Raw Chocolate Chip Cookies with Maple Vanilla Cream and Rose Petals
Chewy, golden almond-coconut chocolate chip cookies, each topped with a swirl of silky maple vanilla cream, a drizzle of dark chocolate, crunchy cacao nibs, shredded coconut, rose petals, and a dusting of cinnamon sugar. No baking, no refined sugar, and as pretty as they are delicious. Vegan, grain-free, and gluten-free.
Yield: About 12 cookies · Active: 45 min · Total: 1½ hours (including chilling), or overnight if dehydrating · Year-round · Best eaten: midday or early afternoon
Ingredients
Chocolate chip cookies
1½ cups almond flour
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
6 soft Medjool dates, pitted
3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp Baja Gold sea salt
⅓ cup mini 100% cacao chocolate chips
Maple vanilla cream
1 cup cashews, soaked at least 4 hours (or 1 hour in hot water), then drained
¼ cup full-fat coconut cream (with no guar gum)
3 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp cacao butter, melted (or coconut oil)
Seeds of ½ vanilla bean (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Chocolate drizzle
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tbsp maple syrup
Pinch of Baja Gold sea salt
Cinnamon sugar dusting
1 tbsp coconut sugar
½ tsp Ceylon cinnamon
To decorate: cacao nibs, unsweetened shredded coconut, and dried edible rose petals
Method
Make the cookie dough. Process the dates into a sticky paste, then add the almond flour, coconut, coconut oil, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt and process until a soft dough forms that holds together when pinched. Pulse in the chocolate chips just until mixed.
Shape. Scoop the dough into 12 balls, about 2 tbsp each, and flatten them into 2½-inch rounds on a parchment-lined tray, pressing the edges smooth.
Firm them up. For soft, chewy cookies, chill them 30 minutes. For cookies with crisp, golden edges, like in the photo, dehydrate them at 115°F for 8–12 hours.
Make the maple vanilla cream. Make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. Blend the cashews, coconut cream, maple syrup, vanilla, and salt in a high-speed blender until completely silky. With the blender running on low, stream in the melted cacao butter. Chill 20–30 minutes, until thick enough to pipe.
Make the drizzle. Whisk the melted coconut oil, cacao, maple syrup, and salt until smooth and glossy.
Make the cinnamon sugar. Stir the coconut sugar and cinnamon together.
Decorate. Pipe or spoon a swirl of maple vanilla cream onto the center of each cookie. Drizzle with chocolate, then scatter with cacao nibs, shredded coconut, and rose petals, and finish with a light dusting of cinnamon sugar.
Chill 15 minutes to set the chocolate, then serve.
Storage: Decorated cookies keep refrigerated up to 5 days. Undecorated cookies keep refrigerated up to 1 week, or frozen up to 2 months, so you can decorate them as you go.
A note on "raw": Every cashew sold has been heat-treated to remove the caustic oil in its shell, U.S. almonds are pasteurized by law, and coconut sugar is made by heating coconut sap, so "raw" here means no-bake.
Nourishment Notes
Almond flour — vitamin E, magnesium, and monounsaturated fats.
Coconut — fiber, manganese, and lauric acid, a medium-chain fat.
Medjool dates — potassium, magnesium, and fiber, with natural caramel sweetness.
Cashews — magnesium, copper, and zinc.
Raw cacao, cacao nibs, and 100% cacao chocolate — magnesium, iron, flavanols, and theobromine.
Ceylon cinnamon — polyphenols that help moderate blood sugar.
Rose petals — polyphenols and a delicate floral fragrance.
As a circadian treat, these cookies land best at midday or in the early afternoon, when your body handles sweets most gracefully in daylight.
Sourcing
Almond flour — organic and fresh (keep it in the fridge); for truly raw almond flour, grind your own from organic, unpasteurized Spanish almonds, like Terrasoul's
Shredded coconut — organic, unsweetened, and sulfite-free
Medjool dates — organic, soft, and plump
Cashews — organic (every cashew sold has been heat-treated, even "raw" ones)
Coconut cream — organic and full-fat, made with just coconut and water, with no guar gum (Native Forest Simple comes in BPA-free cans)
Coconut oil and cacao butter — organic, virgin coconut oil; organic, raw cacao butter
Chocolate chips, cacao powder, and cacao nibs — organic 100% cacao chips (Pascha makes them), organic raw cacao powder and nibs, ideally tested for heavy metals
Maple syrup and coconut sugar — organic Grade A dark maple syrup; organic coconut sugar
Ceylon cinnamon — organic and non-irradiated, from Sri Lanka
Rose petals — organic, food-grade, and pesticide-free (never from florists)
Vanilla — organic vanilla beans or pure vanilla extract
Baja Gold sea salt
— Anna aka Food Marshall