Candied pecan dark chocolate cacao nib cookies :)

Anyone watch Jenna Marbles on YouTube? She has a few episodes of "better names for animals" or other topics. Today I bring you better names for rooms in a house. Have you ever thought about how each room in the house is named after the item that you enter that room for? Bedroom, Bathroom, Computer room, etc. With two exceptions, one being the living or family room when it should really be called the couch room, and the kitchen. I declared to my family while stirring up these cookies yesterday that I will now refer to the kitchen as the cooking room, or the feeding room or the baking room. Because I'm literal, and funny. Or at least I think so :)

So, I love dark chocolate. Like. LOOOOOVE IT. As dark as you can get. If you don't love dark chocolate we can no longer be friends. And if you prefer milk chocolate over dark chocolate, you can just see your way out. Now that we have that cleared up. Imagine dark chocolate chips paired with raw chocolate (cacao), and compiled into a cinnamon-y cookie. Grab a paper towel, you're drooling. :) I haven't even gotten to the second best part: candied pecans. If you buy candied pecans, you're stupid, and I mean it. They are so STUPIDLY simple to make that even a caveman could do it (dated Geico commercial reference).

Candied pecans:

Preheat oven to 350, leave on if you're making the cookies after these babies.

Pecans
Ginger
Nutmeg
Honey

Recipe:

I did not measure anything, (surprise surprise) so don't worry about measuring either.

1. Pour desired amount of pecans in a bowl. If I had to guess I used about 3-4 cups.
2. Sprinkle with desired amount of ginger and nutmeg (or whatever spices you like). Stir.
3. Pour in honey (maple syrup works as well). I like things less sweet, so I didn't use much honey, and you don't want it to be overly gooey either. So perhaps 2-3 tablespoons. 
4. Stir it all together and pour onto baking sheet covered in tinfoil. Spread them out a little with a fork, and pop into the oven for five minutes. Pull them out and shift them around a bit on the sheet, then return to the oven for another ~7 minutes. More if you like them extra toasty. 

Ta-Da! you did it. Easy as pie right? Pecan pie HA!

On to the cookies. You want to wait until the pecans have cooled enough for the honey to no longer be sticky before you use them for the cookies. This will not take long, for all you impatient people out there. Although I have a stand mixer, these cookies work well with just a whisk and your hands if you're lazy like me and prefer less dishes. Also, I didn't own a stand mixer or even a hand held one when I began baking, so sometimes its nice to go back to basics.


Candied pecan dark chocolate cacao nib cookies:
(this is my base chocolate chip cookie recipe that I modify :) )

Preheat to 350 degrees F.

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted completely
1 1/2 cups organic raw sugar (if using honey or maple syrup, use 1 cup)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

2 cups almond flour
1 cup tapioca starch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Chopped candied pecans (recipe above)
Cacao nibs
Dark chocolate chips

1. In a large bowl stir together all dry ingredients.
2. In a smaller bowl whisk coconut oil and sugar.
3. Add eggs one by one into the coconut oil and sugar. If your coconut oil is hot and your eggs are straight from the fridge it is not ideal to mix them, however if you must the faster you whisk the better. Get in the habit of warming eggs to room temp! Add vanilla.
4. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, combine as well as you can with a spoon, then use your hands :)
5. Once combined, chop your candied pecans from earlier and add them into the bowl. Add as much or as little as you like, I used roughly 1 1/2 cup for a double batch. 
6. Add a handful of cacao nibs and however many dark chocolate chips you prefer :) knead together in one large cookie dough ball.
7. Roll 2 inch drops in your hand and place them on a cookie sheet. Flatten with your hand or the bottom of a glass before placing in the oven.
8. Bake for ~12-16 minutes or until desired gooey-ness!

I made just about 70 cookies and brought them to my work and then my MMA gym, and they were gone even before Crossfit was over!

Enjoy! I'd love to hear about other ways you have modified the timeless chocolate chip cookie recipe to make them unique!