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dani california cooks

homegrown and homemade in CA

Flourless Triple Chocolate Nutella Cookie Sandwiches

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These grain-free chocolate cookies are pretty awesome on their own…but taking them over the top by forming sandwiches with a little Nutella? Ohhh boy.

Flourless Triple Chocolate Nutella Cookie Sandwiches | danicaliforniacooks.com FYI, I’m about to get a liiiiiittle inappropriate. This post as an R rating. Have you ever played the game “kill, screw, or marry”? Like, “Oh, I’d kill Channing Tatum, screw Leonardo DiCaprio, and marry Ben Brad Pitt” (in case you were wondering). I have to say…these didn’t start out as Nutella-stuffed delights. No, they started out as dainty little paleo cookies that just happened to have double the rich chocolate. They would be cookies I’d marry for sure. Buuuuut I didn’t stop there. It was a sunny Friday afternoon, and I was feeling creative. So I eyed the jar of organic chocolate hazelnut spread in my fridge, leftover from the Valentine’s Day poptarts, and had an “ah-HA moment. TRIPLE the chocolate? YES YES YES. And these sandwich cookies were born. These are cookies you’d do dirty things for, although you may not be able to handle them more than once. Screw-worthy cookies, but maybe not marriage material. Too over-the-top.

Flourless Triple Chocolate Nutella Cookie Sandwiches | danicaliforniacooks.com Alright, I’ll get my head out of the (food) gutter and make this more of a respectable reading situation. On a completely different note, sometimes I enjoy paleo or raw treats over the “real” thing. Not even because I know it’s better for me, but I love the nuttiness that almond meal brings to paleo baked goods, and I go crazy for the use of dates in raw treats. On their own, these cookies are sweetened with only maple syrup and chocolate chips, and they really are delightful. Adding the Nutella and sandwiching two together? Well, they are no longer paleo (or particularly waist-friendly) but they certainly become one special treat. And they look so RICH and IMPRESSIVE. That’s my favorite kind of recipe - one that is easy to make, healthified (to the lamenting sighs of my boyfriend, the taste tester), and something that is really crowd-pleasing. And one that you can make dirty jokes to in your blog about. Anyone remember my “balls for all” reference? #newlow

Flourless Triple Chocolate Nutella Cookie Sandwiches | danicaliforniacooks.com But seriously, if you can spread jam on toast, you can make these cookies. Which I know is all of you. I even thought about turning these into mini ice cream sandwiches instead of the Nutella, which would be awesome for eating but much more difficult when photographing in the morning. Sigh, the woes of a food blogger. Anyways, I hope this recipe kicks off your weekend right with a little sweetness, and little chocolate, and definitely something kind of naughty ;).
Flourless Triple Chocolate Nutella Cookie Sandwiches | danicaliforniacooks.com

Flourless Triple Chocolate Nutella Cookie Sandwiches
 
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These grain-free cookies are sweetened with maple syrup and are taken over the top when sandwiched with a little Nutella.
Author:
Serves: 9 sandwiches
Ingredients
  • 2 cups almond flour
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup
  • ¼ cup coconut oil, softened
  • 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
  • Nutella or another chocolate hazelnut spread
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
  2. In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients but the mini chocolate chips together
  3. Slowly fold in the mini chocolate chips
  4. On a greased baking sheet, form one-inch sized balls of the dough and press into a cookie shape. Aim for same-sized cookies
  5. Bake for 10-12 minutes
  6. Let cool completely
  7. Using a knife, spread Nutella on the flat side of one cookie, and then press another cookie to form a sandwich
  8. Repeat until you have 9 cookie sandwiches
  9. Enjoy!

Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts for Valentine’s Day!

