Comfort and Crunchy chocolate cookies

Lucy and Mr Tumnus on the set of Narnia

Usually on Sunday's I go for long runs, starting off slow with Becky and then continuing when she stops. I end up sprawled on my dorm room floor, awash with endorphins, sweat, happiness and achievement. But there are other ways to release endorphins and happiness - and one of them is chocolate cookies. So today I decided to stop with Becky, headed back to my room and put a tray of cookie mix into the oven. They came out crisp and sweet, just how I like my cookies (can't deny me a good crunch!)

(That reminds me - once I was talking to Nat about how I like crunchy cookies, and she suggested I start my own crunchy cookie ice cream sandwich shop to rival Cookie and Scream in London, and name my stall Crunch and Scream, which I said sounded like a zombie movie!!!)

The recipe is from Malin from goodeatings.com, whose recipes are all beautifulyl presented and sounds incredibly delicious. This one was easy to make and so satisfying:

Ingredients:

1/3 cup apple sauce

1 tbsp milled flax seed

1/2 cup coconut sugar

2 tbsp maple syrup

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

1 cup spelt flour (Malin used brown rice flour, but spelt works fine!)

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa or cacao

1 tsp baking powder

Malin also included vanilla powder, but since I don't have any I omitted it, although I'm sure it would be a fantastic addition.

Method:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius.

Combine apple sauce and milled flaxseeds and let gel together for roughly 10-15 min.

Stir coconut sugar, melted coconut oil and maple syrup together until combined.

Sift flour, cacao, baking powder and vanilla powder together in a separate bowl.

Add flax and apple gel into wet sugar and oil mixture and combine well before adding dry ingredients in three stages mixing well in between.

(Confession: After combining the flax and apple sauce I just chucked everything else into a bowl together and trust me, it works fine!)

Let cookie dough set in fridge until mouldable and then roll into 16 equal balls.

(I tried rolling it without letting it set, and it is possible, although it certainly is easier after it has chilled for a while!)

Flatten the balls into roughly 1/2 cm thick rounds on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Bake in the oven for 15 min before letting them cool completely.

Malin also includes a recipe for coconut-banana ice cream to go with the cookies, which I've tried separately and it is bomb - the full recipe for both the cookies and ice cream are on her website here.