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Chunky Monkey Cookies

· Natalie 14 Comments

Soft-baked, sweet, buttery Chunky Monkey Cookies full of dark chocolate chips and walnuts. Grain-free or oat flour, so they’re vegan and/or paleo!

Chunky Monkey Cookies (vegan + paleo)

Spontaneous saturday cookie baking with very little measuring because I had some ripe bananas on the counter turned into such a yummy batch that I couldn’t NOT remake them to share with you. And the second batch turned out even better than the first, so that practice run was worth it.

These Chunky Monkey Cookies are the solution if you…

  • got caught up in the quarantine banana bread trend and bought too many bunches
  • are trying to avoid the quarantine banana bread cliche but still love banana-filled baking
  • want your cookies to have some CRUNCH
  • need a way to consume chocolate that is not chocolate chips straight chips out of the bag (because we classy)
  • want a super simple one-bowl baking project with your kids
  • love buttery, soft-baked cookies as much as I do!

I made mine with a store-bought paleo baking flour (a mix of almond, coconut, tapioca, and arrowroot), but included options for making your own similar paleo blend or oat flour too. Feel free to swap the walnuts for hazelnuts or almonds, and add an extra handful of chocolate chips.

Chunky Monkey Cookies (vegan + paleo)
Chunky Monkey Cookies (vegan + paleo)
Chunky Monkey Cookies (vegan + paleo)
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Chunky Monkey Cookies

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Natalie
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 12 minutes
  • Total Time: 22 minutes
  • Yield: 12 1x
  • Category: cookies
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Soft-baked, sweet, buttery Chunky Monkey Cookies full of dark chocolate chips and walnuts. Grain-free or oat flour, so they’re vegan and/or paleo!

Ingredients

Scale

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  2. Stir together the banana, coconut sugar, almond butter, and vanilla.
  3. Add the dry ingredients and mix to combine.
  4. Fold in the walnuts and chocolate chips.
  5. Scoop/roll onto a lined baking sheet.
  6. Press lightly to flatten.
  7. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 350ºF.
  8. Cool for 10-ish, then eat.
  9. Store in an airtight container in the fridge or freeze for longer storage.

Notes

*You can also make them with applesauce or pumpkin puree.

**For an oat flour option, try this cookie with the same mix-ins.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cookie
  • Calories: 147
  • Sugar: 8g
  • Sodium: 53mg
  • Fat: 8g
  • Saturated Fat: 1g
  • Carbohydrates: 13g
  • Fiber: 2g
  • Protein: 3g

Keywords: baking, dessert, chocolate chip, banana, walnut, easy, one bowl, grain free, paleo, gluten free

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Chunky Monkey Cookies (vegan + paleo)

SunButter Brownies

· Natalie 51 Comments

Easy SunButter Brownies with a fudgy flourless brownie base and yummy sunflower seed butter swirls on top. Vegan and paleo!

SunButter Brownies (vegan + paleo)
SPONSORED BY SUNBUTTER

It’s quarantine week: whatever-I’ve-lost-count. And I don’t know about you but my mood and motivation levels have been all over the place. Some days I wake up like heck yes let us stay home and DO STUFF. And then the next day watering my plants sounds like too much effort. So my meals and snacks have been equally gourmet one day and cereal for dinner the next. It’s cool, we’re working with it.

But chocolate is one area in which I have certainly not been slacking. Going hard on that stuff every day, and lately these brownies have been sittin’ pretty at the top of my favorite ways to consume chocolate list.

SunButter Brownies (vegan + paleo)

Fudgy flourless brownie base made with just 7 ingredients + one bowl (taking that quarantine laziness into account of course), and an easy-but-looks-fancy SunButter swirl on top. They’ll be in the oven in less than 10, and you’ll be a happier human devouring within the hour.

On your killin’ it at quarantine days I highly recommend heating them up and serving with a double scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. And on your too lazy to bother with a microwave/spoon days, fudgy straight from the fridge with hands is where it’s at.

