Cookies with benefits... now that's the way to live! The star ingredient here is maca -- a prime superfood that offers support for the adrenal glands, helps to balance hormones, and provides non-stimulative natural energy.
Extra easy to make, these cookies are deliciously full of natural ingredients. Plus, the combination of maca and brazil nuts tastes almost like peanut butter…with a lovely coconutty macaroon-style embrace, of course. The results? Irresistible.
Ingredients (Makes about 20 cookies)
1 cup raw brazil nuts
1 1/4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut, plus extra for rolling
1 1/2 tablespoons maca powder
3/4 cup (packed) soft Medjool dates
(about 7 or 8), pits removed
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Grind all the ingredients together in a food processor until a coarse dough has formed. Check the consistency: pinch the dough and make sure that it sticks together, yet still crumbles like a cookie. If the dough is too dry, add water – a teaspoon at a time – until the dough sticks. If the dough is too wet, add spoonfuls of extra coconut until the dough is just right. Form the dough into balls, about a tablespoon at a time, and roll exterior in extra coconut. Flatten into cookies and serve. Kept covered, these cookies will last several weeks.
Recipe and photo via Superfood Cuisine: Cooking with Nature’s Most Amazing Foods, by Julie Morris. Available at JulieMorris.net (signed copy), and Amazon.com
Julie Morris is a Los Angeles-based natural food chef, superfood expert, and bestselling author of 5 books including Superfood Soups, Superfood Snacks, Superfood Smoothies, Superfood Juices, and Superfood Kitchen. She has worked in the natural food industry for a decade as a recipe developer, culinary writer, on-camera personality, national speaker, and is an active advocate for whole, plant-based foods and superfoods for optimal health. Her mission is simple: to share recipes and nutrition tips that make a vibrantly healthy lifestyle both easy to achieve and delicious to follow.
For more of Julie’s superfood kitchen, visit her at JulieMorris.net, or through her social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.