Chewy Honey Cookies

 My friend Sara made a version of these for us one night and I fell in cookie love. She used walnut oil, but since I didn't have any,I used coconut oil. I adapted these from elanaspantry.com chocolate chip cookie recipe. She uses a LOT of almond flour, which I happen to love for baking. Almond flour is so versatile and can be used in just about anything. Blanched is usually best for cookies, but I have used both blanched almond flour, and almond meal(simply ground up almonds) and my results were not different enough for me to really care. I use whatever I have on hand, and today, I had almond meal. She also uses a lot of agave nectar which I have completely turned away from due to the recent discoveries about it's fructose levels. So I used honey instead. These cookies are chewy and sweet, and a treat you can feel good about because not only are they naturally sweetened, but protein packed. They are delicious without chocolate, but of course, even better with it! Give em a try with your favorite tea or coffee:)

2c. almond meal or blanched almond flour
1/2tsp. baking soda
1/4tsp sea salt
1/4c.honey
2tsp. vanilla
6tbls. coconut oil or butter melted (my family prefers butter, but I adore the coconut oil)
1/2c. chocolate chips or cocao nibs optional, but, come on!:) (again I prefer the nibs here, but family prefers c.chips. If you really want cccookies, then obviously,use chocolate chips:)
Combine dry ingredients. Melt butter(or oil) and immediately combine with honey and vanilla so that the honey is slightly warmed and thins out a bit. Combine all ingredients. Shape into small or large discs and bake on the top rack of oven @350 for 5-8 minutes. Mine came very close to burning today....they were on the middle rack:/...so make sure they are on the top:) The cookies will be brown along the edges and still soft and gooey in the middle. Once out of the oven let them cool before eating....I know...yeah right!....but really, if you can resist, letting them cool will let the honey and butter solidify allowing for best results:)