A little over a month ago, one of Steve's former colleagues, Merle, came over for brunch to meet Vivienne for the first time. Anytime Merle comes over, she brings with her lots of goodies, and this time was no exception. Remember that apple cake that I shared with you a few years ago? Yea, that was Merle who introduced me to that delicious cake. And this time, she not only brought over a new cake (which is AHHMAZING and I will most definitely share with you guys asap!), but she also brought over vegan cookies since she knew I couldn't have dairy or soy. How sweet is that of her??

It was torturous to watch her and Steve eat the cake she brought over (it had dairy in it along with apricots & coconut !!), but I consoled myself by gobbling up the cookies she made for me and they were OUT OF THIS WORLD GOOD. I had Steve email her asking for the recipe because we needed more! I inhaled them within a matter of days. Shocking. And you know who's recipe it is? A supermodel's! I knew that Karlie Kloss had her own cookie line, but I really didn't think they'd be good. I mean how does a supermodel know how to make yummy cookies? But I guess since they have to watch what they eat for their job, it probably means that whatever they do eat will be amazing. and these cookies are just that.

I've mentioned on Instagram that I have been allowed by Vivi's doctor to have dairy and soy back in my diet, just in moderation. So I've been indulging in buttery cookies and cakes that have milk in them, but these cookies are SO good that I made them yesterday to scarf down again. I should mention that I've never seen these cookies packaged so I'm not entirely sure how they should look, so if you've seen the Coco Kookies before and are like, "these look nothing like the ones she sells," don't judge them by looks because their taste is truly delicious. They look crispy but are definitely more on the chewy side. Don't say I didn't warn you about how addictive they are. Enjoy!

Ingredients
Recipe from The New Potato with my tweaks below.

1 ¾ Cup almond flour
½ Cup cup 4 cup flour blend (I used King Arthur flour since that's what I had on hand)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cornstarch
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ Cup coconut flakes
½ Cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1 ½ Cup maple syrup, the higher quality the more delicious
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple extract

Directions

1. Place all dry ingredients in the bowl of a mixer. Mix on low until all ingredients are dispersed evenly.
2. On low speed, slowly stream in the wet ingredients. Batter will be very wet.
3. Scoop into balls, flatten with your hand and let refrigerate for at least one hour before baking. I refrigerated them for 2 hours since it was still somewhat soupy at 1 hour.
4. Scoop into 12 small balls, flatten into discs, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. They won't exactly stay in ball form so I didn't need to flatten them. The batter/dough was still wet for me, but was a bit more firm.
5. Heat oven to 325 F. Line sheet tray with parchment paper. Have more parchment paper on hand so you can cut them into squares and use them to layer the cookies so they don't stick to one another as seen in the photo above.
6. Bake for 9 minutes, then turn the sheet tray around and bake for another 9 minutes, or until golden brown.
7. Cool on the baking tray at room temperature of flash-cool in the fridge or freezer if you’re in a hurry to serve Kookies!