Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts

I am (not-so) new to Paleo.  I recently joined Crossfit (more on that at a later date) and am jumping back into a Paleo diet. The hub and I ate Paleo for about four months before we embarked on our year long vegan adventure. We loved it! We found quite a few recipes that were stupendous. (One of those being the crockpot green chili pork I blogged about before.) The transition from vegan to paleo has been smooth for us. Plus, I'm a happy camper since I can now eat eggs :)

I have such a horrible, nagging sweet tooth. It tortures me day and night. Eating a delicious, sweet piece of fruit just doesn't cut it. Although a wonderful alternative, it just doesn't do it for me. I like to play around with baking which is great but also not a good idea if you don't want all the yummy baked goods lying around the house. If they are there, I WILL eat them! Simplest solution to that: bake wonderful yummies, eat one or two, quickly give the rest away. It's win-win-win, right??

Here is a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that is also paleo! Make them. Eat them. Enjoy them.

Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies with Walnuts**

Ingredients

• 2 cups blanched almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp celtic sea salt
• 1/4 cup palm shortening (or butter)
• 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (gluten, dairy, soy free)
• 1/2 cup walnut halves (optional but encouraged!)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Sift almond flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl.
3. In a stand mixer cream shortening and palm sugar together. Add the egg and vanilla extract and continue mixing, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts (if using).
5. Use a small cookie scoop or large spoon to scoop out balls of cookie dough – each cookie approximately 2 tablespoons. Roll into balls.
6. Place on a Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet and flatten out the dough into the thickness you like – the dough does not spread when cooking.
7. Cook for 10-12 minutes.

Makes roughly 2 dozen cookies

**This original recipe can be found over at Paleo Spirit