Dark Chocolate Rosemary Cookies

Dark Chocolate Rosemary Cookies

Some things just taste great together. I stumbled upon this flavor combination in two ways: first, I found it in my favorite cooking companion book, The Flavor Thesaurus. It covers about every flavor combination you can imagine and why or why not they work together. On a Rosemary & Chocolate pairing, the author says 
"A backdrop of dark chocolate shows off rosemary's cool, evergreen flavours ... the dominant flavour compound in both rosemary and cardamom is cineole, common to bay leaf too (think how all three make great milk based desserts).  Cineole has woody, eucalyptus slightly minty notes ..."
After reading that, I was curious. I am a serious lover of all chocolate 
& orange combinations (see our orange chocolate cheesecake, orange chocolate macaroons, and of course, ourorange cream filled chocolates), and knew I would love the slightly, piney herb flavor behind the rich dark chocolate. Within several days, while catching up with Isa Chandra's new cooking videos, I saw she had perfected a recipe for chocolate chip rosemary cookies. They looked great! So, I took it as a sign from the vegan cookie gods and got to work. I knew I wanted my cookies to be different than Isa's- thats what writing recipes is all about. I used a double chocolate base to really bring out the flavor of the rosemary and kept 'em gluten-free so I could enjoy them without getting a tummy ache. 
They're the ultimate chewy chocolate cookie. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose gluten free flour mix
 (We used 1 cup teff flour+1 cup almond flour- our favorite blend. Whole wheat works here, too!)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon xantham gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coconut oil, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon ground flax seeds
1/2 cup nut milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons dried, chopped rosemary
(if using fresh rosemary, substitute 2 tablespoons) 
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chopped bar chocolate

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, xantham gum, and salt until well mixed. Set aside. In a mixer or with hand beaters cream together the softened coconut oil and sugar. Add ground flax, nut milk, vanilla and chopped rosemary, and mix until totally combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture about a cup at a time, mixing them together until all of the dry ingredients are completely incorporated into the wet and a soft dough forms. Pour in chocolate chips (or chunks) and use a wooden spoon or spatula to work them into the dough. Use an ice cream scoop or a spoon to scoop 1 inch balls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-13 minutes, until edges are crisp and tops begin to crack. Remove from oven, move to cooling rack, and try to not to eat them all before they cool. Once cool they can be moved to a plastic bag or airtight container and stored for about a week. Frozen they'll be good for several months- then you can pull out just one at a time instead of having an entire batch at your disposal. I never get that far. 
They're great next to a tall glass of almond milk and somehow get even tastier the next day. 
We hope you enjoy them as much as we did.
This recipes makes a batch of 20 (ish) cookies.

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