High Raw Oatmeal Cookies #1

Bad Blogspot, bad. I don't know if any of you had a chance to read my snazzy recipe for a Chinese dish I got off of my mom during my trip back home to DC last weekend, but Blogspot decided to go all Friday the 13th, and collapse and deleted all our posts... I'll try to put it back together some time.

In the meantime, I'll send you off with not one but two wholesome cookie recipes. See, I don't eat grains very often, but when we moved to Ottawa, we met George, a non-pesticide using grain farmer at the Lansdowne Farmers Market, and our lives changed forever. As far as I know, we've never lived in such proximity to an "organic" grain farmer before so we just really want to support what he does. Not only is he awesome (he grows oats, wheat, barley, rye, spelt, buckwheat, triticale and more), but when you know someone on a first name basis, you want to support them as often as you can.

George is also pretty much the reason why I really got into feeding Andrew VOO in all its glorious combinations since last summer (that and I always wanted to try the recipe. Obviously, I have to taste test it whenever I make it to make sure it's not poison and after all we know that taste-testing or eating cookie dough doesn't count... hehe).

Anyway, with the farmers markets having just opened for the season around here, there isn't much for us vegan high-raw foodies yet. Food at the market still pretty much consists in meats of all kinds, early greens and sprouts, and potatoes from over the winter season. Not super exciting. So grains are just about as cool as it gets for us right now.

As always, a long story to say: we bought oats this weekend, and here's the first thing I did with them!

Everything Cookies

(inspired by L'Oven's Everything Cookies, more about them later)

2C rolled oats, ground into flour

1/2 C rolled oats

1/2 C coconut cashew "cream"*

1/4 C chocolate chips

1/4 C raisins

1/4 C cranberries

1/4 C hemp seeds

1/4 sesame seeds

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/4 C maple syrup

1/4 C hemp milk (or any vegan milk)

1/2 teaspoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

dash of salt

Phew!

*Notice: Every time I make cookies I'm going to put in the dehydrator, I pretty much stick to the rule of thumb that I need:

a) a kind of "flour"

b) a kind of oil/fat (this time the "coconut cashew cream")

c) a kind of sweetener

For the fat, I usually use coconut oil, but didn't have any on hand so I invented the coconut cashew cream instead. By throwing coconut flakes into your Vitamix and putting it on high speed for a bit, and adding a tiny bit of water once it starts to look like coconut butter, you can make coconut flakes turn into a more buttery/creamy consistency. Just to make it thicker, I also added a good handful of cashews, which is what really turned it into a coconut cashew buttery type substance.

1. Make coconut cashew cream, and set aside.

2. Grind 2 C oats into flour in your food processor, Vitamix, what-not machine.

3. In a mixing bowl, mix oat flour, 1/2 C oats flakes, salt, cinnamon, and all the "fixings".

4. Stir in "cream," maple syrup, milk, and molasses, until it forms cookie dough. (I started with a fork and you might have to use your hands. Don't over-mix because it gets tough.

5. Shape into cookies with your hands and place on a dehydrator sheet at 110 for about 3-4 hours. Let cool when done and if you aren't going to eat them within a week, store them in the fridge.

(When it comes to raw sweeteners, I'm sure you could go with raw honey or agave or something. However, I live in Canada so maple syrup is easy to come by and local, so that's generally my preference for heartier, more wholesome cookies like this one.)

Enjoy!