Sarah's Almond Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies

Sarah, a reader of the blog, sent me her breakfast cookie recipe.  It's a spin of my ~ Peanut Butter Banana Oat Breakfast Cookies.  I made her version and we all really liked them!!!  Sarah's recipe includes avocado, which might sound strange, but it works, adding a subtle richness to her cookies.  I added some carob chips and raisins to her recipe, just because we really like them.  :)   We all loved the soft texture of the cookies and gave them a big thumbs up!  I'm calling them ~ Sarah's Almond Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.

Here's the original comment Sarah left me ~  I LOVE your blog and all the awesome recipes, here is my spin on the oatmeal cookies as made for my 9 month old son to eat for breakfast...though hubs and I did love them too!  Followed directions as per peanut butter protein cookies. The almond butter gives them a really nice consistency and has a mild flavor compared to peanut butter.  Thanks!  ~ Sarah, it was so kind of you to share your recipe.  You ROCK!

Sarah's Almond Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
makes 16-20 depending on size

Ingredients

• 2 bananas, mashed until creamy
• 1/3 ripe avocado, mashed until creamy
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats, uncooked (or use old fashioned oats for more oatmeal texture)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 cup mix of chocolate/carob chips and/or raisins (optional)

Directions

Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large bowl, thoroughly combine mashed banana, mashed avocado, almond butter,  applesauce & vanilla extract.   Add in the oatmeal & cinnamon (and chips/raisins if using) and stir together. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.  Drop cookie dough, by spoonfuls, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet & flatten cookies into circles.  Bake cookies approx. 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven & let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack.  When cookies are completely cool, store in a covered container.  They will last longer if kept in the fridge.  Enjoy!

 

 

Apple Mug Muffin ~ ready in 2 minutes

This evening, I was looking around on Pinterest and saw a pin for this recipe, that came from the blog ~ Civilized Caveman.  It was for an ~ Apple Mug Muffin ~ a quick microwave recipe that's ready in 2 minutes.  The photo looked good, it was for a single serving, the recipe was gluten-free, there was no added refined sugar, it said it was good for breakfast or dessert, I was hungry and I had most of the ingredients...so, off to the kitchen I went.

I did make a couple of substitutions ~ replacing 1/2 the coconut oil (I actually used melted Olivio Coconut Oil Spread) with unsweetened applesauce (to make it a little lower in fat); honey for the maple syrup (all outta maple syrup); chopped walnuts/cinnamon for the 'streusel topping' (couldn't be bothered to chop that little bit of apple); and I nuked it in a custard cup instead of a mug (just 'cause I felt like it...shoulda used the mug :) .  The resulting 'muffin' was surprisingly good, with a subtle sweetness and flavor.  To me, it had more of a substantial cooked 'egg custard' feel to it.  I'm a fan of that 'egg-y custard' flavor, so it was right up my alley.  Since it uses almond meal instead of flour, it has a denseness that you wouldn't get from a regular microwave-in-a-cup muffin.  I think it would make a quick and tasty breakfast...but for tonight, it was my dessert.  Yup, real-time cooking in my kitchen!  Now, I need to eat dinner ~ tonight was one of those eat-dessert-first kinda evenings.  teehee

 

Meyer Lemon Honey Almond Cake

A few weeks ago, I was tinkering around with a lemon cake recipe that I made/posted about last year, trying to see if a bit simpler method would yield a more lemony cake.  Happy to report, the new lemon cake was even more full of the sweet/tart goodness of my favorite citrus ~ the Meyer lemon.  More changes that I made to the original recipe were ~ using all egg whites this time around, replacing some of the sugar with honey and pureeing the Meyer lemons fresh (not cooked), peel-and-all.   It made for a bright, robust flavor that I really enjoyed.  This Meyer Lemon Honey Almond Cake is wheat-free and dairy-free.  It's a really enjoyable dessert, tasty teatime treat or snack for us.  If you wanted to add a little something extra, maybe drizzle on a quick glaze or a sprinkling of powdered sugar to dress it up, or eat it plain/naked.  teehee  :)  Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Honey Almond Cake
adapted from this recipe
Ingredients

• 3 Meyer lemons ~ cut into wedges & seeds removed
• 2 1/4 cups almond meal
• 1 cup egg whites (I used eggs whites from a carton)
• 7 Tbsps sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.   Grease a cake pan and cut a piece of parchment paper to fit into the bottom. (so it will be easier to remove)

In a small food processor, puree Meyer lemons (skin & all) with honey until smooth.  Combine the pureed honey/lemon with the sugar, egg whites, vanilla extract and salt and stir until smooth.  Pour into a mixing bowl and add the almond meal and baking powder, stir until well combined.

