Perfect for Your Picnic Basket: Vegan Almond Spice Cookies

Has Picnic Week been fun or what?! And today, it’s getting even sweeter because we have a yummy vegan cookie recipe from Dr. Alejandro Junger!
Dr. Junger just launched his newest book Clean Eats, which  includes 200 plus recipes from Dr. Junger’s kitchen, as well as the cookbooks of his buds (like, er, not to name-drop but Gwyneth Paltrow, Dr. Mark Hyman, Donna Karan, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Bloom and more). He let us borrow this particularly yummy vegan cookie recipe from his book, and let’s just say that they’re delicious whether they’re packed in a picnic basket or straight out of the cookie jar or — who are we kidding? — licked straight from the mixing bowl!

Almond Spice Cookies Recipe from Clean Eats by Alejandro Junger

Makes: 12 cookies
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 30 minutes to 24 hours refrigeration time
Cooking time: 10 minutes
This is a great cookie recipe to make any time of year, and something kids will love to help with (and of course probably want to lick the spoon and bowl). The dough is as tasty as the cookies, so feel free to use it as you would uncooked cookie dough (aka eating straight from the bowl) or as a post-workout snack that’s easy to travel with in a plastic container.
Ingredients
2 1⁄2 cups almond flour
2 tablespoons coconut flour
1⁄2 cup arrowroot powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for sprinkling
1⁄4 cup plus 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
1⁄2 cup coconut nectar or stevia, xylitol to taste
1 teaspoon almond extract
Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the melted coconut oil, coconut nectar and almond extract. Mix just until everything is combined.
2. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, tightening the sides and shaping it to form a long, even cylinder. Place it in the fridge to solidify, for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to one day.
3. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. Remove the dough from the plastic wrap and slice it into 1⁄4-inch rounds. Place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking dish, and sprinkle each cookie with cinnamon. Bake them for 5 minutes, then flip each cookie and bake them for an additional 4 to 5 minutes, until they feel set.
What kind of sweet treats do you like to pack in your picnic basket? —Jenn