ATTENTION! All other Valentines recipes aside! Let the double chocolate brownie cookies get first in line, please!

These cookies are good and worthy to be part of your Valentines celebration. They are: secretly healthy, fudgy, sweet, chocolatey, vegan, sugar free (if omitting chocolate chips), and oil and butter free (if omitting chocolate chips).

I made these chocolate cookies with carob to keep them caffeine free, and because carob is sweeter than cocoa, thus making the cookies as sweet as possible without any refined sugar. However, if you are an avowed chocolate addict, feel free to substitute cocoa powder and perhaps a little sugar for the carob, and vegan mini chocolate chips for the carob chips. But I encourage you to try the carob, and if you do, let me hear what you think about it!

Step 1: Ingredients

Yields: 28 cookies

3/4 c. water

1 c. dried dates

1 c. walnuts (cashews if using cocoa)

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

4 Tbsp. carob powder (or 2 Tbsp. cocoa powder + 2 Tbsp. sugar)

1 c. cake flour or GF alternative

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. carob chips or mini vegan chocolate chips, optional

Step 2: Make Dough

Bring the water to a boil and add the dates to soak 5 min.

Process the dates, water, walnuts, salt, and vanilla in a food processor or blender to a paste.

Mix the carob powder, flour, baking soda, and baking powder.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients together with the carob chips and mix only till incorporated.

Step 3: Bake Cookies

Spoon out the dough onto parchment paper or an oiled and floured baking sheet and roll the dough into balls.

Bake at 400° F for 5 min. Flatten the balls with a fork and bake another 10 min.

Let the cookies cool some before removing them from the parchment paper or baking sheet. They are best freshly baked. Store leftovers in an airtight plastic bag or container when cool. The cookies can also be frozen.

Step 4: Enjoy!

I hope you roll up your baking sleeves and make something delicious AND healthy for your loved ones this year! And watch you fingers — they just might swipe away eight cookies worth of dough before you know it. Just make a double batch of cookies while you are at it!

For the printable recipe, visit http://creativevegancooking.com/2015/02/secret-dou...

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