cookies – GUTSy Performance Nutrition

Autumn, Nutrition + Health, Spring, Summertime, Winter

Oat + Almond Chocolate Date Cookies

May 21, 2021February 28, 2023by Rebecca1 Comment

Dropping in quick with a delicious and nutritious treat to share. May, my favorite and birthday month, is whirling by too quick. I want to grasp late-spring and hold on to it for weeks longer. Bury my nose in the spring flowers. But alas, we move and run on.

I’m on for a longish Friday morning run once I hit publish on this recipe share, and will follow it with a full weekend of running before next week’s rest week. I’m all for the higher mileage weeks in spring and summer, and somehow the busy work and life weeks are lining up with the higher mileage running weeks. Not sure if that’s a good thing but it’s nice to have the lighter running weeks also be the lighter work weeks.

It’s some sort of balance anyway.

Related, just a teensy bit, to the running commentary above, I found out this morning that my childhood and teenage riding instructor/coach/mentor passed away in the last couple days. He was 92 and lived a full life of loving, encouraging, teaching, and leaving a lasting impression on so many — horses and kids/people. He will be deeply missed. By me certainly, but also by so many others.

Even though I’ve barely seen him in person the last few years, he is a person I think of often. That’s what happens when we have wonderful mentors. They leave an impression far beyond the period of life when we needed them for riding lessons or whatever it is, and weave their good-life-advice into our minds where it shows up at just the time we need it over the years beyond.

So even though I didn’t run regularly when I worked with him back then, his advice has often shown up in the way I handle a tough run workout or a bad result, and certainly in my work life with how I want the best for those I work with, and wonder about how they’re doing long after I’ve stopped teaching or working with them.

Those impressions that rub off and are pressed in.

Oat + Almond Chocolate Date Cookies, makes about 12
These are a delicious quick treat to make and eat. They’re excellent for those who are active and want to enjoy snacks or treats that contribute to optimal athletic recovery rather than take away from it with excess refined sugars and flours. For the same reason, they work well for most when you’d love a sweet treat but are eating a gut healing/therapeutic diet or learning to eat with less processed dessert products. Note these are flour-free but not grain free.
Helpful Notes:
– Grind old-fashioned oats into a smaller texture by pulsing a few times in a food processor or coffee/spice grinder.
– For certified organic and gluten-free oats in the US, my preferred supplier is Edison Grainery.
– If you’re avoiding nuts, use sunflower butter or tahini and grind raw sunflower seeds into a “flour” using a clean coffee grinder.
– Purchase a good-quality dark chocolate bar and chop it into chunks. You’ll taste the difference over purchasing a lower-quality chocolate. For a list of good quality/fair-trade chocolates and which ones are better to avoid, see here.

1/4 cup / 37 g packed pitted dates (about 3 large dates)
3 Tbs. / 45 ml warm water
2 Tbs. / 27 g coconut oil
2 Tbs. /40 ml maple syrup
2 Tbs. / 14 g ground flax seeds
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup / 128 g nut or seed butter of choice (or a mix of a couple)
3/4 cup / 75 g quick oats
1/4 cup / 28 g almond flour
3/8 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 cup / 35 g dark chocolate chunks, (chop a dark chocolate bar until you have 1/4 cup of chunks)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the pitted dates and warm water in a food processor or blender and soak for at least 5 minutes.
Add the coconut oil and maple syrup to the dates and water and blend until smooth. Then transfer the mixture to a small mixing bowl.
Add the ground flax and vanilla, along with the almond butter. Stir until mixed well.
Stir in the remaining ingredients until well combined. I haven’t tried it yet, but in enjoying some of this last batch, I’ve decided that just a little finely diced candied ginger added to the mixture would be a truly excellent addition. Try it if you think so too. :)
Drop the dough by tablespoons or using a cookie scoop into 12 equal portions on a baking pan and bake for 10-14 minutes, depending on your pan and oven. These will be a little softer at first, but will also stay softer for a few days compared to other drop cookies.
Let cool on the pan for a couple minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Journal, Nutrition + Health, Summertime

Gluten + Dairy-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

June 21, 2020January 29, 2023by Rebecca1 Comment

On days I’m a little overwhelmed or harboring heavy feelings at the state of events lately, I’ve pulled up a short video that harkens me right back to my 14 through 18-year old self. I can smell the straw and the hay, the musty dust in the barn air, the damp, oily, pungent scent of wool, and of lambing. The smell of iodine as we dipped new lamb’s navels. And this, one of the most soothing of sights. It’s slightly ironic that I had been thinking for a long while about sharing a non-dairy milk in this season. Since for adults, milk is not actually mandatory food. Yet most of us still drink milk or ‘mylk’, in whatever way. And it’s clear to me that my routine of watching the new lamb drinking one of its first meals, the soothing calm I feel when returned to old memories, is all about finding some comfort, and of the awe of watching new life, a whole new world unfolding.

For the last few weeks, I’ve been fairly quiet and unsure of my place in this current moment we’re in. I’ve experienced the range of emotions like a lot of people. I’ve been so close to just quietly closing my facebook account for sheer “can’t handle the vile and ignorance there,” but I’ve also understood – because I too was once extremely ignorant. And in some aspects, am only a little less so now. I’m still learning, along with most of us.

But I also have been sitting on several recipes and meals, several thoughts about our relationships to our bodies, and how we block out how we’re really doing in order to navigate our worlds. I’m not sure I have the bandwidth yet to to delve deep into those second topics, but we all need to eat, and in our own ways, find comfort amidst the sometimes dramatic shifts of the ever-changing seasons.

