp vanilla (read labels and make sure no sugar is added.)
- 3 cups blanched almond flour, I use Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, softened. I just place this a few moments under my under-cabinet lights to soften, or outdoors if it is warm outside.
- 1 1/2 cups, or to preference Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels. Use raisins, properly prepared nuts, or chopped apples for SCD or GAPS. For UMass IBD-AID, use Penzey's Natural High Fat Cocoa
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla.
- In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: almond flour, baking soda and salt.
- Using a mixer, combine the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
- Add the coconut oil and mix well.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using two spoons, drop tablespoon size portions of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets.
- Bake 325 degrees F (convection oven) for 15 min, till light brown.
- Let cool on parchment paper.
- Store user friendly amount in refrigerator as almond flour can quickly turn rancid. Freeze the extra cookies.
Credit for the original recipe goes to Primal Palate though I do incorporate several changes.
The ingredients I use:
Blanched Almond Flour. Tip: Buy this in bulk, break into user friendly sizes, and then freeze. Keep a container in the fridge for use. My Biome Onboard Awareness, LLC Facebook Page, notes every time a discount code becomes available, so make sure you “like” that page for notice.
Vanilla — This is tricky; just kidding. I make my own soaking real vanilla beans (cut lengthwise) with vodka! Couldn’t be easier. It takes about 4 months to get a decent flavoring but you certainly can use it sooner. All you do is pour off a small sized glass container amount for baking use, and then just top off the original, shake, and let it rest till you need more. Just pour off, repeat top off… as used. Now you know how to make amazing vanilla. Reuse your beans until your bean flavoring runs out, which is a very long time, years in fact. If you use store bought, read labels to be certain the only ingredients are vanilla beans, alcohol, and perhaps water as most add in a sugar compound.
Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Morsels. These chips contain unsweetened chocolate and cane sugar and are completely free of:
- Gluten
- Wheat
- Dairy
- Peanut
- Tree Nut
- Egg
- Soy
- Fish
- Shellfish
- Casein
- Sesame
- Sulfites
- Potato
Maple syrup… it is a plant derived natural sweetener used throughout the world and truly… it is another functional food. The skinny on why I advocate nixing processed sugars (used predominately in US) and instead move to foods using maple syrup (or honey) (see the post, TWO WEEK SUGAR ELIMINATION: MIND AND BODY PHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES for inspiration in weaning off and eliminating sugar) is that amazing health benefits keep being found for maple syrup. Most important: Read labels and make sure yours is 100% pure or it’s guaranteed to be adulterated with sugar and chemical additives.
A “WOW” maple syrup finding: Take this 2015 study reported in Oncology Reports: the researchers examined the effect of three grades of maple syrup (grades are based on the color of the syrup and ranges from light to darker with color being influenced by time of year and processing technique) on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of colorectal cancer (CRC) cells in order to investigate whether maple syrup is suitable as a phytomedicine for cancer treatment. Their findings, which need to be carried forth in human trials, show:
Maple syrup inhibits CRC cell growth, proliferation, and invasion through suppression of AKT signaling pathway activation… These findings suggest that maple syrup, particularly dark colored ones, might be suitable as phytomedicines, which have fewer adverse effects than traditional chemotherapy for CRC treatment. –Inhibitory effect of maple syrup on the cell growth and invasion of human colorectal cancer cells
Another “WOW“: The science keeps looking at what exactly is in maple syrup, and discovers more and more beneficials. Take this study:
In summary, 30 compounds were isolated from MS-EtOAc that have not been previously reported from MS-BuOH (4, 5). Among these, four of the isolates are new compounds and 24 others are being reported from maple syrup for the first time. In addition, MS-EtOAc contains 10 additional/overlapping compounds that are also present in MS-BuOH. The results reported here advances current knowledge of maple syrup constituents and confirm that this plant derived natural sweetener contains a wide diversity of phytochemicals, among which phenolic compounds predominate. -Further investigation into maple syrup yields 3 new lignans, a new phenylpropanoid, and 26 other phytochemicals.
McGill University’s findings from a 2013 study, also needing tested in human trials, found for concentrated maple-syrup extracts (made from syrup purchased at local markets) antibacterial properties:
Maple-syrup extract alone suppressed the growth of biofilms in [four bacterial strains]: Escherichia coli, or E.coli; Proteus mirabilis, a common cause of urinary-tract infections; and two strains of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, associated with hospital-acquired infections.
Pairing the extract with the antibiotic ciprofloaxin reduced E. coli and P. mirabilis biofilm formation by about 70% and the two P. aeruginosa strains by 83% and 54%, compared with control cultures treated with just ciprofloaxin.
Of the phenols tested, only catechol, when combined with ciprofloaxin, significantly reduced the growth of all four bacterial strains. Catechol may be responsible for maple syrup’s antimicrobial properties, the study suggests.
–Polyphenolic Extract from Maple Syrup Potentiates Antibiotic Susceptibility and Reduces Biofilm Formation of Pathogenic Bacteria and Wall Street Journal article, Maple Syrup: New Way to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria?
So that’s the short list on the ingredients used in many whole food recipe that I’ll introduce to you.
Enjoy the leaves changing and give this chocolate chip recipe a try; I am certain you’ll love them.
Updated to provide substitutions for the healing diets. Last updated: February 18, 2017 at 9:00 am
In health through awareness,
