Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

HomeClinics & ProgramsELLICSR KitchenChocolate Pumpkin Cookies

Skill Level	Easy

Preparation Time	30 minutes	Total Time	45 minutes
Servings	16 cookies (2 cookies per serving)	Cost Per Serving	$0.91

Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

1 1/2 cups	Barley Flour (or try another whole grain flour)
1	Egg
4 tbsp	Maple Syrup or Honey or Coconut Sugar
1/2 cup	Pumpkin Puree
1 tsp	Baking Soda
1 tsp	Cinnamon
2 tbsp	Grape Seed Oil or Coconut Oil (any neutral oil)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F
You can roast the hazelnuts in the oven just until they become a little darker and you can smell them toasting.
Place them in a food processor and pulse until ground. Continue blending until it becomes soft like a nut butter. Add the cocoa powder and sugar. Pulse again until well combined and smooth.
Store in a jar and keep in the fridge, it should last up to a month.
For the cookies, combine the dry ingredients and wet ingredients separately. Slowly add them together and mix until you get a sticky dough.
Use spoon or ice cream scoop to portion out cookies onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Use your thumb to indent each cookie.
Place about 1 tsp of chocolate hazelnut spread in each indent.
Bake cookies for about 10 minutes until golden brown but still slightly soft. Let cool and enjoy!

PDF link to nutrition facts table for chocolate pumpkin cookies

Chocolate is rich in antioxidants called flavanols that may help protect the heart and blood vessels from free radical damage. Flavanols help lower blood pressure, make blood platelets less likely to clot, and improve blood flow to the heart and brain.>
To get the most flavanols, choose raw cacao or cocoa powder that has not undergone Dutch processing (adding ingredients to cocoa to reduce its acidity). Try to choose products that do not have “cocoa processed with alkali” on the ingredient label.
Coconut sugar is similar to maple syrup and honey because it has a lower glycemic index than white sugar. This means it does not raise your blood sugar as high as white sugar. Having too much added sugar in your diet can raise triglyceride levels, increasing the risk of heart disease. All added sugars count, whether it’s white sugar or coconut sugar, so use in small amounts.
Barley is rich in a soluble fibre called beta-glucan. Beta-glucan traps “bad” LDL cholesterol and removes it from the blood. High levels of LDL cholesterol increase the risk of heart disease.