Trail Mix Cookies

Vegan, gluten-free

Every weekend I go to Flour Bakery in the South End. I remember the first time that I went there. It was a couple years after it opened and it was the first time that I had ventured into the south end. Everything Joanne Chang created was simple but delicious. Now that I live in the South End, I walk over to the original location on Washington Street every Saturday morning. One of the things that I always eye and occasionally will have (and deal with digestive issues after) is the breakfast cookie. 

Nothing is more me than a breakfast cookie. Maybe I am making up for the fact that I was never allowed to eat cookie crisp for breakfast while I was growing up. I have tried to make a few versions of these cookies and these ones are the ones that I think are the most fitting for breakfast. They’re not too sweet, packed with fiber and protein thanks to oats, nuts, dates, hemp hearts and cashew butter. They are easy to make, bake off and then freeze so that you have a little energy boost that tastes like a treat. 

Quick Cook Oats 

Most cookie recipes call for using rolled oats. I do love the toothsome quality that they bring to the cookie, there are times that I I want the flavor and fiber from oats without that toothsome quality. Quick cooking oats have been broken down a bit so that, as their name suggests, soften and cook faster. In cookies, the oats dissolve slighting into the dough of the cookie, imparting their nutty, toasted flavor and giving the dietary fiber that help you feel full and satiated. 

If you only have rolled oats, you can use those, but the texture of the cookies will change slightly and you may want to let the dough rest longer before baking so that the oats can absorb more moisture. 

Fruit and Nuts 

You can pretty much add any combination of fruit and nuts that you want these cookies. I always have a certain set in my kitchen so I went with those. Crystallized ginger gives you a spicy reprieve from sweetness, chopped dates are like caramel in fruit form, cacao nibs give you a little energy boost from natural caffeine (and subtle chocolate flavor) and almonds provide their buttery, toasted flavor along with some healthy fats. I also add a good bump of hemp hearts which are a little powerhouse of protein, amino acids and more. And no, hemp hearts will not alter your mind in any way. They are just delicious. 

Like I said, you can really add any mixture of things that you want; add some chocolate chips, maybe dried mango? Chunks of apple? Whatever floats your boat. The cookie is your canvas. 

Tapioca Flour 

I have talked a lot about the flours that I use in gluten-free baking. There are many that you can use, but you want to make sure that you are picking the right one for the job. Tapioca flour is made from cassava, a very starchy tuber, and helps to act as the gluten in baked goods made without wheat flour. In this recipe, the oats and oat flour could do the binding all on their own, but the cookies are too crumbly in my opinion. Tapioca flour eliminates the crumble and gives a bit of chew to the cookies as well. 

If you do not have tapioca flour, I highly recommend getting it, especially if you are going to be doing a lot of gluten-free baking. It is available in most super markets (like Whole Foods, Wegman’s) or you can order it online. I use Bob’s Red Mill (like with all my flours) which I buy directly from them. 

All the Nut Butter 

Nut butter is a great substitute for butter in baking. Nut butter is packed with fat, protein and flavor that butter usually brings to baked goods. I will not go into how many different nut butters I have in my pantry (I love count at 15), but I will try to use all of them in baking. For these cookies, I used cashew butter. Cashews are naturally very buttery in flavor. Fun fact, cashews are actually not a nut, but a fruit. Either way, when cashews turn into cashew butter they flavor it brings to cookies is so similar to brown butter, it is hard to believe that these cookies are vegan. 

Cashew butter can be expensive and can have palm oil added to it (this makes it ‘no stir’), but it is very worth it. Trader Joe’s Salted Cashew Butter is a great buy with only two ingredients and it only costs $6. For this reciupe, you could use almond or peanut butter, but make sure that they are not sweetened and do not have any palm oil added. You can the nut butter to be runny. 

Recipe

75g (3/4c) quick cook oats 

55g (about 1/3 cup)chopped almonds 

30g (1/4 cup) cacao nibs 

30g (1/4 cup) crystallized ginger 

35g (1/3 cup) chopped dates 

5g (about 2 tsps) hemp hearts 

35g (1/4c) oat flour

35g (1/4c) tapioca flour 

35g (1/4c) almond flour

1/2 tsp baking soda 

1/4 tsp baking powder 

100g (about 1c) cashew butter 

40g (about 3tbsp) coconut oil 

90g (1/2c) coconut sugar 

40g (about 1/4c) maple syrup 

45g (1/4c) warm water 

8g (1tbsp) flax 

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, oats, almonds, cacao nibs, ginger, dates and hemp hearts. Make sure to get any lumps out of the almond and oat flours. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, combine the cashew butter, melted coconut oil, coconut sugar and maple syrup. Whisk together until smooth and then add the flax meal and the warm water. I do not combine then ahead of time make a flax egg. 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a spatula to combine everything. Let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 2 tbsp of dough onto the baking sheet, leaving an inch and half between each. Bake for 10-12 minutes. These cookies don’t spread a lot so they will stay thick in the middle. 

Let cool completely before removing from the baking sheet. These cookies are the perfect little bite to grab on weekday mornings.

I love to bake these cookies in a muffin pan. Using a standard muffin pan, liberally greasing each well and scooping the dough into each. Bake for 10-12 minutes and you have a thick cookie that kinda looks like a muffin.