While I’ve been on the Whole30 Program, I thought I would miss having an occasional frozen yogurt. I haven’t. What I have missed is having something with my afternoon cup of hot tea. While berries and nuts are a great health conscious choice to accompany tea time, I’ve missed having something to actually dunk into my tea. A strawberry dipped in hot tea just isn’t quite the same!
And then I saw this recipe for Healthy Nut Cookies on Rosie Battista’s Facebook page. Rosie is the author of Sleeping Naked After 40, and she is an amazing proponent of clean, healthy eating and being fit. I saved the recipe, which promised GRAIN FREE, SUGAR FREE, DAIRY FREE, GUILT FREE, and looked forward to seeing if the treats were as good as they looked.
Tonight, I made a batch as I hummed along with tunes on my iPod. I found all the ingredients at my local discount grocery store, without having to go to the health food store. Here is the recipe:
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups of Almond Flour (found this in the baking aisle at the store)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon chia seeds (found a small package of these next to the almond flour in the baking aisle)
½ cup raisins
½ cup pecans
½ Tablespoon cinnamon
Combine all of the above in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
Wet Ingredients:
In a blender combine:
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
6 pitted dates
¼ cup almond milk
¼ cup peanut butter, no sugar added (I bought organic peanut butter, no sugar added)
½ banana
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
Blend ingredients until smooth and creamy. Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring with spoon until dough forms. Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheet and press down lightly with a fork to flatten slightly. Bake at 350 degrees 5–10 minutes, or until bottoms of cookies are lightly browned. The original recipe called for 14-18 minutes of baking time, but I found the cookies to be done after 5-6 minutes. Ovens vary. Watch your cookies so they don’t burn! I use my sense of smell. When I can smell the cookies, they are usually done. Does anyone else do that? Makes approximately 36 cookies.
Allow cookies to cool and then store in the freezer. These cookies supposedly do not freeze rock hard and can be eaten straight from the freezer. Because the cookies are so dense and rich, one or two cookies are plenty for a snack. Keeping them frozen maintains freshness and keeps me from eating too many of them so they “don’t go to waste”.
I haven’t frozen my cookies yet. I tried two with a cup of hot tea. And….they were delicious. Subtly sweet, thanks to the dates, raisins and banana, and very flavorful and satisfying to munch on. Best of all….I could dip them into my hot tea! I’ll be freezing the rest. What a treat in the days to come, to have one or two with my tea, without the sugar, dairy, grains….or guilt.
