Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Hello chocolate lovers! Let us come together in unity as we share the common love for chocolate! Chocolate Pecan Cookies…This is a wonderful dough to work with. It is rather pliable making it really easy to mold. It doesn’t stick to your hands and if you find that it does, add a smidgen bit more almond meal. I found that as I was rolling them into balls during the first stage a light build up of dough was sticking to my palms. So, I found it helpful to rinse my hands every once in a while.

You could easily add the pecans in during the food processor process but I wanted chunks of nuts, I wanted that crunch factor. I dusted my cookies with almond meal right before I put them in the dehydrator. The rich aroma of chocolate is dancing around my kitchen! Oh yum!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups raw almond flour
1/2 cup ground flax
1/2 cup raw cacao powder
1/3 cup cold pressed olive oil or coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup raw agave nectar
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup raw pecans, chopped
1/2 tsp almond extract

Preparation:

To create almond flour – place almonds in the food processor and process until you reach a mealy flour texture. For the ground flax, place the seeds in a spice grinder until it reaches a powder.
In the food processor mix the almond flour, ground flax and cacao powder just until combined.
As the food processor is running add in the olive oil, almond extract, water, agave and vanilla. Process until well blended.
Transfer your batter to a bowl and fold in your chopped pecans.
Form your desired sized balls and then flatten in the palm of your hand.
Place on your mesh dehydrator screens and dehydrate 1 hour at 145, then reduce to 105 and dehydrate for at least 5 hours or until desired dryness is achieved.

Tips:

You could do many things with this dough. You could simply leave them in the shape of a ball and roll them in almond meal or shredded coconut. You can easily make them any size you wish. I made mine rather small tonight because I am taking them to work tomorrow for a tasting.
You could also use coconut oil instead of the olive oil if you wanted to. Using the olive oil was a nice change since I have a few friends who don’t care to much for the coconut flavor.
Most of all… be creative! Make this recipe your own by adding in different spices, nuts or dried fruits. It is a wonderful base to use if you just want to clean out the pantry.