Saturday Afternoon Baking: Coconut Craisin Pecan Cookies

There's a winter storm in our forecast with 6-12 inches of snow predicted for tomorrow. May 11. Oddly, I'm excited about this. Sure, I'd much rather go on a Mother's Day hike but a late-season round of wintry weather forcing us to stay inside and rest isn't so shabby either. Especially when a day like that is sandwiched between two very busy end-of-the-school-year weeks.

I bought a bag of almond flour at Costco yesterday because I've been wanting to try baking with it as a gluten/grain free alternative. I found a cookie recipe online this afternoon, tweaked it a bit, and the cookies turned out AMAZING! They were so good I wanted to share the recipe here. Cookies make snowy forecasts much more bearable, don't you think?

Coconut Craisin Pecan Cookies (Grain Free-Gluten Free)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup blanched almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1/4 cup craisins
1/3 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup roughly chopped pecans
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 Tbsp coconut oil, melted
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Preparation:
1. Combine the almond flour, craisins, coconut, brown sugar, chopped pecans, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.
2. In smaller bowl, beat the egg until smoothy and doubled in volume.
3. Add melted cocount oil and vanilla to the egg mixture, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
4. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or overnight).
5. Preheat oven to 375. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Slightly flatten the cookies before baking.
6. Bake 7-10 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove and allow to cook on wire rack.

*Original recipe doesn't call for nuts or craisins, but 1/4 cup chocolate chips. I just happen to dislike chocolate so I added craisins and pecans.