Cranberry Maple Pecan Cookies

When I have a free morning, you're pretty much guaranteed to find me in my kitchen, baking something yummy (well, most of the time the results are yummy....) So, on one dreary Wednesday morning, I set out to bake a few things. I started with two loaves of my Amazing Grain Free Nut Free Banana Bread, (I had a request from my eldest son...he was feeling banana bread deprived again, poor thing :(  I also wanted to take in a treat for my co-workers, as a bunch of us were working late for our annual inventory...banana bread makes every daunting task better!!  While the banana bread was baking, and making my kitchen smell heavenly, I searched for another recipe to make. I remembered my recipe for these Grain  Free Cinnamon Raisin  Cookies, but was out of a few key ingredients (raisins for one!) I did have cranberries, and a bag of pecans, so I used my original recipe as a jumping point, and these cookies were born. Other notable substitutions were swapping out the coconut sugar for maple syrup, and the coconut flour for arrowroot, as the last of both went in the banana bread. The subs worked beautifully, these cookies are as good as the original recipe, if not better! I did increase the baking time a bit from the original recipe to crisp them up a bit more. This also increased the shelf life on them, and they stored at room temperature for 4 days without softening like alot of grain free cookies do.
One of the joys of baking is being able to think outside the proverbial box and not let a lack of ingredients deter you from creating something delicious!!

Cranberry Maple Pecan Cookies

½ cup quinoa flakes

½ cup softened unsalted butter

½ cup maple syrup

1 cup  almond flour

½ tsp baking soda

2 Tbsp arrowroot starch

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt (omit if your butter is salted)
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½ cup dried cranberries (fruit juice sweetened)
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat your oven to 350F

In a cast iron pan, toast the quinoa flakes over medium heat, stirring constantly until the flakes become fragrant, and are just starting to turn a slight golden colour. This will only take a few minutes, and they will burn quite easily, so you will need to pay attention! Remove to a plate to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and the maple syrup until really well combined. (i used my immersion blender to get them to combine well) Add the rest of your dry  ingredients, and mix well, Stir in the cranberries and pecans.

Scoop out onto parchment lined pan in about 1 tbsp spoonfuls. This makes approx 18 cookies.

Bake for 15-16 minutes. or until they are nicely browning around the edges and over the surface of the cookie. 

Let cool  on the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a coloring rack. They will be fragile when still warm, but firm up nicely when completely cooled.