Drink: Brazil Nut-Vanilla Milk
I was never much of a baker before I had kids. I don’t have a huge sweet tooth myself, and I find the precise, unforgiving nature of baking a bit daunting – I’m an intuitive, free-form cook, and following directions is not my strong suit. But somehow I’ve created a cookie monster in my 4-year old son, and the beast must be fed, so I find myself scrambling for something that qualifies as dessert every night after dinner. Up until recently, I’ve tricked him into believing that a wide variety of healthy things are dessert – yogurt, for example, which he actually called ice cream until he started pre-school and learned about the real thing.
Now that he’s called my bluff on the health-food-as dessert switcheroo, I’ve been forced to get creative and figure out how to make much healthier versions of the sweet things he loves. Like these Oreo-ish cookies, adapted from one of my favorite dessert cookbooks, Rawsome Vegan Baking by Emily von Euw. These happen to be raw and full of nutritious, whole food ingredients, so I feel good about giving these to my kids for dessert, or even as a snack, anytime of day. Adults love them too – they’re not too sweet or cloying, and they hit the spot when you need a bite (or three) of sweet.
Don’t be scared by the “raw” part. They’re super easy and quick to make, with no cooking or fancy equipment required. If you have a dehydrator, you can use it to firm up the cookies – but don’t worry if you don’t, it works just as well in a regular oven on the lowest setting – or in a barely warm oven, turned off, after you’ve cooked something else. You’re not looking to cook the cookies, just firm them up so that they can sandwich the luscious cashew cream filling.
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