Power-Packed Cookies

July 11, 2017

By Anna Varriano

These grain-less cookies are loaded with nutrient-dense ingredients. They are easy to make and freeze beautifully.  This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies. Feel free to change things up, for instance, you can swap out the walnuts for pecans or slivered almonds, use your favourite dried fruit instead of dates, use sunflower seeds or pine nuts instead of pepitas, and your favourite nut butter if it’s not almond butter! I’ve swapped out ingredients virtually every time I make these cookies depending on what I have on hand. As far as cookie recipes go, this one is pretty forgiving!

You Will Need:

I’ve listed the ingredients in groups so that the instructions will be easier for you!

Group A: The Stuff to Soak

  • 1/2 cup plain whole fat yogurt or kefir
  • 2 tbsp chia seeds

Group B: The Dry Stuff

  • 3/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp fine ground unrefined salt (e.g. Celtic sea salt, Himalayan crystal salt)

Group C: The Stuff to Whip

  • 1/2 cup coconut oil
  • 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar
  • 1 TBSP vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup smooth almond butter
  • 1/4 cup honey (or molasses)

Group D: The Stuff for the Bits and Pieces

  • 1 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
  • 12 dates chopped up into small pieces
  • 2/3 cup raw walnut pieces
  • 1/4 cup raw pepitas (‘green’ pumpkin seeds)
  • 1 cup organic dark chocolate chips

Step 1: Prepping Group A ingredients

  • Preheat oven to 350, then stir the chia seeds into the yogurt/kefir and set aside

Step 2: Prepping Group B Ingredients

 

  • Mix all Group B ingredients together in a large bowl and set aside

Step 3:  Prepping Group D Ingredients

  • Mix all Group D ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Don’t they look delicious just on their own? Would be a great top for a bowl of yogurt!

Step 4: Prepping Group C Ingredients

  • Using a mixer on medium speed, beat sugar, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla extract until light and creamy
  • Add honey (or molasses), almond butter, and chia-yogurt/kefir mixture and mix in until well blended using mixer on low speed

Step 5: Mixing It All Together

  • Add wet ingredients (Group A and C mixture) to Group B ingredients (the dry flour etc mix) and using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir/mix until well blended
  • Add Group D Ingredients (the bits and pieces) to the above and again, using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir/mix until well blended

Step 6: To Refrigerate Dough … Or Not … Then Bake

Sometimes I refrigerate the dough for 60 minutes before putting it on a cookie sheet (which I line with parchment paper) for baking, sometimes I don’t. The cookies are good either way. If I have time, I prefer to refrigerate the dough as it makes it a bit firmer and I can roll the dough into balls for more uniform and denser cookies. Either way, you will set the oven to 350F.

If you choose to refrigerate the dough, roll it out into ping-pong sized balls (about a TBSP of dough) and SLIGHTLY flatten the balls of dough with a fork before baking – like so…

If you choose not to refrigerate the dough, you will use the ‘drop cookie’ method, and just scoop the dough out with a tablespoon and drop it onto the cookie sheet – like so…

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes (give or take a minute or so depending on your oven) until the bottoms of the cookies are brown. Note that coconut palm sugar tends to make the bottoms brown faster/darker than regular sugar. The top of the cookies will still feel soft, but will firm up once the cookies are cooled. Cool the cookies on a baking rack and don’t put them in a container until they are COMPLETELY cooled. The ones pictured below were from a time I refrigerated and rolled the dough. Don’t they look yummy?

These cookies freeze really well, so I sometimes double the recipe. They even taste great frozen – especially on a hot summer day! :o)

Enjoy!

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