Chocolate-Dipped Walnut and Currant Cookies

Chocolate-Dipped Walnut and Currant Cookies
Sweet, Miss Erin over at TexanErin Baking brought up the fact that I am lacking cookie recipes on this blog. This must be remedied! It’s funny because I’ve actually made quite a few batches of cookies but they somehow they don’t end up in my posts. I do apologize, dear readers, as cookies are critical in a baking repertoire and I do not intend on depriving you 🙂

While I did turn on the oven last week in the heat of the summer, these were worth it! I kept them in the fridge to keep the chocolate hard as I do not have air conditioning and these simply wouldn’t firm up at room temperature. It probably shouldn’t have been a recipe I tried on a 99F day but I was craving cookies and these hit the spot!

These little nutty bites have a slight crunch and are grain-free, easy and delicious! Any chopped dried fruit would be a great substitute for the currants if you prefer – I am thinking dried cherries and/or apricots would be a delightful add-in. The chocolate coating might be optional for some of you, but I thought they added that extra “oomph” to the cookie, though carob chips or white chocolate or a coconut butter coating would be lovely as well.

Cuisine: Chinese

Courses: snack

Ingredients

3 cups chopped walnuts
1 cup pecans (or more walnuts)
1/2 cup almond flour (hazelnut flour might work here too)
6 Tbsp coconut palm sugar or other granulated sweetener
1/16 tsp pure stevia extract (or several more tablespoons of sugar)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup currants (or your favorite chopped dried fruit)
2 eggs, whisked
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For dipping: 4 oz of your favorite dark or semisweet chocolate
1/2 tsp coconut oil
Optional: 4 Tbsp powdered xylitol or powdered sugar (I tried to dust my cookies with this and it barely showed up, this is only for looks)

Instructions

1
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line two large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a food processor, pulse the walnuts and pecans until it resembles a meal. Keep pulsing until the mixture sticks together in clumps.
- Add walnut-pecan "dough" to a medium mixing bowl along with the almond flour, sweetener, cinnamon and salt. Stir to combine.
- Stir in the whisked egg, currants and vanilla and combine until a dough forms.
- Divide mixture into 40 round balls. Flatten each dough ball slightly (these cookies will not spread much) and bake for 13-15 minutes until golden on the edges and slightly firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool.
- Heat chocolate and coconut oil in a double broiler until melted. Dip one side of cooled cookies into chocolate and placed on parchment or wax paper. Sprinkle with powdered xylitol/sugar if desired. Let firm at room temperature or put in refrigerator to harden. Enjoy!