One month ago, we had the honour of hosting our teacher from India and his wife in our home.
I am so happy and appreciative that we were given this opportunity. It is such an honour to wake up and have your teacher sitting in your garden and have the blessing of being in his presence every day, hearing his divine wisdom, and sitting twice daily for meditation.
Our dear friends also travelled from America and India to join the seminar and stay with us in our home. It was wonderful—three women and three amazing cooks! The meals were outstanding. It was so nice to be held and surrounded daily by like-minded souls in light, creativity, fun, encouragement and support, love and inspiration, and to see us all expand into our yogic journey.
images by Yael Ilan
These cookies were a part of those two weeks. Gillian would whip them up in minutes whenever we needed a sweet to go with our tea. I have made these many times since they all have left. This is my version of them.
With this supportive experience and the upcoming move to Portugal, it was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Israel and our beautiful home.
Change is on the horizon. There is so much of it, too. Just thinking of it makes my head spin.
CHOCOLATE CHIP NUT BUTTER COOKIES
preparation 20 minutes
makes about 18 sumptuous cookies
Gillian’s recipe used rice flour instead of spelt. You can substitute any gluten-free flour. If you prefer a chewy cookie, remove them from the oven at 12 minutes.
ingredients
¾ cup/90g whole spelt flour
¾ cup/75g oat flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp rock salt
¼ cup/60ml peanut or almond butter of choice (I like to use an equal combination of each)
⅓ cup/80ml maple syrup
¼ cup/60ml coconut oil (warmed to a liquid)
1 tsp vanilla extract
⅓ cup/50g dark chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar, chopped
⅓ cup/50g roughly chopped hazelnuts or flaked almonds
preparation
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt – set aside.
- Mix the nut butter, maple syrup, coconut oil, and vanilla in a separate bowl evenly, then fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
- Pour the wet into the dry ingredients, and fold them until well combined.
- Using your hands, mould the biscuits into small balls onto the parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Press lightly on each cookie with the back of a fork or your fingers and bake for 12 – 15 minutes. Do not overbake, or they will be dry. Allow the cookies to cool and transfer to a cooling rack.
You may need to double the recipe next time as they go quickly!!
variations
- Small currants or raisins work nicely if you prefer to omit the chocolate. Soak them beforehand. I like to use a combination of peanut and almond butter.
- Recently, I have been making these with a flour ratio of ½ cup ground almond/pecan, ½ cup whole-wheat spelt, and ½ cup oat flour. Make the oat flour by putting whole oats into your blender and grinding on high until you get a flour-like consistency.
Goodness shared from Stacey
