Apple Almond Muffin Cookies

I saw these on Oh Healthy Day and thought they sounded fantastic - seasonal with the apple, high in protein with the almond flour, and (most importantly) easy to make. I don't follow the paleo diet but I am trying to cut back on wheat flour, so I thought I'd give these a try.

Based on Maria's comments and my own preferences, I made a few changes, so I am posting the whole recipe below. The changes were designed to help the mixture stay together better and to have a texture more similar to flour-based baked foods, which is always a challenge when working with almond flour and coconut.

The first change was to add some oats into the mix. This means the recipe is no longer paleo, but I'm ok with that. I put the oats and coconut in my food processor in order to even out the texture.

This is what the oats and coconut looked like after about 20 seconds of processing. I might try processing longer next time.

Maria said hers turned out a little crumbly, so I tried chopping only half of the apple and shredding the other half to help the batter stick together. This seemed to help.

After baking, these were soft and warm like a muffin but with a tiny bit of crispiness around the edges. And easy to eat like a cookie.

I definitely to plan to experiment more with these! I can see a lot of possibilities for variations - pumpkin, banana walnut, etc.

Apple Almond Muffin Cookies
Adapted from KnitFit via Oh Healthy Day

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond meal
• 3/4 cup finely shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup oats
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon almond butter
• 1/4 cup brown rice syrup
• 2 tablespoons walnut oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
• 1 large apple

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine coconut and oats and process until finely ground (I would probably process longer next time)
2. Add almond meal, salt and spices and pulse a few times to mix.
3. In another bowl, mix eggs, almond butter, brown rice syrup, walnut oil and extracts. You may need to heat your almond butter slightly if it is very cold.
4. Peel the apple and cut it in half. Shred one half and cut the other half into a fine dice. Mix all of the apple into the wet ingredients.
5. Combine dry and wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Scoop scant 1/4 cups of the mixture onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, then bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes until golden.