There’s only enough batter there to keep things together, letting all the nutty goodness really shine. We munched on these from the fridge for more than a week and the flavors just kept on getting better. I used a cayenne-flavored dark chocolate for the topping, but regular would be fine – maybe sprinkled with a bit of extra cayenne for more spicy kick. I also used whole cane sugar and agave as sweeteners, but to simplify things I’m sure using just one or the other would work as well.

Here’s what I used:

• 2 and 1/2 dl assorted nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans, and almonds)
• 1 dl raw coconut flakes
• 1/2 dl chick pea flour (gram or besan)
• 1/2 dl whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 dl coconut oil in room temperature
• 1/2 dl whole cane sugar
• 2 and 1/2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy yoghurt
• 60 grams (cayenne-flavored) dark chocolate, chopped

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, covered my baking dish with parchment paper, and sprayed it with a bit of olive oil. I also chopped the nuts and the chocolate – the nuts quite coarsely, dividing them only in 2-3 pieces each.

To make the batter, I mixed the dry ingredients except nuts and coconut flakes (chickpea flour through cayenne) in one bowl, and the wet ingredients (coconut oil through soy yogurt) in another. Now I poured the dry into wet and stirred with a fork just enough to mix. Then I poured nuts and coconut flakes in the batter bowl and stirred until they were evenly coated with the batter. There should be just enough batter to coat.

Now I spread the mixture in the baking dish and baked the squares for 15 minutes, until nicely browned. I turned down the heat in the oven, sprinkled the chocolate evenly over the nutty layer, and then placed the baking dish back in the oven for 1 minute to melt the chocolate. I removed the dish from the oven and spread the chocolate evenly with a butter knife, then let the whole thing come to room temperature, and refrigerated for a few hours before cutting into small squares with a sharp, unserrated knife.

I wanted to make a chewy cookie, and coconut and currants did give these a very nice chewiness. Somehow there is also a crispy and light dimension to the texture, akin to the caramelized oat biscuits that I baked a while back. The nutmeg sort of took over the taste after a few days in the cookie jar (and the chewiness took over the crispiness as well) so I’d say these are at their most delicious right after baking!

The Cookie Dough:

• 1 dl desiccated coconut
• 1 dl graham (whole wheat) flour
• 1 dl muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons currants
• 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch each: salt, cinnamon, nutmeg
• 1/2 dl canola oil
• 2 tablespoons soy milk

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and covered a baking sheet with baking parchment.

Then I mixed all the dry ingredients (coconut through nutmeg) together in a bowl, and then poured in the oil. I mixed until a little combined, and then started adding soy milk until a nice, slightly sticky dough formed.

I placed tablespoon-sized dabs of dough on the cookie sheet, and flattened them a little bit with a fork. These cookies spread out pretty much, but I managed to fit them all on just one baking sheet.

Then I baked my cookies in the pre-heated oven for about 8-9 minutes, and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes before removing them with a spatula. These cookies are soft right out of the oven, but crisp up while they cool down.

Lately, I have been experimenting with using chick pea flour in baking. Its taste is quite pronounced if you try the batter pre-baking, but afterwards it doesn’t really taste much at all, and works very well as an egg-replacer. These cookies hold their shape quite nicely and won’t fall apart in the tea cup. I also got some oat flour from our organic delivery, but finely ground oats would work just as well.

The Cookie Dough (4 cookies, or 6 smaller ones):

• 1 and 1/2 dl oat flour
• 1/2 dl desiccated coconut
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons chick pea flour (gram)
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/2 tablespoon rose water
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons agave syrup
• 1 tablespoon muscovado sugar
• some more desiccated coconut (to cover the cookies)

I first stirred the dry ingredients – oat flour through salt – together with a fork, then combined all the liquid ingredients, and mixed everything together until well combined. I divided the dough in 4 equal portions, rolled them into balls, rolled the balls in desiccated coconut, and flattened them on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. The cookies were about 3/4 cm thick before baking. I baked them in 175 degrees Celsius for 7 minutes, until browned around the edges, and then removed the cookies from the baking sheet to cool down.

The flatter the cookie, the shorter the baking time, and the crispier the result! Agave syrup seems to brown quickly, so it’s best to check after 5 minutes.

This batch makes about 9 smallish chokladbollar. It’s not very much, and I think we’ll have to double the recipe next time. We used a light vegan margarine, but I guess the commercially produced chokladbollar have coconut oil in them since they hold their shape in room temperature. I love the flavor of coffee in these, but it can be replaced with another liquid if desired – soy milk would be perfect, or maybe even a dash of some nice liqueur for extra decadence.

This is what we used:

• 50 g vegan margarine, in room temperature (about 2 tablespoons)
• 3/4 dl (muscovado) sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 2 tablespoons good cocoa powder
• 1 and 1/2 dl rolled oats (ground)
• 1 tablespoon coffee (we used espresso)
• about 1 dl desiccated coconut for rolling

First, we ground the oats in our mini food processor until they resembled a coarse flour. I haven’t seen this done in any other recipe, but I just think it’s much nicer this way – I like smoother texture without chewy oats. We also brewed a little bit of coffee in our smallest stove-top coffee maker and let it cool to room temperature.

We creamed together the sugar, vanilla sugar, cocoa powder, and margarine. Then we added the oats and the coffee, and mixed with our immersion blender until well combined. The dough can be mixed by hand just as well, but again, it wont be quite as smooth.

Now, we chilled the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes – it’s too sticky to handle otherwise. Then we just rolled the dough into 9 more or less equal-sized balls, rolled the balls in the desiccated coconut, and chilled them for about 1 hour more.

This cake was especially good right after baking, steeped in the raspberry sauce, but went well on its own with a cup of tea on the next day as well.

Wet Mix:

• 4 dl coconut milk (one can)
• 2 dl sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Grand Marnier liqueur

Dry Mix:

• 3 and 1/2 dl wheat flour
• 1/2 dl potato starch
• 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• pinch of turmeric (for color)
• pinch of salt

Also Needed:

• 2 dl cubed apricots (from a can)
• margarine and desiccated coconut for the cake pan

First, I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, and took the raspberries out of the freezer.

Then I poured the sugar and the coconut milk in the bowl, and let the sugar melt while I greased the cake pan and covered it with desiccated coconut.

I mixed the dry mix in another bowl, cubed the apricots, and added the rest of the wet mix ingredients in the coconut milk bowl. Now, I combined the wet with the dry mix and stirred until the batter was relatively smooth, added the apricots, and poured the batter in the prepared cake pan. I baked the cake for approximately one hour, until a toothpick inserted came out clean.

Raspberry Sauce:

• 2 and 1/2 dl frozen raspberries, thawed
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup

I pressed the raspberries through a fine sieve with the help of a table spoon until only the seeds remained in the sieve. Then I mixed in the agave syrup and refrigerated the sauce until the cake had cooled down a bit. There was just enough sauce to drown two big slices of the cake. Fresh raspberries would probably make an even more delicious sauce, but we are months away from those!