Happy New Year!
Man. It’s been hard getting back in the game. I think I’ve temporarily damaged my brain due to excess cookie intake. Baking hasn’t been a top priority with my schedule flip-flapping around over the last two weeks, especially since my sweet tooth has been satisfied by external sources. (Thanks mom and dad!)
However, now I’m back to school, back to life, back to chaos.
Now, some people need to retreat from the cookie scene after Christmas. Some people experience cookie overdoses. Thankfully, I’m immune to overdose. I’m a pure addict. I keep coming back for more. Try and wean me off via macarons, cake, and/or muffins, and you bet I’ll get addicted to those too. Tread lightly!
EXCEPT, this time these “cookies” can hardly be labeled as such.
Instead, I’m going to go with health food.
Honestly, what cookies can YOU think of that have no flour, no eggs, no added sugar besides a little bit of dark chocolate lovin’, and fruit… yes, FRUIT! I mean, these guys are so packed to the brim with diet foods, that I think, for once in my life, I can actually grasp the idea of dieting.
These cookies are inspired and recreated very closely from this recipe: http://www.shutterbean.com/2012/carnival-cookies/
I’ve changed a few things, and renamed them to suit my current mood, and thus we have:
Chaos Cookies – What you need:
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- ¼ cup of melted coconut oil
- 1 ½ cup rolled oats
- ½ cup of ground peanuts (pulse peanuts in a food processor until finely ground)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup roasted peanuts
- 1 cup of dark chocolate, finely chopped (I got the yummy dark chocolate chips from the vegan store!)
- 4 rice crackers, crumbled finely
Chaos Cookies – What you do:
Preheat the oven to 180c. Prepare cookie sheets by lining them with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, mix together the bananas and coconut oil. Set aside.
In another large bowl, stir together the oats, ground peanuts, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.
Add the dry ingredients (oat mix) into the wet ingredients (banana mix), and combine well.
Stir in the peanuts, chocolate, and rice cracker crumbs.
Again, combine well.
Roll the cookie dough into balls, and place on the cookie sheet. Flatten them a bit, because they don’t spread out much while baking.
Bake at 180c for 15 minutes. After removing the cookies, allow them to sit on the cookie sheet before placing on a cooling rack to cool.
(It gets dark so early in Paris! And it gets dark oh so quickly! By the time the cookies were done baking, it was nighttime - look at the different lightings!)
This recipe makes around 20 cookies. They should stay perfectly divine and tasty for up to a week if you refrigerate them in a sealed container.
Side note! I adored the natural flavours of these guys, but they weren’t terribly sweet (well, obvvvviously, because we didn’t add any sugar!!!), so if you’re after a sweeter cookie, add a few tablespoons of maple syrup or a dollop of honey!
Dieting in 2013 just got easy. Nom.
Baking soundtrack – Tunes to inspire your inner baker:
The Kooks – Young Folks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqUcvqHNy9k
The Crookes – Yes, yes we’re magicians: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4xRuJtJmHo
(AMAZING SONG!)
