No Bake Almond Butter Cookies

A fun trip to Wholefoods after school left me with an empty wallet and a lot of new cool ingredients. Ah, who else gets carried away when food shopping? Somethings I picked up included coconut and almond flour. I’ve used coconut flour before and I found it really absorbent and had a great flavor that I love! I usually never bother buying almond flour because it’s easy to make yourself, you just grind almonds into a flour. But it was on sale and I couldn’t turn it down! 

They’re no bake and so easy to put together! You can turn this almond butter cookie into whatever nut butter cookie you like! And if you don’t like coconut, no need to add the shredded coconut. I love adding bitter cacao nibs for its health benefits! You can sub stevia sweetened chocolate chips for the cacao nibs if you want a sweeter treat.  It totally reminds me of raw cookie dough, with that raw cookie dough texture that I love! 

Baking “healthy” should not be complicated, I find baking “unhealthy” to require more ingredients and actually more complicated. Few ingredients, and easy to assemble make these cookies a “go to” recipe!

While making these cookies, they reminded me of “PB2” cookies that I’ve been seeing everywhere. If you’re not familiar with PB2, it is peanuts grounded into a flour mixed with sugar. It’s appealing to a lot of people because it’s nearly half the calories and fat of peanut butter. I always stress to people to not check the calories, fat or even carbohydrates on a product, but rather to look at the ingredients. This product is a great example of where someone can be easily tricked into consuming added sugars and not even knowing about it. PB2 wont kill you, but it’s better to be more aware of what you’re eating and elimanting unnecessary sugars. So some simple solutions would be to eat organic real peanut butter, make your own version with powdered peanuts or use an almond butter version of PB2 by mixing almond flour with water to a creamy almond butter texture. I posted on Instagram asking your thoughts on PB2 and to no surprise you guys are all on the same page. Keep in mind most PB2’s are not organic and peanut butter are one of the most heavly sprayed crops. There are a few things that are a must for me to be organic and peanut butter is a must!

I also made a protein version using Vega Vanilla Chai Protein, don’t be alarmed by the color! I even added a little mint extract so now they are: chai mint almond butter cookies! It gave it a nice flavor and a cool color.

Recipe:

• 1 cup almond flour 
• 1/2 cup coconut flour 
• 4 tablespoons almond butter 
• 5 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce 
• 3/4 cup almond milk 
• 1/4 cup of dates
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut (optional)
• 1/2 cup cacao nibs (or chocolate chips)
• Optional add in: 41 grams (1 serving) of your favorite protein powder, be sure to add more liquid. Around 1 cup total of almond milk (1/4 cup extra)

1. In a medium size mixing bowl combine almond flour,coconut flour, almond butter until well combined.
2. Blend almond milk and dates until smooth
3. Add almond milk date mixture, and the remaining ingredeints into your flour and almond butter mixture.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a small ice cream scooper form little balls press them down gently using a fork. Making 14-15 cookies
5. Place in the freezer or eat them as is! Store in an airtight container in the freezer. You can let them thaw for a couple minutes to get a softer cookie feel.