If you are a fan, as I am, of German chocolate cake, then you will be ecstatic about this recipe!!! Wow. Each bite really tastes like German chocolate cake. The first time I ever experienced the cake was a bastardized version … the cake in the box. I won't mention names but you're familiar with this brand of layered cakes, right? They're pre-made, frozen and just plain nasty. Those were in my college years. We used to buy them and eat them in the dorm for special occasions. Needless to say, my palate has changed since then.
Here is a list of the scary ingredients in that boxed version:
Water, Sugar, Vegetable Oils (Partially Hydrogenated Soybean, Soybean, Partially Hydrogenated Cottonseed, Palm), Bleached Wheat Flour, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Eggs, Brown Sugar, Coconut, Contains 2 Percent or Less of: Nonfat Milk, Dextrose, Cocoa Processed with Alkali (Dutched), Corn Syrup, Modified Cornstarch, Walnuts, Leavening (Baking Powder [Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Cornstarch, Monocalcium Phosphate], Baking Soda), Mono and Diglycerides, Salt, Polyglycerol Esters of Fatty Acids, Cornstarch, Propylene Glycol Monostearate, Ethoxylated Mono and Diglycerides, Sodium Caseinate, Caramel Color, Gelatin, Stearoyl Lactylic Acid, Natural Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Soy Lecithin, Annatto and Turmeric Extracts for Color.
Umm, no.
Believe it or not, German chocolate cake does not hail from Germany. Its roots can be traced back to 1852 when American Sam German developed a type of dark baking chocolate for the American Baker's Chocolate Company. The brand name of the product, Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate, was named in honor of him, as was the infamous German chocolate cake, which traditionally uses that chocolate.
The flavor of anything coconut and chocolate captured my heart long ago. I've already shared with you my recipes for German Chocolate Mousse Bars and Raw German Chocolate Bites, but these cookies really won my heart with their remarkable likeness to the flavor of authentic German chocolate cake!
Ingredients:
~ dry
- 1 cup tightly-packed almond flour
- ½ cup brown rice flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup unsweetened flaked coconut
- ½ cup chopped raw pecans
- ¼ cup non-alkalized cocoa powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ cup raw almond butter
- 1 cup pitted medjool dates
- 2 TBS pure maple syrup
- 1 TBS ground flax + 6 TBS water
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350° F.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the flax meal with the water and set aside.
- Mix all dry ingredients together.
- Place all wet ingredients into a food processor and process until combined.
- Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir well to combine. Use your hands if you have to, to mush it all together.
- Drop by 2 TBS onto the cookie sheet and press down to form a cookie shape. You may want to wet your fingers a bit for this process as the dough is quite sticky. Also, I always use a cookie scoop to keep the volume the same for each cookie. It's sooo much easier, too.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
Healthy trails,