Let batter sit 10 minutes, then pour into prepared cake pan and tap/smooth batter.  Bake for approx 40-60 minutes or until toothpick tester comes out clean.  Let cool in pan, run a knife around edges to loosen, then remove to cooling rack.  Or, just keep in the cake pan and serve from there.  Cake will get moister the longer it sits.  Store in a covered container, it will last longer if kept in the fridge. 

Trail Mix Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies ~ feeling the 'Boulder Crunchy Vibe'!

Trail Mix Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies ~ Dairy-free, flour-free, refined white sugar-free, egg-free and they're sweetened naturally with fruit & carob chips!  ((if wheat is not an issue for you, then you could toss in some wheat germ/wheat bran ~ if you choose to include the optional add-in's.  W/G & W/B always make me think of old-fashioned, health food hippie-goodies :))  I'm loving the 'feel good' 'Granola Hippie/Crunchy Vibe' of these breakfast cookies!  How about you?  :)

I've been wishing for spring to get here,  I'm so tired of the cold and all the gray skies!  I'm ready for wildflowers and warm sunny days.  I want to get outside more, I want to ride my bike and wander around some of the nature trails that are in our area.  Since the weather just doesn't seem to want to cooperate, I've decided to hit the trail anyway...but, in my kitchen...and in the form of a new breakfast cookie.  I'm calling it my ~ Trail Mix Oatmeal Breakfast Cookie.

Chautauqua Park ~ Boulder, Colorado ~ The Flatirons (in the distance)

To get in the outdoorsy mood, I started throwing all my favorite trail mix goodies into my basic Banana Oat Breakfast Cookie dough.  I was going for a little Crunchy/Granola Hippe vibe. (click on the link to learn what being 'crunchy' is all about.  (Can you tell that I'm missing Colorado?  Especially one of my all-time favorite towns, Boulder?  What I wouldn't give to be hiking in Chautauqua Park right now!)  This is a happy, tasty cookie that could be different every time you make it, depending on your mood or what's available in your pantry.  Sweet!  Happy Trails!

Trail Mix Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
makes 20-24 cookies or 10-12 bars or a varied amount of mixed shapes :)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed with fork until creamy 
  
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup mixture of your favorite dried fruit, like ~  raisins, dried cranberries, shredded coconut, chopped apricots or dates
• 1/4 cup mixture of your favorite nuts, like ~ sunflower seeds, toasted slivered almonds, chopped walnuts, peanuts or pecans
• 1/4 cup carob chips (or chocolate chips, if you aren't Crunchy :)
• 1 Tbsp+ mixture of optional add-ins, like ~ ground flax, hulled hemp seeds, chia seeds, poppy seeds, sesame seeds or oat bran
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or maybe coconut or almond, for a change)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon  

Directions
Preheat heat oven to 350 degrees. Get out a medium bowl and...
Mash bananas until creamy, and then...  
Combine all remaining ingredients together & let sit for 10 minutes.
Drop cookie dough, by spoonfuls, onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet, shape & flatten cookies into circles or into bars.
Bake approx. 20-25 minutes, or until golden & done to your liking.
Remove from oven & let rest on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then move to cooling rack. 
Store in a covered container when completely cool.  They will last longer if kept in the fridge.  Serve room temp or chilled, as you wish.
Enjoy as is...  Or maybe get a little creative ~ how about swapping the carob or chocolate chips for some M&M's; or maybe just use a 1/2 cup of real trail mix instead of the 1/4 cups of fruits/nuts I've listed above; or maybe even try the breakfast cookies like this...

