Wholefood Vegan Cookies [ with dates & raisins ]

One of my best friends is a chef by profession. She was talking to me about her favorite cookie dough recipe and we had a long conversation about how much we love cookie dough ice cream! ( or how much i did before i went vegan!). Brain wave! I got my friends non vegan cookie dough recipe and spent a few hours thinking how to substitute the ingredients to make tasty Vegan cookies! And i succeeded. I think i managed to eat half the dough before it was cooked. Which is a very good sign! I have saved 1/4 of the dough and will be attempting to make a cookie dough ice cream recipe in the next couple of days. WIN!

So Non vegan cookies consist of 

Butter

Eggs

Flour

Sugar

Chocolate. 

All of which i do not eat. (Except pure cocoa or raw vegan chocolate ).

Butter? I had a few options here. 1. Dairy free oil spread. i don't like to use too may if any processed foods so no. Oil? I wanted to keep the consistency of butter and oil would make more of a cake mixture than a dough. Coconut oil! Mimics - or pretty close - the consistency of butter, is raw and has the fat content needed. Win.

Eggs? There are a few egg substitutions you can use to act as a binding agent. Chia or flax work well. I chose to use banana as i have loads of them in my kitchen, and because the sweetness of the fruit would reduce the amount of sugar, or sugar substitute i would need to add.

Flour? Instead of processed white flours there are plenty of wholefood options available. Rice flour, quinoa flour, almond flour, chickpea flour and loads more. Oats can be used, but you need to have at least a 50;50 ratio of flour to oats.

Sugar? My go to sugar replacement is dates. I LOVE them. I much prefer to use an actual fruit to sweeten rather than a packaged fruit sugar or syrup. ( However i do use both ).

Chocolate? Raisins. :)

I wasn't sure how my cookies would turn out. But they were LUSH. Soo good to the point i had to force myself to stop eating them. And even then i went back for more! Its okay.. i will go for a run tomorrow and work it all off. :)

Wholefood Vegan Cookies

 [ with dates & raisins ]

3/4 cup dates 

1/3 cup peanuts

1/2 banana (  1/2 large or 1 small )

1 tsp vanilla essence

65g coconut oil ( not melted )

1/2 cup rice flour / almond flour 

1/4 cup oats

1/3 cup raisins

Soften the dates and peanuts by soaking in water for 10-15mins.

Drain, and place in a food processor along with  the Banana, vanilla essence and coconut oil.( Note that you do not need to melt the coconut oil before using)

Blend for 1-2 minutes.

Add flour and oats and mix again. The dough should be soft, but not sticky. Add extra flour or oats if necessary.

Remove from blender and place into a mixing bowl. Fold in the raisins. 

Place dough onto a lightly dusted board and roll until approx 1cm thick.

Cut cookies into shape with a cookie cutter and place on a lined baking tray.

Cook in the oven at 150'C for 10-15 mins

Leave to cool