These almonds are delicious. I will definitely purchase them again!
I lightly roast these raw almonds in my toaster oven to give them even better flavor. I spread them evenly, about 3/4-inch thick, on an ungreased toaster-oven tray. I set the toaster oven to 250 degrees and bake them for 25-30 minutes. Almonds can burn a lot faster than you might expect, so be careful to not overbake them.
I eat these almonds on their own as a filling snack, and I also use them for baking. One excellent way to bake with them I have found is to use them to make delicious, vegan, chewy, cherry-chocolate-chip cookies. The addition of almonds imparts a deep, rich flavor to the cookies. Note that grinding up the ingredients in a food processor (other than, of course, not overbaking them) is the secret trick for giving these cookies a terrific, chewy texture.
VEGAN, CHERRY-CHOCOLATE-CHIP COOKIES
Ingredients
•1/2 cup rolled oats (144 calories)
•1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (144 calories)
•1/2 cup (75 gm) lightly roasted almonds (410 calories
•1/2 cup coconut oil (960 calories)
•3/4 cup raw sugar (585 calories)
•1/4 cup maple syrup (163 calories)
•1 tablespoon honey (60 calories)
•1 T stevia (optional if you like your cookies less sweet)
•1 T vanilla
•1 teaspoon cherry extract OR 1 teaspoon almond extract
•1 tablespoon arrowroot powder (egg substitute)
•1/2 teaspoon baking soda
•1/4 teaspoon salt
•6 tablespoon water (or cold tea)
•1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (336 calories)
•1 cup dried cherries (143 gm) (442 calories)
•1 cup vegan mini chocolate chips (175 gm) (887 calories)
Directions
•Preheat the oven to 350º. Grease cookie sheets.
•Chop up the dried cherries into small pieces, about the size of the mini chocolate chips.
•Place the flour, dried cherries and chocolate chips into a large bowl, mix them together well with a large spoon, and set aside.
•Place the oats, coconut flakes, and almonds in a Vitamix OR regular blender OR, ideally, a food processor. Grind them to a coarse powder. Don’t worry if there are a few small chunks of the almonds. It will add interesting texture to the cookies.
•Place all the other ingredients besides the flour mixture (which remains set aside) into the food processor with the oat/coconut/almond powder. Puree all these ingredients together until they form a thick, sticky syrup.
•Scrape the pureed mixture out of the food processor and into the bowl containing the flour mixture. Use a large, strong spoon or knead the flour mixture into the pureed mixture by hand. Or, if you have a large, table mixer with a bread hook, you could use that.
•Use a melon-ball scoop or soup spoon to dip 1-tablespoon-size balls onto a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Press down flat into a disc.
•Bake the cookies 6-7 minutes. Do NOT overbake. They should be pale and only slightly golden brown on the edges. They may be slightly shiny on the top with the center still a little soft. Let the cookies sit on the hot cookie sheet until they solidify. If you try to move them immediately, they will break apart. I personally bake these cookies in a toaster oven. When the timer goes off at 6 minutes, I turn off the toaster oven and let the cookies sit inside the still-warm oven for a minute. Then I let them continue to stay on the tray until they fully solidified, about 10 minutes.
•This recipe makes 6 dozen (72) cookies at 57 calories each.
•Note: These cookies freeze well and stay very fresh. You can also make this dough ahead of time and freeze for baking later. Shape the dough into balls, seal them in a freezer bag, and freeze them for up to 3 months. When ready to bake, allow them to thaw so you can press them flat before baking.
•Note: You can make this recipe gluten-free by substituting for the 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour any of the following: 1 cup rolled oats ground into flour OR 1 cup ground almonds OR 1 cup tapioca flour.
Almonds.
