Honeyville Almond Flour

I’m a huge fan of almond flour and use it often. It’s a fantastic high-protein, grain-free ingredient, and it makes terrific gluten-free baked goods. All of the recipes in one of my favorite gluten-free cookbooks (Elana Amsterdam’s Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook) call for blanched almond flour, which I initially had trouble finding. Despite the book’s warning, I tried to make cookies with some leftover almond meal I found in my pantry, but they were a disaster. The flour and oil separated and made a nasty, runny, gooey, disgusting mess, so I didn’t post it on here, but now I wish I had.

Not wanting to repeat that kind of recipe fail again, I decided to follow instructions and use the right kind of almond flour. Honeyville is listed as one of the recommended sources for almond flour in the book, so that’s how I first learned about them. Their prices and shipping rates are very reasonable, and they frequently offer coupon codes, which I usually share on Tumblr, Twitter, and my Facebook page. Honeyville must know how much I love them because they generously sent me a 5 lb. bag of their Blanched Almond Flour. Win!

On the back of the bag is a recipe for gluten-free chocolate chip cookies, which incidentally, happens to be the same recipe in Elana Amsterdam’s book, and I make these all the time. Only I don’t follow the recipe exactly, and I’ve started experimenting with the cookie dough. But since I have this fresh, new bag of almond flour, I thought I might document the recipes I make with it, starting with these cookies.

I know, I’ve already featured this recipe, and I’m sticking with my usual substitutions of coconut oil for grapeseed oil and maple syrup instead of agave nectar. Also, I was out of dark chocolate chips, so this time around I used semisweet, and I was a bit short of a cup for the chocolate chips so I also added in some walnut pieces. Not really all that much like the original recipe, but they’re still delicious.

Oh, and I noticed that the recipe printed on the bag of almond flour doesn’t mention chilling the dough before you bake it. To me, this is an essential step, otherwise my dough is way too soft and sticky. Plus, I’ve found that if you like a crunchier cookie, you can add another handful or two of almond flour and bake them an few extra minutes.

Other recipes I’ve made using Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour are the Gluten-Free Chocolate Cookies and Gluten-Free Cupcakes (I know where you can find some cool wrappers and toppers, if you feel like making a batch of these and dressing them up).