Chocolate, Olive Oil and Walnut Skillet Cookie (Gluten-Free, Paleo)

Guess what? It is Secret Recipe Club day again! How can it already be a month since our last one? Time is really flying these days. Writing my first cookbook has been an incredible adventure and each day brings another opportunity to learn something new.  I hope you all will love ti when it comes out (hopefully this fall)!

Spread the cookie dough into the skillet and bake it – super easy!

But back to the task at hand – introducing you to another wonderful blog and author. This month I was assigned Chelsy’s blog, Mangia! No surprise given the name of her website, Chelsy is from a big, loving Italian family. She learned to roll a meatball before she learned to ride a bike! She is a Texas gal who loves sitting around the table with her family, sharing stories and showing their love through food. I can relate based on the meals I’ve had with The Artist’s family – oh the food! And when you combine it with traditions in Texas, that has to be one big spread that I would totally adore! Don’t be surprised if I show up on your doorstep one of these days, LOL.

One of Chelsy’s biggest inspirations is her younger sister who has celiac disease. She had to sit by and watch as everyone devoured the amazing Italian foods centered around bread. How lucky she was to have Chelsy who has challenged herself to recreate some of their family favorites into gluten-free versions her sister can safely eat!

Hot from the oven!

I can empathize with her sister – trying to learn how to eat without consuming bread, pasta, crackers, breaded foods, and baked desserts was brutally hard at the beginning … having to sit through family dinners and politely say “no thank you” as you pass the platter of yet another food you cannot eat to the next person at the table with literally painful. Oh how I wanted bowl after bowl of everything that I could no longer have. The first few months I lived on rice and popcorn until I figured out how to feed myself.

When I started looking around Chelsy’s blog I kept getting side tracked (find her recipes here). There are so many wonderful recipes – each one better than the last. I want to make ALL her Breakfast recipes (not kidding!), her Paleo Coconut Cream Pies (filled cookies) are calling my name, and her Hatch Green Chile Chicken Salad has me drooling. I’ll be back very soon! 😉

The extra chocolate sauce is totally decadent – and we deserve it!

Can you believe I’ve been writing Chocolate Mondays for five years?! It is getting harder to find chocolate recipes that I haven’t already made, but I found the perfect one to share with you courtesy of Chelsy. I haven’t made a skillet cookie yet and boy is this one beautiful! A little tender, a little crunchy, a lot of delicious, and simple to make. That is a winner all around!

Chelsy’s original version (which she calls Fatty Cakes) is both gluten-free and paleo. I didn’t have coconut flour in the house so I used the all-purpose gluten-free flour blend I developed for the cookbook. Because my blend has rice and other grain flours in it, the recipe I made is not paleo, but it is gluten-free and I was right, totally addictively delicious!  

If you use grated chocolate you will get something that looks like a chocolate cookie. If you choose, you can substitute chocolate chips for the grated chocolate and it will look more like a traditional chocolate chip cookie. I had white chocolate chips so those miraculously made their way into the dough – I don’t know how that happened, LOL. I also made a quick melted chocolate sauce to drizzle over the wedges – a little extra chocolate never hurt anyone!

I love that this can be made ahead, sparing me scrambling to make dessert while I am trying to get dinner on the table. Make it a day ahead and give yourself even more time to slow down and enjoy putting together a sumptuous repast for your family.

This dessert is halfway between a cookie and a cake, the best of both worlds. I know you will love it – and you will never know that it is healthier for you! Make sure you pop over to Chelsy’s blog and check it out – you won’t come up for air for hours! 🙂 

Who wants a bite?

Jane’s Tips and Hints:

If you don’t have a cast iron skillet, you can use any similar sized baking dish. Be aware that the baking time may be different. If you want to buy one, I suggest you look at Lodge for a very affordable pan (around $25). If you want enameled cast iron, the easiest to maintain and clean, as well as heavier for more even cooking, you can’t beat Le Creuset (around $145) and Staub (about $160). The price is high, but the quality is outstanding. Hunt around and you can likely find lightly used pans for considerably less. Because they are so heavy, look for one with a helper handle opposite the main handle to help you lift it more easily.

Gluten-Free Tips:

Chelsy’s recipe is naturally gluten-free as well as paleo. You can also use a gluten-free flour blend in place of the coconut flour if you want. Coconut flour is very absorbent, so if you substitute a GF blend, you may need to add more to offset the increased liquid. Just add enough so it becomes a firm dough that easily cleans the sides of the pan, but still soft.

Chocolate, Olive Oil and Walnut Skillet Cookie (Gluten-Free, Paleo)

2016-02-15 07:41:13

(my adaptations/suggestions are in italics)

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Ingredients

1. 1 cup (118g) coconut flour (gluten-free flour blend, or all-purpose flour)

2. 1 cup (112g) almond flour/meal

3. 1 tsp baking soda
4. 1/2 tsp baking powder
5. 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
6. 1/2 tsp kosher and fine sea salt
7. 1/2 cup honey
8. 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
9. 3 large eggs
10. 4 oz dark chocolate, grated or finely chopped
11. 1 cup chopped walnuts
12. 1 cup white chocolate chips, optional
13. 1/2 cup coconut, optional
14. Toasted coconut, optional, for garnishing
15. Melted chocolate for drizzling, optional

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Oil or butter a 10-inch cast-iron skillet thoroughly. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon.
3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the honey, olive oil, and eggs together until smooth. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until a dough forms. Fold in the grated chocolate and walnuts. (Alternately you can mix this together in a standing mixer.)
4. Press the dough into the prepared skillet and bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the cookie is slightly golden, the top is puffed and there may be some cracks in the surface. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool. Let the cookie cool for at least 10 to 15 minutes before slicing into triangles and serving.
5. Serve warm with ice cream, frozen yogurt, or coconut whipped cream!

Notes

1. Yield: 1 (10-inch) skillet cookie (about 10 to 12 servings)
2. NOTE: Due to dietary restrictions in my family, I made my version with white chocolate chips and served the chocolate sauce on the side. This allowed those who can have dark chocolate to enjoy it while keeping the others safe. If you do the same, you will need to add 1 tsp vinegar to the liquids to activate the baking soda.

Adapted from Chelsy of Mangia!

Adapted from Chelsy of Mangia!

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