Double Chocolate Chunk Spelt Flour Cookies

Valentine's Day got me in the mood to eat something sweet. Every year, I saw Valentine's Day as an internationally sanctioned day to eat whatever the heck you want without feeling bad about it. Today, however, is the first time I've ever had to get through the day with diabetes. Needless to say, this makes things a little bit different, but I was determined over the weekend to make something to satisfy my sweet tooth without spiking my blood sugar. Apples, pears, and tangerines are sweet, but really, there's nothing quite like some chocolate cookies.

I have to be honest. I never really craved chocolate until after my diagnosis. The only sweet thing I craved before my diagnosis was ice cream, and lots of it. But I guess because I can't have chocolate anymore, I have some serious pangs for it now. That's also probably why Saturday I finally decided to bake for the first time ever. So I didn't just want to find a way to make some chocolate cookies. I went for the whole caboose: Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies, courtesy of Healthy and Gourmet.

The great thing about this recipe is that it utilizes spelt flour, which not only has fewer carbs, but is laced with tons of fiber to make sure you're not upping your blood sugar too quickly. The recipe also focuses on using dark chocolate, which definitely helps in the fiber department as well. I also threw in unsweetened cocoa powder and stevia instead of the recipe's equivalents, just to make sure I wasn't downing any unnecessary extra carbs in the midst of my indulgence. For some nuttiness, I threw in a bit of hazelnut powder.

Changes for next time? Probably some more butter and hazelnut flour, but that's about it. The cookie tastes a little bit dry at first bite, but develops a nice amount of chewiness. The cinnamon tastes great with the dark chocolate, which reminded me of some varieties of Mexican chocolate. I also loved the amount of salt in this cookie. Really delicious. The hazelnut powder was more of an aftertaste, which was nice, but not as present as I wanted it to be. All in all, however, it was great, and most importantly, my blood sugar was stable. Sweet (pun intended, as usual)!

Happy Valentine's Day!