Paleo Cookies

Paleolithic Diet Cookies
These paleo cookies will turn hard if baked to long so keep a close eye on them in the oven; this recipe produces semi-sweet cookies; if you prefer sweeter, consider adding optional dried chopped fruit and/or more honey or agave sweetener (up to 1/2 cup more) to this recipe. Makes 3-4 dozen cookies. Keep in sealed freezer bag - can last several weeks if kept sealed, several months or more if kept in freezer. Note: this recipe is considerably easier if you buy two 16-oz bags of Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal/Flour at a local Whole Foods, Earth Fare, etc.

Ingredients:
Parchment paper
2 cups or 16-oz honey (we prefer orange-blossom)
2 cups by volume or 10 ounces of whole walnuts
4 cups of almond flour or 20 ounces of whole almonds
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp of salt
Opt: 4-8 oz of your fav chopped dried fruit - blueberries, cranberries, raisins, etc.

For soft and chewy cookies, bake only approx 15 minutes in a well pre-heated oven, let sit on parchment paper for 15 minutes then put in freezer to harden. For harder cookies, bake approx 20 minutes.

Grab at least a five quart bowl or pot, place closed jar of honey in pot, fill with very hot water so honey melts. In a food processor or blender, grind nuts in small batches (about five ounces per batch) to as close to a powder as possible. Mix all dry ingredients together thoroughly.

Tip: I power on/off blender/food processor; in between use dull knife to clear blades of the ground nut mixture; repeat until there's a powder.

Remove jar of honey from original bowl, dump water, dry out that bowl and dump 2 cups of honey in. Gradually (in about four or five batches) stir in nut flour/ground nuts using fork or dull knife. This will be a workout for some. Mix in optional dried fruit last in small batches until well mixed.

Put bowl with dough in fridge for approx 20 minutes. At about the 15 minute mark, preheat oven for 350 degrees bake. Grab cookie sheet and line with parchment paper. Place dough on paper and flatten with hand or back of spoon to ¼ inch. Using a cookie cutter, pizza cutter or dull knife, cut out 2-inch diameter cookies or 2-inch squares and bake (BAKE THESE ON PARCHMENT PAPER) at 350 degree for no more than 15 to 20 minutes. Keep an eye so they don’t get hard or they’ll turn into dog biscuits - hard, but good dipped in coffee.