Cookie madness

So yesterday was Shrove Tuesday, the day before Lent begins, the Christian period of preparation for Easter. However nowadays, the day is most commonly referred to as 'pancake day' by many. Sadly, for some reason, the pancake addict did not make any pancakes yesterday, I blame all the university work! However, Instagram and Facebook have been full of pancake inspiration and here's a mouth watering example I had to share with you by njstramfam from Instagram.

Given the amount of time spent on campus nowadays, I've been desperate for some easy to carry, sweet,  satisfying and healthy snacks. What better than some cookies?! I decided to play around with a few recipes that I found online as well as with what I had in stock and came up with some 'Nutella' cookies and some soft and chewy cinnamon & ginger cookies. Both really hit the spot! The Nutella ones are more filling and 'textured' whereas the spiced ones are lighter and much softer.

NUTELLA INSPIRED COOKIES

Makes around 15 cookies

• 50 g hazelnut, roasted
• 10 dates, soaked, drained and puréed 
• 25 g ground almond
• 2 tbsp cocoa, slightly less if you aren't keen on bitter dark chocolate
• 40 g whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• Pinch of cinnamon
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tbsp honey (optional, alter sweetness to taste)
• 1 tsp vanilla (optional)

1. On a hot (dry) frying pan, lightly roast the hazelnuts until fragrant. Flake off and discard the excess skin.

2. Chop up (or bash with a rolling pin like I did) the hazelnuts into small chunks and keep aside.

3. Mix together the date purée, peanut butter, egg, vanilla, honey and coconut oil until well combined.

4. Fold in all the rest of the ingredients, including the nuts and combine until the mixture is uniform. 

5. Form mini balls of the dough, place on some grease-proof paper on a baking tray and press the cookies into shape with the back of a fork.

6. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 10-12 minutes, they burn really easily so keep your eyes on these!

7. Once cooled, dip/decorate with melted dark chocolate and store in an airtight container.

SOFT AND CHEWY SPICED COOKIES

• 10 dates, soaked, drained and puréed 
• 40 g coconut flour/ whole wheat/ oat flour
• 40 g ground almonds
• Pinch of baking powder
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon (or more!)
• 0.5 tsp ginger (or more!)
• 1 tbsp coconut oil 
• Pinch of salt
• Half an egg
• 1 tbsp honey

1. Combine the date purée, coconut oil, egg and honey together.

2. Fold in the ground almonds, choice of flour, baking powder, spices and salt and mix until you obtain a soft dough. If too sticky add a little more flour and if too dry looking add a little honey/ egg. Also, try the dough and alter according to our taste, I added a lot more cinnamon and ginger because I love spiced baked goods!

3. Use the same method of shaping cookies as with the Nutella cookies or if you want very thin and slightly crisp cookies, refrigerate the dough, roll between two pieces of grease-proof paper and form into circles. Both work great, the thinner cookies are delicious sandwiched together with light cream cheese and banana slices.

4. Bake at 160 degrees for around 13-15 minutes until 'dry' to touch and slightly browned.

These are very rustic and homely cookies but I find that there is something so comforting about spices in baked goods which makes them irresistible :)!

Enjoy 

Xx

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