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Make your own heart-shaped whole wheat toaster pastries with strawberry and chocolate hazelnut fillings for Valentine’s Day! Use this base recipe to make homemade poptarts anytime of the year. Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts for Valentine's Day | danicaliforniacooks.com I have a few confessions to make. 1) I had been wanting to purchase a heart shaped cookie cutter for over a year now. I had so many visions of heart shaped pancakes and toasts and cookies! and 2) The entire time while assembling and baking these all I wanted was have like 10 of my own children around to be able to bake these for. While I’m a bona fide city gal, sometimes I dream about having 10 kids and 10 dogs and 10 cats and 10 chickens and live on some ranch compound. (…All within short driving distance of LA or SF, of course. So another confession - I love Valentine’s Day). And these poptarts are perfect for your kids to bring to class, for you to woo your coworkers with a cutesy treat, or to make ahead for Valentine’s Day for a no-bake breakfast morning with your sweetheart. I employed Momma Dani California Cooks to help me with baking these.

Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts for Valentine's Day | danicaliforniacooks.com The dough is just whole wheat flour, butter, water, and salt. The whole wheat provides a nice nuttiness to the poptart, and the butter makes them rich and flakey. I didn’t want to add any sugar to the dough, because I knew that whatever I was going to stuff inside these beauties would be sweet enough! Lisa’s base recipe from 100 Days of Real Food was perfect. We used jam and an organic version of Nutella. Did anyone else read the article about the French couple who wanted to name their child Nutella, but a judge ruled it illegal? Hah! I don’t even like Nutella that much (blasphemy - I know!) but I thought it would be a great addition in these poptarts, alongside some freshly toasted hazelnuts. Just to adult-ify these up a bit. Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts for Valentine's Day | danicaliforniacooks.com Fill up one side of the heart with your filling of choice, match it with another heart shape, and use egg wash and a fork to seal the edges. And for extra cute-ness, sprinkle on some Valentine’s Day themed sprinkles! You can use the leftover dough to make poptarts of any size - we made a couple of baby-sized circles just for sampling. And if you want to make these year round, simply use a knife to cut out poptart-sized rectangles.
Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts for Valentine's Day | danicaliforniacooks.com These poptarts are perfectly sweet, flakey, crunchy, and almost too cute to eat. I plan to freeze a few and check back in a couple of weeks to see how they do when they are defrosted - I’ll get back to you on that one! (I’m trying to save a few for when Nate returns). In the meantime, we are gobbling these down in preparation for Valentine’s Day. Maybe if I had those 10 kids around I wouldn’t eat them all myself. Meh, debatable. I may end up just hiding them from my kids they are so good. Anyways, I hope they inspire you to do some fun Valentine’s Day baking to shower some love on whoever you want to in your life!

Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts for Valentine's Day | danicaliforniacooks.com

Homemade Whole Wheat Poptarts
 
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Make your own homemade whole wheat poptarts with strawberry jam or Nutella for a festive Valentines Day treat! Adapted from 100 Days of Real Food.
Author:
Serves: 15
Ingredients
  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 2 sticks butter
  • ⅔ cup ice water
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Egg, whisked
  • Strawberry jam
  • Nutella
  • Toasted hazelnuts (optional)
  • Sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
  1. Cut the butter into one-inch pieces
  2. Mix the butter, flour, and salt into a crumbly dough using your hands or a food processor
  3. Add the water slowly, until a dough ball forms
  4. Sprinkle flour on the dough ball, and place onto a well-floured surface. Using a well-floured rolling pin, roll into a ⅛ inch layer
  5. Preheat your oven to 375 F
  6. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter (or cut into whatever shape/size you want!) carve out your shapes
  7. Take one heart shape, and fill with 1-2 tbsp of Nutella (and sprinkle toasted hazelnuts) or strawberry jam
  8. Using a brush, brush a little of the whisked egg on the borders of the heart. Top it off with another heart shaped piece
  9. Using a fork, press down around the two pieces to seal together
  10. Brush a little egg on top, and then add sprinkles (if desired)
  11. Repeat until all the dough is gone
  12. On a lightly greased baking sheet, place each poptart
  13. Place the baking sheet in the oven, and bake 20-25 minutes
  14. Remove, let cool, and enjoy!
Notes
Other great fillings include different kinds of jams (blueberry, apricot), brown sugar and cinnamon, or chocolate chips!