{RECIPE} Chocolate orange hazlenut cookies and feeling festive

I realise this post may be a little controversial but I am a firm believer that after (if not before to be honest…) Bonfire Night it is PERFECTLY acceptable to be massively excited about Christmas. On Wednesday I had been having a pretty rubbish day and was sat in the office majorly in need of cheering up. So come lunchtime I wandered into town (all 2 minutes away ha) to be greated by Christmas lights! They may not have been lit but still did a great job in starting to lift my mood. THEN I got a grande soy cappuccino from Starbucks in a red cup to take back to my desk – combined with Christmas tunes and the world was more than okay again 🙂

 

 

 

I was feeling pretty ill when the time came to leave work (I don’t think my body can handle my one night out this week…) so skipped the gym session that I planned and walked home through the park instead. In the wind. And rain. But weirdly it was fun…

 

Anyhow, once I got home I fancied getting my bake on. Feeling inspired from my budding orange mocha habit (it’s like drinking a chocolate orange except better…) I decided to make chocolate orange hazelnut cookies by slightly altering this recipe…

 

Chocolate orange hazelnut cookies

1 cup white spelt flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tbsp coconut sugar (I used Coconom)

4 tbsp xylitol

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp orange extract

2 tbsp coconut oil

3-5 tbsp almond milk (or other)

 

Preheat oven to 180C. Combine all dry ingredients, then add all wet ingredients and mix together into a ball, leave in the fridge until cold (apparently this helps make super soft cookies, YUM).  Then form into small balls and bake for 7 mins, leave to cool for a further 10 mins as the cookies carry on cooking during this time.

 

 

 

These cookies are free from refined sugar (although still very sweet I think) and the little fat they do have is good fat – what more could you want from a chocolatey gooey Christmassy treat? Tragically, my inability to count, as an Economics graduate, meant I made my cookies too big so I can’t tell you how many this recipe makes… ENJOY!

 

When do you start to get excited about Christmas?