These Cookies Are From Scratch Scratch: Fruits And Veggies Monda

Yay! I made it. What’s up Fruits and Veggies Freaks. I know, I know, it’s been awhile since I’ve gotten in the reindeer games but here I am to play. Fruits and veggies Monday is really picking up momentum and catching some pretty talented new Chef’s along the way… My friend @plantstoplanks seems to be handling all of her new responsibilities like it’s a piece of cake and @lenasveganliving always gives all us contestants so much support, I couldn’t stomach to miss another week. So, here I am… can I get another “yay”?

@dandays and I just got done moving into a new joint we are calling home for a month and must say, I like this place a lot. I don’t think I’ve had to change out of my bikini even once. Well, I’ve switched bathing suits but you get the point; no clothes around here, just bathing suits, flip flops and something to cover up- my kind of place.

With all of the excitement going on in our daily life I’ve found it to be tough getting the motivation to set aside time to write a food blog. Also, my dietary restrictions are taking some of the wind out of my sails. Honestly, i don’t think you’d be excited about anything I’m eating. Dandays on the other hand still eats like a King, check it out…

Chocolate Dipped Scratch Scratch Peanut Butter Almond Cookies

No, I don’t have a DJ in this post, what I do have are these amazing cookies I made from scratch scratch… This all started from a batch of peanut butter I made for Dandays- it’s easy, really. Just some peanuts, roasted, salted, in a food processor, add coconut oil, cinnamon and whatever else sounds good. That’s really it.

From there I decided I was going to make my hubby a peanut butter cookie. So I made extra peanut butter as not to dip into his fresh stash. Then, it was on…

So, I made the peanut butter and set aside a cup. Then, I took a banana (or two) and mashed it up really well until it looked like baby food. The only sugar I could find in the market down the street from our house (Costa Rica) was raw sugar, which resembled brown or coconut sugar so I went for it. I added a spoonful or two to the bananas and mashed it up more then let it sit while I got to work on some flour blend…

My Pricesmart purchase proved to be a great idea when we arrived home with several 2 LB bags of nuts. I don’t know why I’m so crazy for nuts but I just go nuts for nuts (you knew I couldn’t resist). With three 2lb bags of almonds I decided I’ll make the flour out of freshly ground almonds…

Yeah, yeah, so maybe I only used about a cup or two for almond flour and the rest I made butter out of but who’s counting anyway….

At this point, I’ve invested about 2 hours into these cookies, cleaning up the processor, processing more stuff, cleaning it again… I was getting hungry.

I can’t nibble on the ingredients I’m working with, not even a taste so I mixed up an avocado salad real quick. 😋 delicioso! Now, back to work.…

Ingredients

1.5 Cups Almond Flour
1.5 Tbsp Coconut Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
2 Bananas (mashed) or 1 flax egg
1/4 inch vanilla bean (directions below)
3 Tbsp Raw Sugar (coconut sugar)
1 Tbsp Agave (maple syrup)
1-2 Tbsp Coconut Oil
6 pieces raw100% cacao (melted)

Preheat your oven to 350 F and let’s get cooking.

Mix your almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, sea salt, and sugar in a big bowl. Set that aside and bust out your vanilla bean…

You might ask “why not just use vanilla extract?” Well Stacy, they don’t sell alcohol free vanilla extract, here, in Costa Rica, and the spice guy at my farmers market only sells the entire vanilla plant. Needless to say, I was pretty stoked to find this vanilla bean at our local AutoMercado (the most north American grocery store in the country). I bought it quickly having no idea how to use it. Two quick YouTube videos and I was a vanilla bean extracting pro. Check it out…

Take it out of the tube first. It feels kind of like black licorice but smells so much better. Then cut yourself off about an inch of bean…

Using a sharp knife slice open one side of the bean, careful not to penetrate the other side. This is where all y’all operation game playing skills come in handy. Let’s just say I was an operation champ, so this was going to be a piece of pie…

Using the tip of your knife scrape out all of the vanilla goodness that lines the inside walls of the bean. It’ll kind of look like a blackish goop but I promise you, it’s the good stuff.

Now, boil some water and make tea out of the vanilla bean skin since it smells so divine and let’s get on with the cookies…

Add the freshly mined vanilla to your banana mix and add your coconut oil.…

Make a volcano out of your dry ingredients, adding the banana, vanilla, coconut oil mix to the center…

Top it off with your peanut butter and fold everything together gently…

Sprinkle some cinnamon if you want, I always want, and start rolling the dough into small balls to flatten on a cookie sheet…

Take a fork and make lines that crisscross to flatten the cookie a bit.…

Put em in the oven for 12-15 minutes.

Let them cool in the fridge while you mix up your chocolate dip…

Using blocks of chocolate, I used cacao but you can whatever you desire, take about 6 pieces and put them in a bowl. Microwave the chocolate for 30 seconds and then stir. Put them back in the microwave for 15 seconds and then stir. Now melt them at 9 second intervals until fully melted.

Add your sweetener of choice, I only had raw sugar on hand so I used that but if you have agave I recommend that.

My sugar was granulated so it gave texture to my chocolate. To avoid that use maple syrup, or agave, or anything that is smooth.

Now, dip, baby dip…

And keep dipping until you have your plate o cookies for your valentine (I know, I’m way late but to be fair I made these for Valentine’s Day and just kept them in my arsenal until I had the time to share them… you’re welcome 😉).

If you’re like me then making cookies like this and not being able to even try them will only drive you nuts. Don’t be like me, try your damn cookies… you won’t be sorry. Dandays and our new Friends here enjoyed them for “Love Day”.

I mean, how could you not… they’re sweetened with love :).

Thanks for hanging out today friends! Fruits and veggies Monday is always a fun crew. I’m looking forward to all of the yumminess.

Pura Vida ✌️