Before I started eating well, my favourite not-so-healthy treats were definitely cookies.. and crisps. Surprisingly, I wasn’t actually a huge chocolate fan.. but cookies, I could have eaten a lifetime supply of. If I had to pick, I would probably have opted for either a chocolate chip or really crunchy, oaty cookie.. perfect for dunking in a good old cuppa’ tea! When I set out on my journey to lead a healthy lifestyle and cut out all of the sugary processed foods, cookies soon became a thing of the past; well, until I realised that I could make them without having to include any of those things that is.
This cookie recipe is filled with a selection of natural, wholesome ingredients and is free from any dairy and refined sugars. The oats really do give these such an amazing crunch and texture variation and the cinnamon pecan combination adds a gorgeous nutty, spiced depth of flavour. Not only are these cookies incredibly delicious and healthy, but they’re also fairly straight forward to make, so you can rustle them any time you fancy a little sweet treat! These are a great thing to serve to friends along with some afternoon tea and I bet they’ll be pretty impressed when you tell them what’s they’re made of!
So, I’ve said there’s no refined sugar in there, which might leave you wondering what provides the sweetness? There are lots of delicious natural sweeteners available now, but for this particular recipe, I’ve chosen to use date syrup; as this has a divine, fruity, caramel like flavour that’s just so scrumptious! As this is a liquid sweetener, it also helps to add moisture into the cookie mixture and bind everything together, which acts as a sort of replacement for eggs and additional oil. In order to make this recipe dairy free, I’ve used coconut oil in place of butter, which I find works an absolute treat and also tastes of coconut.. so is absolutely delicious (like everything made from coconut does because coconut is just incredible obviously.) You could also make these cookies gluten free by using gluten free oats.. oh and oats are also a good slow releasing carb, so you could even incorporate these into your diet pre or post workout.. what a treat!