SunButter Brownies (vegan + paleo)
SunButter Brownies (vegan + paleo)

Sending love, self-forgiveness, and a little extra quarantine chocolate to you, friends!

SunButter Brownies (vegan + paleo)
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SunButter Brownies

★★★★★ 5 from 11 reviews
  • Author: Natalie
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: 8 brownies 1x
  • Category: chocolate
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Easy SunButter Brownies with a fudgy flourless brownie base and yummy sunflower seed butter swirls on top. Vegan and paleo!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax + 6 tbsp warm water)
  • 1 cup (250g) Organic SunButter (or any variety)
  • 1/2 cup (160g) maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup (50g) cacao or cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 cup more SunButter for swirling

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  2. Combine flax egg ingredients and set aside to gel for 10 minutes.
  3. Whisk together the SunButter, maple syrup, flax eggs, and vanilla.
  4. Add cacao powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir to combine. It will be thick but if it seems too thick/dry add 1/4 cup coconut oil or almond milk.
  5. Spread into a greased baking dish (I used this 9×5″ pan)
  6. Dollop on extra SunButter and swirl with a chopstick.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes at 350ºF.
  8. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
  9. Enjoy! Keep leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 brownie
  • Calories: 319
  • Sugar: 16g
  • Sodium: 156mg
  • Fat: 22g
  • Saturated Fat: 2g
  • Carbohydrates: 25g
  • Fiber: 4g
  • Protein: 8g

Keywords: gluten free, paleo, grain free, egg free, chocolate, fudgy, easy, baking, dessert

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Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

· Natalie 59 Comments

Moist, fluffy, simple, and arguably PERFECT vegan paleo chocolate cupcakes. Made with just 8 ingredients and topped with creamy chocolate coconut frosting!

Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

Alright this is gonna be a reach, but go with me okay…

Did you watch The Magic School Bus? Do you remember the haunted house episode? Do you remember the part where Carlos is trying to build an instrument and the more he adds the uglier the sound gets? And it’s not until he starts taking away that the music can be made?

If I’ve completely lost you, feel free to go catch up with us 90s kids here and come back. I’ll wait.

Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

Anyways. All that is to say, developing this cupcake recipe was a reminder that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. And in this case, simplicity is the ultimate moist, fluffy, richly chocolatey Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcake.

I kept trying to make this recipe more complicated than it needed to be, but after three batches with fewer ingredients each time I landed upon such a simple but such a perfect combination.

Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

So here is hands down my new absolute FAVORITE cupcake recipe with a fluffy coconut frosting on top. Happy baking, hope you love!

Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes
Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes
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Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

★★★★★ 5 from 4 reviews
  • Author: Natalie
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 8 cupcakes 1x
  • Category: cupcakes
  • Method: baking
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Moist, fluffy, simple, and arguably PERFECT vegan paleo chocolate cupcakes. Made with just 8 ingredients and topped with creamy chocolate coconut frosting!

Ingredients

Scale

Cupcakes

Chocolate Frosting

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
  2. Melt the chocolate with the almond milk. Stir until smooth.
  3. Whisk in the coconut sugar and apple cider vinegar.
  4. Add the rest of the cupcake ingredients and mix.
  5. Spoon into a cupcake pan with paper liners, filling each ¾ of the way.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes at 350ºF.
  7. Cool completely before frosting.
  8. For the frosting, beat all the ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Chill to thicken.
  9. Frost cooled cupcakes and eat.
  10. Keep leftovers sealed in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze unfrosted cupcakes for longer storage.

Notes

*Spelt or all purpose would work as well. For an oat flour option, try this recipe instead. Or for almond flour, try these.

**Just the solid part scooped our of a can of full fat coconut milk that has been chilled overnight.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cupcake
  • Calories: 336
  • Sugar: 25g
  • Sodium: 282mg
  • Fat: 8g
  • Saturated Fat: 4g
  • Carbohydrates: 50g
  • Fiber: 6g
  • Protein: 3g

Keywords: gluten free, cassava, grain free, birthday, frosting, dairy free, egg free, baking, dessert

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Easy Vegan Paleo Chocolate Cupcakes

Matcha Cookie Dough Cups

· Natalie 13 Comments

Peanut butter cups like you’ve never seen! Creamy dairy-free matcha white chocolate filled with PB chocolate chip cookie dough. Vegan with paleo option!

Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)

Collaborating with one of my favorite ladies again, Gina from Healthy Little Vittles, to bring you a kind of easter-y, definitely outside the box, so very tasty sweet treat: Matcha Cookie Dough Cups!

We both adore matcha and the whole world deeply loves cookie dough from what I can tell, so why not combine the two?

Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)

Matcha white chocolate. The creamy green outside was mine to test, and if you follow me on Instagram you may have seen the many trials in my stories – some too brittle/chalky, some too melty/creamy. But by the fourth batch I finally figured out just the right ratio of ingredients to replicate a creamy white chocolate that doesn’t call for cacao butter, because as much as I love cacao butter its expensive and not the easiest thing to find.

The key is really just a lot of coconut in a lot of forms: coconut cream, coconut oil, and coconut milk powder. We tested a batch with coconut butter as well but it dulled the sweetness and matcha flavor too much. If you are not vegan feel free to use regular white chocolate and just add the matcha powder after melting.

I also tested it without the coconut milk powder since I know that is not the easiest ingredient to find either, and it did work although the texture is not as creamy. But not the end of the world, so don’t let that stop you from trying them if that’s all you’re missing.

Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)
Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)

Peanut butter cookie dough. The ultra addictive part of this collab is brought to us by Gina – peanut butter chocolate chip COOKIE DOUGH. This super simple center is better than any ol’ peanut butter cup if you ask me with that perfect un-baked cookie texture and plenty of mini chocolate chips.

We went PB to stick to the classic Reese’s model just a little bit, but you could easily sub in almond or cashew or sunflower seed butter to make them paleo. Whatever you love and have in the pantry.

And good news! There will be extra cookie dough leftover when you’re done sooooooo…you’re welcome.

Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)

I hope you enjoy these scrumptious, untraditional little peanut butter cups as much as we did!

Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)
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Matcha Cookie Dough Cups

★ 5 Stars ☆ ★ 4 Stars ☆ ★ 3 Stars ☆ ★ 2 Stars ☆ ★ 1 Star ☆ No reviews
  • Author: Natalie
  • Prep Time: 25 minutes
  • Cook Time: 1 hour (chilling)
  • Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
  • Yield: 12 cups 1x
  • Category: candy
  • Method: no bake
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Peanut butter cups like you’ve never seen! Creamy dairy-free matcha white chocolate filled with PB chocolate chip cookie dough. Vegan with paleo option!

Ingredients

Scale

Matcha White Chocolate

 

Cookie Dough**

Instructions

  1. Start by melting all of the matcha white chocolate ingredients together in a glass measuring cup or bowl.
  2. Whisk until smooth (you may need to blend the white chocolate if your matcha powder isn’t completely dissolved).
  3. Line your mini muffin tin with liners, then place 1/2 tablespoon of the matcha white chocolate in the bottom of each mini muffin cup.
  4. Freeze until firm, about 20 minutes.
  5. While the bottom layer is setting up, make the cookie dough by stirring together all ingredients in a medium bowl until a dough forms.
  6. Using a teaspoon, scoop a small (not heaping) teaspoon full of cookie dough into each muffin cup leaving a small border around the edges so that the top layer of matcha white chocolate can surround the cookie dough (make sure your cookie dough is flattened enough to where it’s level with the top of the muffin tin)
  7. Pour the remaining matcha white chocolate over top of the cookie dough.
  8. Place back in the freezer for 45-60 minutes or until set.
  9. These are best stored in the freezer. Thaw for a couple of minutes before enjoying.

Notes

*The solid part scooped out from a can of full-fat coconut milk that has been chilled overnight.

