At a time when so many baking ingredients are scarce at supermarkets, come these cookies to the rescue.
They require no all-purpose flour, no eggs, no granulated sugar, and no butter.
Which means they are gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free. It also means they are vegetarian, vegan, and paleo.
“The World’s Easiest Cookies” live up to their name. It’s a recipe from the cookbook, “World’s Easiest Paleo Baking: Beloved Treats Made Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Dairy-Free, and with No Refined Sugars” (Lake Isle Press, 2016) by Elizabeth Barbone, which I spied on the Kitchn site.
These cookies use only four ingredients: finely ground almond flour, baking powder, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.
Now, I am not vegan, vegetarian or paleo. I’ve also never met any gluten I didn’t like.
But when you are running low on all-purpose flour — ahem — but spy an open bag of almond flour in your freezer, you get the itch to try your hand at these.
They are quick to make. There’s no waiting for any butter to soften at room temperature. You just stir the ingredients together — bing, bam, boom — and portion out the dough onto cookie sheets to bake.
I admit I added a fifth ingredient — 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, because I always like a pinch of salt in my cookie dough to balance out the sweetness.
The recipe states you can either bake the dough as balls or flatten them with the bottom of a drinking glass, so they bake up a little crispier. I decided to do both. OK, I decided to also add a few more ingredients. I can’t help myself. I had a measly 1/4 cup of butterscotch chips in the back of the pantry, so I mixed those into half of the dough. I baked a few others as balls, then rolled them into powdered sugar after they baked. The others I just flattened slightly, and baked.
The recipe makes about 14 to 16 small cookies. These cookies don’t really spread, either, so you don’t have to worry so much about crowding your baking sheet.
The cookies are soft and slightly chewy. They are very nutty tasting, and not that sweet at all, well, unless you add butterscotch chips.
I won’t lie — they don’t slay you in the devilishly decadent way a chocolate-chunk cookie would. They are a more gentle treat for when you crave something tender and wholesome tasting.
Indeed, “The World’s Easiest Cookies” are a welcome balm when the world is anything but easy.
The World’s Easiest Cookies
(Makes 14 to 16 cookies)
2 cups finely ground almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt (optional)
1/3 cup dark maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Arrange rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350 degrees. Line one or two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk the almond flour and baking powder, and salt, if using, in a medium bowl. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the maple syrup and vanilla. Stir until a sticky dough forms and holds together. If you use the back of the wooden spoon to smush the mixture while alternately stirring, the dough will come together more easily.
Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, about one inch apart. For crisp cookies, press the dough lightly with the flat bottom of a drinking glass or measuring cup or the palm of your hand. (If the glass sticks to the dough, dip the bottom in water.) For softer cookies, don’t press the dough.
Bake until the edges are golden brown, about 12 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for about 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes: You can mix in 1/2 cup chopped chocolate, butterscotch chips, nuts or dried fruit to the batter before baking. You can also roll the cookies in powdered sugar before or after baking, if you like.
Adapted from “World’s Easiest Paleo Baking” by Elizabeth Barbone
Another Four-Ingredient Cookie To Bake: Bigger Bolder Irish Shortbread
Plus Another Recipe Using Almond Flour: Brown Butter Almond Tea Cakes