Raw Coconut Cookies
These lovely cookies are dehydrated, so they have the bite of a baked cookie but remain raw. They’re really flavoursome, despite containing only a handful of gluten-free ingredients. Most importantly, they go really well with a cuppa. Raw “baking” requires patience. There’s no instant gratification if you have a sudden cookie craving, but if you can hold off for 48 hours, you’ll be rewarded. I promise.
Ingredients
Cookies
1 cup almonds
1 cup raw desiccated coconut
2 tablespoons coconut flour
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3 tablespoons coconut water (or sub water)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Large pinch sea salt
Optional: A little coconut sugar and cinnamon to sprinkle on top
For the chocolate coating
Around 80-100g raw chocolate. For the cookies in the photo, I used Ombar “Raspberry and coconut centres”
Crushed nuts or freeze dried fruit crumbled up (optional)
Method
Prepare a dehydrator tray with a non-stick sheet.
Add almonds to a food processor and process into a flour. Sandy texture is fine. Don’t over-do it or you will create almond butter.
Add the coconut and process further until it also breaks down. Don’t over-do it.
Add all of the other ingredients and process until everything comes together and forms a sticky dough. You’ll find the dough will roll itself up into a ball and the food processor will no longer be able to manage it. If the dough seems fairly smooth you can take it out at this point. If not, break it up into pieces and process a little more.
To form your cookies you’ll want to keep wetting your hands so I recommend having a small bowl of water nearby.
Break off a small piece of dough and roll into a ball. Press it out flat and rub it smooth using a little water. I like to then turn it over and smooth it out again. I make mine about 1/2cm thick.
Using wet fingers, smooth out the edges. You will be dehydrating this anyway so don’t worry too much about how much water you use. Repeat until you have used up all of the dough.
Once you have lots of lovely uniform discs, you can sprinkle a little coconut sugar and cinnamon on each one. If they seem really dry, dab a bit of water on them first.
Dehydrate for around 48 hours at 115°F/46°C to get them really dry and firm.
When they’re done, gently melt your chocolate over a bain-marie. Keep it below 42°C so it stays raw.
Either dunk your cookies into the melted chocolate or drizzle it over the top. You can then sprinkle your nuts or fruit over the chocolate so it sets into it. I recommend putting them in the fridge to set.
Store these cookies in an airtight container in the fridge.