I may have mentioned this before (in fact, I know that I have), but I very much enjoy florentine-style (i.e. very thin and crispy) cookies. These are particularly yummy. Often, this style of cookie involves nuts, but this time I merely went with oatmeal and some toffee bits to add to the crunch, and then I sandwiched two together to make Florentine-Style Oatmeal “Jamwiches” (instead of sandwiches). Sweet and crispy cookies, tart and juicy jam. Quite lovely, actually.
Cookies
Chickpea + Pecan Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Small Batch, Vegan, GF + Dairy Free)
So, I am lucky that I don’t have to worry about being on a Gluten Free diet. I also choose to eat dairy, meat and eggs so I am not vegetarian or vegan. So, it never even occurred to me that you could make chocolate chip cookies without wheat flour, without dairy, or without eggs, but I did just that when I made these yummy Chickpea + Pecan Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are Gluten Free, dairy free (no butter, no eggs), white sugar free (do use honey and there are chocolate chips) and vegan. They do contain both nuts and nut butter (pecans, but you can use almonds or cashews as well. They are a bit crumbly and the original recipe called for a much shorter baking time (I upped it from -10 minutes to 14-16), but they do taste great and I don’t miss the things that it doesn’t have. The pecans are nice too. This recipe only makes a small batch (about 20 cookies) so you can test them out. Recipe can be doubled easily.
So you know how sometimes really crappy weather makes you want to hunker down and hibernate just a little while? Well, it’s April and New England is getting a Nor’Easter (which actually doesn’t mean snow necessarily, just wind direction, but the precipitation is still supposed to be yucky). So the bad weather got me thinking of wanting to be in the tropics, which got me thinking of citrus fruits, so I dug through my bag of tricks and came up with a jar of Guava Jam. Never had a guava? Well, it tastes a lot like oranges and peaches mixed together. Add in some macadamia nuts and voila, tropical inspiration to get over the Spring Stormy blues.
Here’s a cookie for all the carrot cake fans out there — complete with a little dollop of cream cheese frosting. And these actually may be good for you. Sure, it’s got lots of butter and sugar, but carrots, oatmeal and maple syrup are good (better?) for you than average, right? Good way to round out the weekend!
Another Spring-time baking recipe. Instead of chocolate chips — or white chocolate, butterscotch/caramel or peanut butter — something completely different: Blueberry and strawberry yogurt chips! Found on the King Arthur Baking website, these chips are packed with flavor and make a great cookie, perfect for Spring. And my kitchen smells like blueberry muffins, which is never a bad thing. 🙂