** I recently tried a new Coconut Spread that is really good, it's by Olivio.  I don't really use coconut oil due to its high saturated fat content...but, I just love its light coconut flavor, so I splurged and bought a tub.  I spread it on as a special treat for a few of these Trail Mix Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies.  It added a nice, 'buttery' feel with just a hint of coconut flavor.  It's still less s/f than butter, so I might just keep a tub of it around for special occasions.  :)

Pumpkin-Oatmeal Spice Cookies ~ great for any time of day!

Pumpkin-Oatmeal Spice Cookies ~ a rich and flavor packed cookie that is full of the goodness of oatmeal, honey, almond meal and walnuts.  Wheat, refined white sugar & dairy free!  We've eaten them with breakfast, lunch & for dessert.  They have a wonderful soft cookie texture that we all really enjoy.

I wanted to try my hand at another pumpkin cookie, so I started playing around with an oatmeal cookie recipe that I'd tinkered with and shared on the blog, last winter.  These new ~ Pumpkin-Oatmeal Spice Cookies ~ are wheat, refined white sugar and dairy free.  Since they have an egg in them, they come out more like a regular soft cookie, but still have the goodness of oatmeal, just like I use in all my Breakfast Cookie recipes.  Both of my guys enjoyed them and asked for seconds... and thirds.  I just love cooking and baking with pumpkin ~ how about you? 


Pumpkin-Oatmeal Spice Cookies
makes approx. 24 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup finely ground almond meal (aka ~ almond flour)
• 1/2 cup oat flour (make it yourself by grinding 1/2 cup quick oats in a food processor until the oats become flour-like in texture)
• 1/3 cup quick cooking oatmeal, raw  
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger

• 2/3 cup canned pureed pumpkin
• 1/3 cup honey
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup raisins (or more, if you like)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix first 11 ingredients in bowl until thoroughly combined (almond meal - ginger).  In another large bowl, mix remaining ingredients until thoroughly combined.

Combine almond/oat mixture with wet mixture, gradually, until dough forms (if dough is too dry, add extra water ~ a tsp at a time).

Drop heaping teaspoons of dough, 1 inch apart, on parchment paper covered cookie sheet.  Slightly flatten dough into circles.

Bake 11-12 minutes, or until set.  Cool on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then move to cooling rack.

Store cookies in a container, between sheets of wax paper, with the lid slightly ajar.

Almond-Maple Cookies ~ Flour, Dairy & Egg Free!

My friend, Sarah, is off of gluten and mentioned she is missing cookies.  No one should be without cookies!!  So, I searched around the web and found this recipe that sounded good.  I tweaked it a bit (as I almost always do) and came up with these tasty treats.  They are crispy the first day and get just a bit softer as they hangout around the kitchen.  They're not a traditional cookie ~ since there is no flour, dairy or egg ~ but, one that might be for you if you're off the wheat flour bandwagon.  I used Trader Joe's brand of almond meal, which is ground from almonds with the skins left on.  If you use a blanched almond meal, the cookies should come out even lighter in color & look more like a sugar cookie.

Kathleen's Gourmet Cookies ~ Snowflake Whoopie Pies and Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie ~ Perfect sweet treats to share with the ones you love!

Last week (at the TWIGS Soup Dinner that I recently wrote about) I was introduced to Kathleen ~ a fantastic lady who's a gourmet baker/cook.  I'm totally in awe of all the incredible cookies that she created for the dinner party.  Her 3-Tier Towering Assortment of Gourmet Cookies was a real thing of beauty and it would've been right at home in the fanciest of Parisian bakeries.  I was so impressed with her cookies that I just had to do a separate post on them, because the photos of her cookies are some of my all-time favorites that I've taken...

I felt like I was back in Paris when I first saw this gorgeous display of gourmet cookies...

Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookies

Kathleen was kind enough to share the recipes for my two favorite cookies of the evening ~ Snowflake Whoopie Pies & Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie.  She's been making the recipe for Snowflake Whoopie Pies for such a long time that she no longer remembers which cookbook she originally found the recipe in.  The whoopie pie's almond flavor is so enticing, the filling so creamy and decadent ~ I dare you to eat only one! 

This is the link for the Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie recipe.  It's full of all the flavors that I love ~ chocolate, cherries and rum ~ all rolled up into a cookie.  Absolutely delicious and truly a winner!