**You will have leftover cookie dough, enjoy as a snack or add to a smoothie bowl!

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cup
  • Calories: 147
  • Sugar: 5g
  • Sodium: 59mg
  • Fat: 9g
  • Saturated Fat: 6g
  • Carbohydrates: 7g
  • Protein: 2g

Keywords: easter, spring, green tea, paleo, healthy, coconut, dairy free, gluten free, grain free, peanut butter, candy

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Matcha Cookie Dough Cups (vegan)

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs

· Natalie 23 Comments

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs! Your favorite chocolate easter candy but homemade and healthier. Vegan, paleo, naturally sweetened, just 6 ingredients!

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs
SPONSORED BY HU

The chocolate-covered easter classic. The only candy I still care about this time of year even as an adult. The plain-on-the-outside-perfect-on-the-inside oblong oval of nutty meets chocolate. The peanut butter egg.

It’s been remade about 1000 different ways – dark chocolate, white chocolate, crunchy, creamy, inside out, nut-free, etc. But I couldn’t go a springtime without trying some new variation of my own. I knew I wanted it to be vegan and paleo. I knew I wanted it to be simple. I knew I wanted to use my favorite chocolate from Hu for the coating because it melts fantastically.

And after a bunch of brainstorming, what I finally landed on was Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs.

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs (vegan + paleo)

Why Tahini + Almond Butter

The paleo part meant peanut butter was instantly out. I considered using sunflower seed butter because the flavor is quite similar to PB in my opinion, but that’s been done before. So instead I combined tahini and almond butter to create a unique collaborative nut/seed flavor for these chocolate eggs.

Almond butter is quite sweet while tahini is earthy and bitter, so together they balance each other harmoniously. I did lightly sweeten the filling too with maple syrup, you can skip it if you prefer.

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs (vegan + paleo)

The Perfect Chocolate Egg Coating

So the filling is made by mixing the nut/seed butters, maple syrup, coconut flour, and a pinch of salt to get that creamy but also kinda fluffy texture that is so key to a proper “peanut butter” egg. Shape into eggs freehand (or use a mold if you are really serious about it), and then freeze.

Next comes the deliciously decadent part of coating our eggs in dark chocolate. I melted down about a cup of my absolute favorite chocolate chunks, Hu Gems. If you haven’t tasted these…THE BEST (hard to stop snacking, buy two bags). But even beyond that, they melt to a consistency that is ideal for coating – smooth and rich and thin enough to drape luxuriously and create the perfect chocolate coating.

Personally I am loving these even more than peanut butter eggs, but I might be biased…or they might just be THAT GOOD. Try them, and let me know what you think!

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs (vegan + paleo)
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Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Natalie
  • Prep Time: 30 minutes
  • Cook Time: 2 hours (chilling time)
  • Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
  • Yield: 12 eggs 1x
  • Category: chocolate
  • Method: no bake
  • Cuisine: american
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Description

Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs! Your favorite chocolate easter candy but homemade and healthier. Vegan, paleo, naturally sweetened, just 6 ingredients!

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1/2 cup (125g) almond butter*
  • 1/2 cup (125g) tahini
  • 2 tbsp (40g) maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp (45g) coconut flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt**
  • 1 cup Hu Gems

Instructions

  1. Mix together the almond butter, tahini, maple syrup, coconut flour, and salt.
  2. Scoop into balls, and roll/shape into eggs (or use a silicone mold).
  3. Freeze for 1 hour.
  4. Melt the Hu Gems. 
  5. Dip the bottom of each egg, then arrange on a sheet of wax paper and re-freeze. After that is set, coat the tops and sides on a cooling rack, letting the excess drip off the sides.
  6. Chill until set. 
  7. Enjoy! Keep leftovers in the fridge.

Notes

*Use sunflower seed butter to make them nut-free.

**Omit if your almond butter is salted.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 egg
  • Calories: 267
  • Sugar: 8g
  • Sodium: 104mg
  • Fat: 20g
  • Saturated Fat: 6g
  • Carbohydrates: 17g
  • Fiber: 4g
  • Protein: 6g

Keywords: easter, vegan, paleo, nut free, Reeses, easy, no bake, candy, dairy free, gluten free

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Tahini Almond Butter Chocolate Eggs (vegan + paleo)