Crinkle-Crackle Christmas Cooks

A while back I ordered The Vegan Cookie Connoisseur by Kelly Peloza and finally decided to give one of the recipes a try. Many of the photos in the book are horrible and not at all appetizing, which is why I left it on my kitchen shelf for so long. Some are way too up-close and the lighting is awful on so many others. (Not that I have room to talk, but still, I expect more in a book than I do on a blog.) That being said, the recipe for Lemon's Dark Chocolate Truffle Cookies was spectacular and I will absolutely be trying more from the book and checking to see if the author has any other vegan cookbooks. I did make a couple changes to Kelly's instructions and ingredients as well as renaming the tasty lil' devils.

Ingredients:
1 cup 365 Organic All Purpose Flour
⅔ cup of raw cacao powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup Wholesome organic dark brown sugar
2 tbsp of Thrive Market organic virgin coconut oil
⅔ cup of Trader Joe's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1 tsp 365 Organic Vanilla Extract
½ tsp 365 Almond Extract
2 tbsp Simply Orange Pulp Free orange juice
3 tbsp So Delicious Unsweetened Coconut Milk
¼ cup of powdered sugar

Steps:
Preheat oven to 375°
Mix together flour, cacao and baking powder, and brown sugar in a large bowl, then create a well in the center. (I had never heard of this technique so I just made the mix into a crater in the bowl.)
Melt chocolate chips then combine them with the coconut oil, extracts, juice and coconut milk and pour the gunk into the crater.
Mix until completely combined. (It was dry as hell so I added more coconut milk as was advised in Kelly's instructions.)
Roll the dough into lil' balls and roll 'em into the powdered sugar. Once on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet I smooshed them down with the bottom of a glass.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, let them cool for about a minute then transfer to cooling rack.

Note: this doesn't make much, just a little more than 2 dozen, but man, oh man, are they gooood! I cannot recommend them enough and it was surprisingly easy to do, especially under Mama Rosie's guidance.