You didn’t think I’d forgotten did you? Given the pink, hearts and chocolate everywhere I think it would be virtually impossible to ignore Valentine’s Day.
I don’t have that special someone in my life yet and I’d hope the many people who I do love know how I feel about them and don’t need a card or flowers to show that. All the same, it is quite nice to have an excuse to do something a little special, particularly if that involves chocolate!
Everyone knows chocolate is a sexy food but what you might know is that the aromatic Indian spice, cardamom, is also considered an aphrodisiac! (Check out the Arabian Nights and you’ll see it mentioned). It’s also high in cineole, which can increase blood flow to certain areas….!
I happen to love the taste of cardamom, and paired with chocolate, it’s obviously even more sensational.
You might not have the time to spend laboring over a fancy dessert for Friday night but these Almond, Cardamom & Chocolate Chunk Cookies take hardly any time at all, just one bowl and spoon, and are everything you could want from a sweet treat.
They’re gluten and grain-free as well as free from refined sugars so suitable for everyone, and the ground almonds they’re made from lend them that gorgeous melt-in-the mouth quality.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 C Ground almonds (almond flour)
- Pinch of salt
- 3/4 tsp Ground cardamom
- 1/4 C Coconut oil, melted
- 1/4 C Liquid sweetener (agave nectar/coconut nectar/maple syrup)
- 1 Tbsp Almond butter
- 40g/1.5oz Dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- In a medium bowl stir together ground almonds through to almond butter until fully combined.
- Stir through dark chocolate chunks.
- Scoop heaping tablespoons of the dough (it will be relatively soft and oily. Don't worry!), roll into balls and flatten slightly with a fork.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes watching carefully towards the end of baking time. They should be lightly browned on top but will still be very soft to the touch.
- Leave on the baking sheet to cool fully and firm up before serving.
I’m submitting this recipe to the weekly link-ups, Wellness Weekends and Healthy Vegan Fridays.
Do you have big plans for V day? I’ve got a friend coming to stay for the weekend so we can be single together!
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These sound delicious, love ground almonds, great flavour and texture! We have no plans for valentines day as we are visiting home that weekend so will be spending the evening on the national express- romantic! Ha! To be honest, I hate valentines day and all the commercial bullshit that goes with it, I’d rather just go out for a nice meal the weekend after.
Yeh I pretty much agree. the 14th is probably the worst night of the year to eat out! Glad you like the look of the cookies
I love choc chip cookies made with almond flour, so melt in your mouth! I’ve never tried adding cardomom before though, I must try it sometime.
I have a recipe quite similar but without the almond butter (which I adore BTW), it will make a nice change to make these!
Happy Valentine’s for Friday
Happy V day to you too Vicky! Definitely try the cardamom and use chocolate chunks if you can instead of chips- makes all the difference IMHO.
i find it funny when i see cardamom in desserts and baked goods because i actually….truly dislike it. i think i made a recipe several years ago that used WAY TO MUCH of it, and i’ve never recovered. although, maybe i could handle small amounts..like 1/8 tsp 😉
the cookies really do look delicious, with lots of flavor and great texture. and i love that they are gluten-free! maybe i’ll make these for dayv with cinnamon!!!
Sorry cardamom’s not to your taste. I’ve made these cookies without before and they’re still good
Apparently cinnamon is also an aphrodisiac though…
These do look amazing! Just wondered, where do you get ground cardomom? I have only seen the pods and would not know how to use them either!
You can make your own ground cardamom using whole cardamom pods ground in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. I’m lucky that my local hfs in Bath has jars of whole and ground spices and you can just weigh out the amount you want
If you do get some I’ve got a few recipes here which use it: My Apricot & Almond Smoothie http://www.coconutandberries.com/2013/07/01/apricot-almond-smoothie-with-a-hint-of-cardamom/, Tempeh & Cauliflower Pasanda http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/01/18/tempeh-cauliflower-pasanda/, and recent Apple Chai-Spiced Baked Oats: http://www.coconutandberries.com/2014/02/07/apple-chai-spiced-baked-oats/
Happy V Day!