Today I’d thought to share my norm, a healthy seasonal recipe. But on this solstice weekend, what’s speaking to me more is that idea of comfort amidst change. So we have instead an updated recipe of the ultimate American comfort classic, Chocolate Chip Cookies. If you need a little treat, go ahead and make them, along with the non-dairy milk I last shared, and enjoy while watching the video linked above on repeat. The trio will be a comfortable hug to self. :)

Lastly before the recipe, a couple lines from a blessing I’ll share more about in coming days or weeks. Whether you choose to make cookies or not, I encourage you to meditate on the meaning of these words to you as you make a meal or treat in the kitchen, or during your next workout, next yoga session, or time in silence contemplating the solstice:

May your body be blessed.
May you realize that your body is a faithful and beautiful friend of your soul.

From A Blessing for the Senses by John O’Donohue in his Anam Ċara

Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten + dairy-free), makes about 24
These make a soft, chewy, chips-ahoy style cookie.
Recipe Updated: 1/28/23

1 2/3 cups / 200 grams gf all-purpose flour
1/2 cup / 50 grams oatmeal, finely ground into a course flour or 1/2 cup oat flour, gluten-free if necessary
1/4 cup sugar / 50 grams
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup /112 grams non-dairy butter
1 egg or flax egg
1/2 cup / 120 ml brown rice syrup or maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbs. water
1/2 cup / 80 grams dark chocolate chips or 1/2 cup of rough chunks, from a dark chocolate bar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If using flax instead of an egg, mix 1 Tablespoon ground flax seed with 3 Tablespoons warm water and stir together to form a little slurry.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, egg or flax mixture, brown rice syrup, vanilla and water.
Stir into the dry ingredients, and mix in chocolate chunks.
Cover and chill the batter for about an hour or overnight.
Divide into cookies on a baking pan and bake each batch for about 10 minutes.

Nutrition + Health, Winter

Gingerbread No-Bake Cookies

December 22, 2018December 13, 2020by Rebecca2 Comments

If you’ve been doing the seasonal thing lately, this month has already brought an onslaught of cookies and holiday treats to be baked, eaten, and shared. Making cookies is my favorite December tradition but I definitely prefer making to eating them. This is because inevitably after eating cookies and all the other traditional baked goods, I feel bogged down, lethargic, and mentally all over the place. This is often true even despite my bent towards making goodies that are leaning towards healthier over traditional.

Late in the summer, I decided to buy myself a new cookbook for the year and I chose the one I had been eyeing for quite some time, Kate O’Donnell’s Everyday Ayurveda Cooking for a Calm, Clear Mind. The first 100 or so pages are actually about ayurveda and the energies in the body that contribute to wellbeing, as well as everyday practices for living a balanced, sattvic lifestyle. Even before getting to the recipes, this information is an approachable guide to how to truly promote one’s health. There are also a ton of recipes of course, but what I’ve made again and again, both following the recipe and deviating sharply, are the No Donut Holes. Despite making and eating them nearly weekly for months, this after dinner treat has never once left me in cookieland feeling less than thriving.

In annual tradition, The Recipe Redux challenge for December is a recipe remake from a cookbook, and so naturally I decided to put a festive spin on those no donut holes with a molasses and gingerbread infusion–flavors I love this time of year.

When it comes to molasses, there are several different types. I grew up with Brer Rabbit Full-Flavored, which is the second boiling formed as a by-product when sugar is processed. Molasses from the first boiling is the lightest and sweetest, often called mild molasses. Beyond these two, the third boiling results in blackstrap molasses, which is the darkest, least sweet, and most mineral rich type. It is the type I favor now. Blackstrap is a great source of dietary iron and sometimes recommended as a food source iron supplement (1) since one tablespoon can contain as much as 20% of a woman’s daily needs. Additionally, it contains considerable amounts of manganese, magnesium, potassium, vitamin B6, selenium, copper, and calcium. Even though it is still a sugar and should be treated as such, there is actually evidence that adding molasses to carbohydrate-rich meals results in a lower blood sugar rise compared to the meal without molasses (2).

When purchasing, look for unsulfured and pure full-flavored or blackstrap molasses. Sulfur dioxide is sometimes added as a preservative and can make the taste bitter, and some companies dilute their bottles down with corn syrup.

Before I get to the recipe, Kate says on the no-donut page: Pastries are an instigator of tamas in the mind. [Tamas is heavy, slow, sleepy, stubborn, and unmotivated and can lead to sadness, pessimism, low self-esteem, hopelessness and fear.] The combination of white flour, white sugar, and butter or questionable oils makes a trifecta of heavy, indigestible qualities that gunk up the gut. For most, a daily habit of eating pastries is a ticket to slow, dull qualities.

Now, I have nothing against the occasional full blown refined-everything treat, especially this time of year. But I’m also simply glad to add these as an option to the holiday cookie tray.

Gingerbread No-Bake Cookies, makes about 12
Though I use blackstrap molasses, regular ‘full-flavor’ molasses works great too. Additionally, finely ground oatmeal or oat bran are great alternatives to the oat flour.
These can also be made as squares instead of bonbons. Simply press into a square container and chill for about an hour before cutting.

60 g / 1/4 cup cashew butter
40 g / 2 Tbs. molasses
40 g/ 2 Tbs. maple syrup
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
55 g / 1/2 cup almond meal
140 g / 1 1/2 cups oat flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
dash of cloves

In a large mixing bowl, combine the cashew butter, molasses, maple syrup, and vanilla. Add the almond meal, oat flour, and spices and mix until it all comes evenly together. Put the bowl in the freezer for about 5 minutes to firm up.
Roll heaping tablespoons of the dough into balls, and then place them on a plate or in a storage container.
Store in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for longer term. Allow them to come to room temperature before enjoying.