As much as I’d like to deny it, I cannot.
I am a cookie monster.
I don’t remember the very first cookie I ever laid tastebuds on, but I remember my childhood filled with Oreos, Fig Newtons (yes I loved them as a kid!), Dunkaroos (remember those!), and, well, the list can go on and on and on.
My favorite cookies, however, were the ones my mom and her best friend Mary baked at Christmastime. Mary would come over to our house and the three of us would stay up until the wee hours of the morning baking batches upon batches of drop cookies, bar cookies, candies and other delectable treats for co-workers, family and holiday parties. Those memories give me SUCH warm fuzzies, and definitely the inspiration behind my love of baking. <3
As a grown-up (eek!), I don’t eat as many cookies. Especially store bought ones. And the cookies I’m making in my 30’s are definitely not the ones I was indulging in as a child. The cookies that come out of my kitchen these days are made with wholesome ingredients, a variety of gluten free and low-carb flours, nuts, dried fruits, raw honey, and lots of dark chocolate.
And, I love them all.
And I especially love these.
These sea salt and pecan chocolate chip cookies are gluten free, made without refined sugars, and are FULL of dark chocolate chips and pecans. The recipe for the gluten-free mix in the recipe below can be found here. You can find Enjoy Life dark chocolate chips at most stores (I purchase mine at Target and Publix).
The sea salt sprinkled on top of these cookies before the get put into the oven is divine! I love the combination of sweet and salty… and this is just the right amount to make you go YUM.
- 2 1/4 cups gluten-free baking mix
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) softened unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup raw honey
- 1/4 cup date sugar (or sub coconut sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs at room temp.
- 1 bag of Enjoy life chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- additional sea salt for garnish
- Combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter, honey, date sugar and vanilla extract together until well combined. Add the flour mix into the creamed butter 1/2 cup at a time until well combined.
- Fold in chocolate chips and pecans.
- Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. While the dough is chilling, pre-heat oven to 375.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and drop walnut sized spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the sheet. Gently press down with two fingers to help these spread out a bit while cooking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Cool on a rack and enjoy with lots and lots of ice cold glasses of almond milk!
