Paleo almond cookie and mini muffin.
For quite some time, I’ve been reading about the Paleo diet. Finally, as a token to the endless tradition of making resolutions on New Year’s Eve, I have joined the crowds, and made a resolution of my own. I have decided to try out this diet, for at least a month.
Paleo is not just a diet, but a way of life. As a holistic view, one should eat right, exercise daily, and sleep well (and… keep un-stressed). Sounds logical, no?
The very basic nutritional diet rules rely on the right proteins, fats, carbs and veggies. Nothing new here, right?
Well, as Paleo goes (or primal, caveman, stone-age diet), one should NOT consume refined sugar, refined salt, dairy, legumes, gluten, and processed oils. More or less.
Oy!! Then what have we left to eat??
Grass-fed meats, wild caught fish, eggs, fruits and vegetables. More or less.
Read the basics here.
Left to brighten my coffee with only almond milk (and I must confess, I’m slowly getting off coffee as well), I needed that something comforting to chew on, next to my coffee.
It didn’t take long for the aha moment to arrive.
As I make my own almond milk (easy peasy, see previous post), I’m left with all that almond pulp, which leads to… almond cookies.
for 25-30 cookies, you’ll need:
- almond-date left-over pulp from 3 cups of almonds (that were used for the almond milk);
- 1/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut;
- 1/4 cup natural cocoa powder (try not to use the dutch processed one);
- 1/3 cup raw sesame seeds. Some seeds, sesame among them, may be considered Paleo, yet they contain high amount of omega 6 fatty acids (compared with its low omega 3 content), which is not so good. Rule of moderation! I find 1/3 cup for 25 cookies to be OK. You can definitely play around with the quantity. Take some off, add more coconut…
- 2 Tbs raw honey, or pure maple syrup, or any combination. Those sweeteners are sugary and processed, and honey is fructose, so they are not ideal per-Se, but in this case I go for moderation again, thinking these 2 Tbs are divided among 25-30 cookies. You may want to try Stevia or dextrose. Lemme’ know if you did, and the outcome.
- 3 eggs
- optional : dates.
how-to:
heat oven to 350°f, and grease baking paper (in the pans) with coconut oil.
combine all ingredients in a bowl (excluding the optional dates).
Almond milk pulp
drop a spoon full of dough onto baking sheet, and then press it down slightly with the back of the spoon. keep them around 1 inch apart.
don’t move girls
another option is to fill a greased mini-muffin pan with the dough.
finally, you can add small chopped pieces of a date by pressing them onto the cookies or mini-muffins.
into the oven they go for 25-30 minutes, depending on your oven, until the cookies are beginning to tan. Let cookies cool outside the oven for 10 minutes.
mini muffins in pink
now, I (and you) can enjoy one (or two) cookies with our coffee.
A good substitute for refined/processed sugars & syrups could be date syrup (Rub/Syllan), the natural one that has no added sugar.
And the best thing is to use nothing at all, just the fruit itself, where the sugar comes with fiber that will make the gut absorb it more gradually to the blood.
You are very very right Dafna. Indeed, my almond pulp already contains dates. Alas, it’s not enough for my kids, as I’m slowly trying to move the whole family into sugar free, it has to be gradual. Hence, the use of maple syrup, and my statement regarding their use. Let me tell you, that in my other batch, I did not use any kind of sugar, yet I did pour some chocolate chips in there. Something has to give. All in all- I agree with you.