Thanks for letting me know, I didn’t know it was that simple! I thought you had to crush the pods and somehow remove the seeds. When I have some I will be sure to try out you’re recipes
If you use a pestle and mortar you can just remove the papery green skins or in a spice grinder just grind up the whole lot- you won’t taste the skins.
Emma these look fantastic! I think I’ve rarely seen such a short ingredients list for cookies, which is greatly to my liking
Thanks lovely! Yep, short and sweet. Keeping it simple today 😀
So not fair! I went from Richa’s chocolate chunk cookies to these! You ladies are trying to kill me :-). I LOVE the cardamom in there.
Haha. I saw Richa’s giant cookies! Amazing. Happy love week Annie
I like the flavor of cardamom but have never paired it with chocolate chip cookies. Great idea!
For Easter I was given some “gourmet” chocolate bars and one of them was chocolate-cardamom. That turned me onto the whole chocolate-cardamom thing. So yummy!
those cookies look delicious and so simple to make - I love almond meal recipes and am sad that I can’t send any nut baking to sylvia’s school - sounds like you have Valentine’s Day sorted with the cookies and company. we don’t have plans as it is not something we tend to celebrate but at least we have chocolate in the house
We never had any of these allergy things when I was at school! I don’t think peanuts were even banned. Chocolate in the house is essential on all occasions 😉
I love cardamom and can’t wait to make these! Do you grind almonds into flour? Or do you buy almond flour? I feel like it might not be the same if I tried to do it at home? Your thoughts?
I buy “ground almonds” in the UK which are ground BLANCHED almonds so they have the skin removed and grind up finer than raw almonds would. If it’s easier for you buy whole blanched almonds and grind them yourself than that’s fine but I wouldn’t sub almond meal from raw almonds. Hope that’s clear and that you make the cookies!
Love this recipe Emma!!! And such lovely and mouth watering pictures as always!! Also love your new design and set-up of the blog - gorgeous!! 😉 hugs, Sylvia
Thanks Sylvia
The new design’s easier for recipe format.
These look so good and so simple. I really need to experiment with cardamom! Happy Valentines Day (for tomorrow!)
Cardamom’s beautiful- in savoury and sweet.
Happy V day to you too! x
These look so delicious Emma! The only downside of making them for Valentine’s Day is that I definitely wouldn’t want to share 😛 I love cardamom but have never paired it with chocolate - I definitely have to rectify that.
Haha, I think out of 12 cookies I can sacrifice a few…but I’m usually a little reluctant to do so as well!
I was given some “gourmet” chocolate bars at Easter and one of them was chocolate-cardamom. That turned me on to the flavour combination. So yummy.
These look delicious, I bet that cardamon adds a lovely twist. I haven’t made cookies in so long and this post is tempting me!
Let yourself be tempted! 😉
These look wonderful Emma! I love how simple the ingredients list is too
I often forget how good simple can be so I was really happy with how these turned out
These look delicious Emma and I love how easy they are. Almond flour is my number one flour I use. I have a recipe similar to this where I use peanut butter instead of the oil. Almond flour is so awesome because it lends so much moisture. I’ve never tried cardamom before, crazy huh?!
It does doesn’t it? I haven’t worked much with it before but I’d love to veganize one of my old favourite cakes which was a flourless one made with almond flour. It relied heavily on eggs though so the recipe needs some fiddling with…
And you MUST try cardamom!
these look way too good for me to be trusted around
But still I just have to make them one day. Geert and I are going to a concert tomorrow, but not because it’s Valentine, that’s just a coincidence. We’re actually those kind of annoying way to cool for valentine’s day people, we never do anything special. OR we always do special things together so tomorrow will be no different than any other day 😉
I’ve shown myself I cannot be trusted around them either!! But yes they’re worth it
You and Geert are adorable and definitely too cool for Valentine’s day!
