Okay, how can I write all about eating my favorite cookies without sharing the recipe with you all? So I'm going to share the cookie recipe that I was raving about last night (yes, Jeff & I's favorite cookies!) I've done a lot of experimenting with alternative cookie recipes, due to the fact that Jeff and I don't eat wheat gluten and that I love to make desserts that are healthy (which can be tough to find recipes for.) I want to satisfy my sweet tooth, but I want my tummy to feel good afterwards. Tastebuds are happy, body is happy; that's my constant goal when I'm preparing foods.
This recipe comes from my favorite cookbook, 'Nourishing Traditions' by Sally Fallon. This cookbook is based on the research of Weston A. Price, who was a dentist in the 1930's. He noticed that the dental health of his patients was deteriorating and he knew it was due to poor diet. So he said 'okay, I know what we shouldn't eat, but what should we eat?' Then he began travelling around the world, finding the healthiest people with the healthiest teeth (a good indicator of good health) and studying what they ate. What did they eat? They ate local, nutrient dense foods in their most natural state. This cookbook is based on that. When I came across this cookbook at the library, I felt like an angel had dropped it into my lap to answer so many questions I was having. It deeply resonated with me, I bought the cookbook for myself for Christmas last year, and I've been constantly trying new recipes out of it ever since.
My intention is not to be pushy about diet opinions here folks, I just want to share with you what works for me in case it might help you too. I truly believe that each of our bodies have individual needs and that it's so important to listen to our bodies and pay attention to how they feel after we eat something. To me, it is more important to follow what my body tells me it needs than to let my brain decide.
................................................................
So here's the recipe:
(I've adapted it, as I do with all recipes. Page 528, from the Revised Second Edition version of the cookbook.)
(You will need a food processor for this recipe.)
***
CAROB ALMOND COOKIES***
Ingredients:
-1 & 1/2 cups crispy almonds**
-1/2 plus 1/8 cup butter or coconut oil (softened)
-1 cup arrowroot
-1/2 cup agave nectar (my sweetener of choice!)
-1/2 teaspoon sea salt or himalayan crystal salt
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 cup roasted carob powder
Directions: Place almonds in food processor and process to a fine meal. Add remaining ingredients and process until well blended. Form dough into walnut sized balls and place on buttered cookie sheets. Bake at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes. After 5 minutes in the oven, press down lightly with a fork. Let cool completely before moving to an airtight container. Store in refrigerator.
**
To make Crispy Almonds (Page 515)
--Soak raw almonds in filtered water with 1 tablespoon sea salt (per 4 cups almonds) for at least 7 hours or overnight. Drain in a colander. Dry in oven or food dehydrator (no more than 150 degrees) for 12-24 hours, until dry and crisp. Store in airtight container.
(I like to soak extra almonds when I'm getting ready to make a batch of cookies and I use the rest for making trail mix with home dried fruit we store in the summer.)
Why soak nuts?Here's a short explanation from 'Nourishing Traditions' page 512:
"Nuts are an extremely nutritious food if properly prepared. Once again, the habits of traditional peoples should serve as a guide. They understood instinctively that nuts are best soaked or partially sprouted before eaten. This is because nuts contain numerous enzyme inhibitors that can put a real strain on the digestive mechanism if consumed in excess. Nuts are easier to digest, and their enzymes more readily available, if they are first soaked in salt water overnight, then dried in a warm oven/dehydrator. This method imitates the Aztec practice of soaking pumpkin or squash seeds in brine and then letting them dry in the sun before eating them whole or grinding them into meal. Salt in soaking water activates enzymes that neutralize enzyme inhibitors."
What is arrowroot?"Arrowroot flour, the only starch with a calcium ash, is a nutritious food, obtained from the fleshy root stock of a tropical American plant. It is an easily digested food well fitted for infants and the convalescent. It resembles cornstarch in being white, fine and powdery. When heated in water in certain portions, it thickens to form a jelly, an excellent thickening agent."
"It is the only starch product with a calcium ash. In this regard, the calcium chloride, in the form of calcium found in arrowroot starch, is very important for the maintenance of proper acid and alkali balances in the human body. Arrowroot only thrives on tidal flats where the sea minerals are available. Its known health-building properties may be due to trace minerals from the sea, as well as from the calcium it gets from the sea water. "
"Arrowroot as it comes to you is not a refined product; it is simply the dried and powdered root."
('Nourishing Tradtions' page 528.)
(When you see arrowroot at the grocery store it is super expensive. Jeff & I found a great source where you can buy it inexpensively at
http://www.radiantlifecatalog.com/)
(Agave nectar is also expensive at the store, we buy it by the gallon, which lasts us forever, for a much much better deal.)
Okay, so there you have it- My favorite cookie recipe! The great thing about this recipe is that it's healthy
and delicious! It's gluten-free, sugar-free, and can be dairy-free if you use coconut oil in place of butter. (My experience with using the coconut oil in these cookies is that they are a little more crumbly, haven't quite perfected the coconut oil version.) You can get creative with this recipe too. I love to add freshly grated ginger sometimes because I am such a ginger fanatic.
Sending you all the sweetness life has to offer! Enjoy!
On Sunday, I was in our Holiday Market booth when a woman came in and started exclaiming over Jeff's artwork. Her jaw dropped, then began working again as it poured out compliments. I appreciated her kind words and I told her my husband, Jeff, was the artist. "Wow, you are so lucky to be married to someone who can do this...." she motioned around the booth.
The rain is back. Everything is warming up. Don't need to bring warm water to all the animals anymore. Everything in the surrounding forest is glowing green, the rain makes the moss come alive...
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