Chocolate Nuggets

I'm back to baking! The Great British Baking Show has returned to Netflix with Season 9 and I have been inspired to preheat my oven and pull out my pans. Last night I finished off a homemade banana cake so today I mixed up some cookies loaded with yummy ingredients.

You may be wondering what happened to my sugar-free diet endeavor. And with good reason. Yes, I have taken a bit of a detour away from the sugar-free lifestyle. I'll get back to it again. Someday...

However, today's recipe is fairly low in sugar. In fact, I used zero sugar in the batter base. The chocolate chips are not sugar-free, but they are dark chips containing 69% cocoa, so they have less sugar than most. You can purchase sugar-free chocolate chips or you can choose to omit the chips and have completely sugar-free cookies, but I think you might regret it. The chocolate chips really send this cookie into the stratosphere when it comes to taste.

I'm calling these little gems "nuggets" as I made them pretty small (about 1-2 inches in diameter) and densely packed with goodies. I stuffed shredded coconut, almond flour, pecan pieces, chia seeds, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips into each delicious bite. Are they healthy? Sure! But more importantly, they taste great.

Ingredients:

2 TB softened butter 

6 TB coconut oil

1 TB inulin 

2 TB monk fruit sweetener (I used Splenda brand.)

2 eggs, beaten well

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup almond flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 TB chia seeds

1/3 cup coconut flakes

1/3 cup pecan pieces

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large baking sheet pan or use non-stick silpat sheet.

Beat ingredients together, adding one at a time in the order given. Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches space between cookies,  and bake at 350F for about 11 minutes or until firm and lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Transfer to cooling rack and continue cooling. Store in sealed container at room temperature for a day or two. Or store in fridge or freezer for longer. Makes about 2 dozen little nuggets.