The ULTIMATE school snack!

To celebrate the beginning of the school year, this month’s recipe is a healthy, hearty filling snack for those lunchboxes.   The store bought granola and snack bars are filled with ugly things like corn/ fructose syrup, trans fats and numerous chemical additions and preservatives that just aren't necessary nor good for your child’s growing body and mind.  This recipe comes from a health food store in Canada, Planet Organic.  These are shaped like cookies, but are really a granola bar full of seeds and raisins and dark chocolate.   I am especially excited about these cookies because they are wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free… suitable for vegans.  It is also seriously simple to whip them up and bake. 

Granola Cookies 

(adapted from Planet Organic's Cosmic Cookies)

DRY:

2 1/4c quick cooking oats

2 cups spelt (dinkel) flour

1 cup sunflower seeds

3/4 cup pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup flax seed

1/2 cup of raw cane sugar

1 TBSP cinnamon

2 1/4 tsp sea salt

3/4 cup dark chocolate (at least 70%), chopped 

1 1/4 cup raisins or cranberries (or any mix of dried fruit)

WET:

1/4 cup water

1/4 cup molasses

3/4 cup canola oil or coconut oil or a mix of the two

1 cup 'milk' (almond, soy, oat etc.)

It is super easy, just: 

1.     Stir all of the dry ingredients together, by hand,  (from the oats to the raisins) and then mix separately the wet ingredients (from the water to the almond milk).  

2.    Add the wet mix to the dry mix and stir by hand until they are combined.

3.    Scoop 1TBSP or 1/4 cup measure (depending how big you want them) onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, and gently flatten them a bit with a wet fork.  

4.    Cook for 20-25 minutes in an oven preheated to 180C depending how big they are.  

5.    Cool them for 5 minutes before moving them to a rack to cool completely.  

6.    Enjoy!  

**I make them 1/4 c size because I want them to be a substantial snack / small quick meal (they are really dense in nutrients, taste and calories).  

**You can omit the dark chocolate, but I usually add it (because healthy should still involve pleasure and fun, right?!)  

**It makes 25 big, delicious, healthy, vegan cookies :-)  No trans fats, no high fructose corn syrup, no preservatives, no strange chemicals...... LA xxx