Trail Mix Cookies

I gotta say I'm pretty excited to write this post, because I get to document a cooking milestone: my very own recipe! One of the main reasons for this blog was to document my experiences in the kitchen as a new vegan cook and hopefully get to the point where I would start creating my own recipes that are edible and maybe even delicious. The other day I finally got brave enough to try one out and I'm happy to report that these Trail Mix Energy Cookies really did turn out well. Husband tested and approved.

After my half-marathon on Saturday, I was unsurprisingly in the mood to bake. There's something about weekends that just brings out my desire to be in the kitchen experimenting. I've been wanting to make hearty "trail-mix" cookies so I started looking on-line for cookies that were chalk full of dried fruit, nuts, grains and healthy fats. I couldn't quite find what I was looking for so I found a few basic cookie recipes to go off of and invented my own.

These cookies are made with whole wheat flour and oats, chia seeds and hemp hearts, almond butter and coconut oil, walnuts and pecans. Tons of natural energy sweetened with a little sugar and agave nectar. Yum!

You can view these as a hearty dessert or eat them as granola bars. They're delicious without being too sweet. I baked half of them on a cookie tray and tried the rest in muffin tins. Both versions turned out great. The dough baked in the muffin tins didn't take as long to cook in the oven and held together slightly better because I was able to firmly push the dough into the bottom of the tins. I'll definitely make this recipe again! Next time I'll even decrease the sugar a little to or use only agave or date paste. But for a first try, I'm quite happy with the result.

I hope you try these out...but beware, the chia seeds will get stuck in your teeth!

Hearty Trail-Mix Cookies

(Makes 18 cookies)

Ingredients:

· 1 cup quick oats

· 1 cup whole wheat flour

· ¼ cup natural cane sugar

· 2 tablespoons chia seeds

· 2 tablespoons hemp heart seeds

· ¼ cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips, chopped

· ¼ cup walnuts, chopped

· ¼ cup pecans, chopped

· 1 teaspoon cinnamon

· ½ teaspoon baking powder

· ½ teaspoon baking soda

· 1 flax egg: 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 2.5 tablespoons water

· ¼ cup craisins

· ¼ cup coconut oil

· ¼ cup almond butter

· ¼ cup agave nectar

· 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray two muffin pans with cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients, from the quick oats to baking soda.

3. In a separate bowl stir together the wet ingredients, from the flax egg to vanilla, until combined.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together until everything is incorporated.

5. Take two tablespoon amounts of dough at a time and press it into the bottom of muffin tins or roll tightly into a ball and then flatten as cookies on a baking sheet.

6. For muffins, bake for about 13-15 minutes.

7. For cookies, bake for about 15-18 minutes.

8. Let the cookies cool fully so that the coconut oil can harden and keep the cookies from breaking.

9. Enjoy a hearty bite of goodness!