Choc-Chip Chickpea Flour Cookies
Hi everyone!
After a long and grueling week of nursing my mom who has been terribly ill with a kidney infection, then gastro flu on top of that and then some more minor issues that arose just for good measure, we’ve finally returned home. We spent a few days in Port Elizabeth for some medical supervision after about a week of me being in-house nurse and feeling the depths of the despair that come with seeing someone you love really sick and being completely helpless to change or fix or heal anything. Thankfully, my mom is finally on the slow and steady mend, more and more able to keep small amounts of food and water down and resting up. Now that we are back home, I have been getting back to some writing, recipe-testing, creating and SHARING.
I love getting back to my routines and rhythms after a bit of time away and out of the routines - it feels really fantastic and always reminds me of how much I love doing what I do and sharing what I share. However, I have learnt the hard way what happens when I do not contain my passion and drive within a container of mindfulness: my Vata and Pitta dosha (read my article on Vata Dosha in the Ayurveda section of the blog for more details, my Pitta post is coming soon!) become completely imbalanced and I get completely overwhelmed by the excitement of everything and how much I want to do and how much I want to write about, learn about, read about and explore. Sometimes the overwhelm leaks into an entirely existential crisis of “OH MY WORD THERE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THIS ONE LIFETIME TO LEARN & SHARE EVERYTHING I WANT TO!”. It then leads to an existential dread because I am faced with so many dang choices of what and how I should pursue what I love and then I eventually just become paralyzed by choice and end up watching series or going to a friend’s house.
So, if this resonates with you in any way, just make sure that you create your energy container through meditative and quietening practices that keep you and your energy grounded so that you can channel the passion and drive in a way that is useful, constructive and directed so that the overwhelm is harnessed into creative FLOW and manifestation through the grounded unfolding of your energy being consciously channeled instead of passion —> overwhelm —> anxiety —> dread —> paralysis.
ANYWAY, herewith a quick, easy, delicious recipe that literally takes ZERO time to whip together and only 15 minutes to bake! In no time at all you can have some delicious, gluten-free cookies at hand. So, for those late-night chocolate chip cookie cravings, this is your recipe. In total, this recipe can be started and finished in 25 minutes. How’s that for some speedy kitchen magic. And a big bonus is that you don’t even taste the chickpea flour at all, in fact it gives it a really delicious nutty flavour (but doesn’t take like chickpeas) that truly is to die for! And then don’t even get me started on the divine chocolate chips which, when just taken out of the oven, are deliciously melty and tender, just begging to be dipped in a cup of ice cold almond milk and enjoyed along with some good company & a few conscious breaths.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon of chickpea flour
3 tablespoons honey (or maple syrup)
1 tablespoon raw cane sugar
1.5 tablespoons scented coconut oil
1.5 tablespoons smooth or crunchy Peanut Butter (or tahini or another nut butter of choice)
3 tablespoons of high quality dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp baking powder
Big pinch of salt
METHOD:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius & line a baking tray with parchment paper.
In a big bowl place your chickpea (chana) flour, the sugar, the baking powder and the dark chocolate.
In a small saucepan place the honey or maple syrup, the coconut oil and the peanut butter to melt & emulsify. Don’t boil the mixture, just bring to heat in order to bring together. Then add to the chickpea mixture in the bowl & bring together well.
Form your balls - I made 6 balls and then flattened them down. Place into the oven & bake for 10 minutes. Take out and enjoy warm with some cold plant based milk OR let them cool and then store in an airtight container.