Snowflake Whoopie Pies, Chocolate Cherry Cordials Cookie, Pecan Cookies and homemade Turkish Delight.

Is it just me, or does the name Whoopie Pie make you giggle?  I just love the name ~ Whoopie Pie!  It makes me smile every time I hear it. (I guess that's the little kid in me)  I think you could easily change up the icing design on these Whoopie Pies to suit your mood ~ a red heart for Valentine's Day, a green shamrock for St. Patrick's Day, etc.  It's a universal Whoopie ~ how cool is that?!  teehee  :)

SNOWFLAKE WHOOPIE PIES

Makes 14

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

Large pinch of salt

½ cup unsalted ground almonds

½ cup unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup superfine sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 large egg

1 tsp almond extract

½ cup milk

1tbsp edible silver balls

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees.  Line 2-3 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Sift together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir in the ground almonds.

Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy.  Beat in the egg and almond extract followed by half of the flour mixture and then the milk.  Stir in the rest of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

Pipe or spoon 28 mounds of the batter onto the prepared cookie sheets, spaced well apart to allow for spreading.  Bake in the preheated oven, one sheet at a time, for 10-12 minutes until risen and just firm to the touch.  Cool for 5 minutes, then using a palette knife transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

Buttercream Filling

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

½ cup heavy cream

2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

For the filling, place the butter in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes until pale and creamy.  Beat in the cream, then gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar and continue beating for 2-3 minutes until the buttercream is very light and fluffy.

Icing

For the icing, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a bowl and gradually stir in enough water to make a smooth, thick icing.

To assemble, pipe or spread the buttercream on the flat side of half of the cakes.  Top with the rest of the cakes.  Spoon the icing into a small paper pastry bag, snip the end, and pipe snowflake patterns on the top of the whoopie pies.  Decorate with silver balls and sprinkle with superfine sugar.  Let set.  Enjoy!

The cookies all looked so lovely and smelled simply divine, I had such a hard time choosing!

All of Kathleen's cookies were so lovely to look at and were so luscious to bite into, that I'm even tempted to try making them myself.  It takes a lot to get me to venture beyond my 'comfort baking zone' (me being a challenged baker and all), but I think I must with these two recipes.  I just can't imagine not having them again.  Hmm...my birthday is coming up soon, maybe this year I'll make cookies instead of a cake for our little celebration...  OR, I keep thinking that these two cookie recipes would be perfect for a Valentine's Day sweet treat.  Roy and J would be thrilled (me, too!) to have a plate of either (or better yet, both!) of these cookies instead of the old standby ~ a boring box of chocolates.  I think I just talked myself into making these cookies sooner, rather than later! 

Shortbread Jam Sandwich Cookies, Pecan Tassies, Turkish Delights & Red Cinnamon Cookies

Hope these pictures of Kathleen's cookies inspire you as much as they do me.  I'm ready to get out all my baking supplies and make them right now.  How about you?  :)

Sweet & Spicy Bar Nuts

Sweet & Spicy Bar Nuts ~ a tasty spin on the classic Union Square Cafe's Bar Nuts. 

My friend, Sarah, shared one of her holiday traditions, making bowlfuls of... Union Square Cafe's Bar Nuts!   Easy to make and loved by everyone.  She makes them just a bit different from the original classic recipe and as she says ~ Try them, they're the best! It is the easiest recipe and keeps well in the freezer. 

Here is the original recipe from the Food Network site, for the bar nuts from Union Square Cafe.   Below is Sarah's adapted recipe, tweaked to get it just the way she likes it.  I think that is the best part about making your favorite restaurants recipes at home, tinkering with them to suit your own preferences and making them your own.  : )


Sweet & Spicy Bar Nuts ~ Sarah's adapted version of 
~ Union Square  Cafe's Bar Nuts 
  
Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups (18-ounces) nuts ~ a mix of whole almonds, pecans and cashews (or your own favorite mix of nuts)
• 2 Tbsp coarsely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 2 tsp dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Melt the butter and then toss the nuts with the spice/sugar/rosemary mixture.  Enjoy!

