Blueberry-Coconut Cookies

DRY INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup whole-grain amaranth flour, (or spelt flour)
1 cup brown rice flour, (or spelt flour)
1 cup sorghum flour, (or spelt flour)
1/2 cup coconut shreds
1/4 cup ground flax seed
4 tablespoons tapioca flour
1/2 cup ground hemp seeds (or half ground flax seeds and half ground sesame seeds)
2 tablespoons whole sugar (e.g., Rapadura) (or Sucanat sugar or granulated sugar)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
2 teaspoons baking powder, (double acting)
3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil (or non-hydrogenated veg. shortening) (or walnut oil or canola oil)
1/2 cup dried blueberries, diced
WET INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
1/3 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons walnut oil, refined, (or canola oil)
1/4 cup blueberry jam
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon coconut extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Put parchment paper down on a baking sheet (if you don't have parchment paper, you can oil your baking sheet).
Cookies can even stick a little to a non-stick baking sheet which messes up the cookies, so I greatly prefer parchment paper because it always makes for very easy removal.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Cut coconut oil (or shortening or oil) into flour mixture (using a fork and a knife). Mix in the dried blueberries.
Blend wet ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture, and mix together. It may seem a bit dry at first, but once you get all the ingredients integrated, it will form a slightly sticky, shapable dough. (If other flours besides those being called for are used, additional flour may be needed to create a stiff enough dough. The dough is too wet if you can not form cookies with your hands.)
Form balls of dough and place on the cookie sheet (or sheets). They may be a bit crumbly, but should bake
together nicely.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes. To prevent the bottoms of the cookies from burning, you may like to put an extra cookie sheet in the oven to protect the main cookie sheet from the oven heating element.
After removing cookies from oven, they will be quite soft. This is partially due to the fact that the brown rice syrup "melts" during baking. Let the cookies sit on the cookie sheet for 5 to 10 minutes to allow them to cool and firm up. They will then be much easier to remove from the sheet. If you wait too long before removing them from the sheet, it will be more difficult to get them off because the brown rice syrup will have hardened too much.
Cookies freeze very well.
VARIATIONS:
- "Blueberry-Tangerine Cookies" - use tangerine extract/oil instead of coconut extract.
- Use a combination of maple syrup, brown rice syrup, and barley malt syrup as the liquid sweetener. The current ratio of maple syrup to brown rice syrup makes a soft/slightly crisp cookie, whereas if more brown rice syrup were used in place of the maple syrup, the cookie would be crispier/crunchier. See the "Sweetener Substitutions" section in "Dessert Notes" earlier in the book for more information.
- Could use any combination of the following flours: brown rice flour, whole-grain millet flour, whole-grain amaranth flour, whole-grain teff flour, whole hemp flour, ground sesame seeds, and/or ground flax seed OR if you don't mind using a flour with gluten: whole-grain pastry wheat flour, whole-grain spelt flour, whole-grain kamut flour, and/or whole-grain oat flour.
- To lower the fat content, replace some of the walnut oil with applesauce and/or prune puree - note this will create a more cake-like cookie rather than a crispy/chewy type cookie.
- See the "Dessert Notes" at the front of this chapter for more variation ideas.
- Alternative flavorings can be added such as: amaretto or other liqueur, lemon zest, spices, etc.