(NaturalNews) Do you love cookies but want to avoid the nasty ingredients found in most commercial varieties (e.g., trans fat, artificial colors)? This recipe is made from natural ingredients! It's gluten-free, dairy-free and egg-free, too; and it's guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth. With the help of the grocery shopping tips included here, you'll know for sure that you're avoiding hidden food additives, so you can feel good about snacking away.

Chewy Cinnamon Cookies Recipe

Makes about 12 cookies

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
1/2 TBSP pure vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups almond meal
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Melt oil and honey together in a small sauce pan.

Meanwhile, combine all dry ingredients in a medium bowl.

Remove oil and honey from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract.

Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoon onto parchment paper - just 6 cookies per sheet because they will spread.

Bake one sheet at a time on the middle oven rack for about 8 minutes, until the edges just begin to brown. Watch carefully in the final couple minutes because ovens vary, and these turn quickly from done to burnt!

Slide cookies (with parchment paper) onto a cooling rack. Cool for about 20 minutes.

Grocery shopping tips

Honey. Some brands of honey contain corn syrup or other strange ingredients, so always read the ingredients label, and be sure "honey" is the only ingredient listed.

Vanilla extract. Purchase a brand that contains just "vanilla bean extractives in water, alcohol, and sugar." Some brands do not contain sugar, so look for those brands if you wish to avoid sugar, too. Some additives commonly hiding in vanilla flavorings are: "caramel coloring," "high fructose corn syrup," and "propylene glycol." Because you're buying actual extract, it will be more expensive than other varieties of vanilla flavoring, but you should be able to find a suitable brand at most regular grocery stores.

Almond meal. Almond meal is just ground up almonds, and it's available at natural food stores or in the gluten-free section of many regular grocery stores or online. Food additives are typically not a concern with almond meal, but choose an organic brand if you wish to reduce your exposure to agricultural chemicals.

Coconut Oil. Make sure the brand you purchase is labeled as "unrefined," as these varieties contain no additives and are less processed than "refined" coconut oils. You can purchase unrefined coconut oil in natural food stores or online, but it's also becoming more readily available at regular grocery stores, too.

Sea Salt. Many salt and sea salt varieties contain "anti-caking agents" (e.g., dextrose, cornstarch) to keep the granules from clumping together; and these are generally listed in the ingredients list. Anti-caking agents can disguise the dangerous food additive MSG and should be avoided. Avoid iodized salt, as well, because the process used to make this type of salt may result in hidden MSG being added - and that won't be disclosed in the ingredients list. To find brands of salt that do not contain additives, you may need to shop at a natural foods store or the health section of a regular grocery store. Look for brands that are not iodized and contain just "sea salt" in the ingredients list.

Click here for photos of the finished cookies!

Sources:

https://www.naturalnews.com/026694_oil_coconut.html

https://www.naturalnews.com/034260_cinnamon_health_benefits.html

http://www.naturalnews.com

About the author:
Christy Pooschke is a natural health advocate who became passionate about avoiding food additives after healing from years of chronic illness. Want more simple & tasty natural recipes? Check out her e-book, Eating Additive-Free- a natural cookbook packed with 160 recipes and a complete additive-free grocery shopping guide!