No-Bake Chocolate Cookies

When it comes to chocolate you just have to anticipate a craving, especially if you used to indulge in it on a regular basis before Paleo. The one thing to keep in mind is that all of the ingredients used should be on the approved Paleo food list so you’ll have no regrets.

Buying cookies from the store is really not an option since almost all of them will contain High Fructose Corn Syrup and be made from some sort of cheaply produced flour that isn’t approved for Paleo eaters. On top of that they’ll be crammed full of refined sugar and other industrial-grade ingredients to give them the right color and texture and to make sure that they can sit around for months on end without going bad.

When you make your own cookies you are using fresh ingredients so you know when it was made and you also know everything that’s gone into it.

Walnuts are a nutritional powerhouse, and are a great addition to these cookies, providing not just texture but also a rich nutty flavor that help to make up the base of the dough. They’ll give you healthy fat, fiber, and protein, something you don’t often see in a store bought cookie.

Cashews are what really sells this as a top-tier cookie recipe. They have a buttery flavor to them and also have an amazing texture once they’ve been processed with the other ingredients. They’re an approved nut and they feature into many recipes thanks to their healthy fat content and their creamy texture once blended up.

A combination of raw cacao powder and cacao nibs does double duty on the chocolate front, so you don’t have to worry about any chocolate shortage in these cookies. Chocolate is not something that needs to be avoided, as long as you go with a dark chocolate or in this case raw chocolate. This gives you the chocolate as it was meant to be eaten, without a lot of processing and added ingredients.

I went with medjool dates for a bit of chewiness and also because of their amazing flavor and because they supply a sweetness to the cookies that the cookies just have to have since the raw chocolate is not going to be very sweet to the taste.

It takes just ten minutes to assemble all of these ingredients, pop them in the food processor, and then form cookie shapes from the dough. From there it’s just a matter of playing the waiting game while they cool and form. It’s great to make more cookies than you foresee needing because they store really well in the fridge and make a great snack when you’re hungry and don’t have anything prepared yet.

I love to share these cookies with friends that aren’t living the Paleo way and their reaction is always the same. They think they taste great, and always ask for the recipe, so here you go.