I’m going on vacation in a week, and while I’m looking forward to getting away and the anticipated fun, I’m also dreading the ‘getting there’ part. Time at the airport, the long flight and other contingencies make me a little wary.
This year I’ve decided to bring my own food for the trip; nothing fancy, perhaps a bento box filled with pakoras, hand pies and maybe some cookies, that’s if I can get it past airport security (fingers crossed).

For the cookies, I’m debating making these lovelies,,, almond flour cookies with almond butter and pistachios, I don’t make them often because they’re a little calorie dense, but I really, really love them!

I starting making them for my friend M’s little one, who is sensitive to gluten; the little guy hates most of the packaged glutten-free stuff, but these, he just gobbles up. I guess it’s because these cookies are a bit different.

See, these cookies are naturally gluten free, no substitutions necessary; they’re made with almond flour, almond butter and sweetened with maple syrup. They’re nutty, crispy, decadent and addictive.

I use packaged ground almond for convenience, but I’m thinking it’s probably just as easy (and economical) to grind your own.
I tend to alternate between using chunky and smooth almond butter, I like them both, each is a little different.
The pistachios were an afterthought, the original recipe had chocolate chips, which are awesome, but I prefer the soft buttery taste of pistachios in these cookies, plus they make them wholesome.
I bake mine thin and crunchy sometimes for crumbling over coconut milk ice cream for dessert, it’s so very decadent!

They certainly feel like the kind of indulgence I’d appreciate in a dark cramped cabin thousands of feet in the air, halfway through the trip somewhere over Greenland…

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Almond Flour Cookies with Almond Butter and Pistachios

Adapted from Peas and Thank You

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup almond butter or sunflower seed butter
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 1 “flax egg” (1 tablespoon ground flax + 3 tablespoon water)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup pistachios

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside
2. To make flax egg, mix ground flax with water and set aside
3. Add almond flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl
4. In another bowl, cream almond butter, maple syrup, flax and vanilla until smooth
5. Add almond flour mixture gradually until a dough forms
6. Fold in the pistachios
7. Using a tablespoon, scoop dough onto a cookie sheet, spacing cookies at least an inch apart
8. Bake for 12 – 15, or until cookies are set and browned
9. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring them onto a cooling rack
10. Enjoy!

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