In the raw

Saturday was one of those afternoons that left my kitchen looking like this:



It was a disaster! There was sticky date residue on the food processor buttons, coconut oil smeared on the microwave, and almond powder up my nose (I wish I was kidding here). But if there's one good thing about a messy kitchen, it's that you usually at least have a delicious recipe as the result!

That was definitely true in my case. I made two kinds of raw chocolate chip cookies to bring to my friend's birthday that night. She's a blog reader and health foodie too, so I knew these would be right up her alley.



Raw chocolate chip cookies
Adapted from this recipe from Oh She Glows

1.5 cups ground raw almonds
0.5 cup ground oats
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp agave nectar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/16 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Grind the oats in a food processor until they are not quite a flour-like consistency. Remove from the food processor and add the almonds. Process until they are a coarse flour texture with a few small pieces. Add the ground almonds, ground oats, agave, vanilla, coconut oil, salt and chocolate chips in a bowl and mix until combined. Then roll them into small 1 inch balls and flatten into a cookie shape, placing them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Then put them in the fridge for 1-2 hours to harden. Note: They are quite crumbly and it will be very hard to form cookie shapes, but once they harden they stick together very nicely!

As I was making these I got nervous that they weren't sticking together, so I decided to remedy the situation by adding dates to half the batch to help them stick together.



Raw chocolate chip cookies (with dates)
Adapted from my raw chocolate chip cookie recipe (above)

1.5 cups ground raw almonds
0.5 cup ground oats
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp agave nectar
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup of coconut oil
1/16 tsp salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
8-9 medjool dates

Process the dates in food processor until they are smooth and sticky. Then add in the dough made from the recipe above and continue to process until the mixture is uniform. Form small 1 inch balls with this mixture and flatten into a cookie shape. Place on a cookie sheet and let harden in the fridge for 1-2 hours.



Both cookies turned out amazing - I can't decide which one I like better! Unfortunately I'm an airhead and I totally forgot to bring them to my friend's party, which is both a bad and a good thing. On the plus side I have a whole batch in my fridge, but on the down side I can't stop eating them!!!

Do your friends like the healthy desserts and snacks that you make?

What's your favourite raw/no-bake dessert or snack?