A little bit of unbaking

I've been working like a fiend lately - full time at one restaurant, casual at another, and a 2-day-a-week temp job in a government office. Needless to say I haven't had much time to spend in the kitchen, and the spare time I have had has mostly been spent sitting on the couch in a daze or sleeping. But I finally had a few quality hours to myself on Wednesday morning, and I decided that what I needed to do more than anything else was make cookies!

I had a hankering for good old fashioned oatmeal cookies - I suppose I was really craving something wintery and comforting. I used to make an amazing oatmeal raisin spice cookie in my pre-raw days, but despite their tastiness they were loaded with butter and sugar and flour. Not the best way to coax nutrition out of the remarkable little oat! So I set off to find something that would satisfy my cravings and give my body lots of energy.

I found a great recipe in Heathy's Just Desserts ebook (which, by the way, is incredible - this girl really knows what she's doing with raw desserts - I've made a couple of the cakes and they are spectacular). Just looking at the photo had me longing to curl up on a couch with a plateful of these babies, a mug of warm almond milk and a good book. So I ran out and bought the ingredients, as well as lots of fruits and veggies for juices and salads (a girl can't live on cookies alone!). Arriving home, I made myself a giant green juice and got to work on my cookies.

A tempting bowl of raw oatmeal raisin spice cookies, perfect with a cuppa and a good book.

There were quite a few steps involved in these cookies, but it was definitely worth it. Basically, it involved mixing a lot of wet ingredients in a food processor, grinding nuts and oat groats, and then stirring it all together with raisins. I guess that's actually not any more steps than is involved in making traditional cookies, come to think of it. I added extra spices - nutmeg, allspice, clove and cardomom - to the original cinnamon because I just love a spicy cookie. I had them in the dehydrator by early afternoon, and ate warm cookies for breakfast in the morning! I also ate a lot of batter along the way. And I'm not the only one who was eagerly licking the bowls:

Bazza, my kitchen companion and bowl-licker extraordinaire.

I had enough extra batter to make a batch of Heathy's Super Granola Bars. The base was the same as the oatmeal raisin cookies, but to these I also added goji berries, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped dried apricots and dried coconut. Heathy's recipe called for cacao nibs, but I left these out as I feel that I already consume enough cacao in hot chocolates and desserts. I spread the batter out on a teflex sheet in my annoyingly round-shaped dehydrator, and when they were finished cut them into wedges. They are a perfect, filling snack, and easy to take on the go. I found that eating just one before work kept me feeling satisfied for hours, so I've actually individually wrapped the rest so that I can grab one and throw it in my purse for emergency munchie situations (seriously - when working in hospitality, these do occur regularly, and it's good to have a yummy raw snack on hand so I'm not tempted by less healthy foods).

How gorgeous are these babies?

Super yummalicious granola bars to keep the munchies at bay.

The only question now is what kind of cookies should I make next?