For an extra taste treat, try Sarah's friend's version, too ~ Toast the nuts for a few minutes, add a bit more brown sugar when tossing it all together and then sprinkle even a little more dark brown sugar on top.  It gives the spiced nuts an additional flavor hit of crunchy, brown sugar goodness ~ YUM!

What goes well with some Sweet & Spicy Bar Nuts?  A traditional tray of imported cheeses and crackers!  It's a perfect way to start any party.  Sarah, thanks so much for sharing your recipe and photos ~ it all looks and sounds divine!

 

Almond Coconut Joy Greek Yogurt ~ great for breakfast or dessert

Almond Coconut Joy Greek Yogurt ~ Do you love Almond Joy candy bars?  Then this might just become your new favorite breakfast or dessert.  It's like eating a healthy version of an Almond Joy ~ without the guilt.  :)

J brought home a big, booty bag of Halloween candy the other day.  I snooped through it & saw some of my favorite candy bars, with Almond Joy at the top of the candy pile.  Which got me thinking...  I'd like to indulge in the candy laden, spirit of season ~ but at breakfast time, and without the guilt. Then, I turned to my fascination with Greek yogurt as a base for my mix-ins... one cup gives you a high protein start to your day; dark cocoa powder provides antioxidant benefits; almonds are know for their health benefits & coconut flakes taste great.  Sounds like a winning combo to me,  my ~  Almond Coconut Joy Greek Yogurt ~ was born!!

So, I'm turning my Halloween chocolate candy cravings into a positive spin.  I'll be making a lot of Greek yogurt flavor mixes that have the chocolate-candy-taste the kid in me loves.  I'm enjoying this breakfast-that-eats-like-a-dessert kick that I'm on & am running with it.  But, why limit this little gem to just breakfast?  I think it would work great as a lower cal/fat option for dessert, too.  :)  Let the kitchen, chocolate-candy-flavored, Greek yogurt breakfast/dessert concocting begin!

Almond Coconut Joy Greek Yogurt
serves 1~2

Ingredients

• 1 cup plain fat-free Greek Yogurt (or you favorite kind)
• 2 Tbsp dark cocoa powder (or to taste)
• 1 Tbsp coconut flakes 
• 1 Tbsp almond slivers (toasted, if preferred)
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract
• 4 packets Equal (or sweetener of choice)

Directions

Stir all ingredients together & enjoy!

Spooky Halloween Almond Butter Rice Krispy Treats

Spooky Halloween Almond Butter Rice Krispy Treats ~ These haunting lil' ghosts would be welcome at any Halloween party.  Trick or treat?  Treat, please!  

I'm a huge fan of the food blog ~ Chocolate-Covered Katie.  Katie always has some really cool recipes for healthier versions of traditional (and sometimes not so traditional) sweet treats.  I just made her ~ Spooky Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Treats.  They are a spin on the classic Rice Krispies Marshmallow Treats, the ones that we all remember from our childhood.

I made mine with the optional almond butter, used only a dash of salt & unsalted nut butter.  I used melted vanilla flavored almond bark to dip the little ghosties in & regular chocolate chips for the eyes, since that is all the market had on the shelves. I did smash the rice mixture down as instructed - a lot - but the cut pieces didn't hold together as well as I'd hoped.   I ended up dipping the whole treat in the white chocolate, so they would be more solid & I also made some into 'truffle balls'.  The rice krispy treats flavor is fantastic & J REALLY liked them.  So, even with them being a bit fragile, I'll still make them again, but next time just in the 'truffle ball' form.

I had fun making these cute, little, spooky sweet-treats, especially with the Halloween theme.  J is VERY happy that I made it & gave me a big hug.   Here is the link for the recipe, so you can make your own ghostly goodies.  Go check out Katie's adorable pictures & her 'biting' comments on how her batch of chocolate-covered little guys met with their demise.  We'll be here, working on our own batch... heehee  Enjoy!

Quinoa, Kale & Strawberry Salad ~ Celebrating Superfoods on Meatless Monday!

