Nutella Cookies

Hi Everyone,

Today is our last day of classes! Now the studying really has to start… A few of my friends and I were talking about chocolate and studying and how they just seem to fit together- almost to the point of necessity. You know, get your pens, your notecards, your water, your caffeine, your chocolate- sounds about right 😉

Yesterday in the grocery store, I was craving chocolate but was also completely indecisive in the snack isle- I wasn’t in the mood for anything. I finally saw some chocolate covered hazelnuts but was turned off by all of the preservatives and large package (I know that I’d probably eat the whole thing, especially while studying, and that just didn’t need to happen).

When I got home, I was planning on baking cookies for a friend but wasn’t sure which ones. This is when I saw my roommate’s jar of Nutella.  In order to prevent myself from taking a spoonful (or two) to cure my chocolate craving, I decided to bake nutella cookies instead. I also decided it was now time to try to create my own recipe (you know, because I obviously have nothing else to do).  Let me introduce my Vegan Nutella Cookies- with no animal products, no white sugar, whole grains, healthy fats, and a little crunch. This was a perfect solution for my craving- I’ll be making them again soon to help get me through studying 🙂 They were roommate and friend approved, so I thought I’d share the recipe here, too.

Before I get to that, a quick side note- have you heard of the dioxin scandal in Germany? Toxic dioxin, a harmful, scary, tasteless, odorless, potentially cancer causing chemical was mixed into chicken and pig feed and distributed throughout Germany and other parts of Europe. Awesome, right? Although the warning to avoid eggs and poultry officially only applies to eggs sold before December 23, 2010, there is a lot of skepticism coming from the Germans (and me).  And it shows- for example, the last two times I tried buying organic eggs (they’re supposedly safe), they’ve been sold out (in more than one grocery store). So although I don’t use that many eggs in general, I’m avoiding them even more now. Hence the extra focus on vegan baking for now. You can try using an egg instead of the flax/water, but I’m not promising it will work…

Ok, recipe time 🙂

Vegan Nutella Cookies

makes appoximately 18 medium sized cookies

3T ground flax seeds
5T water
1/4c whole wheat pastry flour (in Germany 1050)
1/2c old fashioned oats
1/4c ground hazelnuts*
1/2t salt
1/2t baking soda
1/2t baking powder (in Germany 1t)
1/4c cocoa powder
2T almond butter
2T maple syrup
1/4c raw sugar
2T canola oil
3T non-dairy milk (or organic)
1t Vanillezucker or Vanilla Extract
1/4c roughly chopped hazelnuts
1/4c roughly chopped chocolate or chocolate chips

*in Germany, you can buy ground hazelnuts in the store, but if these are unavailable in your area, use your food processor or blender to grind hazelnuts until they are a bit coarser than flour.
To Prepare:

Preheat oven to 350ºF or 175ºC.

Mix the ground flax and water in a small bowl and set aside for 5-10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients: flour, oats, cocoa powder, ground hazelnuts, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine wet ingredients: almond butter, raw sugar, oil, milk, vanilla and maple syrup.

Add the dry to the wet and stir until just combined. Do not overmix. Add in chopped hazelnuts and chocolate.

Spoon onto a parchment lined baking sheet (or greased) and bake for 10-12 minutes. Do not underbake, they will be too soft and fall apart. I did three oven tests (that’s what happens when you only have a toaster oven) and ended up putting the second batch back in the oven for a few minuted because they were too soft.

Let cool for 5 or so minutes on the pan and then transfer to a cooling rack.

Enjoy!