Recipes Revisited: Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies- vegan and gluten free

Bake-me-now excuse: The chickpea flour and nuts mean these cookies are full of protein! 

These delicate, melt-in-the-mouth cookies are crazy good- I first made them a couple of years ago -here- and to be honest, we'd all forgotten about them, but then I was writing this year's Valentine's Day post and found them in the archives. It just so happened there was a bag of hazelnuts in the cupboard so I set about improving on the original recipe. They did contain xylitol instead of sugar, but this time I used a combo of soft light brown raw cane sugar and agave nectar. Melted coconut oil provides a healthier alternative to processed margarine too. It's still not the easiest of cookie doughs to handle, but okay as long as you're careful. (The cooked biscuits are also very breakable when they first come out of the oven- best not touch them until they've cooled down somewhat.) I think they would team up beautifully with our vegan blackberry icecream, or maybe vanilla Swedish Glace; perhaps as an icecream sandwich?

Makes 16 small cookies:

200g ground hazelnuts (leave some bigger bits if you're doing this yourself, for textural interest)

125g gram flour (chickpea/ garbanzo/ besan)

125ml coconut oil, melted

125g soft light brown raw cane sugar

2 tabs (approx) agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla essence

about 100g vegan dark chocolate

• Mix together the chickpea flour, sugar and ground hazelnuts.
• Add the vanilla to the oil and mix with the flour and nuts.
• Add enough agave to get a dough that will hold together when pressed.
• Divide the dough into 2 and make 2 rolls. Wrap them in clingfilm and refrigerate for about half an hour, or until they're chilled.
• Carefully slice the rolls of dough into 8 pieces each roll. (Mine came out oval rather than round this time.) They should be 4 or 5 mm thick at this stage.
• Slide them onto a lightly oiled baking sheet and press gently with a spatula to flatten. (It makes a pattern on them too!)
• Bake for about 10 minutes in an oven preheated to 200C. Do not over cook.
• When cool, lift them gently off the baking tray and half dip in melted chocolate, then lay them onto a sheet of baking paper to set.

I think hazelnut, dried raspberries and vegan white chocolate would be a great flavour to try next; what do you think? Do you have a favourite flavour combo that would work for these cookies?