I love cardamom, such a wonderful flavor, remids me of my childhood too. Love how simple these cookies are!
Why your childhood? I’m intrigued…I think it’s a flavour I discovered later on in life.
I’m guilty of complicating things a lot of the time so it was good to keep these pretty simple.
My mom used to bake with a lot of cardamom! It’s one of her favorite spices.
i love that there just almond awesomeness in these cookies and those gorgeous large chunks of chocolate! of course i can eat anything cardamom. i cannot remember an indian dessert which doesnt have cardamom.. sometimes a bit too much i think
i need to bake more with almond flour!
I thought about choc chips but then decided chunks would be far better!
Yes, I guess you’re probably tired of cardamom but I should try some Indian desserts if they’re cardamom-filled!
To be honest, Valentine’s Day is barely on my radar since I’m also without a romantic interest, but that’s why I’m even more appreciative of your cookies! They’re not heart-shaped, they’re not neon pink, and they sound delicious for any day of the year. Now that’s true love.
Well I’ve certainly had my fair share of them already so I would have to agree that they’re wonderful any day of the year! I’ll wish you a happy Friday rather than happy V day then 😉
You got all my favorite flavors in one cookie - almond-cardamom and chocolate! This cookies are calling my name- I can’t wait to try them! Gorgeous pictures too. Love your blog- beautiful place!
I’ve just had a peek at your site and it looks stunning too! Thanks for stopping by.
Cardamon and choc are one of my fave pairings, gorgeous recipe x
Thank you Deena. I’m in love with the flavour combination.
These cookies look and sound absolutely delicious! I’ve made Ricki’s almond meal cookies before (which we loved) so I’m sure these will be a hit with the family. I love cardamom but I’ve never paired it with chocolate before. I’m looking forward to giving it a try!
I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend with your friend, regardless of the crazy weather! xx
Thanks Sharon, my friend and I have had a lovely weekend
I haven’t tried Ricki’s cookies yet. Are those ones in NSGF? I hope you give mine a go.
These look wonderful! And so simple! I love the cardamon in there. Thanks for sharing
Thanks Deryn
Cardamom is so wonderful with chocolate.
I love your recipes! I’m hosting a Vegan Mondays recipe roundup every Monday (opens Sunday nights US pacific time) and would love to see some of your creations on there!
Thanks! I’ll make a note to join in next week
I totally ignored Valentine’s day even though I have a special someone. I guess we just don’t want all those adds and industries tell us when to celebrate:).
Your cookies look great and I heard about the chocolate cardamamom combination before but never tried it. I think I must!
You really must try the flavour pairing. It’s really gorgeous.
Good for you for ignoring the media frenzy around Valentine’s Day. I’ve noticed now it’s over the Easter eggs have immediately appeared in the shops!
What gorgeous little cookies…and grain-free too! I love the addition of cardamom. What a great compliment to chocolate. Hope you had a great valentine’s day. You are loved!!
Thanks Heather
I had a lovely weekend with a best friend.
I’ve managed to save a few cookies in the freezer for treats emergencies!
I really want to explore using almond flour, as I’m trying to keep my wheat intake to a minimum. These look and sound amazing…the combination of cardamom and chocolate sounds delightful!
Considering how much I love both almonds and cardamom, I really don’t cook with either often enough. I think these biscuits will serve as an excellent reason to do both.
So happy to have come across this recipe of yours, Emma! It sounds amazing and I want to try it soon! *bookmarking*
I hope you try them. I love how buttery they are and the choc chunks and that hint of cardamom are pretty wonderful.
These were so delicious, they’re my new favorite!! They turned out perfectly and my boyfriend couldn’t believe that they were vegan! I had some ingredients left over too, and have been craving raspberry jam for some odd reason, so for breakfast this morning I’m using this same recipe (trying one with dark chocolate and one without) but with the jam to make raspberry thumbprints. Thank you, Emma!
Yay! So glad you loved them Jacqueline! I love the idea of making jam thumbprints with them too- raspberry’s my favourite 😀