The Healthy(-ish) Chocolate Orange Cookie Recipe

If you’re a viewer of my Snapchats, then you’ll know that I’m a regular cookie baker/eater. I’m always testing out different recipes to find the most gooey-centred, moorish recipes that aren’t too horrendous in the health stakes (because I’m a cookie fiend who must have at least one cookie a day). Now I’ve tried out a load, but it’s Madeleine Shaw’s ‘The Ultimate Gluten-Free Choc Chip Cookies’ that I always come back to. It’s a bit of a faff getting all the ingredients together at first – I source most of mine from Amazon – but I do a bit of a bulk buy and then rustle up the recipe once a week, so there’s always something sweet on hand.

I was wondering how I could tweak the recipe to give it more of a Christmas vibe, when I remembered what my favourite flavour combination is – chocolate orange. Isn’t it the best? Give me a bag of those Terry’s Chocolate Orange Segments and they’ll be gone in two minutes. Sweet, sharp orange with a dark chocolate, slightly bitter edge is just pure heaven in a bite. A dollop of orange extract with a bit of orange zest and you’re on to a Christmas cookie winner…

CHOCOLATE ORANGE HEALTHY-ISH COOKIES (makes about 12): Soft in the centre and slightly crunchy on the outside, these are the perfect sweet treat to snack on in the afternoons (or mornings or evenings, or just generally all day). Best served slightly warm, although they keep in an airtight container for around five days.

You will need: 150g Coconut Oil (I use this one), 175g Coconut Palm Sugar (I use this one, though you could use Light Soft Brown Sugar), 1 Egg, 1 TSP Vanilla Extract, 1 TSP Orange Extract, 200g Buckwheat Flour (I just pick mine up from my local supermarket), 1 TSP Baking Powder, 150g Dark Chocolate Chips (I use these), Zest of 1 Orange 

Preheat the oven to 160ºC and begin by adding the coconut oil and coconut palm sugar to a food processor and blending until smooth. Then add the rest of your wet ingredients – an egg, vanilla extract and orange extract – and blend again. At this point you’re ready for your dry ingredients and so tip in the buckwheat flour and baking powder – blend again until this forms a wet dough. See told you this was easy? Finally add your chocolate chips and the zest from half an orange and pulse until both are combined into the mixture.

Line two baking trays with baking parchment and then use a cookie scoop (I have this one and it’s awesome) to evenly distribute 12 dollops of the mixture across the two trays. Pop the trays into the oven for around 10-12 minutes. Remove and allow the cookies to stiffen up a little on the tray before moving them onto a cooling rack. Grate a little more orange zest over the top and serve. I say serve, I mean ‘serve to yourself with a couple on a plate and a cup of tea’.

Are you salivating right now? Because I certainly am. Give me a shout if you make these cookies and big love to Madeline Shaw for dreaming up the base recipe. I’m already thinking about what combination to whip up next…a festive peppermint and white chocolate number perhaps? Mmmm mmmm.

Photos by Lauren Shipley