OMG! Guyyyysss…
These cookies are the most insanely delicious out of this world treat I’ve ever made. Like for reals, yo!
They are like last meal kind of good. Annnnnd they also happen to be gluten free and dairy free.
But let’s get real for second, ok?
Just because they are a healthier cookie, doesn’t mean you should go ahead and eat like 10 at a time. I often find people consuming waaaay too many baked goodies just because they contain healthier ingredients.
I wish I could say these treats were sugar free, but they aren’t. They DO however contain way healthier sugars than most treats and they DO contain less sugar than your standard pecan cookies.
And I must say, I’m pretty damn proud of myself for mastering a caramel sauce that adds that extra bit of pizazz to this recipe.
Have you ever attempted to make caramel sauce before?
I’ve poked around online looking for caramel sauce recipes and ALL of them mentioned needing a baking thermometer and having to get the sauce to the absolute perfect temperature and how to meticulously stir the sauce a particular way. Blah, blah, blah.
That just didn’t fly with me and so I went ahead and decided to shortcut the sauce and it turned out perfectly! There’s a good chance you’ll be licking caramel sauce off your fingers. I sure did!
So being that the holidays are vastly approaching I do hope that you will add these delicious gems to your repertoire. I promise your guests are going to love them, and there’s a good chance you and your kids will end up eating them before the guests even arrive!
Salted Caramel Pecan Cookies
CARAMEL SAUCE
1/2 cup coconut milk, unsweetened
1/3 cup coconut sugar
1/3 cup organic cane sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt
COOKIE DOUGH
2 cups almond flour/meal
1/2 cup pecan flour/meal (simply grind fresh pecans in a blender or food processor to make flour)
1 tbsp coconut flour
1/3 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
2 tbsp raw honey
2 tsp vanilla extract
25 pecans, raw and unsalted
Instructions
FOR THE CARAMEL SAUCE:
In a small saucepan medium heat, combine coconut milk, coconut sugar and cane sugar.
Bring to simmer and stir constantly. Once mixture begins to boil, add in vanilla extract and salt, continuing to stir.
Cook caramel sauce roughly 4-5 minutes until slightly thickened.
Remove from heat, pour into a glass bowl and let cool.
FOR THE COOKIE DOUGH:
Preheat oven to 375F. In a medium bowl, combine almond flour, pecan flour, coconut flour, and baking soda.
In a small bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil with honey and vanilla extract.
Pour wet into dry ingredients and stir together until a dough starts to form.
Add in 1/2 cup of the caramel sauce to the dough. This is when the dough will start to come together. Stir until well combined.
TO MAKE COOKIES:
Using your hands, grab roughly 1 tbsp of dough, roll into a ball and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, leaving about 2 inches apart between each cookie.
VERY slightly, flatten the cookies, and using your finger, poke a hole into the cookie (DO not poke all the way through).
Pour caramel sauce into the hole and top with a pecan. Continue this process until all cookies are complete.
Bake in the oven for 9 minutes at 375F.
Remove and let cool.
Notes
- *I had a little extra almond flour left along with pecan flour, so I added it to the cookie dough mixture. I got 25 cookies out of this batch.
- *Depending on what size you make your cookies, you may have a little more or less than 25.
- *If you stick to the exact measurements, you should have roughly 15-20 cookies out of this batch.
- *You will have leftover caramel sauce. At least I did. I used this in my Pumpkin Spiced Lattes and coffees. It was delicious!
- *You can drizzle leftover caramel sauce over fruit or coconut bliss ice cream for an extra treat!
