As a child my home revolved around what was happening in the kitchen. Both my brother and I spent a lot of time watching my mother cook. The oldest child of three, she grew up on a farm in Saskatchewan where she would prepare a lot of the meals for her family. My mother was raised on an all organic, free range meat, non-GMO diet before it was the cool thing to do. Using her knowledge from her childhood, she would create amazing meals in our kitchen without a recipe in sight, with an almost perfect turnout. There were a couple memorable fails though, like the most bitter artichoke soup I have every tasted to this day. (Note to self, if I ever make an artichoke soup, it is best done by using the hearts only, rather than boiling the entire thistle, including the stem and petals.) We were raised to love and appreciate good healthy food, which I still thank her for on a regular basis.
Her baking however, wasn't quite as stellar. I don't mean any disrespect to my wonderful mother, to whom I owe almost all of my knowledge of the kitchen, but aside from her amazing lemon chiffon cakes topped with a thick layer of 7 minute frosting, her baking always required some "adjusting", to put it lightly. My brother and I got creative though, softening rock hard cookies in the microwave or dunking them in milk to add to the browned and burnt flavour of her chocolate chip or ginger cookies.
After one rock hard cookie too many, I decided to take the baking in that house into my own hands. I followed recipes with extreme caution, levelling teaspoons of soda and sifting flour to perfection. I was rewarded with cakes and cookies which received rave reviews from friends and family. My brother became my toughest critic. If he ate them, knew it was good.
As my baking skills improved, my creativity felt stifled by the strictness of the recipes I followed. I began to grow tired of my go-to recipes so I did what any curious baker would do - I started to make them up! It started out quite innocent at first; a little less flour here, a little more vanilla there, but baking became much more fun when I started to throw recipes together based on my knowledge alone. Unfortunately, my success rate declined with all of my improvisation. Sure, there were some fabulous desserts that made their way out of my oven, but also far too many epic fails to count. The lack of success ate away at my motivation, which, combined with a more sedentary lifestyle after leaving the world of swimming, caused me to lose my passion for baking.
On to the present, where I swim for fun, coach an amazing team of young synchronized swimmers (yes you read that right) and lift on a regular basis. In the past 12 months I've made a few major changes to my diet, along with many little ones that weren't that hard to give up. I steer clear of refined sugars, most dairy products, gluten, legumes, processed foods and hydrogenated oils. If you're interested in a baseline of the diet I follow, follow this link to learn more (http://www.bulletproofexec.com/the-complete-illustrated-one-page-bulletproof-diet/). I didn't have to change my diet drastically as I ate quite similarly before hand, but we will save that for another post.
The biggest challenge with my diet change was dessert. I am a sucker for anything chocolate and a good chewy cookie. Store bought gluten free baking didn't cut it, which typically contains a whole lot of potato flour, refined sugars and other yucky things. Cut up fruit topped with nuts or coconut was boring, as were most desserts that the internet deems to be healthy and "paleo". Frustrated and hungry, I wanted to know why you couldn't find a recipe that was made from a small list of good ingredients that would do your body good. Dessert shouldn't be about sneaking a treat that harms the body, it should be about eating something tasty without worrying about where the residual effects will show up the next time you rock a swimsuit. I knew I had to do something about it, since my chocolate and dessert cravings simply cannot be curbed. That's why I started baking the way I bake. Life should taste good and leave you energized. So snack away at these cookies, no guilt required.
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Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies
These little cookies are soft and chewy, with a spiciness that builds as you go along. I like my cookies to be intense in flavour, so I've spiced them quite heavily. Taste them as you go, you never know how spicy you might want them!
Makes 12-15 cookies
1/2 cup grass-fed butter
3/4 cup coconut palm sugar
2 eggs at room temp.
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tbs maple syrup or honey
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 - 3 tbs almond flour
1/3 cup cocoa (or raw cacao)
2 - 3 tsp cinnamon
2 - 3 tsp cayenne ( I like em spicy)
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt if using unsalted butter
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 - 3/4 cup 70% dark chocolate or a dark chili chocolate bar, chopped. (try to find chocolate without soy lecithin)
Preheat oven to 350. (My gas range is extremely hot so I bake everything at 300, so try a test cookie at 325 or 350)
Whip butter until pale and fluffy in a stand mixer or by hand if you want a really good arm workout. Approx. 3 - 4 minutes. Add sugar and whip another minute. Add in eggs, vanilla and honey.
Sift together coconut flour, almond flour, cocoa, spices and sodas. Add to wet ingredients at low speed in your mixer. Once combined, dough should look firm yet still quite pliable. Add in chocolate chunks and mix until just combined.
Roll into 1.5 - 2 inch balls and arrange on a tray lined with parchment. Press down to make circular cookies. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
Let cool on cookie rack. Enjoy with coffee or hot chocolate :)
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