Shalvi Mohindra
Pastry Chef and Chocolatier
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Ground Almonds
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- 3 Tbsp Coconut Oil (Melted)
- 3 Tbsp Honey or Maple Syrup
- 2 ½ Tbsp Lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- Icing Sugar for dusting (optional)
Instructions
1. Preheat the oven
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius, line an oven tray with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Add & mix
In a large bowl add ground almonds, salt, baking soda, lemon zest and mix in lemon juice, vanilla extract, honey and melted coconut oil.
3. Form the dough
Stir with a spatula and form the cookie dough. It should be soft and sticky but easy to roll into cookie balls.
4. Roll the dough into a ball
To make the cookies, rub some coconut oil on your palms and fingers and scoop out about 1 ½ tablespoons of cookie dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball. The diameter will be about 4 cm each.
5. Place on a baking tray
Place each cookie dough ball on a lined baking tray and leave some space between the cookies. They do not expand in the oven but you will flatten them before baking, by pressing down each cookie gently. The sides of the cookie might crack, but that’s fine.
6. Baking time
Bake for 10-12 minutes until the sides are golden brown. They will be soft when you take them out of the oven. Leave them on the cooling rack for 10 minutes before dusting icing sugar.
Pro Tips
- Once you start mixing the ingredients with a spatula, you might need to use your hands to make cookie dough, just at the end to bring everything together.
- You can make the cookies larger in size, but be careful, they will be soft and might break easily. Try to keep them small and bite size.
- These cookies are not too sweet, so add some icing sugar dusting if you like.
- Replace lemon with orange, and you can then enjoy orange cookies.
Shalvi has studied Diplome de Patisserie at Le Cordon Bleu, New Zealand and now specialises as a chocolatier. She had previously worked as a Chef de Partie for airline catering, creating desserts for first class and business class passengers, and is now working with as a Head chocolatier at Cocoa Wilds, where all the products are freshly made using no preservatives or artificial flavours.
When it comes to current and new recipes, Shalvi is always looking for healthier options, because desserts can still be indulgent and delicious without negatively impacting our health.
This is why Shalvi’s passion is to find and use only the best natural ingredients; an approach and philosophy she also incorporates in her everyday cooking by using fresh, whole foods and avoiding processed foods.
