Vegan & Gluten Free Almond and Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies:

I kind of just came up with this recipe off the top of my head. These sweet and savory "butter" cookies are really good. I'll say that they're in the shortbread category, though they're different. They're pretty healthy...I steered clear of adding a lot of sugar and oil, and they're lovely with your morning coffee! Also, if you're a sugar freak, just add a tablespoon of white sugar, and these will definitely sweeten up your day. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

1/3 cup crushed almonds

1/3 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup warm water + 1 tsp. ground flax

3 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. Earth Balance or other non-dairy butter

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. agave nectar

1/4 tsp. salt

Makes about 12 cookies. 

Total Cook Time: 30 minutes.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325. Mix the almond flour, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a medium-sized bowl.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the warm water and ground flax seed.

3. Mix the water and flax mixture, vanilla extract, agave, and Earth Balance in with the dry ingredients. Stir until a cookie dough has formed. (You may want to add a little  more almond flour if the dough is too wet).

4. Fold in the chocolate chips and almonds.

5. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small spoon, scoop 12 dough balls/cookies onto the baking sheet. You can flatten them out a little if you'd like.  Bake at 325 for 16 to 20 minutes.