Quinoa, Kale & Strawberry Salad ~ This warm, sweet-yet-savory salad is full of Superfoods & tastes great!  It's such a lovely color combo, it would be perfect to serve during the Christmas holidays or for Valentine's Day.  The deep red of the strawberries & the jewel green of the kale make for a visually pleasing presentation ~ not to mention, it tastes great!  :)

I was wandering around the new blog ~ Kitchen Adventures-Someone Elses Genius ~ and saw that Robin has started an ongoing ~ Superfoods Series.  Way cool!  One of the recipes she shares is a warm salad recipe for ~ Quinoa, Kale & Strawberry Salad with Honey Garlic Dressing.  It sounded like something right-up-my-alley, so I decided to give it a go for Meatless Monday.

Robin's salad features many of the Superfoods ~ kale (I'm a sucker for kale), strawberries (I love my strawberries), quinoa (got a big ol' bag in the pantry), honey (jar of local, sittin' on the counter), almonds (lots in the nut stash), garlic (plenty, no vampires around here), ground flax (yup, Bob's Red Mill), lemon (love 'em, pucker up!), olive oil (my fav) ~ I was in business.  The recipe is easy to make, quick to get on the table, pretty to look at & is really tasty.  Yeah!

This Superfood salad would make a nice light supper, excellent side dish, or a great lunch to take to work.  Next time I make this, I'll try it with raw kale, I've got a feeling this would be a good cold salad, too. (I love raw kale salads)  Another nice thing about this salad is that it can be changed up to suit your mood/fridge.  You could easily swap the strawberry/almond combo for a new Superfood taste treat.  In the future I'm going to try these combos... oranges, dried cranberries & walnuts; blueberries & cashews; peaches & almonds; apples & pumpkin seeds and any other Superfood fruit/nut combo, from this big list, that strikes my fancy.  You could even swap out the kale for spinach, if you're so inclined.  So, if you're looking for a way to include more ~ Superfoods ~ into your diet, give this Super simple & Super delicious salad a try ~ it's a Super easy way to get started.  Meatless Monday never had it so good & healthy!   :)  Enjoy! 

Learn More...

Almond Meal Truffle Cookies

Almond Meal Truffle Cookies ~ a spin on the Almond Flour Frosted Sugar Cookie recipe over on the blog, Detoxinista.

I found an interesting recipe for an Almond Flour Frosted Sugar Cookie, over on the blog ~ Detoxinista.  Her cookie only has five ingredients & can be eaten with or without icing.  She used almond flour in place of flour, softened coconut oil instead of butter & raw honey instead of sugar.  It sounding intriguing, so I decided to give it a go.

Only thing was, I didn't have some of (OK, most of) the 5 ingredients, so I used what I had.  I used ~ almond meal instead of almond flour; Brummel & Brown Spread instead of the softened coconut oil & regular honey for the raw honey.    

FYI ~ almond meal & almond flour will give you very different results in your cookie making.  I found that out in this recipe.  It was news to me, I thought they were more or less the same.  Nope, good to know ~ lesson learned.  Not really.  As I've mentioned before, I'm a challenged baker since I almost always tinker with recipes.  That's usually fine with cooking ~ not so with baking.  Live & learn... and still I do it time & again when I bake! heehee   So, I'm calling my version an ~ Almond Meal Truffle Cookie.

My results ~  In using the almond meal, the cookies took on a more rustic appearance, texture & flavor.  And when they sat in the airtight container for a few hours, they morphed into an even softer cookie & started to turn into what I would consider more of a homemade 'Truffle Cookie'.  It's still good, it was just unexpected.  So, if you want to serve them as a more traditional cookie, bake them pretty close to the time you want to serve them.  Later on, present them as a Truffle Cookie & maybe even dust them with some powdered sugar to make them look like a whole new sweet treat.  You could even just go straight to the Truffle Cookie presentation by making them as cookies balls instead of the flattened cookie shape.

For another crack at that recipe, (since I'm always willing to tinker) I added some soy flour in place of a portion of the almond meal & used mashed banana in place of the coconut oil/margarine.  This batch made for a pretty cookie photo op, but they aren't good enough to make again/share the recipe.  I didn't care for the flavor of the soy flour in this cookie & they still morphed into the 'truffle cookie' texture.  I thought the picture turned out pretty, so I decided to share that part of my baking experiment with you.  For me, it's all about the journey in learning how to bake in my kitchen.  I'll still keep trying out new sweet things to bake, because you never know when you'll find the next best thing ever.  :)