Since I have been rushed off my feet over the past few weeks starting another cookbook photo shoot. I have been trying to do a little bit of baking when I have a free minute to stock up on snacks to have on hand when I am too tired to make myself something. Plus hubby always likes a little something on weekends to have with his cuppa tea but I don't like to have bought biscuits in the house. It's sacrilege when I can make something just as good and healthier myself.

So I threw open my pantry doors one day and had a hard look at what I had in the cupboards to pull together to make a healthy, low GI, scrumptious cookie. Something that I would be happy to munch on, give to my 15 month old and my husband will happily eat not really knowing how healthy it is. Husband has a nose for "healthyfied" treats. He slowly eats them and says slowly after he finishes it... "these have something different in them don't they?". I can't say I have been successful trying to sneak hat little less sugar into his cooking or swapping it out altogether and trying stevia or rice malt syrup OR playing around with different flours. The consistency is not always right nor is the flavour. Poor man has had to eat some rather interesting finished products.

Anyway back to the pantry door opening experience.... I pulled out a few things that I though would make a good base to a biscuit... oats, coconut, almond meal, flax and spelt flour. I had coconut macaroon type flavours swirling around in my head so I thought I would try and create something with the almond meal, coconut and flax. These ingredients would make it gluten free and I opted to use coconut oil instead of butter making it dairy free as well. So I went the whole hog and used rice malt for the sweetener and I have the healthy trifecta! Dairy, Gluten & Refined Sugar Free!

If you find you don't have almond meal in the cupboard why not buzz 2 cups worth in the food processor and that should give you just about the right amount to use in these cookies. You could play around with some spices as well such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and mixed spice to create some lovely fragrant cookies. Why not play around with different nuts as well - think ground macadamia's, cashews, pecans or walnuts? These little biscuits can be pretty versatile if you want to play around with them a bit. I made a batch of these and put them up in the cookie jar we have in our cupboard. I didn't tell hubby they were "healthyfied" and I saw him with his hand in the jar numerous times sneaking one or two. J.D enjoyed them as well when I wanted to give him a treat. They are quite hard so you may need to make sure your toddler has a a decent amount of teeth before handing one over and I take the almond out of the top so he doens't choke on it.

These cookies are my kind of cooking at the moment - one bowl, mix it all up, bake it and chuck it in the cookie jar. Time is of the essence and these a really easy and quick to maker! Perfect for the busy mum.

Almond & Coconut Cookie

by The Whimsical Wife

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 18-20 minutes

Keywords: bake snack dairy free gluten-free sugar-free coconut almonds fall spring summer winter

Ingredients (12-16 cookies)

1 1/2 cups almond meal
1/2 cup ground flax
2 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup rice malt syrup
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
10-12 whole almonds, to garnish

Instructions

Preheat oven to 160 degrees (fan bake). Line a large cookie tray.

In a large mixing bowl place all the dry ingredients.
In a microwavable safe container place the ricemalt syrup and coconut oil and heat until melted and runny.
Add to the dry ingredients along with the vanilla extract and egg white.

Mix to combine the ingredients.

Roll the mixture into walnut size balls and flatten onto the tray. Press an almond in the top of the biscuit.

Repeat with the remaining mixture.

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown. Keep an eye on these as they will burn quickly.

Cool before removing to a cooling rack.

Store for up to 2 weeks in a airtight container.