Hi friends!
How was your weekend? Mine was super low-key – which worked out since it was my first weekend home in a month. The San Diego area got a rare weekend full of rain and stormy skies, so I spent a lot of my time taking care of housekeeping stuff for the blog and actually for my house – it’s amazing how both my virtual mail and actual mail piles up when I’m out of town! – and in the kitchen baking and cooking.
I even made homemade bread, which I haven’t done in quite awhile. Making bread from scratch isn’t hard, there’s just a lot of time waiting for the dough to rise – but, being home doing about half a dozen loads of laundry, it fit in perfectly with my weekend. I decided to sprinkle some everything bagel seeds on top of the dough, and it came out like one giant everything bagel. Kind of awesome!
And speaking of baking, today I have a Monday treat to share!
A couple of weeks ago, a few of the women in my life had birthdays. In usual food blogger fashion, I wanted to give them homemade sweets as a little birthday treat.
And since I was feeling creative, I wanted to try a new recipe or two. I wound up making birthday cake energy bites, along with these chocolate butterscotch cookies.
I even brought a plastic container of treats with me in my luggage on my work trip to Vegas to give to my boss, whose birthday was that week, and got the thumbs up on the treats from her. What can I say, I like people to have sweets to enjoy on their birthday!
Remember when I recently shared a recipe for chocolate pistachio energy bites and was talking about a spice shop that I had visited and bought some goodies at? Well this recipe uses another find that I picked up that day: butterscotch extract.
A butterscotch flavor in baked goods is traditionally achieved by combining brown sugar and butter, and sometimes corn syrup, cream, and some other ingredients. I wanted to make these cookies dairy free, so I made them by using some of my butterscotch extract, along with light brown sugar and Earth Balance vegan buttery spread. These cookies don’t have any overpowering butterscotch flavor, just a hint of it.
And of course I added mini chocolate chips, because I hold the belief that most baked goods can only get better with some chocolate. Am I right?
These cookies take a fun twist on traditional chocolate chip cookies, from their butterscotch flavor to the use of almond flour. Try them the next time you get caught by the baking bug for a dairy free dessert!
Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 flax egg: 1 TBSP ground flaxseed + 3 TBSP water
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup Earth Balance or other plant-based butter, softened
- 1/4 cup natural apple sauce
- 1/4 cup dairy free mini chocolate chips
- 2 TSP butterscotch extract
- 1 TSP baking powder
- 1/4 TSP salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
- Make the flax egg by combining the flaxseed and water in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Cream the vegan butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in the butterscotch extract, apple sauce and flax egg. Beat until combined well.
- In another bowl, combine the flours, baking powder and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon, then add in the wet ingredients and stir. Add in the mini chocolate chips and stir until mixed in evenly.
- Use a cookie scooper or spoon to form 18 cookies on the baking sheet, flattening them with a spatula or the bottom of a glass. The cookies will not spread much when baked, so you can place them closely together.
- Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow them to slightly cool before enjoying.
Nutrition
Tell me… What the last kind of cookie you ate? Do you bake homemade bread often?
That rain was nuts! I loved having an excuse to be lazy… I wrote recipes, made a meal plan for the week, walked at the gym, and did one load of laundry. Other than that, I sat on my arse. It was lovely!
These cookies look lovely too. So fluffy! I made my Oatmeal & Hemp Seed Cookies Saturday. I could literally eat cookies every day.
San Diego has made up for the rain with this weekend’s gorgeous weather! Can’t get enough of it. Just saw your IG & it looks like you were taking advantage of yesterday’s beautiful day too. And I totally could eat cookies every day too!
Oh my goodness- homemade bread is the best! I find making it so relaxing and you can’t beat the smell! I actually made homemade this past weekend and can’t wait to again 🙂 These cookies sound delicious! Chocolate AND butterscotch? Um – yes please!! Lucky friends to have you make them something sweet!
Oh yes, the smell of bread baking is the best… Well, maybe it’s a tie between bread & pie baking aromas!
Yes! most baked goods get better with a lil chocolate- no doubt about it! These sound right up my alley girl, NOMZ
Thanks, Cara! I eat a bit of chocolate just about every day 🙂
Mouth open. Drool dripping from lips. Want. Need. Must Have. Must figure out a way to make these so I can eat them too!! haha! Throw them in ice cream 😉
Oh yeah, these cookies would pair well with your coconut ice cream recipe!
I love baking bread from scratch. It blows my mind that if you buy it from the store there’s a crazy list of ingredients and you need so few when making it at home. And those cookies! I love traditional chocolate chip, but would not turn down any sweets.
I totally agree! Bread really just takes a couple of ingredients & those long ingredient lists are unnecessary.
I haven’t made homemade bread in too long and need to change that! These cookies look thick and chewy just the way I like them, and the butterscotch flavor sounds delicious!
Thanks, Marcie! Happy Mother’s Day to you!
Making homemade bread is one of my favorite things to do on the weekend! That looks sooo good! And these cookies also sound fantastic! I wish I had one right now for a snack! 🙂
Bread baking is the best! It reminds me of childhood because my mom often baked homemade bread.
Honestly that sounds like an awesome day, Nicole! It truly is amazing how fast stuff backs up when you’re out of town. I was out of town for the first couple of days this week, and I’m sitting here in an airport catching up on emails and posts. And man I could go for one of those delicious cookies right about now! I don’t think I’ve ever come across butterscotch extract before, so I definitely need to try baking with it sometime soon. This cookies look amazing!
It really is interesting how much “upkeep” our daily lives can have! I also came home to a green pool haha. If you look for butterscotch extract, you’d be surprised to see if in a lot of grocery stores I think 🙂