Gluten-Free Coconut-Cream Bliss Cookies

I think it’s time for a cookie recipe, and these are absolutely divine! They’re made with coconut cream concentrate (from Tropical Traditions, a favorite company of mine). CCC has the same fat & calorie content as nut butters do, so I like to use it in place of those sometimes. Plus it’s a delicious way to take advantage of the health benefits of coconut.

Lindsey’s Gluten-Free Coconut-Cream Bliss Cookies

1 1/2 cups coconut cream concentrate*

1/2 cup plain yogurt or kefir

1 1/4 cups arrowroot powder

Rounded 1/2 cup sucanat

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

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Heat the coconut cream concentrate over low heat until softened or melted.

Then melt the coconut oil over low heat; remove from heat and mix in the vanilla and almond extracts.

In a large bowl, mix the arrowroot with the sucanat and salt.

Add the coconut cream concentrate and coconut oil to the arrowroot.

Mix until well combined.

The dough should be very nice and workable, not overly sticky. If it’s sticky, add more arrowroot.

Form dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on a greased cookie sheet (or for easier cookie removal, use parchment paper). Flatten each ball with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a glass.

Bake at 325° for 20-30 minutes or until they hold together and are very lightly browned on the bottom.
Cool a bit and remove from the cookie sheet while still warm. If they cool down and then seem to be glued to the cookie sheet, place them back into the oven to warm up again, and then they’ll be easy to remove.

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* Coconut Cream Concentrate is dried coconut meat which has been ground very finely into a butter, the way nuts would be ground into nut butter. You can cook and bake with it, mix it with water into coconut milk, put it in smoothies, spread it on a tortilla with honey & cinnamon, or eat it plain. The Concentrate will arrive separated into two layers, and you’ll need to mix them first before you use it.

To do that, unscrew the lid and put the jar into a pan of barely simmering water.

Keep the heat as low as it’ll go. This will take a while — you’ll know it’s ready when you stir the concentrate and no chunks remain.

Once it’s smooth, stir it up completely. (I like to dump it all into a big bowl, which makes stirring easier. Then I pour it back into its jar.)

Transfer the jar to the fridge to solidify. Once it’s solidified, you can remove it from the fridge and store at room temperature. It’ll stay mixed in all but the hottest weather.