Sometimes I think I am the only one with little bits of chopped nuts, chocolate chips or snacks lying around with no idea of what to do with them.
A really good counter top kitchen appliance to have is a food processor! Oh the bits and pieces that can be thrown in and pulsed a few times and voila out comes something tasty!
After having to go gluten-free, I could not find the type of granola bars, trail mix or granola like the ones I really liked so I started making my own versions.
Most of the pre-packaged gluten-free granola has too much sugar and fat, so I prefer to not buy it. Besides, I have always loved cooking, so I am enjoying ‘fiddling’ around in my kitchen.
When I make those big batches, I have a sister or two who benefits from my experimentation. You see, I love cooking and ‘sharing’ it with someone else. Of course, I do not eat all of anything I make. Most of the time, I will mix up a batch of 24 or 30 cookies, bake 6 or 12 and freeze the remainder. At first, I baked all of them, then froze the cookies. The problem was, I always forgot I had cookies in the freezer and would mix up and bake 6 or more. The problem, was that I stored them in those zipper bags. When there were a bunch of those together, they could be overlooked. Anyhow, freshly baked taste better!
I have a trail mix that I have been making for about 2 years that I have slightly grown tired of. The last bit of the last batch has been sitting with the snacks since about Christmas. So it was time to either throw it or drive over to one of my sisters to give a snack to one of her grandkids. Well gas is too expensive to make a special trip, so I dumped it in the food processor and pulsed it. I stared at a minute or two and thought “hmm, I’ll just make cookies!”
The problem about making cookies with no recipe and odd ingredients, the amount of sweetener has to be a guess with a taste test.
Decided to add first one cup of oats, some sweetener and cocoa. I wanted to use coconut oil, but it will clump with cold eggs, so I added it to the food processor.
I was on a roll, so I looked in the cabinet with the sweeteners and saw the Mexican Chocolate, so in went some of it………and eventually, there were cookies!
These cookies have no added salt nor requires xanthan or guar gum.
This makes a slightly crunchy hearty cookie. And, kids will love them, because they taste better than store bought!
And of course, this will appear on a well known recipe site claiming to be their original recipe!
Chocolate Nuts n Oats Cookies
Ingredients
Food Processor
1 cup trail mix (My Kind of Trail Mix - DIY) - see Tips
2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
3 tbsp Granulated Stevia
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp cocoa
2 oz. Mexican Cocoa (Ibarra)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 tsp baking powder
Fats
1 tbsp Coconut Manna (creamed coconut, full fat)
2 tbsp coconut oil
Liquids
1 egg
2 tbsp liquid egg product
2 tbsp almond butter (DIY)
Add-Ins
3 tbsp chopped walnuts
Procedure
Pulse Food Processor ingredients until finely ground add the Fats and continue pulsing until it begins to stick together.
At this point, taste the mix, to see if it is sweet enough for you. I like dark chocolate! If needed, add an additional tbsp of sweetener.
Whisk the Liquids together until blended.
Stir in the Food Processor contents, using a wooden spoon or gloved hand.
Roll the dough out to about 10 by 12 inches between parchment paper or cellophane wrap. Fold and shape to form a rectangle. Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the dough.
Starting with one long edge, roll tightly until you have a long log.
Cut into 24 even sized slices.
Lay the cut pieces on parchment paper covered baking sheets and press and shape into a round cookie about 2 inches in diameter. They do not spread, so press down to a thin cookie. It will puff up to about double thickness.
Bake in 350F preheated oven for about 9 minutes. The bottoms will begin to brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes. Move to serving dish or cooling rack.
If freezing, shape the cookie same as for baking, place on cellophane wrap and cover. freeze. After freezing, transfer to storage container and return to freezer.
Yield: 24 cookies
Nutrition (per cookie): 103 calories, 6.1g total fat, 1.5g monounsaturated fat, 1.3g polyunsaturated fat, 0g trans fatty acids, <1g trans-monoenoic fatty acids, <1g trans-polyenoic fatty acids, <1g linoleic acid, 2.7g saturated fat, 8.8mg cholesterol, 12.8mg sodium, 22.8mg calcium, 71mg potassium, 5.1mcg folate, 54.6mg phosphorus, <1mg phytosterols, <1mcg lycopene, 16.4mcg selenium, <1mg thiamin, <1mcg vitamin b12, <1mg vitamin b6, <1mg vitamin c, <1IU vitamin d, <1mg zinc, 11.1g carbohydrates, 1.5g fiber, 9.7g net carbohydrates, 4.7g sugar, <1g fructose, <1g galactose, <1g glucose, <1g lactose, <1g maltose, 1.4g sucrose, <1mg stigmasterol, 2.3g protein, 3.7mg caffeine.
Tips
If you do not have trail mix- this is an approximation to the ‘trail mix’ ingredients.
2 tbsp coconut, raw, dried, flaked, unsweetened
2 tbsp natural almonds
2 tbsp raw brazil nuts
2 tbsp mixed nuts, unsalted
1 tbsp walnuts, broken into pieces
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp Dark Chocolate chocolate-covered raisins
2 tbsp Double Chocolate Chips(Ghirardelli)
1 tbsp cinnamon chips
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