Snack: Pumpkin Flax Cookies with Almond Butter Icing

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Cinnamon

Health benefits of Pumpkin Flax Cookies with Almond Butter Icing

Cinnamon is one of the best ingredients that someone with insulin sensitivity can eat. Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day has been shown to be very effective at normalizing blood sugar levels. Cinnamon contains hydroxychalcone, which is thought to enhance the effects of insulin. It has also been suggested that Cinnamon prevents post-meal blood sugar spikes by slowing the gastric emptying rate - meaning that food digests slowly. (Reference: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11506060).

Ingredients

THE COOKIES
1 Cup Blanched Almond Flour
1/2 Cup Flaxseed Meal
1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree
1/4 Cup Salted Butter
1/4 Cup Coconut Oil
1/4 Cup Erythritol
1 Large Egg
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Fresh Ground Clove


THE ICING
1/4 Cup Butter
1/4 Cup Cream Cheese
1/4 Cup Almond Butter
2 Tbsp. Erythritol
1 Tbsp. Heavy Cream
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix together your almond flour, flax seed meal, spices, and erythritol. Make sure it’s combined well and distributed evenly.
2. Get a microwave safe bowl or container. Add your coconut oil and butter to it.
3. Microwave your butter and oil for about 30 seconds, until it’s melted.
4. Add your melted butter and coconut oil to the dry mix.
5. Stir everything together well, making sure it is all combined. You should get a dough coming together.
6. Add your pumpkin puree to the mixture.
7. Mix everything together very well, making sure the pumpkin is distributed. It will change the color of the dough to a more orange tint.
8. Add your egg to the mixture.
9. Mix everything together as good as you can. Use a hand mixer to get a more aerated dough.
10. Roll your dough into balls and lay them on your baking sheet. I use a silpat here so it is extremely non-stick – if you don’t have one I really suggest getting one. If you don’t have a silpat, then make sure you spray your baking sheet down well.
11. Press the balls down into cookies. Make sure there’s space in between each cookie because it expands a little as it bakes.
12. Put them into the oven for 12-15 minutes.
13. While the cookies are baking, let’s get the icing ready. In a bowl, add your almond butter and cream cheese. Mix it a little bit so the ingredients are slightly combined.
14. In the same microwave safe container you used before, add your butter.
15. Microwave this for about 20-25 seconds until it’s melted.
16. Add your butter to the almond butter and cream cheese and mix it well. You can use a fork for this, you just want the ingredients to combine.
17. Add your erythritol to the mixture and mix it well.
18. Add your heavy cream and also mix it in.
19. You should end up with a pretty light-in-color icing.
20. Use a hand mixer to mix everything together and aerate the icing.
21. When the cookies come out of the oven, they won’t look very cooked. They’ll be pretty soggy in consistency. Put them in the fridge overnight, or for 2 hours. Once they come out of the fridge, they should be hardened a bit.
22. Put your icing into a Ziploc bag and cut a hole in the corner of the bag. We are going to use this as a homemade piping bag.
23. Ice your cookies and transfer them to a cooling rack or container of your choice.
24. These cookies save very well, just put them into a Tupperware container with layers of wax paper in between each layer of cookies. Make sure you refrigerate them again, so that all of the ingredients can solidify and the cookies will not fall apart upon picking them up. Enjoy!