Healthy "No Bake" Cookies

(That may or may not be chocolate or mud on her nose...)

I adapted this recipe from Tropical Traditions, Cocoa-Nut Peanut Butter Balls. This recipe without any changes is awesome, but my family I go through these so fast, I wanted to add extra healthy ingredients to make them last longer. (I have made 3 double batches in the past 7 days.) The following is the ingredient list for a double batch which makes about 36 large cookies.

One ingredient that you will need for this that most don't have on hand is coconut cream. It is very easy to make and will leave your hands feeling unbelievably smooth. You will need:

A blender
2 cups raw shredded coconut (from the health food store, not the sweetened kind you bake with.)
2 1/4 cups of hot filtered water, not over 120 degrees.

(Makes a little over 1/2 cup of coconut cream)

Add the coconut and the hot water to the blender and blend for 2-3 minutes on high speed. Have a medium sized glass bowl waiting with a thin dish towel or cheesecloth draped over it. Pour the mixture into the towel and carefully wrap the towel around it so there are no holes. Hold with one hand and squeeze all the "milk" out with the other. After you've gotten all the milk out that you can, set the coconut aside because you'll need it later. Now you have to wait for the cream to rise to the top and harden. This is accomplished by putting it in the fridge for at least an hour. You can leave it in the fridge longer, but I wouldn't go longer than 2 days. Take it out and gently press down on the hardened coconut cream to dislodge it from the bowl. It breaks up into big pieces pretty easily, so take them out with your fingers or a large spoon. I usually put mine in a pint size mason jar and hold the jar under hot water to soften the cream up a little for the recipe. It will be the consistency of whipped cream when softened.

Back to cookies...

1 1/2 c organic peanut butter, creamy or crunchy.
1/2 c coconut cream, softened slightly
1/3 c raw honey
1/4 c other sweetener, I have used pure maple syrup and rapadura with great success. You can also use raw honey again if that's all you have. (I'm pretty stingy with my honey, which is why I substitute.)
1/2 c cacao powder (you can use cocoa powder, but the cacao has an insanely high amount of extra nutrients in it. Click on the link to see where I buy mine.)
4 tbsp flour (I have used gluten free and wheat and it tasted the same.)
1/2 c soaked oats or dry oats.
1 1/2 c shredded coconut (use the coconut you milked earlier)
1 tbsp coconut oil (I add this to my warm coconut cream before I put it in the fridge. It just adds extra awesome nutrients to the cookies.) To read more about coconut oil and cacao, read my blog about them.

Stir up all the ingredients except for 1 cup of the shredded coconut. Depending on the consistency you may have to add more oatmeal or coconut to make it easier to ball up. The batter will not be that thick, but it will harden in the fridge because of the coconut cream. Pour 1 cup of the shredded coconut onto a plate, drop a spoonful of batter and roll it around until covered in coconut. Place in storage dish and repeat. They are usually hardened enough to eat after 1-2 hours. Don't forget to lick the bowl! Sooo good!

This may seem like a lot of work, but it really isn't. The actual time I spent making the cream and the cookies was probably a total of 20-30 minutes.

I am really thinking I could add anything to these cookies and you wouldn't be able to taste it because the chocolate and peanut taste is so strong. I'm terrified to ruin them, but may try adding some stinky spirulina to my next batch to get some of that down my children. My kids would seriously eat these all day long if I let them. Heck, I do eat them all day long. They're addictive, but so good for you if you make them with the Tropical Traditions recipe or my adjusted one.


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