These Chocolate Orange Amaretti Cookies are perfect for the holidays. I flavored them with dried cranberries and orange, but you could easily swap those out for coffee or mint. These delicious, chewy cookies are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, refined sugar-free and paleo. What’s even better, they’re super simple to make and no one will ever guess they contain no refined sugar, butter or flour.

Recipe

Chocolate Orange Amaretti Cookies

Ingredients

250 gms almond meal (made by pulsing raw almonds in a food processor until finely ground)
175 gms coconut sugar (more for rolling)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2 egg whites
2 tsp vanilla
Dash of almond extract
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp dried cranberries, finely chopped
Zest of half an orange
Additional coconut sugar and tapioca/corn flour for rolling

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat/parchment.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, coconut sugar, cocoa powder and cinnamon until well combined.

In another bowl, lightly whisk the egg whites, vanilla and almond extracts along with a pinch of salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet until a sticky dough forms.

If your oven is still preheating, refrigerate the cookie dough for 10 minutes. Roll equal portions of the dough into golf ball sized rounds.

Pulse 2 tbsp coconut sugar with 1 tsp of tapioca/corn flour until fine and transfer the mix to a shallow bowl. Roll the dough balls in this powder, coating all sides well.

Place on the baking sheet, 2” apart and and bake for 15-18 minutes or until the cookies get crackly on top.

Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Store in an airtight container when completely cool.